Recruitment without qualifications

Doris Lessing who won the Nobel Prize for Literature last week never attended University as an undergraduate. I am no big fan of academic qualifications , especially now everyone seems to get Upper Seconds, and I would like to celebrate the City's long tradition of giving people opportunities, regardless of where they were educated. The only criterion is can they make money.

The risk companies face now is that as they no longer need a post room, who would with all the postal strikes and the convenience of email, they are hard pressed to find entry points for street smart kids who could go on, like Martin Sullivan the CEO of AIG, to run the company.

Fear not though, just go round to your local coffee bar and chat to the staff who have come from all over the world to work in the City. Some of them have impressive qualifications, most of them have tremendous motivation. The HR departments should take note.