M&S and Amazon Bet on Potential Over College Degrees

Britain has not had this many young people locked out of work in over a decade. The number not in education, employment or training (NEET) has passed one million, a level last seen in 2013.

"We are at risk of a lost generation," warns Alan Milburn, the former UK Health Secretary, whose government review into the crisis reported last month that young people are becoming detached from work and study altogether.

Employers and the government have responded by pouring money into the same narrow place, the first job, and Marks and Spencer (M&S) is the latest.

M&S's Not Just Any Career scheme will train 1,000 people aged 18 to 24 across the UK and Ireland with no degree required, six months of shop-floor management training that can lead to a store manager's role. It is a serious offer, and one entry in a fast-filling field.

Days before, Amazon pledged to quadruple its UK supported-internship programme to more than 1,000 places for young people with autism and learning disabilities, part of a US$1bn global retraining commitment.

"Amazon couldn't find enough skilled people for the roles we need", says John Boumphrey, Amazon UK Country Manager, so it decided "we're going to develop them ourselves".

The credential is optional, the test is not

Strip out the degree and the real question becomes how to spot promise without it. The signals that matter are the ones a candidate cannot fake, the instinct to pay attention in the moment and connect with a stranger, which is the actual job on a shop floor.

Some 85% of UK employers now use skills-based hiring methods, up from 56% in 2022, and half have dropped degree requirements from job adverts. 

"Retail is one of the few careers where you can start young, learn fast and lead teams early," says Thinus Keeve, Retail Director at M&S, who argues that "you do not need a degree to succeed here; you need attitude, energy, resilience and the willingness to learn". 

Laura Thomson-Staveley, a Future-Skills Consultant at Phenomenal Training, says employers are leaning on group exercises rather than solo screen-based tests.

"I'm hearing more clients use group social exercises to assess," says Laura, because they show "in an instant what can't be faked". 

Why a dropped degree changes less than it seems

There is reason for caution. A study by Harvard Business School and the Burning Glass Institute found that while most firms claim to hire for skills, fewer than one in 700 hires actually changes once a degree requirement comes off an advert.

What actually decides whether a scheme works is duller. It comes down to the quality of mentoring, whether store managers are trained to develop a young recruit rather than merely roster one and whether the support outlasts launch day.

Six in 10 young people who are NEET today have never held a job, up from four in 10 in 2005, so many arrive without the everyday habits of work that earlier cohorts absorbed on the way in. A six-month scheme has to build those from scratch or it achieves little.

M&S itself can point to a track record. Its 20-year Marks and Start partnership has moved 14,000 people into work, proof it can run a pipeline when it commits to one.

The real question is whether the wider rush of pledges turns into jobs or just press releases. A million young people will find out which.