We've just heard something that makes us wonder once again whether three or more years at university is really going to pay off - at least at the start of a graduate’s career.
Here's the story: a graduate (with a First) got through all six stages of a seriously blue-chip company's seriously difficult graduate recruitment process.
She got a job offer.
Then the offer was withdrawn.
But why?
Apparently, she didn't have enough Ucas points.
But wait - she passed those six pretty gruelling stages of the recruitment process. She learned the techniques of independent learning, and developed the habits of self-motivation at university well enough to earn herself that First ... but said seriously blue-chip company was looking for a candidate with a minimum of 340 Ucas points - and she didn’t have enough of them to qualify.
Pause, while we scratch our head and think about this for a moment.
Does that mean, then, that the company in question is sending out a message that says it doesn't really matter how much you learn at uni ... and it doesn't matter how hard you worked throughout your stay there ... and it doesn't matter how well you do in your finals?
And does that message, instead, say that the company in question places more value on a candidate's A-level results than on what they've achieved after taking those A-levels?
It's not a very inspiring message, is it?
At the moment, we've only heard of this happening once, and that's one time too often. It's a slap in the face for the graduates desperately scrabbling for a suitable graduate position there, and having to jump through increasingly difficult hoops before being given the thumbs-up or, in this case, the thumbs-up ... and then the thumbs-down.
And in the case of this company – but hopefully no others - it makes those applicants who've spent years of their lives preparing for their career wonder whether it's all been a waste of time and thousands upon thousands of pounds that they'll have to pay back somehow.
We so hope this is just an isolated case, and not the tip of a rather scary iceberg.
