<p>From the article: </p>
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In a conversation with The New York Times’ Tom Friedman, Google’s head of people operations, Laszlo Bock, detailed what the company looks for. And increasingly, it’s not about credentials.
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<p>Here’s a link to the original NYT article. </p>
<p><a href=“Opinion | How to Get a Job at Google - The New York Times”>Opinion | How to Get a Job at Google - The New York Times;
<p>FWIW, this really doesn’t surprise me.</p>
<p>It’s a nice by-line. I wonder how accurate it really is. Google hired my DW’s nephew who was a top math grad from Cornell. Just one data point (well, and his now wife, also from Cornell).</p>
<p>This is what he says. </p>
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<p>Of interest, I suppose, “the proportion of people without any college education at Google has increased over time” Now as high as 14% on some teams.</p>
<p>Also, I give the Times writer credit. At the end he does say to stay in college. </p>
<p>Erin’s Dad, no one said graduating from a “top” school was a detriment to hiring–only that it doesn’t give job candidates a boost at Google. Obviously, your nephew and his wife must have some of the other attributes the company is looking for.</p>
<p>Graduating from a top school gives candidates a huge boost. For technical applicants it’s difficult even to get an interview if you didn’t go to a top school.</p>
<p>The folks we know working at Google are all MIT grads.</p>
<p>Among folks we know, there are several from UChicago, Univ. of Edinburgh and UMD-CP. One was a math major, the rest were CS/math. We know a psych/philosophy major (recent grad) from a CalState who is at a competitor.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t like to work for a company that mainly creates new ways to push annoying ads into peoples’ faces.</p>
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<p>Considering that Google (and the other well known big computer companies) recruits rather widely among colleges, that is likely not so much because of a preference for top schools, but because the strongest candidates that pass the initial screening to get to the interview were also likely to be the strongest students who were more likely to be able to enroll at more selective schools.</p>
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<p>and I would think 90+% of those Google employees without college degrees are software developers. Not many are in accounting, finance, engineering (EE/ME/Industrial/…) or management (outside of team leads for software developers).</p>
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If I am a hiring manager with limited time, I would want to recruit at selective schools. Google probably has more resource than other firms for them to have the luxury of casting a wider net, and I am glad they are doing that to get more people opportunities. In general, most firms would rather spend least amount of time/money to get the talents they want, and it could be nearby regional colleges for some local companies, and national selective schools for some national/global companies.</p>
<p>Yes, I appreciated that the author of the Times article didn’t turn it into a “why go to college” fantasy. But, it’s also interesting that Google is very open to other schools, as well. A lot of times on here I hear these ideas that only by going to X schools will you ever get Y job. I know this is not true. I appreciate hearing other points of view, and I appreciate hearing them from the hiring authority at Google, as well. </p>
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<p>You are probably right. I would also wager that a majority of the employees in “support” services (HR, finance, marketing, etc.) have degrees from local colleges that are known to hiring managers–just as it is at most other companies.</p>
<p>@sally305: Depending on the company, marketing can be pretty elitist. Same for corp fin, believe it or not.</p>
<p>@poetgrl: Really depends on the industry/company. For whatever reason, the vast majority of MBB consulting analysts come from a handful of schools. They cast a wider net for associates, and McK casts a very wide net for PhDs.
Also, while Google may not be elitist (and Apple even less so), Facebook does seem to be when it comes to whether you went to a top CS school or not.</p>
<p>My nephew was hired by Google just as he was graduating from UCI. He was a very good student with very good stats. he loves working for Google. He’s been there about 5 years.</p>
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<p>I’ve worked in marketing most of my career, for large corporations and tech companies. I haven’t seen any evidence of this.</p>
<p>Exact same observation as sally, and I’ve worked in marketing most of my life too. My “world” really is a mix of elite and non-elite, and once you’re out there, it’s how good you are that matters. Like I said, I have clients occupying the exact same position in very nice, six-figure jobs and one might have a Harvard MBA and one might have a bachelor’s from an “average” school. There just isn’t this odd need to wear your school on your sleeve as there is elsewhere.</p>
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<p>Size of school likely matters. Employers may pass up more selective schools in favor of less selective but larger schools due to the larger number of recruitable students at the larger schools. The bigger companies are likely to cast wider nets and recruit at more schools, since they have both greater needs and more recruiting resources.</p>
<p>I just don’t think the ‘elite’ thing is as important out here in the wild wild west as it is in other parts of the US. Especially when it comes to areas like engineering. Within biking distance of Google are schools such as SJSU (highly recruited for engineering), Santa Clara University and of course Stanford (although that is an uphill ride ;)) ). Three UC’s are within easy driving distance. And if you dare to venture into the vast concrete wilderness known as Southern California…you’ll find another large number of places with fantastic engineering/CS/business programs. If a company recruits locally, they get folks used to the area, culture and lifestyle… they probably already call it home. Maybe they are more likely to stay…it’s seems a reasonable assumption</p>
<p>We have a friend who’s worked in HR for a handful of large name brand SV companies and now recruits for start ups.
We were asking for her input on DS’s resume…he’s looking for internships. She said she looks for students who have actually DONE something. To paraphrase…‘I’d much rather hire a kid who has rebuilt a car engine, welded yard art, built model train sets etc. than I would a highly pedigreed high GPA kid who hasn’t a clue about hands on work other than what a school environment puts in front of them.’ I found that rather enlightening. </p>