When the company was small, Google cared a lot about getting kids from Harvard, Stanford, and MIT. But Bock said it was the “wrong” hiring strategy. Experience has taught him there are exceptional kids at many other places, from state schools in California to New York.
“What we find is the best people from places like that are just as good if not better as anybody you can get from any Ivy League school,” said Bock, who just authored a book titled “Work Rules!” and stopped by CNNMoney to share his smarts.
Every year, 2 million people apply to get a job at Google (GOOG). Bock himself has seen some 25,000 résumés.
So what else does Google not care about:
Grades: Google’s data shows that grades predict performance for the first two years of a career, but do not matter after that.
Brainteasers: Gone are interview questions such as: Why are manhole covers round? or How many golf balls can fit in a school bus? “Our research tells us those questions are a waste of time,” Bock said. “They’re a really coachable skill. The more you practice, you get better at it.”
A shoe: “Somebody sent me a shoe once with a résumé tucked inside because they wanted to get their foot in the door.” That one didn’t work.
Or a robot: Especially when it arrived broken, with exposed wires and a “press here” button. Call in the bomb squad.
My take on this is simply. Google has grown up. Once a small company heavily dependent on “the best” techies, it no longer needs “the best”… Good enough is fine now, because a few select individuals now tell the rest of the employees what to do. “The best” is also subjective.[/quote]
I think a lot of viewpoints are based on your own experiences…As someone who has interviewed multiple times at GOOG and never getting in (and eating lunch with Sergey too!), during the PRE-IPO days, your views tend to be biased to your own past. Back when I interviewed there, your degree mattered a lot and when you are someone who feels they start hitting the glass ceilings in your career, then that’s when you think “something” is keeping you out from the top jobs and leadership contacts. I saw it a lot in companies and even though I had no real trouble finding work back then, it still kept you out from a lot of the “hot” startups.
Some people here are ok with “decent” and “ok” jobs, but if you want to achieve the most you can (and want that for your kids so they have more choice in life), then like flu has said, the Ivy’s are probably more likely to help you than to hurt you.
You can end up with the same success as the next guy, but at least you can say the Ivy wasn’t something which held you back…
In terms of doing good for the world, I also know of some family who are very high level at a lot of the aid organizations (Red Cross, etc…) and if you come from a private or top school, you may want to do good, but you can be the ones setting the policy and traveling to all the far off places in the world to help…So yeah, an ivy or top private school helps more in that field too.
As I’ve mentioned before and repeated here, when you go to some of these schools, the admissions folks already weeded out the non-achievers so you’re mostly going to school with the top future leaders and execs of the world. Yes, some joe schmo can start a business and be a millionaire or multi-millionaire from a state school, but the odds are against you.
As it was also mentioned, a lot of the college drop outs or the GoPro guy came from wealthy means. I personally think if GoPro guy was accepted at an Ivy, he may have went, but he did like to surf and not much surfing back east I don’t think.
Also, I read (on the wiki page) that the last 4 presidents ALL went to an Ivy at some point in their educational career.
If you want your kid to be prez someday, going to an Ivy isn’t going to hurt them again.
Ultimately, there is an expensive cost and everyone will decide on their own if it’s worth it for their kids…but as someone who felt “limited” for whatever reason (maybe it wasn’t even the school, course, my parents suck in terms of guidance and help too)…so some of us are probably meant to be mediocre and that’s it. We can only try to help and hope our kids will do better than us.
