Law and financial services remain “elitist industries”, with more than half of employers only hiring from eight top universities, according to a report.
A survey of 1,600 hiring managers from leading UK industries found 41% of law firms, and a quarter of accountancy, banking, and insurance companies, are unlikely to hire anyone without a degree.
An alarming 52% of legal, and 51% of financial services companies quizzed will only consider candidates from Oxford, St Andrew’s, Cambridge, LSE, Imperial College London, Durham University, UCL, or the University of Bath.
Engineering and marketing sectors were also among those most likely to target graduates from these elite “top eight”.
Across all industries, key reasons for this included the idea that graduates will already have the required skills (39%) – and only wanting the “best” employees (33%).
It also emerged three-quarters of those in the law industry believe the skills on someone’s CV are more important than their cultural fit.
Despite this, two-thirds of legal firm hirers (67%) also believe it’s easy to learn skills on the job, without a relevant university education – and 73% admit they have been pleasantly surprised after hiring someone without a degree.
The research was commissioned by Barrington Hibbert Associates, whose founder and CEO, Michael Barrington-Hibbert, said: “It's disappointing to see that these industries are missing out on employing so many fantastic candidates from different backgrounds, who have other kinds of education and life experience to bring to the table.
“Having a degree from a leading academic institution will absolutely enhance one’s employment opportunities – however, there are thousands of people who don’t have the financial means to attend higher education, let alone a “top eight” university.
“This demonstrates, rather unfairly, that talented people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds still face a much harder battle to be employed in certain industries in this country.”
The research also found hiring managers in the public services and administration sector consider themselves the least “elitist” – with 72% likely to offer a candidate who isn’t university educated an interview.
And seven in ten believe they will miss out on top employees by only hiring someone with a degree.
However, age is a key thing that engineering (28%), finance (21%), healthcare (21%), and marketing industries (21%) take into account when hiring.
While 16% of those recruiting for law firms consider family background in their top three requirements when taking on new talent.
As a result, four in five of the legal workers polled (79%) admitted “who you know” really helps people get their foot in the door – as well as promotions within the workplace, according to the stats by OnePoll.
Michael Barrington-Hibbert added: “When recruiting, there are lots of things to consider – but age and family background should not play a role in the decision process.
“The UK is currently facing a desperate shortage of workers, and the Government’s campaign to get over-50s back into the workplace is failing miserably.
“The fact that ageism is clearly a factor behind the hiring decision process in these industries won’t be helping things in that respect.
“I hope this research serves as a wake-up call, because if these industries don’t start identifying, hiring, and developing diverse, untapped talent, they will struggle to survive the coming climate.”
