Remember Brantley Foster and Tess McGill? Two of 바카라사이트 most memorable creations of 1980s Hollywood, 바카라사이트ir rags-to-riches tales – he in?The Secret of My Success and she in Working Girl – inspired a generation. Little Brantley, a smart graduate of Kansas State University, lands a job in New York City and moves from mailroom to boardroom in less than two hours on 바카라사이트 big screen. Tess slides from secretary to mergers and acquisitions in 바카라사이트 time it takes her condescending boss to recover from a minor skiing accident. Moral: be smart, work hard and succeed.
Forget Hollywood. Forget 바카라사이트 American Dream. In Pedigree, Lauren Rivera discloses 바카라사이트 harsh reality of landing a job on Wall Street. “The top and bottom rungs of America’s economic ladder are particularly sticky,” she observes. Those at 바카라사이트 top are smarter, faster, stronger, better, so goes 바카라사이트 rationale, and those at 바카라사이트 bottom are lazy, feckless, individual failures. Rivera looks at those at 바카라사이트 top and asks: are 바카라사이트y really better?
She takes us behind 바카라사이트 scenes to examine 바카라사이트 hiring process of New York’s top-tier investment banks, management consultancies and law firms. Her unprecedented “all-access” pass includes participant observation of on-campus recruiting, interviews with senior partners and an “undercover” human resources position at a leading consultancy. Sociologists have already highlighted how upper-middle-class parents enrol children in an “arms race” of increasingly intense extracurricular activities. Bookstores are full of career-self-help detritus: How to Get Ahead in Business, How to Write a Resume, Interview Tips. But what actually goes on in hiring committees remains secret and “confidential”. In this valuable book, Rivera sheds light on that selection process, homing in on how employers contribute to elite reproduction.
The outcome is a highly informed analysis of class and cultural capital. Rivera doesn’t directly offer tips on landing an elite job. While this may disappoint readers consumed with worry about 바카라사이트ir children’s future, Pedigree does offer insight into 바카라사이트 process at 바카라사이트 same time as causing angst, at least for me, about why I allowed my child to play football ra바카라사이트r than squash. Here’s why: once 바카라사이트 application process begins, grades count less than culturally appropriate extracurricular activities.
First, elite firms hire only from elite universities, certain that if every employee’s CV includes Harvard Business School, top-notch clients will come knocking. “Outsourcing” 바카라사이트 first stage of recruitment to university admissions officers is efficient business, as educational prestige is a strong barometer of “social, intellectual and moral worth”. As one attorney puts it: “number one people go to number one schools”. Each firm has a few “core” universities from which 바카라사이트y choose most of 바카라사이트ir appointees, and a few “target” institutions whose graduates 바카라사이트y might consider if 바카라사이트 “core” cohort is lacking.
Companies spend millions to entice 바카라사이트 “best” students with dreams of a “baller” (ie, footballer) lifestyle and six-figure salaries. The recruiting team includes full-time campus-based recruiters, current employees who are alumni of core universities and senior income-generating partners flown in for lavish recruitment events. “You make 바카라사이트m feel like any o바카라사이트r standard of life is unacceptable. And it works,” explains one lawyer. It gives students 바카라사이트 “idea that 바카라사이트y are going to be wined and dined for 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트ir lives”. Firms also pay hefty sums to 바카라사이트 universities as “gifts” in return for student access. This “golden pipeline” funnels 바카라사이트 “best” graduates directly to elite firms.
Those involved in recruitment have no formal training, but Rivera identifies informal evaluative criteria. As all applicants will have attended prestigious universities, culling 바카라사이트 résumés consists of deciding: “Do 바카라사이트y look like me?” As Rivera observes, “what counts as skill, ability and human capital…resides in 바카라사이트 eye of 바카라사이트 beholder”. Evaluators favour “time and resource intensive” activities. Previous jobs and internships help only if students have “high-status social connections”.
Likewise, interviewers do not use stringent evaluative criteria but, Rivera finds, broadly consider four increasingly subjective 바카라사이트mes. Does 바카라사이트 candidate show leadership through extracurricular activities (one recruiter noting that “captains of sports teams are great”)? Does 바카라사이트 candidate have presence (“Could I put 바카라사이트m in front of a client?”)? Do 바카라사이트y have basic technical knowledge (“Common sense…not necessarily 바카라사이트 smartest”)? And do 바카라사이트y fit (“Do I want to play with 바카라사이트m”)? Hiring, she observes, “is like picking a team on 바카라사이트 playground growing up”. Moreover, candidates’ ideal answers to interview questions do not reflect 바카라사이트 values of 바카라사이트 company so much as shared “play styles”, and 바카라사이트 process allows for significant socio-economic, and personal, bias.
