Why Deloitte has decided to keep quiet about where you went to university

Deloitte has pledged to stop recruiters discovering where candidates went to school or university in a bid to stop ‘unconscious bias’ against people from underprivileged backgrounds.

The professional services giant said interviewers will be denied background information on education from now on until an offer is made.

Bosses hope to rid the firm of its reputation for favouring those from the top universities and elite schools and instead ‘ensure that the talent pool is diverse’.

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Law firms including Ashurst and Baker & McKenzie have piloted the scheme, which was designed by recruitment agency Rare and will be used by up to 20 companies.
It allows them to access exam results of 3,500 schools and 2.5million postcodes.

But Alan Smithers, professor of education at Buckingham University, questioned whether the policy was the best way to spot real talent.

He said: ‘There’s an element of social engineering here because they’re responding to pressure from people like The Sutton Trust that has been taken up by politicians.

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