Högre utbildning, behövs det? : - En diskursanalys om högre utbildnings funktion och betydelse i rekryteringsprocessen

Sammanfattning: This essay presents a study on the function and meaning of higher education within the context of recruitment. The attention was directed towards how employers perceives the role of higher education in the process of recruiting new staff for human resources and recruitment positions and in particular toward the sense making of the relationship between higher education and the persons supposed to be recruited. The empirical data concocted of six semi- structured interviews with employers from five different recruitments and staffing companies in Stockholm. Theoretically the study draws on Foucault’s work on discourse and power. The analysis showed that employers prescribed jobseekers with a higher education degree certain kinds of attributes and personal properties. A person with a higher education was viewed as ambitious, driven, instructive, knowledgeable, analytical and source-critical. On the other hand, a person with a higher education was also connected to less advantageous personal properties and attributes such as being too flexible, difficult to shape, too eager and too development-focused. A higher education was in general considered to be beneficial in the recruitment process but was not always a formal requirement.  The role of higher education in the recruitment process was also played in relation to work experience and personality. Higher education was sometimes valued as much as a few years of relevant work experience. However, higher education was considered to be subordinate personality in the recruitment process. How employers view higher education and people with higher education can affect the outcome of the recruitment process in many different ways. Among other things it can be a deceive factor in who that actually gets the position as well as the future career paths of those who already are employed.