As white-collar hiring slows down and corporate DEI goals vanish, where you went to college matters again
By Lindsay Ellis of The WSJ. Excerpts:
"A 2025 survey of more than 150 companies found that 26% were exclusively recruiting from a shortlist of schools, up from 17% that were doing so in 2022, according to Veris Insights, which conducted the research."
"job applicants who attend prestigious universities or schools located close to company headquarters are given priority"
"Diversity was a priority for school recruiting selection for 31% of employers surveyed in 2025, down from nearly 60% of those polled in 2022."
"Most now recruit only at up to 30 American colleges out of about 4,000, starting with top-ranked schools and then looking at local universities"
"Companies are flooded with ChatGPT-generated résumés that look identical, so a job candidate’s college can be a distinguishing factor and focusing on key schools helps hiring managers cull thousands of applications for one position."
"Key assessments include gauging an applicant’s curiosity and ability to read a room, which are increasingly important skills as AI takes over other parts of consulting jobs, such as making slide decks."
One expert "advises students to start strategizing about their job search even before enrolling freshman year and to look for opportunities where others won’t, for instance by researching the top 100 companies in an industry, instead of just a few."
This reminds me of "signaling" in economics. Here is what Wikipedia says about it:
"In contract theory, signalling (or signaling; see spelling differences) is the idea that one party (termed the agent) credibly conveys some information about itself to another party (the principal). For example, in Michael Spence's job-market signalling model, (potential) employees send a signal about their ability level to the employer by acquiring education credentials. The informational value of the credential comes from the fact that the employer believes the credential is positively correlated with having greater ability and difficult for low ability employees to obtain. Thus the credential enables the employer to reliably distinguish low ability workers from high ability workers."
Related posts:
Do employers still think that a college degree is a good signal of future productivity? (2025)
Changing pathways to success for young people and how some high schoolers might be getting there (2025)
Do Liberal Arts Colleges Pay Off? What the Data Say (2024)
The Top U.S. Colleges That Make New Graduates Rich (2024)
Is College Worth It? (2024) (Interesting tool created by FREOPP. It allows you to find out your return on investment (ROI) from going to college. You can choose a school and a major and it will tell you your ROI.)
Studying Economics Increases Wages a Lot (2020)
What College Majors Pay The Highest? (2013)
50 College Majors With the Best Return on Investment (2015)
Cognitive Endurance as Human Capital (2022)
Yes, a College Degree Is Still Worth It (2023)
Does It Pay To Go To College? (2009)
Maybe That College Degree Is Not As Valuable As You Thought (2010)
Is College Still A Good Investment? (2012)
The Diminishing Returns of a College Degree (2017)
Many college dropouts are worse off economically than if they hadn’t started college (2019)
Also see The Philadelphia Eagles' Personnel Strategy: Targeting College Grads: Six of the Seven Players the Team Drafted This Year Are on Track to Graduate by Kevin Clark of the WSJ. It seems like NFL teams see the college degree as a signal. Exceprt:
"Philadelphia's philosophy of pursuing graduates was born when Roseman, the Eagles' general manager since 2010, and Kelly, the team's second-year coach, each discovered that teams with the most college graduates are overwhelmingly successful. Kelly learned this late in his coaching tenure at Oregon, when former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, whose son played at Oregon, mentioned in a talk to Oregon players that in the 2000s, the two teams who happened to have loads of graduates were the Colts and New England Patriots. Those teams dominated the first decade of this century.
"I didn't know he'd take it this far," Dungy said, jokingly.
In a private conversation later, Dungy, now an analyst for NBC, told Kelly that his research showed players with degrees were more likely to earn a second NFL contract and make more money. He told Kelly "the guys with degrees have what you are looking for. They are driven. If it's between two players, a degree might tip the scale. But at the time, I don't think he was even thinking of the NFL."
But before Kelly even arrived in Philadelphia, Roseman was doing his own research. Each year, Roseman and his lieutenants take the last four teams left in the playoffs and do reports on them—studying their players' height, weight, background and virtually everything else. Through those reports came evidence that the most successful teams had many college graduates on them. When Roseman and Kelly joined forces, the plan was clear.
The trends over the last five drafts are startling. Studies show that teams who select players who spent five years in college—and thus almost always have a degree—win big. Of the three teams with the most fifth-year seniors drafted, two of them met in February's Super Bowl: the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos. The Jacksonville Jaguars, who went 4-12, took the fewest.
The team that drafted the most players who stayed just three years on campus? The New York Giants, who have missed the playoffs the past two seasons. The Colts, Patriots and Washington Redskins, who have five total playoff appearances in the last two years, have taken the fewest three-year players, who rarely have college degrees.
Kelly said a degree is more than proof of intelligence. "It's also, what is their commitment?" he said. "They set goals out for themselves and can they follow through for it? A lot of people can tell you they want to do this, this and this. But look at their accomplishments."
The Eagles say they want players who are prepared, and a degree confirms that. Take wide receiver Jordan Matthews, a Vanderbilt economics major whose study habits translated perfectly to the NFL."
A Doonesbury comic strip from 1980 seemed to predict this. One of
the college players in the huddle says he is taking a course in
Bio-Physics during football season to impress the scouts. The printing
might be hard to read, so I typed up all the dialogue and put it after
the strip.
Anyone see Willy?
He had to finish up a Bio-Physics report.
Where is he really?
I couldn't believe it either.
Okay Turner, what do you have to say for yourself?
Sorry, I'm late B.D. I had to finish up a Bio-Physics report.
Bio-Physics? What the hell are you doing taking a course that tough during football season?
To impress the scouts, man. I'm hoping to make the pros.
Impress the scouts?
You figure a good transcript will improve your chances, Willy?
Of course, man. You can't even think about joining the pros unless you've had four years of college.
No kidding?
Absolutely. Its virtually unheard of for a kid to get a job in the NFL with only a high school education.
That's the dumbest thing I ever heard! Nobody cares if football players are educated!
Sure they do. Why do you think there's such a thing as academic eligibility?
But that's a joke. For Gods's sake!
So what's your plan, Willy?
Well, I thought if I held off and got my masters, it might give me an edge
No comments:
Post a Comment