In Barack Obama's 2006 book The Audacity of Hope, in the chapter entitled "Opportunity," Google's workforce is mentioned. "As far as I could tell, not one was black or Latino," Obama wrote.
When he confronted one of Google's executives with this observation, he was told that in order to stay competitive, only top graduates from "the top math, engineering, and computer science programs in the country" were being hired.
The U.S. Department of Labor reports that the number of unemployed persons in the U.S. was 12.8 million in January 2012. Companies, however, are still looking for employees with specific skills. Some of these skills are not being absorbed by black and Latino students, therefore, many people with these skills are brought in from Asia and Eastern Europe with proper immigration credentials and are hired.
Although most companies pride themselves on being good at hiring a diverse workforce, many remain mostly lopsided when it comes to racial diversity and top heavy on technology skills. Many companies are looking for people who can hit the ground running in sales and engineering positions and possess strong cognitive abilities, meaningful work experiences, and have made major contributions to society.
Some companies seem to be looking for super men and women! There are not too many of these godlike folks around, and the regular Joe and Joan who have had mediocre careers without the advantages of publishing a book, bringing their company millions in revenue, or simply known for showing up at work everyday and not causing trouble may have a hard time in today's job market.
According to CNN Money, ten top companies are looking to hire some 56,000 people. These companies are probably looking for employees with similar skills possessed by their company's leaders. Let's take a closer look at major companies to see the training their leaders received.
Adobe Systems Incorporated
Shantanu Naraven, President and Chief Executive Officer - B.S. in electronics engineering from Osmania University in India, a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University and a master’s degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business
Chesapeake Energy
Aubrey McClendon, Chairman of the Board & CEO - Duke University graduate
Edward Jones
James Weddle, Managing partner - graduate of DePauw University and earning an MBA from Washington University, St. Louis
Larry Page, CEO - B.S. in engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University
Sergey Brin, Co-Founder - B.S. with honors in mathematics and computer science from the University of Maryland at College Park. Brin is currently on leave from the Ph.D. program in computer science at Stanford University.
Intel
Paul S. Otellini, President and CEO - bachelor's degree in economics from the University of San Francisco, MBA from the University of California, Berkeley
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Dennis Nally, Global Chairman - graduate of Western Michigan University, Mr. Nally also completed the Columbia University and Penn State University Executive Programs
Qualcomm
Irwin Mark Jacobs, Founder - B.E.E. degree from Cornell University and his M.S. and Sc.D. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Boston Consulting Group
Hans-Paul Bürkner, President and CEO - received diploma from University of Bochum, M.A. from Yale University, and D.Phil from University of Oxford where he was a Rhodes Scholar
Wegmans Food Markets
Danny Wegman, CEO - Harvard University graduate with a bachelor's degree in economics
Whole Foods Market
John B. Elstrott, Chairman of the Board - undergraduate degree from Louisiana State University and a doctorate degree from The University of Colorado
©2012 Tomi Johnson. All rights reserved.
Another viewpt writes: Most fortune 500 companies are looking for exceptional candidates or candidates who can be had exceptionally cheap. Since these candidates in the US are getting “harder” to find, companies have no problem outsourcing or bringing someone in with a H1-B status to fill a position cheaply. It’s almost like a sharecropper’s mentality, since the sponsor of the H1-B can hold the Immigrant worker’s Visa over their heads (and that’s another story). So then, it puts the domestic non-Ivy league college educated candidate in a quandary. Without the advantages of publishing a book, bringing a company millions in revenue, they get left behind in today's job market. Un or under-employed workers are taking a back seat and becoming a statistic number in the American dream, while those running those fortune 500 companies are only thinking of their numbers in terms of millions of dollars in compensation.
ReplyDeleteDRM say: i want a title that says ...
ReplyDeleteMen...why decent ones are hard to land these days :)
Great information! I will post on my Facebook page (I have 4,200 "friends") and Twitter. Thanks for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteAs evidenced by your listing of top execs, proactive sourcing for the best and brightest talent is not a new concept. What is relatively new however, is the depth and breadth of the talent pool. More simply put...There are a lot of big fish on the hunt for big opportunities these days. Therefore, candidates must not only look 'the part' on paper,they must also bring their A game to every fight. They need to:
ReplyDelete1. Know the mission, vision and values statement of the company
2. Know the credentials and chief accomplishments of the corporate leadership
3. Know the strategic direction of the company
4. Know the advertised competitive edge of the company
5. know how the company can best capitalize on the value the candidate has to offer
With the foregoing in place, the candidate is then free to seal the deal with 'swag'. Confidence, creativity,compatibility....