<p>I am new on this board but as a hiring manager I thought that I should chime in on this topic.
I have hired three Ivy Leauge new grads over the last four years. None of them are currently employed by my firm. One left because he felt that he wasn’t being promoted fast enough (the group he was responsible for didn’t have good results but he felt he should be promoted anyhow). One left when he got three poor reviews in a row. He felt that every decision was time for debate; we don’t have time to debate everything: your boss decides and then we move on. The third has just been asked to leave because he was consistantly circumventing the chain of command in the organization.</p>
<p>I will not be looking for any additional grads from these schools any time in the near future. They seem to be out of touch with the realities of the business world…we are getting much better results (at about $5K lower salary) from midwestern state school grads. The midwestern grads don’t work quite as hard (they tend to head home at 5:30 or 6:00 instead of 7:00 or 8:00) but the quality of their output seems to be better. </p>
<p>My experience may be an aberation, but it is what I have seen out here in the trenches.</p>
<p>One other thing that is interesting is that when we are interviewing, even for engineers, we tend to dismiss grade point as long as it is above a preestablished minimum (generaly 3.5). The biggest thing that we are looking for is communication skills…the kids have to be able to sell themselves to me …how else are they going to be able to sell their ideas to the group and to our customers (the government). Some of the highest grade points have been associated with the poorest communications skills, which is why we don’t dwell on GPA anymore.</p>
<p>That’s my 2 cents worth; now feel free to beat on me.</p>