Not relevant

I recently saw a job post written by someone not far away in age than me.

I was dismayed to find that, right up there on the top of the requirements section, they had listed “bachelor degree from a top university.”

Personally, I thought we were past that.

I graduated college 8 years ago. Furthermore, my lowest grades, those most affecting my cumulative GPA—the only thing most hiring managers care about anyway—were ‘given’ to me in 2012, back when I had nowhere near the ambition and mental-models and habits I have now.

But to say that where I went to school—let alone the grades I received while there—is an reliable or relevant predictor of my ability to solve problems, to be productive or resourceful, or to do my job better than most, is a colossal fiction.

It’s dangerous and it’s unfair and it’s a fantastic way to allow inequity in hiring practices to remain intact.

Of course, if you’re all about that culture—hiring people just like you—in race, in belief, in thinking, in the places you’ve been and seen—then certainly hiring based on where someone when to school a decade ago is a safe hedge.

But if that’s not you (and it shouldn’t), it’s best to let bygones be bygones (literally), and let what’s factually irrelevant go.