EMPLOYERS that recruit only graduates to top jobs are missing out, says the head of corporate projects at Stobart Group.
Speaking at the International Festival of Business in Liverpool, she said that insisting on degrees for many senior positions was “bonkers”.
Ms Willard, who left school in Hertfordshire without taking A-levels, said: “I didn’t do a degree but now I am a director of a FTSE250 company, I chair two regeneration boards and I am a director of the [Liverpool] Everyman and Playhouse Theatres.
“If any of those had made having a degree a prerequisite of employing me, I would not have had any of those jobs.”
Ms Willard has worked for Stobart Group - which owns Carlisle Airport - since 2009. She divides her time between Carlisle and London.
She added: "As an employer I made a conscious decision that I would never engage on an employment process that had a prerequisite that someone needed a degree.
"Doing a degree is a particular prism and a particular journey – it is not a prerequisite to confidence, success or making a sensible contribution to society."
She was addressing a session on diversity in the workplace.
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