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Do employers still value degrees?

Journalist: Newspage News Desk

ended 17. August 2023

Tens of thousands of A-level students receive their A-level results today, and decide whether to go to university and accumulate tens of thousands of pounds of debt. Meanwhile, some employers, such as Kellogg’s, have recently announced they are dropping the requirement for a degree for most jobs at the company.

What do you think is the future of degree qualifications?
What is your view on how employers view vocational qualifications in relation to degrees?
What is your advice to those students who do not get the A-level results they need today?

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Kerri-Ann Hargreaves
Director - IronMarket Talent at IronMarket Wealth
Degrees are valuable in certain vocations but new schemes such as T-Levels provide more opportunity to learn within a workplace. Therefore each student receiving results today should look at their options and balance the value of a degree compared to their future aspirations.

It shouldn't be a blanket need for all businesses and job roles. Both within Finance & Engineering we are seeing a shift in business views on specific qualifications - these requirements are relaxing as the job market gets tighter.

Qualified by experience individuals can offer a wider skill set and life experience over an individual that has just received classroom-based learning.

This being said University can be a solid transition from Education to the Workplace.
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Jen David
Owner at Jen David
Go to uni and be £50,000 in debt in 3 years, or do an apprenticeship and have £50,000 in the bank in 3 years. Get a degree either way. Surely it's a no brainer?

Schools like to push students towards degree courses - it makes the school look good even if it's not always the best option for the student - but many employers seem less hung up on degrees now - they're no longer a way of identifying the best of the best.

Hell, I got a first for a dissertation on Harry Potter! Degrees aren't necessarily equipping students with professional knowledge and skills and employers know that.
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Adam Myers
Head Of HR Consulting at Stellamar
All we are hearing from our clients , in the current 'talent crunch' is that they want people who are effective, able to adapt and learn, who are great communicators and can operate with common sense and integrity. I yet to find a degree that 'qualifies' someone with those attributes.

There appears to be a big disconnect between what degrees are equipping people with and what employers need, in addition to a gap in expectations between graduates and employers.

I think we will see a trend where other employers will begin to drop the requirement for a degree, as many have stopped seeing value from these candidates. Values, behaviours, experience and attitude are far outranking degree results in selection processes.
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Oliver Savill
Director at AssessmentDay
The days of degree qualifications are numbered; most employers are moving to skills-based recruitment.

For students who don't get the A-level results they hoped for I'd say good news, bad news. The good news is that most employers are dropping qualification requirements. The bad news is that they're moving to online aptitude tests like numerical reasoning, so you better start preparing for those!

Employers are finally waking up to what occupational psychologists have known for decades: there is very little correlation between a good degree result and a good employee. So employers are using aptitude tests and skills-based assessments instead.