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and
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At both stores the median/average wage was within $1 of minimum wage (in my area), so there is not much room to pay new hires less. Looking across the full United States and controlling for experience, I see the following median salaries for cashiers. It’s not a large difference.
<1 Year Experience – Costco = $15/hr, Vons = $15/hr
1-3 Years Experience – Costco = $16/hr, Vons = $15/hr
4+ Years Experience – Costco = $16/hr, Vons = $16/hr
As discussed in my earlier post, most employers try to evaluate competence prior to hiring, rather than assume competence based on eliteness of college name. For example employers generally don’t assume a Harvard English major must be a successful engineer because Harvard grads must have a minimal level of competence. Instead they will test the potential hire on the desired engineering skillset. Many employers would not consider an applicant who did not have the desired engineering major and skillset for the position, regardless of whether he/she attended Harvard or not.
Of course different employers have different means of evaluating applicants and different degrees of focus on different criteria. However, in general focusing on eliteness of college name is the exception, rather than the rule.
For example, in the survey at https://chronicle-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/5/items/biz/pdf/Employers%20Survey.pdf , hundreds of new college grad employers were asked a variety of factors about employment decisions and which grads were favored for hiring decisions. As a whole, they rated college reputation as the least influential factor in evaluating new grads resumes for hiring decisions. Internships and employment during college were rating highest. When asked about which specific types of colleges they preferred, they rated state flagships highest, followed by national universities, and “elite” colleges in 3rd. The phrasing of the question with the word “elite” may have troubled them, but the survey certainly doesn’t imply they were emphasizing college name in employment decisions.
Ehhhhhh. Disagree. My co workers are seen/recognized by value, not school - at all 3 places I’ve worked. Maybe to people you don’t know but you often socialize with those you work with. The Vandy guy is seen as a step below , the W Georgia guy is a rockstar.
I guess I’m wondering who is talking about where they went to undergrad 30-40 years out of school? Besides to other alums who already know and possibly in job interviews?
I’m almost 30 years out from my elite school graduation and it almost never comes up in conversations I have with friends I’ve met post-graduating (not alums), family and others with whom I interact. I don’t drop the name in conversations, I can’t even imagine when or why I would do so.
The only time it comes up is on the rare occasion when someone asks directly (not often as I am clearly middle age). I answer directly and usually the other person says something along the lines of, “Well, I knew you were smart but didn’t know you went to fancy pants school”, I laugh and the conversation moves on.
Think it depends very much on the industry in which you evolve. Caltech and MIT will be meaningful at NASA, like USC will be meaningful in the movie industry, Julliard in music, Ivies/ Williams etc in investment banking. Outside of these specific cases, people will truly look at worth and experience.
I tremendously valued meeting extremely intellectual and smart people, and different schools offered very different experiences
There isn’t a single NASA center director that did their undergrad at MIT or Caltech. Everyone, but one who went to RPI, went to state schools. Graduate school, different story.
This amuses me. I know a CEO in my industry who insists on putting “Harvard BA, Harvard MBA” on any presentation he makes about the company. His company already went bankrupt when it was public, then got rescued and is on the brink of going bankrupt again. I’m not impressed with his “level of competency”.
In part, I agree. If one is running for office or similarly introducing yourself in a professional context, having an “elite” name can maybe get your application/proposal a closer look. But that’s about it.
If one is repeatedly mentioning one’s undergrad, it can often come across as…making one wonder why. There are certain people who are truly devoted to their alma mater. They wear the attire (or at least a tie or tie pin if they can’t wear a polo), they watch all the games (and attend as many as possible, etc). Michigan, Alabama, and maybe Notre Dame are a few schools where this seems particularly common, and if someone is truly a fanatic for their U, most people don’t bat an eye about it.
But, when people have attended an “elite” institution, I don’t see them wearing their alma mater’s colors all the time or other gear (I’m not talking just gym/weekends…I’m talking ALL the time). They’re not watching all the games and following every single sport. So if people who aren’t obsessed with their college are dropping their college name around, it then seems weird. And if it’s an “elite” name and not Little Known U., then it also comes off as pretentious name-dropping. And that is pretty unappealing no matter what the crowd.
Maybe it depends on where you live?
In our very competitive area of New Jersey, plenty of kids go to top 20 colleges so only a small handful of colleges (like Harvard or Stanford) elicit a “cool!” And then the conversation moves on.
This social cachet also diminishes rapidly with age. It’s cool when you’re in your 20s or maybe early 30s, but after that no one in a social setting is asking anyone else where they went to school. And the 50 year old telling you he went to Harvard? Sounds like he peaked in college.
Agreed. Apart from friends who went to college with me, I can say I have NO idea where others went to college (or if they went at all). If I’m in a convo with someone and they’re casually dropping that they have an Ivy degree, I’m immediately thinking of how I can get myself away from this person.
I am sure at cocktail parties talking about the school you went to is important. I have a few friends who like to remind people they went to Princeton or Wharton (or their spouse did) and that their kids followed suit at equally impressive schools. Those same friends are still bankrolling their mid-twenties kids apartments and car payments. And to continue the “prestige tour” their kids live in expensive, impressive cities… with careers that will not pay the bills.
