A tech exec explains why he doesn't care about your alma mater and your past jobs

pulse

July 11, 2017 4:34 PM

Indeed senior vice president of engineering Doug Gray says that résumés aren't everything when it comes to recruiting for tech.

It's not a great idea to hire someone based on their résumé alone, especially in the tech world.

At least that's what Doug Gray, the senior vice president of engineering at Indeed, thinks.

He tells Business Insider that a tech candidate's actual skills and abilities are what's important, not their alma mater or the companies they've previously worked for.

"It's understandable, and it's a mistake that I often have to council myself not to make," Gray says. "This has to do with the fact that we look at résumés as a form of demonstrating pedigree, especially in software engineering."

He says that recruiters often are wowed by top computer science schools, like University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, or MIT. Past experience at top tier tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon is also a major plus.

"But if you've got a cognitive science degree from a university that I'm not familiar with, or you've only worked at companies I've never heard of, maybe I'm not going to bother," he says. "The problem is that you're going to miss a lot of really good talent by doing that."

Instead, Gray recommends de-emphasizing the résumé by implementing procedures like coding tests that demonstrate a candidate's skills. That way, companies and recruiters will prevent excellent talent from slipping through the cracks just because they lack a flashy résumé.

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