Kellogg drops requirement for marketers to have degrees

In an attempt to be a more “inclusive” employer, Kellogg is dropping its degree requirements for most areas in the business.

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Kellogg will no longer require its marketers to have a degree, part of a company wide move designed to make it a more “inclusive” employer.

A company spokesperson confirmed to Marketing Week that marketers are part of the change, which means they will no longer have to have an undergraduate degree in any subject to work there. Legal and engineering roles are the only exception.

The business says that a degree “doesn’t always have a correlation” to what an employee can do or achieve.

7 things you can do now to democratise marketingChris Silcock, Kellogg’s UK managing director, said in a statement: “At Kellogg we believe everyone should have a place at the table and by ditching the need to have a degree we hope more people from different backgrounds will consider Kellogg as somewhere for their career, not just those who went to university.”

According to Marketing Week’s 2022 Career and Salary Survey, more than 90% of marketers have at minimum an undergraduate degree, but only 19% studied marketing itself.

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The debate about whether marketers need a degree has been one rumbling for several years. Critics say that the consumer companies that recruit the majority of their young marketers into graduate training trainings schemes are limiting opportunities to prospective marketers.

Some large marketing organisations have tried to become more accessible of late. Diageo, for example, partnered with media agency PHD to offer graduates from the Brixton Finishing School the chance to take part in a one-year rotation across the two companies.

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