Yes, before we go any further, most employers care where you went to college. This holds true if you are applying for jobs in the private sector. It’s less of an issue if you are applying for work in the government sector or a non-profit organization.
However, in most circumstances the person who is conducting the interview is going to care about the college you went to. It might not seem fair, but employers do want to see a “good” school on a resume. It’s one extra data point that they can use to determine if you are a successful person.
College Degrees Still Matter
There are always news articles which make the claim that people don’t care about college degrees anymore. That might be true depending on what sort of company you are applying to, but for most corporate roles it’s not an accurate statement.
If you are looking to work in corporate environment, then the employer is going to be very interested in what college you went to.
Unlike hospital jobs or government jobs where a college degree is not important, corporate business need to make sure that they are hiring productive people who have skills and knowledge.
When someone is hired to work for a corporate firm, it is expected that they will be a productive person. That’s not the case necessarily when someone is hired to work for a government agency or a hospital. The jobs do not require the same level of professionalism or skill that you are required to have in the corporate world.
So, yes, college degrees still matter in this case. If you are looking to get an entry level job, for instance, and you are applying to companies that are in the private sector, then the college you went to is important.
There are few ways that a company can distinguish one applicant from another applicant.
It’s very important when hiring a person for a company that the employer has some sense of their ability to work.
References are commonly used, but most sophisticated businesses know that references are almost always unreliable. Everyone can get a reference from someone else, and most people are prone to giving good references.
To sum it up, if you are a recent college graduate and you are applying for a job in corporate America, then where you went to college is important.
If you don’t have a college degree, you can basically forget getting any sort of job in a professional organization.
And if you went to a community college or school that does not have a good reputation, then it’s also highly unlikely that you will ever get a job in corporate America.
Why Would An Employer Care What College You Went To?
The easy answer to this question is because it’s a good way to judge if someone is competent. If someone went to a bad school (one which is not competitive, for instance) then it stands to reason that they were not someone who performs well on tests, nor had good academic records.
Now, on the other hand, just because someone went to a good school, it doesn’t mean that they are smart. Far from it. And most corporate employers know that you can no longer judge someone as a strong candidate just because they went to a good school.
Unfortunately, schools are no longer admitting people strictly on the basis of grades. And there are many schools which no longer even require standardized testing such as the SATs. So, you can’t assume that someone is intelligent because they went to a particular college.
That said, many employers feel that they are stuck with very few options when it comes to evaluating a candidate. And while the college that you went to might not be a great indicator of how smart, or professional and competent you are, it’s certainly one metric to keep aware of.
Do All Employers Care What College You Went To?
Not at all. In fact, the majority of employers won’t care what college you went to, especially if you are someone who has been out of school for several years.
Even for those people who are recent graduates, it is not that common for an employer to openly state that they want to know what school you went to.
However, while they are not going to openly say they are considering the college you went to during the interview, odds are that it does make an impact.
And it’s important to realize that unless you’re interviewing for a particular type of role within corporate America, then it’s not even a big thing where you went to college.
The important fact is that you have a college degree.
The secret hint that often is overlooked is that going to a good school can even sometimes be a drawback when interviewing. There are some employers, many in fact, that are intimidated by someone who went to a good University and who won’t hire the person.
This might be because they think that the person won’t be happy working in a boring role. Other employers might be jealous that you went to a University when they only went to a local college. Whatever the reason, some employers at companies don’t want to hire someone who might be more competent than they will be.
Do Different Colleges Make Different Impressions
Yes, different colleges make different impressions to the people you are interviewing with. If you’re someone who went to an Ivy school, or a well known University then it will be more impressive than a college for instance.
In the same way that recrutiers and potential employers look at your social media, people are curious about where you went to college.
For the most part, as long as you went to college, then it’s not an issue if you are interviewing for a regular entry level corporate role.
However, the more competitive the job, the more likely it is that you will need to have gone to a prestigious school in order to impress the people who are having the interview.
If you’ve gone to a school such as Yale or Harvard or MIT, obviously this will make more of an impression than your local state school.
However, it is important to point out that it’s only important that you’ve been to an elite college if you are applying to a job where they are extremely impressed by degrees: investment banks, hedge funds, private equity, software companies, high profile research roles, and a few other type of jobs.
Again, if you are applying for a regular entry level administrative job or even another type of office role, then it’s not important to have gone to an elite school.
In fact, sometimes an employer might want be more impressed with someone who went to the same school as them instead of someone who went to a more prestigious school.
For instance, someone who is applying for a job and went to the same university as their interviewer stands a better chance than an Ivy applicant if the interviewer is a big supporter of their alma matter.
Joe is interviewing for an analyst role and joe went to Cornell.
Alan is also interviewing but he went to Syracuse.
On paper you would think that it’s a sure thing for Joe since he went to an Ivy school. But, in this case the interviewer (Bob) is a Syracuse grad who is obsessed with Syracuse Orange. And as such, he’s going to be more interested in and more likely to hire Joe.
Where you went to college is one of those non-official thigns employers and recrutiers will look at. It's the same with photos on resumes, or your LinkedIn profile photo--both not officially important, but both things essential.
Comments
Post a Comment