【英语生活】工作十年了大学成绩还重要？ Does my degree matter now I am mid-career?

I was thinking of changing jobs and I went online to apply to one of the big five consulting firms. I was put off by the first question: what grade had I achieved for my degree? I have more than 10 years’ experience, two master’s degrees, several professional certificates and enough to show professionally. I just don’t feel it should matter whether you worked hard at university when you’re mid-career — or even in your first job. Do you agree? Consultant, male, 36

Lucy’s answer

I do agree. The class of degree a student gets at university is a feeble indicator of what sort of consultant they are going to turn into.

That is partly because the grade could be due to one of two very different things. A high (or low) mark might mean the person is very bright (or quite dim).

Equally, it could mean they spent their student years slogging their guts out (or not lifting a finger). But even if an employer knew which one, it still wouldn’t be much the wiser. This is because academic intelligence doesn’t translate well into career success. I often marvel at the way that some of the most intelligent people I know are not only feeble at their jobs, but often seem gormless professionally.

Even if the result reflected hard graft (or lack of it) that still doesn’t prove that such slogging would continue into paid employment.

Most of us work much harder at some points in our lives than others. I know lots of people who idled their way through university and have been Stakhanovites ever since.

A couple of years ago I did a test of my Financial Times colleagues (most of whom I know very well), guessing the class of degree they had received. Not only was I rotten at predicting who got what, there was not necessarily a correlation between the best degrees and the finest journalists.

Yet despite all this I don’t think that the question is quite as idiotic as you evidently do. Or at least I don’t think it is as idiotic as the other questions that I suspect were on the form.

I bet they asked you to describe situations in which you showed leadership, or asked you to waffle on about creativity. At least a grade is a fact, and one that employers can process as they choose.

It’s possible that they didn’t want to hear that you got a top degree at all.

A couple of years ago the scientist Lord Winston announced that he only hired people with 2:1s. Anyone who did better than that, he reasoned, hadn’t spent enough time at university turning into the sort of broad, curious person he was looking for. As an aside, it is obvious from your question that you didn’t get a first (neither did I).

In my experience, the people who did are more than happy to tell employers — or anyone at all — just how well they did in perpetuity.

我在考虑换一份工作，于是我在线申请了五大咨询公司之一的职位。第一个问题就让我心生反感：我获得了什么等级的学位？我有超过10年的工作经验，两个硕士学位，几张专业证书，也足可证明自己的专业能力。我只是觉得，作为一个处于职业生涯中期的人，或者哪怕是找第一份工作的时候，你在大学里是否努力学习不应该这么重要。你同意吗？

咨询师，男，36岁

露西的回答

我的确同意。一个学生在大学里获得什么等级的学位对于他们会变成什么样的咨询师并不是一个有力的指标。

部分原因是，拿到什么等级的学位可能有两种截然不同的原因。高分（或者低分）可能意味着这个人非常聪明（或者相当蠢笨）。

但这也可能意味着他在大学期间拼命学习（或者无所事事）。但即使雇主知道是哪一种原因，这种做法也说不上多么明智。这是因为，在学术方面的智慧不一定会转化为事业上的成功。我经常惊叹于我认识的一些最聪明的人不仅在工作上干得并不出色，且在专业表现上还常常显得呆头呆脑的。

即使分数反映出他们在学校下了苦功（或者没下苦功），这也不能证明这种刻苦会在有偿的工作岗位中延续下去。

我们大多数人在人生的某些时候会比别人更刻苦努力。我认识很多在大学里混日子而在毕业后成为工作狂的人。

几年前，我对我在英国《金融时报》的同事（其中大多数人我都非常了解）做了一个小测试，猜测他们获得了什么等级的学位。我不仅猜的一塌糊涂，而且最优秀等级的学位和最好的记者之间也不见得有什么关联。

然而，尽管如此，我不认为这个问题像你想的那么愚蠢。或者，至少我不认为这个问题和我估计表格上会有的其他问题一样愚蠢。

我敢打赌，他们会要求你描述你在哪些情况下展现了领导力，或者要求你大谈一番创造力。至少，学位等级是一个事实，而且是雇主在挑人时可以参考的一个事实。

有可能他们根本不想听到你拿到了一个第一等的学位。

几年前，科学家罗伯特?温斯顿勋爵(Lord Robert Winston)宣布，他只雇佣拿到二等一级学位的人。他的理由是，任何学位等级比这高的人，都没有在大学里花足够的时间变成他在寻找的那种涉猎广泛、好奇心强的人。顺便一提，从你的问题可以看出，显然你没有获得一等学位（我也没有）。

根据我的经验，那些拿到一等学位的人永远都万分情愿告诉雇主，或者任何人，他们从来都干得多么出色。

译者/许雯佳