No one should be blackballed for not having a degree

Straight-talking answers to your business questions from one of Britain’s most successful retailers

I have spotted a vacancy at a rival company that is basically my dream job. It’s not only the role I can imagine doing until I retire, it also feels like the next logical step in my career. I tick all the boxes they are looking for, save one – a degree. I am of a generation where going to university was less common, but more and more now, degrees are a prerequisite for roles that (in my opinion) benefit more from hands-on experience than theoretical know-how. Should I even bother to apply?

Of course you should apply, if you don’t throw your hat in the ring you will never know whether your experience is sufficient to compensate for the lack of a degree. But, in describing your personal dilemma, you raise the question of how much a university degree should influence both career training and recruitment.

Events prove that a degree is not an essential part of future success – Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and Simon Cowell are degree-free high achievers. But they are all entrepreneurs. Careers that require specialist skills and qualifications are more likely to look for university success.

Lots of posts may require a degree but a 2.2, 2.1, or even a First doesn’t come with the guarantee of a job, particularly if you graduate at a time of high unemployment, as happened to my son, James, when he left Durham University in 1992. We didn’t want him to go straight into the family business, nor did he, thinking it better to gain some experience elsewhere. But most of his applications were rejected – employers clearly were not keen to train someone who was destined for a long-term career elsewhere.

In desperation we sent an advert through the post to a few possible employers “James Timpson – star Durham graduate still seeking employment – available on a six-month free trial”. It worked, James was employed by Johnsons Apparelmaster, selling workwear hire in the North East – the perfect experience for a future chief executive.

At Timpson, we seldom look for graduates, but quite a lot come our way. Unsurprisingly, a degree is on the CV of most of the applicants who want to join our finance, IT and colleague support departments, but you may be amazed that a significant number of graduates are working in our shops. Following Tony Blair’s mantra “education, education, education” about 37pc of 18-year-olds now go to a university, so it isn’t surprising that some come to us. (Our photo shops attract a number of graduates with degrees in photography).

It works well. They join our apprentice scheme as young adults, having experienced something of life at university. But we don’t pick them because of their degree, our choice is purely based on their personality.

I can’t help thinking that employers who refuse to recruit someone without a degree are guilty of discrimination, especially when applicants are over 40 years old with little chance of having attended university.

If not demonstrating discrimination, they are certainly displaying a lack of common sense. Companies that rely on artificial intelligence to cut the original field of contenders down to a short list risk filling their business full of highly qualified but bland colleagues.

The buzz of a business can’t just rely on brilliant boffins, the culture is more likely to be created by less clever colleagues with lots of empathy and enthusiasm – not attributes easily detected by an algorithm.

This year, companies have a particularly difficult job because the current crop of graduates have had a very different university life compared with their predecessors. They have experienced online lectures, tutorials on Zoom and a college community where students, lecturers, tutors, professors and even some vice-chancellors have been working from home.

Our universities must not be tempted to follow some other public servants by allowing the widespread practice of working from home to become a permanent feature of academia. Although academics may claim that their reputation relies on the quality of their research, they are also responsible for delivering to the job market an intelligent and rounded collection of graduates.

So where do I stand on the debate between degrees and apprenticeships? It all depends on the business, the role and the individual. For many, the best answer is a mixture of the two. Graduates often, when starting work, go on an apprentice scheme and some enlightened businesses fix it for apprentices to spend time at university. This is good career development, but doesn’t help people like you, who missed the chance to go to college. No one should be blackballed because they don’t have any letters after their name.