Is this discriminating against graduates?

[Custard Test]

Ok, I work in HR and have for some time but have never come across this before.

A company is advertising for an Office Manager but insists on a 2:1 from a Red Brick university.

Now surely this is a form of discrimination as someone with good solid experience and with a degree/professional qualification could surely do the job as well but I presume they would not be considered at the initial stage.

I would really appreciate your thoughts as I am truly at a loss and would like to understand. (GA good HR Lady...always seeking knowledge!)

[strudel]

They can do what they like. Whether they get who they want is their problem.

[siscar]

There is nothing wrong with that, plenty of vacancies have academic requirements and nobody sensible views a degree from the University of somewhere you've never heard of as being as good as Oxbridge or other top level universities.

[plasticpig]

Stupid thing to put in an advert IMHO. A strict definition of "Red Brick" would only include 6 universities. So it's discriminating against Oxford, Cambridge, LSE graduates as well.

[Custard Test]

plasticpig said:

Stupid thing to put in an advert IMHO. A strict definition of "Red Brick" would only include 6 universities. So it's discriminating against Oxford, Cambridge, LSE graduates as well.

Absolutly.

I simply don't understand it.

[Engineer1]

Probably there to help weed out candidates, I woudl have thought it's worth a punt applying even if I only had a Desmond from a red brick or a 2:1 from a lesser uni, they may not find their definition of ideal candidate matches their ideal candidates idea of an ideal job.
The pisstake is Tesco etc demanding 2:1 and above for graduate schemes ignoring the difficulty or relevance of the course, is a 2:1 in art history as useful a gauge as a 2:2 in business studies?

[anonymous-user]

it is not a form of discrimination that would come under the UK's (wide & varied) anti-discrimination laws. It does sound like a badly written advert though.

[Dupont666]

it a crock of crap (sorry for the language) but i was refused an interview for not having a degree from a red brick, but the same place wanted me to turn up for a interview for a job managing the person for the job i had be turned down for.... strange and they wondered why i said no.

[sleep envy]

at the moment I'm finding that employers are trying to cherry pick the cream of the candidates with unreasonable offers

whilst they are entitled to do this they are setting ridiculously unrealistic targets for themselves which they will rarely achieve

[Engineer1]

Of course cherry picking is fine provided they don't underpay, otherwise your new employees who are over qualified will bail as soon as the job market picks up enough that people start hiring again.