Reply to St. Albans School - how big a deal?

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "St. Albans School - how big a deal?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]At law school, we were all advised to include our high schools for resumes for jobs in the City or town where the high school is located. This was Harvard Law school, so it wasn't as though we were grasping to find some school to gain us a privileged edge that was lacking.  The reason for including the high school was to indicate in the resume, without the firm needing to read through a cover letter, that we were from the town where the job was located, which would make it seem we would be more likely to stay. Especially in transient cities like Washington, employers may be more interested in hiring people they believe will remain long-term, rather than get DC experience then move back to their home towns. It made sense to me, so I included my area high school on my resume for DC law firms, but not on resumes going to firms in other cities. All turned out fine.[/quote]

Good try, but NO!

I mean, if you have a law degree from Harvard but still need your HS credential to set yourself apart from other applicants, you are going to need more than your HS' name to get you the job!  And in any professional setting, employers are looking for best candidate, not best "local" candidates!
[/quote]

I'm not sure you read my post correctly.  I included the name of my high school so that firms would know I would likely remain local. It is a huge cost to law firms to lose associates they would prefer to keep due to the predictable urge to move closer to home. It's not that I "needed"A high school credential, it is that I was a thoughtful person conveying relevant information to potential employers. I received offers from most all of the top local firms, including Covington, Hogan, Wilmer, and W&C, and spent many happy years at one of them before moving to a client. People can have different views on including local high schools, and my high school was not one of the ones frequently written about on this board, but you don't need to be dense about the reasoning.

[b]Also, there may be a gender dynamic going on.[/b] Woman I find tend to be much more easily put off by people being explicit about their connections or legitimate successes. I don't think men would find it nearly as offputting. And, for better or worse, men are still doing most of the hiring.  I don't think there is one right answer, but I do think men would be more impressed with a candidate being assertive and Balsey enough to include an elite high school on a resume, seemingly acknowledging that the perceived status or connections may be of value to the employer.[/quote]

This is an interesting observation re: gender.  I'm one of the folks upthread who shreds (virtually, of course) any resume that lists a high school after receipt of undergraduate degree, but I'm a woman.  I also work in the nonprofit sector, in one of those jobs that is high prestige and low pay.  So, not only do I make assumptions about candidates cocky enough to list an elite high school on a resume, I also probably feel like they would be a poor fit for the organization.

Either way, I have found that those candidates don't tend to have the relevant experience that I'm looking for, anyway.  One thing about growing up with wealth is that you assume you can do anything, so you apply for jobs that you don't have much qualification for.

Of course, I'll take the St. Alban's resume people over the assholes who get their dad to call the organization's president over an internship position.  Those people are terrible.  
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics