Graduates: To Hire or Not to Hire?

The first step toward career success has often been considered going to university and gaining a degree. While more people are graduating from university than ever before, the nation is also suffering from a skills shortage – making it clear that something doesn’t quite add up. To get to the bottom of the issue, CV-Library surveyed over 2,000 UK employees and over 500 leading recruitment experts to uncover the real value of a degree in today’s job market.

Interestingly, the results suggest that graduates might not be the skills gap solution as recruiters reveal the value of a degree is declining – in fact, over a half (52%) of recruitment experts admit they wouldn’t bother getting a degree themselves if they were starting out in today’s labour market. Comparing this to data from last year’s research, CV-Library reports a 2% difference, suggesting the value of a degree is declining and could even by obsolete by 2041.

What’s more, 80.9% of recruitment experts admit that degrees aren’t as important as work experience in today’s job market; many recruiters would rather find a candidate with previous experience than one with a degree alone. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise given 74.2% of UK professionals cited the biggest drawback of working with a graduate is that they lack experience and don’t have a fundamental understanding of business.

So what does this mean for you as an HR professional? Well, it really depends on your business. The data shows us that a degree alone doesn’t make a candidate the best person for the job – and while a graduate with previous experience might be preferable, you shouldn’t discredit a candidate simply because they don’t have a degree.