Penguin Random House removes degree requirement for job applicants

Penguin Random House UK, one of the world’s largest publishers, has announced that prospective candidates will no longer be required to have a university degree when applying for jobs at the company.

The publisher has removed the degree filter from all job advertisements, descriptions and recruitment processes in the UK with immediate effect, and is now focusing on giving all applicants the chance to demonstrate their potential regardless of academic background. The change in policy has been implemented to open up opportunities in publishing and attract a “more varied candidate pool and future workforce”, a statement said. 

Neil Morrison, the group’s human resources director for UK and international, said that there was growing evidence that there is no simple correlation between having a degree and ongoing performance in work. He added that within the company the brightest talents came from a range of background, not simply top universities.

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“We want to attract the best people to help grow and shape the future of our company, regardless of their background – and that means that we need to think and act differently. Simply, if you’re talented and you have potential, we want to hear from you,” Mr Morrison said. “This is the starting point for our concerted action to make publishing far, far more inclusive than it has been to date. Now, we need to be more visible to talented people across the UK.

“We believe this is critical to our future: to publish the best books that appeal to readers everywhere, we need to have people from different backgrounds with different perspectives and a workforce that truly reflects today’s society.”

Penguin Random House insisted that the move is not designed to dissuade graduates from applying and, if they have gone through higher education, the university at which they studied would not impact their chance of success. The statement also said that only “certain professional qualification” would still be required in specific cases.

john.elmes@tesglobal.com