What universities stand out for DC hiring managers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Internships and work history matter.

Schools aren’t as important these days. Having said that, the bias I see in my DC-based office is this: left leaning supervisors won’t interview from SEC or southern schools and right leaning supervisors won’t touch the lefty schools. Moreover, supervisors from ivies or certain prestigious schools shun state schools while those of us who went to state schools are sometimes put off by the ivies. And everyone loves seeing applicants from their Alma mater.

UMD used to be popular at my company but not anymore. Why? The school got harder to get into and most supervisors who went there now have a kid or relative who was turned away despite having good grades. Screw you, UMCP.

I recently led a few recruiting efforts and reached out to HR for input following their initial screening. They flagged two very strong applicants from SEC/southern schools who they said other supervisors hadn’t bothered to interview…because they were turned off by the red state thing. I interviewed them and thought they were both impressive. Ftr, I’m a big lefty but I was disturbed by the obvious bias of my colleagues.

Interesting and this seems accurate especially in a place like DC where people truly overthink college choices.

[Anonymous]

So many people in this area of work aren’t from this area. Me included. So I do see a lot of people jumping at an applicant from their under-appreciated school. We recently hired someone from St Louis U pretty much because the manager went there. They seem terrific so who cares

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Internships and work history matter.

Schools aren’t as important these days. Having said that, the bias I see in my DC-based office is this: left leaning supervisors won’t interview from SEC or southern schools and right leaning supervisors won’t touch the lefty schools. Moreover, supervisors from ivies or certain prestigious schools shun state schools while those of us who went to state schools are sometimes put off by the ivies. And everyone loves seeing applicants from their Alma mater.

UMD used to be popular at my company but not anymore. Why? The school got harder to get into and most supervisors who went there now have a kid or relative who was turned away despite having good grades. Screw you, UMCP.

I recently led a few recruiting efforts and reached out to HR for input following their initial screening. They flagged two very strong applicants from SEC/southern schools who they said other supervisors hadn’t bothered to interview…because they were turned off by the red state thing. I interviewed them and thought they were both impressive. Ftr, I’m a big lefty but I was disturbed by the obvious bias of my colleagues.

I don’t hire, but I can absolutely see this happening. Any little thing on the resume can send it into either pile.

Yep.

I know someone who coaches people to overly tailor their resume when a company or org has an obvious political bent AND to present a more balanced resume if there’s no obvious side.

For example:

When coming from a school in a southern state and you aren’t sure if the recruiter is red or blue, you make sure you have a rainbow of activities so you aren’t pigeon-holed.

The coach says to leave off anything remotely religious unless you are applying for a job run by the same religion. ICYMI: volunteering with Salvation Army or certain shelters can be interpreted as religious in a bad way as well as anti-lgbtq.

Personally, I think it’s best to focus on internships and work experience rather than activities since they can be open to interpretation.

[Anonymous]

Mason,
Tech,
JMU
Mary Washington
Alll the local colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Internships and work history matter.

Schools aren’t as important these days. Having said that, the bias I see in my DC-based office is this: left leaning supervisors won’t interview from SEC or southern schools and right leaning supervisors won’t touch the lefty schools. Moreover, supervisors from ivies or certain prestigious schools shun state schools while those of us who went to state schools are sometimes put off by the ivies. And everyone loves seeing applicants from their Alma mater.

UMD used to be popular at my company but not anymore. Why? The school got harder to get into and most supervisors who went there now have a kid or relative who was turned away despite having good grades. Screw you, UMCP.

I recently led a few recruiting efforts and reached out to HR for input following their initial screening. They flagged two very strong applicants from SEC/southern schools who they said other supervisors hadn’t bothered to interview…because they were turned off by the red state thing. I interviewed them and thought they were both impressive. Ftr, I’m a big lefty but I was disturbed by the obvious bias of my colleagues.

I wonder if this will happen more with the protests at some schools. Although it is only a small number of kids even at the most egregious schools, it crosses my mind when I see these schools on resumes.

[Anonymous]

None, I don’t care about college at all. I care about internship/work experience that is applicable. I won’t hire anyone who didn’t work in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It really does not matter. I am in a senior Fed gov position; been on the Hill etc. The smartest and most capable (and successful) person I’ve encountered had an unremarkable educational background (not bad, third tier undergrad, low ranked law school), but she is universally considered amazing and had a meteoric rise where I work. In general, I have seen little correlation between job success in my gov/policy work and educational prestige.

100% agree with this. I've seen no correlation between school and job performance. I do think sometimes people from lower ranked schools tend to check their work a little more, probably because they don't rest on their laurels. I've also seen abysmal writing from graduates of top ranked schools.

[Anonymous]

Run a large team in the private sector. I had one Harvard grad who turned out to be a pathological liar and another who completely flamed out. My best employees are from a SUNY and GW. No more Harvard grads for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ivies save for brown and dartmouth, Duke, Hopkins, MIT, Stanford.

Private equity firm.

Interesting. I do not do the hiring but my company is tech/innovation and we also target the same 6 ivies plus those same 4 and CMU and caltech, to start. We have plenty from good flagships too, we just start looking those places, with engineering/math/CS majors or minors, for most roles. I have only ben in my position 4 years and have never understood why Brown and Dartmouth are not on the "start list".

[Anonymous]

*been

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None, I don’t care about college at all. I care about internship/work experience that is applicable. I won’t hire anyone who didn’t work in college.

Curious about the working in college. Do you mean during the school year or in the summer, or both? If during the school year, do you consider an athlete or ROTC as similar to a job? Thanks for the insight.

[Anonymous]

Athletes from Ivy League are top

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Athletes from Ivy League are top

Lol no

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Athletes from Ivy League are top

Lol no

Swimmers and crew, agree

[Anonymous]

I one hundred percent believe the answer to this question will vary based on where the person responding themself went to school.