Do some firms favor "big name" schools?

<p>To blossom: I think those are very reasonable search paraneters, and to be honest I would probably have more i.e. minimum GPA, work experience (including internships), etc. I honestly see no reason to trust a prospective employee who doesn’t even research the company they are applying to, puts typos on their resumes, etc. I realize it’s not my place to comment I just thought that tecruiting meant that the company essentially goes to the school to find employees instead of the opposite. I apologize, I didn’t mean to offend by sending off random bits of advice which I quite honestly, don’t know anything about, and in a sector which I currently have very little interest in (comp. Sci. Major).</p>

<p>Many companies recruit on specific campuses. That typically means that in the Fall, a team will come and do a presentation, answer questions, meet in small groups with students (but not an interview; just answer questions in an informal way) often with refreshments. Students are then invited to apply and a date is given as a “drop date”, i.e. the deadline for submitting your resume for on campus interviews.</p>

<p>During the winter, another team will come back to conduct one on one interviews. These can either be for summer jobs (for juniors) or full time jobs (for current seniors.) Anyone who makes it past that first on campus interview will be invited to a company facility for a second and sometimes third round.</p>

<p>If you attend a college where the company you work for does not show up on an actual visit, there are three ways to apply. </p>

<p>First, check to see if the company is doing a job fair or another type of event in your region. You may find that recruiters from that company will be in your city even if it’s not a hiring event specifically for your college. You can send a courteous email with your resume asking to meet with someone during that event. Second, you can go on the recruiting website (or ask at your campus career development office) to see if there is someone at the company assigned to your college. Sometimes a college may not make it on to the official “recruiting calendar” but there is an actual human being who is responsible for that college anyway. Third, virtually every company has a recruiting website where anyone can apply. You are correct that there will be requirements beyond having a typo free resume-and you have a much higher chance of getting hired if you exceed the requirements vs. just barely squeaking by.</p>

<p>A high percentage of our college hires are people who we met when we visited their campus. But there are often reasons why someone can get hired by submitting a resume online and bypassing the on campus process. </p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

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<p>Agree fully with this. We’re not in debate here.</p>

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<p>I do consulting work in a particular field in which I regularly go up against a division of McKinsey (and either win, or get half the project and work collaboratively with them). I have never, ever, once been asked what my educational background is. I happen to know the educational backgrounds of the McKinsey folks I work with simply because we’re also friendly and / or we’re on LinkedIn. Some are elite school grads; others are “average school grads.” I’ve seen their competing pitches to the same companies I work with - Fortune 500 companies - and it never mentions educational background.</p>

<p>When I was graduating from an Ivy from an engineering program, I had a great interview with Merck. However, the person who interviewed called me back later and said “there wasn’t anything I could do about the GPA”. My GPA was under 3.0, which for my program was near the top of the list.</p>

<p>However, just having an Ivy degree has gotten me very far. I think networking helps a lot once you get your first job or two, but when my PhD advisor recommended me for my first teaching job, it sure helped that I went to an Ivy undergrad.</p>

<p>Conversely, I have a friend who went to one of the lower tier SUNY’s, and although she did end up getting hired at J&J mid-career, she has gotten comments about her alma mater more than once. She was hired at the same time as another woman who had, of all things, a Yale forestry degree. Fast forward 10 years, and her co-worker is a VP traveling worldwide and my friend was just promoted to Director level but has no direct reports.</p>

<p>Apparently just the Yale name is enough for some people. The point that it is easier to get into an Ivy graduate program (most anyway) than an Ivy undergraduate program is not lost on me and will be advice I will give my kids. And the state school I teach at has some Ph.D.s ending up postdoc at top Ivies - it depends a lot on the field and how specific a person’s experience is and whether their professor knows the hiring professor.</p>

<p>Generally, yes. Those who say school brand doesn’t matter have no idea what they’re talking about. See the following:</p>

<p>[Education</a> - Image - NYTimes.com](<a href=“Education - Image - NYTimes.com”>Education - Image - NYTimes.com)</p>

<p><a href=“http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/01/news/economy/ivy_league_advantage.fortune/index.htm[/url]”>http://money.cnn.com/2011/06/01/news/economy/ivy_league_advantage.fortune/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost;

<p><a href=“http://www.examiner.com/article/which-university-you-attend-does-matter-argues-prof[/url]”>http://www.examiner.com/article/which-university-you-attend-does-matter-argues-prof&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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This list has got to make UCLA Bruins feel pretty good. Of course, who cares about this list?</p>

<p>BTW -Linking multiple articles referencing the same paper doesn’t really add much information.</p>

