"We used to care a lot about where you went to school," Google executive Laszlo Bock said. "We found that that has no relationship with how you perform."
Laszlo said the company has shifted its hiring strategies after realizing that a person's academic background bears no relationship to job performance.
"It is a mistake, and we don't focus on that anymore," he said.
Can you believe this shit? Everyone knows that the only thing that matters, the sole currency, the sine qua non of the thriving juggernaut of a legal "profession" is presTTTige!
PresTTTige pays the bills. PresTTTige gets the girl. PresTTTige commands the respect.
In my day, classifieds ads didn't say, "No lawyers need apply." Instead, they said, "Top credentials necessary." [I'm not making this up.]
How dare this upstart tell us otherwise! Moron probably doesn't know what tier Hastings occupies, nor how many Article III clerks Indiana Tech has graduated. Probably can't even identify McCarter & English's peer firms. THOSE are the things that matter!
Don't be mislead by a lowly tech executive who couldn't get hired into S&C's mail room. Let Bob Morse lead you. Let Top-Law-Schools guide you. Let the ABA inspire you. Focus on presTTTige!
Blame the labor arbitrage business model of law firms. They know the client isn't really capable of evaluating the quality of work. They just want cover to charge the client too much, and a school's name will do. No one cares if an editor can spell anymore or knows the Chicago Manual of Style like the back of her hand, because most people cannot and do not. Labor arbitragers want a pedigree for the mark-up. Labor arbitrage is a shitty business model in a sustained recession/ new normal.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't limited to law firms; it's the way the whole stupid legal industry works. Non-profits are just as bad -- even worse -- about credentials, which I learned the hard way after graduating from a pretentious insTTTiTTTuTTTion that emphasized public service but didn't have the pull to get its graduates into these jobs.
DeleteMain takeaway from this article is that one of the most successful and influential companies in the world doesn't use schooling as a proxy for ability. Meanwhile, it's the most important criterion to an ossifying "profession" increasingly unable to attract the best and brightest.
You can't turn a silk purse into a sow's ear. Prestttige now and forever!!!
ReplyDelete