Our crazy, mixed-up modern world is littered with stories of people who dropped out of university and did just fine, thank you very much. (See: Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Oprah, Bill Gates, David Karp, Ellen DeGeneres, etc.)
Aside from the trend of ‘boys grow up to be highly successful tech entrepreneurs, and girls grow up to be highly successful television presenters / media moguls’, what we have here is proof that a lack of higher education does not equate to an unsuccessful life.
Multinational accounting and auditing firm Ernst & Young are getting on board with the idea that people who didn’t have the best grades might actually still be A+ employees.
They’ve decided to scrap the degree requirement from the entry criteria for their graduate recruitment program, after a huge internal investigation of 400 graduate students found that “screening students based on academic performance alone was too blunt an approach to recruitment.”
“It found no evidence to conclude that previous success in higher education correlated with future success in subsequent professional qualifications undertaken,” said EY’s Managing Partner for Talent, Maggie Stilwell.
Until now, the company required graduates to have a 2:1 Distinction (the second highest classification for degrees) as well as three B grades at A-level (the equivalent of the HSC). They’ve scrapped this in order to open opportunities for anyone with talent, “regardless of their background.” They’ll be using online assessments to pass judgement on potentials instead.
“Academic qualifications will still be taken into account and indeed remain an important consideration when assessing candidates as a whole, but will no longer act as a barrier to getting a foot in the door,” says Stilwell.
So far these changes have only come into affect in the U.K. – recently, there’s been a lot of discussion around classism in the workforce. This conversation became popular after it emerged that wealthy kids are 35% more likely to become higher earners than disadvantaged kids, even if the the disadvantaged child is super bright and the privileged kid isn’t.
In a completely weird and not-at-all connected occurrence, EY accountants just received a standing ovation at the Emmys.
Honestly.
Best Moment so far: The forced Standing O for the Ernst & Young Accountants. (the look on the audiences faces- “We really have to do this?)
— Seth Herzog (@Thezog) September 21, 2015
@JosieFB The accounts from Ernst & Young were given a standing ovation at the Emmys. Always worship the accountants. We are awesome.
— Debbie (@NinjaPosition_) September 21, 2015
Ernst & Young guys: “Yeah, cute jokes. Our company runs the industrialized world.”
— ?David Angelo? (@MrDavidAngelo) September 21, 2015
They were partnered with the Emmys, if anyone’s confused. TBH, we still are.
Image: NBC.
via Huffington Post UK.
