I hear that the BBC will no longer be asking for details of 'qualifications' on a job-applicant's CV. The Socialist-heavy corporation has decided that it has too many well qualified, ex-Oxbridge intellectuals, and it needs to dumb-down and diversify.
There is, of course, good argument for employing those who are simply good at their job, but to purposefully exclude those who are also 'well educated' seems to me like cutting off one's own feet.
I have no personal knowledge of the interior workings of the BBC, but I do know that I actively prefer meritocracy to purposeful dumbing-down. Could you imagine the words 'Ivy League alumni need not apply' attached to a top-job advert in the US? Of course not!
The only person I know who worked for 'Aunty' was my old school friend AY. At school he was mostly interested in drama and the plastic arts, then went on to receive a poor degree (a Desmond) in Law from a non-Oxbridge university. He later became the Creative Director of the BBC and presented their 'Arena' arts programme. I am trying to imagine a less knowledgeable (or even a better qualified) person than A doing the job; I can't. He fitted-in into his role perfectly, and his non-Oxbridge education played little part in his obvious success.
However, finding the very best person for any job should always be the aim. Ideally people aspiring to fill the country's top positions will be well educated (at Oxbridge if needs be), have a bucket-full of common sense, and will know his/her subject inside-out.
I hope that never changes. If it does; we're lost.
The old Yorkshire ruse of shouting down a mine shaft, saying that the first eleven men up will be playing cricket for The County on Saturday, may have worked in theory; but best not try it.
The difference between BBC and Austrian ORF is that you simply show your Socialist Party membership card to get a job at ORF. Maybe BBC is planning to go down that road?
ReplyDeleteI think they already did. They've done away with the non-Socialists, now they want to do away with the educated (but I suppose it's almost the same thing).
DeleteWhat ?
DeleteYou heard!
DeleteI must be missing your point here and for that I apologise but it appears the BBC aren't excluding the 'educated', they are merely saying your degree won't put you ahead of those might be more suited to the position. It's giving everybody a shot at the job. It's up to the applicant to show he/she is the best person for it.
ReplyDeleteDon't believe everything you hear or read. They definitely have an agenda, and that is to rid the BBC of anyone who's been to Oxbridge, Eton, Fettes, etc. The BBC has been infiltrated by hard-left-wingers who wish to use the airwaves as a propaganda mouthpiece.
DeleteAt least, that's how it appears.
We call it diversity here and our ABC is always scrambling to increase diversity. That is racial, sexual, sex, education, background (class). Unfortunately any animals in front of microphone have not been overly good communicators. Despite my attempt at wit, I think it is probably a good thing.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely a good thing as long as it's not politically biased. They know only too well that the better educated you are, the more you are likely to vote Tory; and they don't like it.
DeleteThe BBC stinks and that is all I can think to say on the matter.
ReplyDeleteOnce they have control, it's almost impossible to get rid of them. The UK needs to be very vigilant.
DeleteToo late. The rot set in years ago.
DeleteYou hit the nail 0on the head with your reference to common sense, sadly it doesn't appear to be so common.
ReplyDeleteLessons in Common Sense should replace RE in schools.
DeleteI have not heard of that Yorkshire ruse before Cro. I don;t know how you find the best man for the job - perhaps the best method would be a couple of months trial.
ReplyDeleteI think it was Geoff Boycott's way of saying that all Yorkshiremen were better cricketers than elsewhere!
DeleteA couple of months is fine if the tax payer is paying, a couple of days should be enough.
DeleteOur son worked for the Beeb for ten years ..... he has a degree in music and also did sound and production in Islington. When he went for the interview there were 500 applicants and he got the job !!! He left the BBC about five years ago and is now freelance .... far more lucrative but his time at the BBC stood him in good stead re CV and contacts !!! XXXX
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like he got the job because he was the most suitable, regardless of whether he mentioned his degree or not.
DeleteI think what you are describing is what we call in the US a "blind" application. It's a way to pre-empt institutional bias, usually self-identified; in this case maybe the BBC has sussed that they give too much weight to certain credentials which, in practice, are not good indicators of job performance. In some US corporations, the names of the applicants are obscured so as to not prejudice applicants with female or "foreign" names. At some point, however, you have to do a personal interview, and there's no accounting for taste when everyone comes face-to-face.
ReplyDeleteWhen I trained as an horologist many years ago, I was lucky to have a short internship at the British Museum, where I was tutored by the head Keeper of the most historic watches and clocks in the collection. In the Watch World, this guy was a huge deal. And it turns out that he was entirely self-taught, having started out as a vacuum cleaner repair person when he discovered that he had an aptitude for gears and such. I thought that was marvelous, and how a true meritocracy should work. I was , however, dismayed when it came to our elevenses -- he made the most god-awful tea.
I'm not quite sure what one would write on a CV these days. It's certainly not PC to write male or female, black or white, or even one's age. There's not a lot left other than one's qualifications, and if they're going to disallow that......
DeleteIt'a all over.
ReplyDeleteI've been a nurse for years. Finally have enough seniority that I should be able to move to the coveted day surgery and outpatients wards.
Erm no. Suddenly it's all about "diversity in the workplace" and "how well you interview" "skills and seniority don't really matter".
So, now we are having nurses with minimal experience who interview well being given day surgery jobs, where you need experience in assessment and decision making in post op care being passed over for young nurses who failed on the floors and need to get off nights.
Instead us older nurses are now being told or "skills and expertise" is needed on the wards.
After two decades of shift work, I'd love to move to a day ward but I don't interview well and I'm not culturally diverse.
I could tell you the solution, but I'd probably be arrested.
DeleteI'll risk it. Black or brown your skin. Chop a leg off and become queer as a two speed walking stick.
DeleteWell I had 3 years in R&D working for South African Government and Anglo American in RSA in the early 1980s and then 3 years working for De Beers in NAmibia in the late 1980s. I then did an MBA so I am an overqualified facist engineer, or someone who just had to go overseas for a job and then came back to do another degree in order to get a job in the UK. Then I get a job due to an intro from my wife, the world moves in mysterious ways, usually rewarding contacts and ignoring professional virtue. Make of it what you will
ReplyDeleteIt's a funny old world. The more qualified you become, the more your qualifications are ignored.
DeleteI say cary on as normal, but others have noticed the old bias toward jobs for the boys - literally. If organisations like the BBC take no notice of qualifications, then what is the point of a student spending £9000 a year minimum to obtain them? Personally, I would dearly love all our cherished institutions to be governed by an elite. I really mean that.
ReplyDeleteI want the very best qualified person for all jobs, whether that be a doctor, pilot, or BBC executive.
Delete