Ernst & Young is one of the most reputed accountancy firms in the world. It is the 5th largest recruiter of graduates in the UK. Recently, the firm announced that going forward, it will discontinue its policy of requiring a 2:1 and the equivalent of three B grades at A-level. Which is to say that applicants no longer have to completely satisfy the requirements of an upper division in honors or the minimum requirement of three B-grades at school leaving level.
The managing partner for talent, Maggie Stillwell, said that the company would now turn to online assessments to ascertain the applicant’s ability. She also said:
“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.”
She went on to say, “Our own internal research of over 400 graduates found that screening students based on academic performance alone was too blunt an approach for recruitment. It found no evidence to conclude that previous success in higher education correlated with future success in subsequent professional qualifications undertaken.”
If other multi-nationals were to follow suit, people from disadvantaged backgrounds will now get the chance to apply for jobs at bigger firms regardless of their academic background and get by, purely based on their talent.
