Penguin Random House UK removes degree requirements in recruiting

Penguin Random House UK today announced it was removing any requirement for a university degree for all new jobs to open up opportunities in publishing and attract a more varied candidate pool and future workforce.

Group HR Director, Neil Morrison, said there was increasing evidence that there is no simple correlation between having a degree and ongoing performance in work and, within Penguin Random House UK, the brightest talents came from a variety of different backgrounds, not just from the top universities.

The publisher has removed the degree filter from all job advertisements, job descriptions and recruitment processes in the UK with immediate effect, and is instead focussing on giving every applicant the opportunity to demonstrate their potential, creativity, strengths and ideas, regardless of their background.

While graduates remain welcome to apply for jobs, not having been through higher education will no longer preclude anyone from joining and progressing their career with Penguin Random House UK - if they have the skills and the potential. The move is also designed to send a clear message to job-seekers who have been through higher education that the university they attended will not impact their chance of success.

Penguin Random House UK has no requirements for A-levels or UCAS points, so academic qualifications will no longer act as a barrier to talented people getting a foot in the door to publishing.  Only certain professional qualifications would still be required in some cases.

Neil Morrison, Group HR Director, UK and international, said: “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.

“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.”

This announcement follows the launch of entry-level programme The Scheme last year in which Penguin Random House UK moved away from traditional recruitment and CVs – asking for only an email address and responses to seven strength-based questions via Tumblr – to encourage people who might never have thought to apply for a role in publishing to think again. Those without a degree performed as well as those with a degree and half of the successful candidates who went onto join the company had not been through higher education.

This change is the first step in Penguin Random House UK’s drive to open up publishing to new talent from a broader range of backgrounds. This year, the publisher will significantly expand The Scheme to reach and recruit people who aren’t actively looking for a career in publishing into editorial positions; roll out a new, consistent approach to work experience to make it easier for candidates from a range of backgrounds and from outside of London to access placements in its offices; train managers on how to avoid ‘unconscious bias’, and launch a new careers website with easy-to-access resources to demystify the publishing process and highlight the skills and strengths needed to succeed in the industry.

Notes to Editors

Penguin Random House UK’s public adverts, short listing requirements and interview processes will only consider formal professional qualifications as a means of deciding on a hire where it is a genuine occupational requirement, such as ACCA, CIMA, LPC or PSC.

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