First went the bowler hats. Then the filofax. Now the very demographic of the Square Mile is said to be changing.
Gone are the days when they’d only let you into the ring of steel if your voice registered as ‘braying’ on special monitoring equipment, and you could draw on the influence of ‘daddy’ if it did not.
Financial recruitment firm Jonathan Wren have done a study (or, considering their raison d’etre, just read some simple numbers off their database). They’ve found a ‘20% increase in female and overseas workers’ in the City over the past five years. And the qualifications are changing too.
In the past a strong non-related degree from a good university may well have been enough to get most new recruits through the door of a City establishment.
Today, it takes much more. With the baffling array of swing doors, revolving doors, push/pull doors and open-plan atria of modern City architecture, a BTEC in advanced portal opening is also required.
Oh…hang on, no. We misunderstood for mild comedy effect:
But today graduates hoping to enter the Square Mile with a non-related degree will find it tough when they’re up against competitors who have not one, but maybe two, relevant qualifications.
It’s not stated whether a ‘Degree from the university of life’ would be considered.