Page 8 – THE MOTIVATOR – October 2017
Why Google doesn ’ t care about college degress
By Gregory Ferenstein
Google isn ’ t big on college degrees , although the search giant is inundated with applicants touting perfect GPAs from Ivy League schools .
Google ’ s chairman and head of hiring , Laszlo Bock , has given a few insights in the New York Times on how he sorts through a multitude of bright applicants .
The upshot is that Google values the skills and experiences that candidates get in college , but a degree doesn ’ t tell them much about talent or grit .
You don ’ t need
a college degree to be talented “ When you look at people who don ’ t go to school and make their way in the world , those are exceptional human beings . And we should do everything we can to find those people ,” Bock said .
Many businesses “ require ” a college degree ; at Google , the word “ college ” isn ’ t even its official guide to hiring . With the rise of self-paced college courses and vocational learning , plenty of driven people can teach themselves all of the necessary skills to work at the company .
Demonstrate a skill ,
not an expertise
“ If you take somebody who has high cognitive ability , is innately curious , willing to learn and has emergent leadership skills , and you hire them as an HR person or finance person , and they have no content knowledge , and you compare them with someone who ’ s been doing just one thing and is a world expert , the expert will go : ‘ I ’ ve seen this 100 times before ; here ’ s what you do ,'” Bock said . College degrees are , almost by definition , a certificate of expertise . A degree in journalism is a giant badge meant to tell the world that you know at least a little bit about the trade of telling stories and interviewing people .
But a degree really doesn ’ t say what a graduate can do . Can they present an idea in front of a crowd ? Can they build a website ? Can they think interestingly about problems , or did they just pass some tests ?
Logic is learned , and stats
are superimportant
“ Humans are by nature creative beings , but not by nature logical , structured-thinking beings . Those are skills you have to learn ,” Bock said . “ I took statistics at business school , and it was transformative for my career . Analytical training gives you a skill set that differentiates you from most people in the labor market .”
Logical thinking goes way beyond programming . For instance , back in 2010 , Facebook put up a blog post claiming that political candidates with more fans were more likely to win their race , implying that getting more Facebook fans would improve their chances . In no uncertain terms , this was a phenomenally bad argument . Maybe candidates who were already more popular just happened to have more fans . And what about candidates with fewer fans that won their races ? In these cases , why did fans not matter ?
The Facebook employees who ran the statistics understood some basic logic , but they didn ’ t demonstrate analytical thinking . Sifting through data requires training in the latest techniques for understanding causality and creatively exploring patterns ( FYI : Facebook has gotten a lot better about these types of political claims since 2010 ).
Prove grit
“ It looks like the thing that separates out the capable students from the really successful ones is not so much their knowledge … but their persistence at something ,” Google chairman , Eric Schmidt said .
For some people , college is just really easy . They can play 10 rounds of beer-pong until 4 a . m . and still ace an organic-chemistry exam the next day while their studious roommate is up to their eyeballs in color-coded flash cards and squeaks by with a B .
A college degree can ’ t tell Google whether an applicant is naturally smart or is a hard worker . Apparently , Google would rather mold someone with grit rather than someone who is a lazy high-achiever .
If you go to college ,
focus on skills
“ My belief is not that one shouldn ’ t go to college … most don ’ t put enough thought into why they ’ re going and what they want to get out of it ,” Block said .
Both Bock and Schmidt are adamant that most people should go to college but that skills and experience are more important than the stamp of expertise . Bock says Google is looking for the kinds of projects candidates completed or what they accomplished at an internship .
I honestly can ’ t remember the last time someone asked me what my major in college was . If you want a job at Google ( or some other prestigious company ), don ’ t focus so much on your major , and make sure you graduate with all the skills and experiences you need to do awesome things in the world .
Richard Branson To Young Entrepreneurs : Just Do It
By our national correspondent
Through the decades , entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has not lost that certain wunderkind vibe about him and the way he runs his brand . This aura makes him especially inspiring to entrepreneurs who are looking to start young .
“ Most young people with good ideas … will find that 99 percent of people will give them every reason why their idea ’ s been done before or why it ’ s not a good idea or why they ’ re going to fall flat on their face ,” Branson recently told Inc .’ s president and editor in chief Eric Schurenberg during an exclusive sit-down interview . “ In the end , you have to say , ‘ Screw it . Just do it .’”
At the age of 15 , Branson dropped out of high school to start his first business , a magazine for young activists titled Student .
Four years later , in 1970 , Branson began selling records by mail . In 1971 , he opened his first record store . In 1972 , he opened a recording studio . In 1973 , he started his own record label . The Virgin business empire had begun , and Branson had not yet turned twenty four .
Today , the Virgin Group is a wellregarded global conglomerate of about 350 companies , branching into the entertainment , travel , and mobile industries .
Not all of Branson ’ s big ideas have been successful . Virgin Airlines and Virgin Mobile are now flagship brands for Branson , but remember Virgin Cola ? With big risks come big , public failures . Branson has a follow-up secret to success : determination even when failure seems inevitable .
“ If you have enough determination .... It ’ s more likely that
you will succeed because of what you learned from the occasions when you didn ’ t succeed ," Branson said . “ The most important thing is to not be put off by failure .
“ THE adversities and tribulations that you are presently experiencing are not meant to annihilate you but to allow you to uncover your true potential and concealed and covert GREATNESS . No matter how discouraged you may feel now , you cannot quit . You must stay in the game . Your time will come ”
– SPENCE FINLAYSON , BISHOP OF MOTIVATON