Millions of young people are “locked out” of professional careers because employers put too much faith in traditional CVs, the former social mobility tsar said today.
Leading companies and law firms tend to pick up only the CVs of people with Russell Group university degrees, private school education and whose parents were also professionals, said Alan Milburn, chairman of the Social Mobility Foundation.
Research from the foundation revealed that firms tend to ignore talented people whose CV does not tick certain boxes.
Findings include:
- Applicants with Asian or African-sounding names had to send twice as many job applications as those with a “British” name to get an interview. Women were also less likely to be invited to interview than men.
- People from a wealthier background are nearly 80 per cent more likely to secure professional jobs than those from a working-class background.
- Government bodies take almost eight in 10 hires from the 24 universities in the elite Russell Group. Among law firms, the proportion is higher, although only half of applicants studied at Russell Group institutions.
- On average, employers hired graduates from only a quarter of the UK’s 131 universities.
Launching a campaign called CVs Aren’t Working, Mr Milburn said: “How employers recruit is exacerbating the social mobility problem.
"By focusing on a small number of selective universities and fee-paying schools they are locking out talent.
"By taking practical steps to revise how they recruit, employers can open their doors to a far wider pool of potential.”
The campaign is circulating a toolkit for hirers.
