?All MEN ARE CREATED equal.?
Coined by Thomas Jefferson, this statement echoes throughout the centuries to make a case for the inherent equality of men. Yet, is such ideal really practiced, especially in employment? We explored recruitment preferences to explore this question.
The Big 3
Job ads for entry-level managerial position posted in the Internet, newspaper and job magazines were examined. Out of the 147 gathered job ads, 37 percent implicitly expressed preference for particular schools, stating they are looking for graduates of ?reputable or prestigious? schools.
Another 7 percent expressed explicit preference favoring applicants from particular schools namely Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University and the University of Philippines. Some ads also included University of Santo Tomas and University of Asia and the Pacific in their roster of preferred schools.
Interviews with managers and HR officers showed that these schools are preferred on the basis of the company?s good experience with the graduates of these schools who are currently or have worked for the company in the past.
In some cases, executives and managers give specific instructions that they want to hire graduates of certain schools for certain positions. Their preference also stems from the performance of applicants in the company?s recruitment processes such as interviews and tests.
Graduates of the Big 3 usually top pre-employment exams and do exceptionally well in interviews. They say that limiting their pool of applicants is an efficient way of getting the best applicants.
The bottom line
There are thousands of graduates every year looking for jobs, and some are rejected by companies not because there are no jobs available but because they think these graduates are not good enough.
This kind of practice in recruitment perpetuates the gap between classes, particularly between those who can afford premium education and those who cannot. Oftentimes, those who attend these reputable schools are those who can pay for the astronomically high tuition fees of these schools.
Thus, those who graduate from these schools are deemed more competent and qualified for entry-level managerial positions which open opportunities for higher paying jobs.
On one hand, the results pose a challenge to schools that are deemed prestigious to maintain the quality of their education. On the other, the challenge to non-reputable schools would be to improve their education to ensure the competitiveness of their graduates. They may wish to build their niche in areas they are strong in and promote that to employers.
This kind of discrimination works to the advantage of graduates of premiere universities. They have better job opportunities and can easily penetrate the corporate ladder. Graduates of non-reputable schools, meanwhile, find it difficult to penetrate the corporate world. However, it is not a hopeless case for these graduates.
Some managers mentioned that they hire honor students from non-reputable schools since they are as competent as those who graduated from premier universities. If a student from a regular college will study hard and receive honors, companies will give her resumé a second look.
These graduates will need to exert extra effort to be noticed and to get a chance to contend with reputable school graduates in the job market.
(R. Ortega is currently finishing her Master?s Degree in Counseling Psychology at the Ateneo. C. Drilon is a medical student at the Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health. A. Mier is also pursuing medicine in UST. For feedback about this article please e-mail ateneocord@admu.edu.ph)
