Source: Alamy

Courting ritual: top firms schmooze students who are ¡®the right social fit¡¯

Interviews with students at the University of Oxford and Sciences Po in Paris have shown just how important informal networks and connections are in securing top jobs.

The ¡°old boy network¡± has long been blamed for giving those from certain institutions a leg-up in the labour market, but research lays bare the ¡°recruitment courting ritual¡± of drinks, dinners and schmoozing that allows students at elite institutions to enter top firms ¨C so long as they are the right ¡°social or cultural fit¡±.

Researchers interviewed 20 final-year undergraduates studying either philosophy, politics and economics or history at Oxford, and another 20 taking master¡¯s degrees in political administration at Sciences Po.

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Their responses show that networks and connections ¡°play a very important role in finding employment¡±, according to a paper that was expected to be delivered at the British Sociological Association¡¯s Work, Employment and Society Conference, held from 3 to 5 September at the University of Warwick.

It found that students from both universities realise that certain finance, consulting and law firms only target recruitment activity at a?limited number of institutions.

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The students interviewed say that while this is partly because the firms believe they are targeting the most able students, it also means that their recruits possess a ¡°social or cultural fit in order to work successfully¡± within the organisations.

¡°Firms organise social events where companies and students ¡®meet¡¯ each other. These meetings breed familiarity to both parties, through interaction as well as homogeneity leading to a sort of recruitment courting ritual,¡± says the paper, The Role of Networks and Connections in Educational Elites¡¯ Labour Market Entrance.

According to Tim, one of the interviewees from Oxford, firms put on ¡°dinners, workshop days, drinks receptions, they email you once every two weeks, they try and build relationships with you¡­last week¡­I think that I paid [for] my own dinner once¡±.

These employers effectively ¡°discriminate¡± against ¡°non-elite¡± students, according to the paper.

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In many cases, academics act as ¡°informal gatekeepers of labour market connections¡± and put students in touch with useful alumni or companies.

The extent of the use of networks and connections ¡°seems to compromise the idea that elite labour markets use graduates from elite educational institutions solely because of their superior human capital (which would yield higher productivity)¡±, the paper concludes.

¡®Right circles¡¯

But some students from elite institutions are unable to capitalise despite the networks.

The research recounts the story of Andrew, an Oxford student from a lower middle-class background who wants to pursue a career in the media.

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Despite understanding the importance of the ¡°right internships¡± and moving in the ¡°right circles¡±, he could not afford to live in London while taking unpaid work experience.

¡°I don¡¯t think that I have made [the] sort of¡­networks that will help me in my career,¡± he laments.

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The paper was authored by Gerbrand Tholen, a postdoctoral fellow at Oxford, Phillip Brown and Sally Power, both professors from Cardiff University, and Annabelle Allouch, a graduate student at Sciences Po.

david.matthews@tsleducation.com