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If you care about diversity, don't just hire from the same five schools

blog.interviewing.io

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Re: If you care about diversity, don't just hire from the same five schools

#261

Post by mypalmike »

drewg123 wrote: post #37

When I was at Google, I was asked if I wanted to make a recruiting trip to my alma mater. I was excited until I found out they were talking about my grad school where I got my MS, and not UB, a large state school where I got my BS. I told them I'd be happy to take a trip to recruit at UB. I got mostly crickets back from that reply. However, I ended up getting signed up for a series where they had a panel of a few HR…

Interesting. When I pushed a bit at (well-known tech company), I managed to get a couple of high-GPA CS students from my state university into the internship interview pipeline. These students were personally recommended to me by the school's top (IMO) CS professor. I was particularly excited for one of them, who had a 3.9-something GPA, and who seemed pretty solid technically when I spoke with him on the phone. Unfortunately, he didn't pass the online coding test in order to proceed to the next step. The others did miserably on this test.

Compare that to the students I interviewed for internships from top 5 engineering schools. Among them was one of the best candidates I'd ever encountered, regardless of experience level. He came up with a unique (and quite good) solution to a problem I'd been using as an interview question for years. As someone who had done fairly well in state school, I was floored by how much more well-prepared these students were than I had been.

My story is anecdotal, and there are many factors that can explain what I perceived. But I suspect the top companies have figured out that they get best results in hiring based on a) recent grads from top schools and b) great resumes from experienced devs who maybe didn't start out at top schools & top companies.

On the plus side from a diversity standpoint, the students I interviewed from these top schools were both male and female, and from a wider variety of ethnic backgrounds than I usually see in the hiring pipeline.

Re: If you care about diversity, don't just hire from the same five schools

#262

Post by kobeya »

drewg123 wrote: post #37

When I was at Google, I was asked if I wanted to make a recruiting trip to my alma mater. I was excited until I found out they were talking about my grad school where I got my MS, and not UB, a large state school where I got my BS. I told them I'd be happy to take a trip to recruit at UB. I got mostly crickets back from that reply. However, I ended up getting signed up for a series where they had a panel of a few HR…

UB?

Re: If you care about diversity, don't just hire from the same five schools

#264

Post by beiller »

The reason they are hiring from top schools, is to raise the barrier to entry into their field. If founder came from school X, they see any future grads from there as a threat. Why not buy all the top talent, to prevent competition? Given unlimited cash (unicorn) why not?

Re: If you care about diversity, don't just hire from the same five schools

#265

Post by FreakyT »

nether wrote: post #245
viewtransform wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When a recruiter contacted me for a position at Google in 2012, I happened to be also taking Daphne Koller's Coursera class on Probabilistic Graphical Models (PGM). I was puzzled why the recruiter wanted to know my SAT score. He also wanted to know the college and high school I went to and my GRE score and my undergrad GPA ... Keep in mind that I have a BS, MS, Phd in three different engineering fields and over a dec…

Then we've got this 2013 article saying that Google doesn't care about GPA and test scores: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-hires-people-2013-... . Maybe things have changed since your experience.

I believe they did -- from what I've read back in the day it was quite common for Google to demand college transcripts from all applicants, even seasoned professionals.

Re: If you care about diversity, don't just hire from the same five schools

#266

Post by kobeya »

mypalmike wrote: post #261
drewg123 wrote: post #37

When I was at Google, I was asked if I wanted to make a recruiting trip to my alma mater. I was excited until I found out they were talking about my grad school where I got my MS, and not UB, a large state school where I got my BS. I told them I'd be happy to take a trip to recruit at UB. I got mostly crickets back from that reply. However, I ended up getting signed up for a series where they had a panel of a few HR…

Interesting. When I pushed a bit at (well-known tech company), I managed to get a couple of high-GPA CS students from my state university into the internship interview pipeline. These students were personally recommended to me by the school's top (IMO) CS professor. I was particularly excited for one of them, who had a 3.9-something GPA, and who seemed pretty solid technically when I spoke with him on the phone. Unfo…

Or the top schools prepare their candidates for the test. I think I’m a pretty decent coder, thank you very much, but I suck on those blackboard interviews. I could see that being fixed with practice though, and maybe the big schools format their classes and labs such as to practice for that?

Re: If you care about diversity, don't just hire from the same five schools

#267

Post by user5994461 »

FreakyT wrote: post #265
nether wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then we've got this 2013 article saying that Google doesn't care about GPA and test scores: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-hires-people-2013-... . Maybe things have changed since your experience.

I believe they did -- from what I've read back in the day it was quite common for Google to demand college transcripts from all applicants, even seasoned professionals.

That would be to check that the degree is real. There are people who pretend to have one while they don't. It's normal due diligence, assuming it's after you are hired.

Re: If you care about diversity, don't just hire from the same five schools

#268

Post by [deleted] »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #188
skybrian wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A Google interviewer definitely shouldn't be doing that. Sounds like you got a bad one.

I've had a different one contact me repeatedly every 6 months like clockwork for the last 5 years. Of the ~10 I've had one that listened to WHY I wasn't immediately interested and factored that into his future communications. The rest of them came off exactly as the parent comment to yours described. edit: to clarify what happens, every 6 months it's a new recruiter, and they always ping me multiple times until I res…

[deleted]

Re: If you care about diversity, don't just hire from the same five schools

#269

Post by dba7dba »

I've recently gone through a few rounds of interview with some of these startups (not google or facebook or apple) and I've come to conclusion, that EVEN THOUGH they interview you, they had already rejected you due to your age/school. If you don't fit a certain diversity goal they are pursuing, too bad too.

They are just interviewing you because if they don't interview, it looks bad on them. It doesn't matter because the people ops team are paid for it.

After spending hours/weekends doing the coding/projects tests, on my own time, and not getting offers at the end, AND realizing yah they never wanted you in the first place, it's very disheartening. I was nothing more than a decoration in the hiring musical chair game.

Diversity isn't just about gender/race. It's about age/school too.

Re: If you care about diversity, don't just hire from the same five schools

#270

Post by user5994461 »

throwaway713 wrote: post #156
dionidium wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently moved from St. Louis to New York City. The number of recruiting emails I receive has probably quadrupled (or more). In all things, it helps to be where the people you want to find you are looking. Also: protip for people in the South or Midwest who are open to relocation: change your online profiles to say you're in the new location.

As a data scientist living in the South, I have no problem relocating to San Francisco or San Jose, but how do I signal this without letting my existing employer know? Changing my LinkedIn location from to San Francisco would raise some uncomfortable questions.

Disable the notification when you change your profile. Noone is gonna notice that you changed.
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