Watch: employees blocked from top jobs by 'poshness test'

Updated
Not Posh Enough for the Job?
Not Posh Enough for the Job?


The results of a recent report show that firms are excluding people from working-class backgrounds from top class jobs.

Alan Milburn, chairman of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, has accused firms of putting a 'poshness test' in place, saying that the system has been rigged in favour of those with a privileged background, ITV reports.

In this footage, business Correspondent, Helia Ebrahimi, explains that the reality is that those with a posh background are better at persuading you to give them a job in the first place but with so much talent around, large firms need to insure that they are not just hiring people in their own image.

The report says that recruitment for top law firms included 40% from fee paying schools while accountancy firms highlight the issue with results showing they hire 70% of their intake from fee paying or selective schools.

According to the Guardian the commission looked at the recruitment processes of 13 elite firms including law, accountancy and financial companies who between them award nearly 45,000 of the best jobs in the country. ​

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) take on as many as 1,500 young people every year which makes them the biggest graduate employer in Britain.

Accountancy firms are the ones highlighted in the report and know they have a lot of changes to make.

Gaenor Bagley, Head of People, PWC, says: "I think there is more we can to try and actively look for more inclusion and more variety in who we're recruiting and that takes effort. This is hard and this is a societal issue that children from certain backgrounds do better at school."

Gaenor claims that PWC stands out from the crowd, stating that only 30% of last year's intake came from private schools, however she also agrees with the findings of the report, saying: "There's always more that we can do."

Matthew Jones, Principal ARK Globe Academy, London, said: "What's interesting if you look at independent school's succession into top universities or any university, it around about 98%. Now, locally for us we're way under 10% of students accessing those careers and those universities. We've just got to make sure we're giving them the same chances and same opportunities that any child has at a great independent school."


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