Does the average employer know what unis are in the Russell group?

Original post by EllisJJohnson

its kind of stupid how employers might value loughborough less than Russel group even though it is better than half of the Russel group uni's

That's a lie.

Reply 43

Binary Freak

Most employers probably don't care whether you studied at a russel group or not. Well, aside from graduate schemes with extremely large employers.

Reply 44

Mr JB

2

Most employers think students are absolute pricks, no matter which university they have attended.

Reply 45

Binary Freak

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by Mr JB

Most employers think students are absolute pricks, no matter which university they have attended.

Brutally honest/10

Reply 46

TheWaffle

16

All I know is that if you apply for a lower end job that will take anyone and you have a degree from Oxbridge... there will probably be a few gasps in the HR department.

Reply 47

username1783907

7

I know this is one example but I found this article quite interesting.

http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/exclusive-law-firm-clifford-chance-adopts-cv-blind-policy-to-break-oxbridge-recruitment-bias-9050227.html

I think this is starting to become more common practice, to ensure a company interviews a wide range of candidates. A company will want to ensure they get eh best person for the job, such a person might not match up with their preconceived notions. RG university or not, how good are you and will you work well for the company those are far more important items to address.

Reply 48

username1862217

OP

15

Original post by tatherton13

I know this is one example but I found this article quite interesting.

http://www.independent.co.uk/student/news/exclusive-law-firm-clifford-chance-adopts-cv-blind-policy-to-break-oxbridge-recruitment-bias-9050227.html

I think this is starting to become more common practice, to ensure a company interviews a wide range of candidates. A company will want to ensure they get eh best person for the job, such a person might not match up with their preconceived notions. RG university or not, how good are you and will you work well for the company those are far more important items to address.

That is fascinating. A company employing people based on their skills rather than their prestige. Good find! :biggrin:

Although I have to question why companies like this even exist in the first place. Why would any company risk losing out on skills just to have all their employees come from prestigious universities?

My degree is in physics, and in physics and the sciences in general you are employed purely on your skills. It doesn't matter if your degree is Oxbridge or London Met, you are treated exactly the same. Therefore to me the concept of employing people based on their university is extremely alien and makes little sense. It would be cool if someone could explain the reasons behind it to me.

Reply 49

username1783907

7

Original post by Keyhofi

That is fascinating. A company employing people based on their skills rather than their prestige. Good find! :biggrin:

Although I have to question why companies like this even exist in the first place. Why would any company risk losing out on skills just to have all their employees come from prestigious universities?

My degree is in physics, and in physics and the sciences in general you are employed purely on your skills. It doesn't matter if your degree is Oxbridge or London Met, you are treated exactly the same. Therefore to me the concept of employing people based on their university is extremely alien and makes little sense. It would be cool if someone could explain the reasons behind it to me.

My guess would be that it's about the image of the company, certainly in the case of law firms. It appears that it just becomes about bragging rights about how prestigious the firm must be if everyone comes from prestigious universities. Some accountancy firms are likely very similar.

Another shot in the dark is that if bet this is so much worse in the USA. The RG universities seem to be trying to push the comparison to the Ivy League universities in the USA. Not really comparable given the completely different funding systems both countries have.

Reply 50

username1862217

OP

15

Original post by tatherton13

My guess would be that it's about the image of the company, certainly in the case of law firms. It appears that it just becomes about bragging rights about how prestigious the firm must be if everyone comes from prestigious universities. Some accountancy firms are likely very similar.

Another shot in the dark is that if bet this is so much worse in the USA. The RG universities seem to be trying to push the comparison to the Ivy League universities in the USA. Not really comparable given the completely different funding systems both countries have.

Do company looks really mean anything more than company performance?

The whole thing just seems backwards.

Reply 51

PQ

21

This thread

I work AT a RG university and I doubt there are more than 10 people working here who could (correctly) name all members of the Russell group. Including the VC who gets to go to the biannual coffee mornings that warrants our membership.

Reply 52

EllisJJohnson

2

Original post by callum_law

That's a lie.

What part, because on league tables loughborough consistently ranks between 13-11, which would mean it either sits directly between the 24 Russel group uni's, or is just even higher than midway.

Reply 53

Original post by PQ

I work AT a RG university and I doubt there are more than 10 people working here who could (correctly) name all members of the Russell group. Including the VC who gets to go to the biannual coffee mornings that warrants our membership.

Just because you clean the toilets at an RG uni doesn't mean you should have a specialist knowledge of what an RG uni is.

Reply 54

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by EllisJJohnson

What part, because on league tables loughborough consistently ranks between 13-11, which would mean it either sits directly between the 24 Russel group uni's, or is just even higher than midway.

The part I italicised and you replied to, maybe.

Not consistently (was ranked 19th in 2012) and the rankings are generally absurd where Loughborough comes ahead of UCL in the CUG, for example. It's an ABB-BBB uni for the most and ranks around the top 2% in the world according to QS and every RG uni is top 1%. It's good, but it's not very good. Bath and St Andrews are the non-RG unis which compete with the RG.

Reply 55

PQ

21

Original post by callum_law

Just because you clean the toilets at an RG uni doesn't mean you should have a specialist knowledge of what an RG uni is.

Well no. But most academic staff wouldn't be able to list half the members - senior management could probably get about 3/4 but will usually list "member" institutions that aren't. HR certainly don't.

The staff with the highest awareness of RG members are those working in marketing (and based on the responses in this thread they're doing a good job convincing applicants that it has any relevance to them).

Reply 56

Original post by PQ

Well no. But most academic staff wouldn't be able to list half the members - senior management could probably get about 3/4 but will usually list "member" institutions that aren't. HR certainly don't.

I agree that most people do not know the full list of RG unis. I get the Scottish ones wrong and the Welshy ones. I just don't follow how working at an RG uni means that you should have a specialist understanding of the members who comprise the RG. Not everyone who works at McDonald's knows how to work the tills; the person who works accounts at head office probably doesn't know what ingredients go into the Filet-O-Fish.

You're really saying that the VC meets with a bunch of 20 other oldies and has coffee with those lot of people twice a year, share stories about their kids, etc, but can't remember which unis they are from? Sounds a little bit of an exaggeration, unless of course the VC has dementia.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 57

Juichiro

Original post by Doctor_Einstein

If it were me, I would google the list of top universities once and print this out to have near me while I l look at the candidate's universities.

Which one? QS rankings? Guardian? CUG?

Reply 58

Doctor_Einstein

19

Original post by Juichiro

Which one? QS rankings? Guardian? CUG?

http://cwur.org/2015/

Reply 59

Juichiro