Is it just me or does he play the "Sob story" card every finale?

If they don't have qualifications and started from scratch for instance...

There was that girl that worked in Asda and came from nothing way back in Series 3?

Then the young Jewish kid that had never previously ventured into the Business World...

I'm sure posters can help me out here......?

Aren't these supposed to be business decisions as opposed to personal... ie who you can relate to most and find endearing..

You just know if not for Stella, it'd have been Joanna in the final, he sparred her because it'd have looked to obvious ... does the man simply not like the privately educated (people that got it right first time?)

Bump.

I assume you meant those parentheses as an and or a slash?

Simon Ambrose won in 2007 and he was a posh public school-boy and a Cambridge graduate.

Yes but again, he was the underdog, trait common in all the winners.

I wouldnt put to much credence in the sob story angle , there just there as tv producers think thats what makes good tv , there never 100% true ,if true at all !

So why does he almost always opt for the person with the lesser qualifications?

So he wont feel inferior to them

As to Stella "homeless on the streets" story , even she looked guilty when nodding in agreement.

LOL!

I wish the best talent would win reality competitions.

Yes but the job that year was with Amsprop dealing
with a "property portfolio essentially focused upon ultra-prime Central London and core City of London freehold properties" and things like Hotels and Golf courses.Its the year when the job needs someone suited (literally suited too) to that market.

Whats most interesting is that he doesn't appreciate the people from non priviledged backgrounds who do well in the educational system as much - even when they have impressive business CVs too. He does tend to pick up on people with educational failures made good, self made business people with few qualifications and the odd spiv. The only academic high flier apart from Simon he actually picked to win was Yasmina - and she was up against another in Kate, so he had no real choice. Claire and Saira both made it to the last 2 with degrees, but failed to someone with fewer academic qualifications, and Miriam and Liz didn't even get that far because he fired them when he shouldn't have, and admits as much. Overall, It looks, from wiki, as if half the winners have no degree - which is high given the current percentages of those able going to university.

^Thought as much.

I find this MORE shallow than turning away a person for a job as they lack qualifications.

At least two of the winners have come from the eastern side of London - so being from east London like Lord S must help!

Maybe a degree isn't worth as much anymore, and there is more to life than getting one?
I think it just goes to show that actually if you take education/qualifications out of it and put people on a level playing field that a lot of the time people without degrees can be just as good if not better.

I find this to be the cheesy view I really detest.

Whilst I agree with it, why must people then favour the non-degree possessing candidate over the degree possessing candidate?

While branding one "book smart" and the other "street smart". Its done all too often. Just because you are educated does not mean you'll inevitably be a less practical person.

a degree is only ever worth anything if you play within a system. if you act as an entrepreneur, which is what Sugar keeps banging on, it doesn't matter what your background is, as long as you deliver your goods and services professionally.

however playing within a systems also means your business' relations to banks, insurance companies and the likes, where a degree is once more a key to many an important door.

I don't think that somebody should be favoured over another with or without a degree. the best person for the job should get it. I actually find it quite refreshing to hear that you don't need a degree to get on in life.

Having said that though, I do think it is harder for people who haven't been to Uni for whatever reason, to go out and make a living for themselves, rather than just going with the flow and living in the University bubble and that should be recognised when somebody has done well.

If I were a top employer I wouldn't be swayed by somebody just because they have a degree over someone who hasn't. I'd aim to pick the best person.

Yup it's a running theme for Sir Alan, the one that wants it more ends up getting the job rather than the one who can get better options elsewhere.

I guess he learnt from previous experience, candidates winning, and then running off to do TV or join another firm.

It makes complete sense.

I know it's just a little niggle but it always bothers me when Lord Sugar makes a big thing about the candidates having experience. He did it with Chris & Stella saying did he want to have to train someone up or did he want someone with experience who could just walk into the job. He chose Stella who has the experience but isn't the show called "The Apprentice"? I thought the whole idea of an apprentice was you take someone inexperienced and train them?

I also find it a little hard to believe that Stella was nearly on the streets and had no qualifications yet walked into a job at a Japanese bank.

its a big niggle because logically an apprenticeship would take someone like Joanna with lots of instincts and teach her everything in the line of basics she needed to know but doesn't . Or, it would take a better educated young person, like Laura or Sandeesh, with some indications of instinct, and they would literally learn more business nouse from the master.

This series it means taking a succesful older manager and moving her to a management job in a new type of concern.

why not? she started as a PA,10 years ago, where she didn't only have the wits but was a crisp early 20 bird. which in many cases is all it takes to become a PA.

i find it more remarkable that she worked her way up without degree and the network that comes with it, all that in a very male domain, a japanese bank. but then there are plenty of reasosn why a PA moves up, not all of them related to biz skills. which is ürpbably also why she might be 'done with banking' as she said in the interview episode. can only get so high up with personal favours.

I find it more likely she progressed because she didn't do what you implied. You get the better job through respect, not a lack of it. Job interviews are rarely handled by one person in major companies.

Your slur deserves a stronger reply than that btw.

what i implied? oh, a mind reader. well done you.


you are either very inexperienced and also believe in the tooth fairy or you are so high up the ranks you see the need to disguise how the system works, maybe to make yourself feel less bad about it.

It was perfectly obvious what you were implying.

Just another tacky dig from someone who can't find anything sensible to say.

where does one gain these mind reading skills then, darling?


indeed. why did you do it then?