Michael Donnelly
The field of graduate recruitment: leading financial and consultancy firms and elite class formation
Donnelly, Michael; Gamsu, Sol
Abstract
The symbolic value of being recruited by a high status multinational company likely represents an important marker of distinction. For the first time, a unique Destinations of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE) data‐set is used here to model entry to elite multinational company in finance, accountancy and consultancy sectors among graduates of different social origins, universities, degree subjects and with different degree classifications. From a sample of 11,755 graduates working across these three sectors, we examine what predicts entry to 33 leading firms and then examine pay hierarchies among the 3,260 graduates working for these companies using random‐effects models. At first glance, significantly, we find that elite recruits come from a much broader range of universities than might be imagined. However, a closer look at the highest paid graduates within these firms reveals more familiar patterns of social and institutional stratification. We argue that these patterns likely reflect the nature of work undertaken by graduates in these elite firms, with institutional and social origins of graduates differing according to the particular track taken in what are likely to be highly differentiated graduate recruitment schemes.
Citation
Donnelly, M., & Gamsu, S. (2019). The field of graduate recruitment: leading financial and consultancy firms and elite class formation. British Journal of Sociology, 70(4), 1374-1401. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12659
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Feb 22, 2019 |
Online Publication Date | Mar 24, 2019 |
Publication Date | Aug 30, 2019 |
Deposit Date | Feb 28, 2019 |
Publicly Available Date | Mar 24, 2021 |
Journal | British Journal of Sociology |
Print ISSN | 0007-1315 |
Electronic ISSN | 1468-4446 |
Publisher | Wiley |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 70 |
Issue | 4 |
Pages | 1374-1401 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12659 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1307072 |
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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Donnelly, Michael & Gamsu, Sol (2019). The field of graduate recruitment: leading financial and consultancy firms and elite class formation. The British Journal of Sociology 70(4): 1374-1401 which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12659. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
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