I don’t mean to sound disrespectful or in any way demean your point of view. But, to me, the very best thing I can say about that sentence is that it is terribly simplistic.
And at any rate, posters in this thread who know a lot more about engineering than do I have already told you there is no shortage of people who can “do the job”; and so, now, how to choose from amongst them?
If I have two applicants with the right GPA, rigor, test scores and whatever else you think matters, and one shines more than the other in other ways, why can’t I have the shiny one? What if one was born on third base, has had every advantage you can think of, and the other has overcome incredible obstacles to be where he is, which is the equal of the other? Am I not allowed to take that into consideration? Why not? I can tell you from the perspective of someone who has worked in organizations for years and done a lot of hiring, people who have truly managed to overcome hardship are demonstrating something that often translates very well at work.
But I digress. Tell me how to pick for my 5 openings among 20 with equal pedigree for the criteria you think important.