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<p>How long ago was this? Even Cornell and Princeton today have average GPAs of around 3.3, while the other Ivy League schools generally have higher GPAs. Seems like one would have to go back to the 1960s to find an Ivy League school with an average GPA under 3.0.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.gradeinflation.com/[/url]”>http://www.gradeinflation.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>rhandco, your single J&J example is just that, a single example. By mid-career people have proven themselves with far more than an acceptance into one college or another that happened when they were 18. For all we know the “lower-tier SUNY” woman didn’t want to travel internationally because of family or other commitments. Maybe she didn’t want direct reports (a position I can thoroughly understand). Or maybe she wasn’t one of the brightest people from her school to begin with.</p>

<p>The four smartest and most successful people I have encountered in my career–who have run large organizations, profitable startups or corporate divisions–got their degrees from Slippery Rock, Wells, Bradley and UW-Eau Claire. All have been successful in part because of their brilliant minds and entrepreneurial, “outside-the-box” thinking–the latter of which is not a great strength of many people who choose the Ivies, where conformity and “playing the game” is encouraged and rewarded starting years before they are admitted.</p>

<p>Or you can see the following. </p>

<p>[Job</a> Recruiters Prefer State Universities Over Ivy League Colleges - WSJ.com](<a href=“Job Recruiters Prefer State Universities Over Ivy League Colleges - WSJ”>Job Recruiters Prefer State Universities Over Ivy League Colleges - WSJ)</p>

<p>Yes, iamanapp. You’re a rising college sophomore,and you know more about the work world than me at age 47, a former director at a major household products company and now a consultant. You got it, bud.</p>

<p>Rhandco, J&J is a major client of mine. I’ve worked with dozens of their people, both US and internationally, for years; indeed, its a rare day that I don’t talk or email with at least one of them. Typically associate director and director levels. They have all kinds of educational backgrounds. Right now, the two I’m working with - one is College of Charleston undergrad and Farleigh Dickinson grad; the other (Indian, though now US citizen) was IIT and Harvard. You are delusional if you think that your friend’s “lack of direct reports” has anything to do with her undergrad at a SUNY. I am more than familiar enough w that organization to know that it’s a ridiculous assertion.</p>

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<p>Freshmen, especially the first two months of college, know even more, about anything, I was told.</p>

<p>@barrons: Yes, the vast majority of firms favor state universities. However, look at the top jobs at the top firms and you’ll rarely see a non-top-school grad. </p>

<p>@Pizzagirl: Yes.
Lol, you’re a high-ranking exec with almost 12,000 CC posts. Hmm…</p>

<p>“Top job” is in the eye of the beholder. There is no uniform top job. iB and MC are only “top jobs” for students who want to be those things, and are completely irrelevant for students who want to be or do something else.</p>

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Maybe she gets paid big bucks because she could multi-task better than most people, or she gets stuck at airport lounges a lot.</p>

<p>Or I’m successful enough as a consultant that I work at home :-)</p>

<p>I’m going to assert that 100% of recruiting is locally driven. Especially in this economy. What are the chances an Ivy League grad will come to “fly over” land? Why did Google open an office in Ann Arbor? Why do Medtronic, St. Jude, United Health Care, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Best Buy, Target, 3M, Cargill, General Mills, etc… hit EVERY MIAC (Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) job fair? Because these kids will live here and be happy.</p>

<p>Giterdone- SOME recruiting is locally driven. Some recruiting is national or international. We hire Ivy grads for operations in Ohio and Minnesota and Texas-- for that matter, we hire Ivy grads for offices in Frankfurt and Dubai and Mumbai and Caracas.</p>

<p>It is just as silly to assert that companies only hire in their own backyards as it is to say that a graduate of UIUC can’t get a job in SF or NY. Neither are true.</p>

<p>There are job fairs for returning military personnel that are not geographically oriented- those employers are looking for specific skills and security clearances. The job fair can be in Minnesota or Miami… but candidates know that the opportunities can be anywhere. Then there are local job fairs- I’ve attended such fairs myself where we are looking to staff a particular operation and office. And then there are thousands of new grads who don’t get hired via job fairs. </p>

<p>If a company needs people who are fluent in Mandarin to staff an operation in Wichita they are not going to limit their recruiting to universities in Kansas.</p>

<p>Sorry to give you a reality check about the new, flat world we live in.</p>

<p>You said nothing that refuted my point. You listed a bunch of exceptions that prove the rule. That’s all.</p>

<p>giterdone, at colleges with national reputations, recruiting is not necessarily locally driven.</p>

<p>My daughter graduated from Cornell. She and many of her friends obtained their first jobs through on-campus recruiting. Some of the jobs offered in this way were in New York State, but many were not. Students she knows who used on-campus recruiting ended up in California, the Midwest, the Washington, DC area, and Boston, among other places. Her ex-roommate is now in a management training program in flyover land. Of all the students she knew well who used on-campus recruiting, only one ended up in New York.</p>