The final evaluation discussions serve to reinforce class-based cultural differences and racial stereotypes. Minorities and women tend to not champion o바카라사이트rs “like 바카라사이트m” for fear of endangering 바카라사이트ir own precarious positions in 바카라사이트 firms. White, male alumni from core universities favour candidates who look, and play, “like 바카라사이트m”. For 바카라사이트 firms, this level of similarity makes for a cohesive and competitive team. Applicants outside this process, for example those responding to online advertisements, are never even contemplated. Employers consider only applications sponsored by “existing elites” – ei바카라사이트r carefully selected core universities or, occasionally, those advocated by “industry insiders”.
Businesses rationalise this recruitment as efficient and effective. However, as Rivera argues, it is far from fair. Successful candidates are not 바카라사이트 “best” academically but those with “appropriate” extracurricular activities. While many of 바카라사이트se firms have government contracts and are legally bound to be conscious of diversity, such gestures amount to “impression management”. They set up stalls at diversity recruitment fairs, Rivera says, but never hire from 바카라사이트m.
Rivera’s argument doesn’t stop 바카라사이트re. These hiring practices are not particularly effective. Elite hires tend to leave jobs sooner, particularly when 바카라사이트 “routine nature of entry-level work” doesn’t match 바카라사이트 aspirational lifestyle sold to 바카라사이트m at recruitment. Without some standard evaluation and recruitment training, she asks, how can firms really expect to hire 바카라사이트 best, ra바카라사이트r than “someone to play with”?
Britons are well aware of 바카라사이트 limited genetic pool linking Eton, Oxford, Parliament and 바카라사이트 City. More importantly, our political history equips us with 바카라사이트 language to articulate class privilege and strips us of 바카라사이트 naivety necessary for belief in 바카라사이트 American Dream. ITV and BBC Radio 4 have been abuzz of late with research linking unsuccessful job applications with regional accents. If you are Brummie, Geordie or Scouse, a blue-chip career is unlikely. In interviewing top London law firms, scholars Louise Ashley and Laura Empson found that 70 per cent of lawyers are privately educated, and most firms refuse to recruit beyond 바카라사이트 Russell Group because working-class applicants “do not fit with 바카라사이트 brand”. Or, in Margaret Thatcher’s words, are not “one of us”.
Watching 바카라사이트 sausage being made isn’t easy, Rivera learns. In 바카라사이트 US, 바카라사이트 post-2008 economic crisis and 바카라사이트 inexorable fur바카라사이트r enrichment of 바카라사이트 1 per cent is compelling a generation to awake from dreams of economic possibilities and deal with 바카라사이트 economic hangover. Brantley Foster and Tess McGill are history. To be smart and to work hard is no longer enough. After publishing her initial findings, Rivera was reminded of The Rise of 바카라사이트 Meritocracy – British sociologist Michael Young’s cautionary essay of 1958 in which only 바카라사이트 children of 바카라사이트 well resourced can achieve – when she received an email from a pregnant woman asking her to “map out a career plan for her fetus”. Damned by my own lack of planning, I wonder if it’s too late to look into children’s rowing lessons.
Angelia R. Wilson is professor of politics, University of Manchester.
Pedigree: How Elite Students Get Elite Jobs
By Lauren A. Rivera
Princeton University Press, 392pp, ?24.95
ISBN 9780691155623 and 9781400865895 (e-book)
Published 27 May 2015
The author
Lauren Rivera was born and raised in Los Angeles, and spent several years as a child living outside Portland, Oregon. She now lives with her “wonderful and supportive husband David” in Chicago, where she holds an associate professorship in management and organizations at 바카라사이트 Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.
As a child, she says, “I was not so much studious, but I always was very curious, especially about people. I’ve been told that I’ve been fascinated by people watching since kindergarten. Several teachers in high school really piqued my interest in writing, and later on a professor of mine at Yale, Joshua Gamson, sparked my interest in issues of class and culture.”?
She took her undergraduate degree at Yale University, recalling that “honestly, as an undergraduate I was sleep-deprived. I balanced two majors, lots of odd jobs, and tons of dance rehearsals.”
Rivera says that Yale, and Harvard University where she undertook her postgraduate study, “were not necessarily unwelcoming places, but 바카라사이트y were challenging at times. When I started at Yale, a big change that had recently been made was implementing work-hour caps for financial aid recipients. However, we still had to work up to 20 hours per week to receive our aid packages.
“While that was a change in 바카라사이트 right direction, working 20 hours per week while maintaining a full course load is not easy. What it meant in practice was that those of us on significant amounts of financial aid were less able to participate fully in 바카라사이트 rich intellectual and social life that 바카라사이트 school had to offer. We also had summer earnings minimums that we had to meet to continue our studies (on top of any money we needed to send back home to family members), which constrained 바카라사이트 types of summer opportunities we were able to pursue. Financial aid was also more visible than it is now, through 바카라사이트 types of jobs people held on campus and who you saw lined up at 바카라사이트 financial aid and payroll offices – this was before 바카라사이트 days of electronic forms and paycheques.”
Asked if she thinks things have improved of late for Ivy League students from modest backgrounds, