Your interactive guide to the graduate jobs market.

Articles

Do not despair if all you have is a 2:2 degree

by Do not despair if all you have is a 2:2 degree

What can you do with a 2:2? The received wisdom is that in today’s competitive employment market graduates need a 2:1 degree just to get a job interview, never mind a first step towards that dream career. But is this really the case?

For Kathryn Mycock, a City lawyer, a 2:2 is no barrier to success. As a solicitor with Royal London Insurance asset management department, she completed her training contract with flying colours despite narrowly missing out on an upper second at the London School of Economics.

She says: “When my results came through I was disappointed, to put it bluntly. I thought my life was over and I would never get another interview with a law firm.”

Mycock decided that if she could not find an employer to sponsor her postgraduate training she would fund her LPC (legal practitioner certificate) at BPP Law School herself. After qualifying she went for an administrative position in the legal department of Royal London. Within months she had proved herself and was offered a training contract. She believes that the effort to win her place has made her even more determined to succeed. “I’m happy here and by starting in a more junior position I got to know the business better. I’m now earning between £30,000 and £40,000.”

Mycock’s success shows how much personality and ambition count, even in a profession as exclusive and as academically oriented as the law. The tendency for employers to demand a 2:1 is in part a practical response to overwhelming numbers of applicants, a blunt instrument for thinning out the pack. The entry requirement of a 2:1 can be found right across the board from medicine to the media, retail, financial services, construction and engineering but is more prevalent among bigger firms with graduate entry schemes. Small and medium enterprises will usually take a more pragmatic approach.

Viv Dykstra, director of the recruitment company Graduate Solutions, says: “Banks will take people with 2:2s, especially for roles in areas such as compliance or in-house accounting. But for revenue-generating roles it has to be a 2:1. I’m afraid.”

The same is true of construction companies. Guy Lambert, of the housebuilder Countryside Properties, says: “One of the commonest concerns reported in the business is the standard of report writing with recent graduates. We find those with a 2:1 are generally stronger in this area.”

Kevin Smith, managing director of Non-Stop Recruitment, reckons that what counts in business is attitude. He says: “We look for a down-to-earth attitude and the ability to take criticism and learn from it.” Smith is living proof that business success is down to a positive attitude. He says failure to complete his university degree was the making of him.

“I have worked in Pizza Hut and Burger King and I have built up a multimillion-pound business from sheer hard work.” Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, runs graduate entry schemes for 17 of its UK business units. In all but two areas, buying and merchandising, the requirement is for a 2:1 because the back office functions tend to attract academic high-flyers. Graduates with a 2:2 can still join Tesco through its mainstream store management recruitment programmes, which are open to people with A levels.

So what makes a candidate with a 2:2 stand out? Graduate recruitment manager Lucy Hoyle explains: “We look on people’s CVs for evidence of passion for retailing. Determination and a experience of working in an environment like a shop, a bar or a restaurant — anywhere where you have to communicate with people.”

Low mark, high life

Top of the rich lists and one of the most influential entrepreneurs of the 20th century, Bill Gates failed to complete his computing degree at Harvard. On a summer vacation job in 1975 he met his future business partner Paul Allen and decided to start a small business — Microsoft.

Tony Blair still struts his stuff on the world stage but the Fettes College and Oxford-educated barrister is no dull academic as his second-class honours in jurisprudence suggests. A spell as front man for the student combo Ugly Rumours followed by a stint as a rock music promoter was enough to persuade the young Blair that his talents were wasted on the music industry. He joined a barristers’ chambers, the Labour Party and then stood as a Member of Parliament.

The former Countdown presenter Carol Vorderman, left, has a third in engineering from the University of Cambridge. She might still be hanging out with girl band Dawn Chorus and the Blue Tits, if her mother had not spotted a newspaper advert asking for a “woman with good mathematical skills” to co-host a new quiz show for Channel 4 and applied on her behalf. It was a winning formula.

Stephen Hoare

Comments (5):
anonymous
Report a concern
Sephi posted:
Esteban posted:Ahh the 2.1 requirement. It's absurd how a dumb 2.1 media studies student from a terrible uni who has picked the easiest module choices is considered more valuable than a high 2.2 (extenuating circumstances) maths graduate from a top uni, who has selected hard modules in his/her degree. *****Tell me about it. I am that maths graduate and it is driving me up the wall =(
Posted 1 day ago     report a concern
anonymous
Report a concern
Matthew Maragh posted:
I graduated with a 2:2 in Business Information Technology in 2007, I thought it was the end. After some travelling in 2007-2008. I decided to go back and study for my Masters in Computing. I then took an Internship in Barcelona. It's what you make of it here. Remember Bill Gates dropped out!!
Posted 1 week ago     report a concern
anonymous
Report a concern
Esteban posted:
Ahh the 2.1 requirement. It's absurd how a dumb 2.1 media studies student from a terrible uni who has picked the easiest module choices is considered more valuable than a high 2.2 (extenuating circumstances) maths graduate from a top uni, who has selected hard modules in his/her degree.
Posted 3 weeks ago     report a concern
anonymous
Report a concern
Malachi posted:
"Tesco, runs graduate entry schemes for 17 of its UK business units. In all but two areas, buying and merchandising, the requirement is for a 2:1 because the back office functions tend to attract academic high-flyers"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Buying and merchandising actually require a 2:1 degree.

As someone who has a high 2:2 from a top 5 uni in engineering I can say that a 'desmond' isnt worth the paper its written on . You are ruled out of 95% of the schemes which is a joke considering a 2:1 in media studies from an old polytechnic uni is eligible for all these positions. Despite having all the 'transferable skills' bs from extra curricular activites during and outside uni etc you just cant get a look in with a 2:2.
Posted 2 months ago     report a concern
anonymous
Report a concern
Jason posted:
I know a friend who is on track for a 2.2 and is very worried about how they're going to use it. The article above shows that there are always exceptions to the (unwritten!) rule. People should build upon their soft skills and extra-curricular activities so that a degree grade is not everything an employer will see.
Posted 3 months ago     report a concern
 Page: 1 
Submit your own comment:
read guidelines

Please note: You’ll be asked to log in or register if you haven’t done so, before your comment goes through for submission. Also your comment will be moderated before it appears on - this process usually takes a few minutes or so.

Leave a comment
Your name:
Your answer:
I agree to the terms and conditions

Sign up to Graduate Career

The latest graduate jobs direct to your inbox!
Q&A
What career options available, benefit of a masters?
242
Posted 2 months ago
05/09/2010 15:28
by Mr Patrick Niss
what can i do??? HELP!
727
Posted 3 months ago
15/06/2010 13:34
by lookonday kaunda
After many failed attempts to gain an interview during my final year at Aston studying Marketing, I ...
491
Posted 2 months ago
09/06/2010 21:45
by Lucy
More about the hosts
Graduatecareer.com is a joint venture from Milkround.com and The Times:
 
The UK's most widely-used graduate website in 2008 & 2009, according to the UK Graduate Careers Survey, High Fliers Research
 
The latest graduate articles and advice from The Times, plus job listings.




Unsubscribe from Graduatecareer



Enter your email address and click submit to be removed from the Graduatecareer database:

Email:


close [x]

Sign up to Graduatecareer


Be first to know about updates to Graduatecareer and get job alerts from partner sites The Times and Milkround.com:

First name:
Surname:
Email:
Who are you:
 
Please check this box if you would like to receive further news and updates from Milkround Online Limited
Please check this box if you would like to receive further news and updates from Times Newspapers Limited
Please see our Privacy Policy.


close [x]