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posted by on Monday April 10 2017, @04:01PM   Printer-friendly
from the talent-contest dept.

Silicon Valley is starting to realize that the huge talent pool of nontraditional candidates may be the answer to its pipeline problem.

The technology industry is now trying to figure out a way to attack its cultural and demographic homogeneity issues. One simple initiative is to begin to recruit talent from people outside of its preferred networks. One way is to extend their recruiting efforts to people who don't have four-year degrees.

IBM's head of talent organization, Sam Ladah, calls this sort of initiative a focus on "new-collar jobs." The idea, he says, is to look toward different applicant pools to find new talent. "We consider them based on their skills," he says, and don't take into account their educational background. This includes applicants who didn't get a four-year degree but have proven their technical knowledge in other ways. Some have technical certifications, and others have enrolled in other skills programs. "We've been very successful in hiring from [coding] bootcamps," says Ladah.

For IT roles, educational pedigree often doesn't make a huge difference. For instance, many gaming aficionados have built their own systems. With this technical grounding, they would likely have the aptitude to be a server technician or a network technician. These roles require specific technical knowledge, not necessarily an academic curriculum vitae. "We're looking for people who have a real passion for technology," says Ladah. He goes on to say that currently about 10% to 15% of IBM's new hires don't have traditional four-year degrees.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3069259/why-more-tech-companies-are-hiring-people-without-degrees

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by kaszz on Monday April 10 2017, @04:55PM

    by kaszz (4211) on Monday April 10 2017, @04:55PM (#491730) Journal

    I think the basic problem is that the educational complex creates artificial barriers to entry. Then tries to guess what students need while providing a social space that caters to the wrong kind of personalities. All financed by crippling debt. Corporations then select from a impaired pool of talent.

    The bottom line is that one has to look at plain skills and not much else. Or one will loose out to any competition that does things differently.

    The bad news is that perhaps corporations isn't the optimal way to make a living quite soon. They are obsolete together with traditional educational institutions and nine-to-five jobs. If you are stuck on the moon base with a malfunctioning life support. What matters? Having the right exam papers or knowing how the oxygen recycling unit is designed to work? or high GPA? Having cool friends one light second away or knowing how to make use of a screwdriver and a memory oscilloscope on adrenaline? Being a "good worker" or getting the oxygen generator to work? Doing like the book says and the ISO standard specifies or being smart in analyzing conflicting information in solving a problem?

    Now all workers be a good boy and kiss corporate ass so that you may earn some more fiat money to pay debt or be chased by the thugs.

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