‘Posh’ qualifications

SIR – You report (September 16) that the BBC is removing qualifications from applicants’ CVS, as part of a drive to make the organisation less “posh”.

What is the correlation between being posh and being well-qualified? Do young people not work hard to achieve good degrees? And could it even be that Oxbridge attracts and produces talented people?

As a non-graduate, I have the wit to know that there are jobs for which I am unsuited, and would rather accept my weaknesses than live in a society of institutionalised dumbing-down. Michael Nicholson

Dunsfold, Surrey

SIR – The purpose of a CV is to outline a person’s educational and professional history – and any qualifications achieved are part of that.

The BBC’S plan is also unfair to young people who don’t have as much work experience as older applicants. When I began looking for employment after university didn’t work out, my exam results and a European Computer Driving Licence qualification were all I had to advertise myself. I don’t believe I would have got the interview for my first job without them.

Qualifications aren’t meant to be posh. They are there to highlight an ability or attribute that a job applicant can offer. Of course there is only so much they can show, but isn’t the point of interviews to find out more? Emilie Lamplough

Trowbridge, Wiltshire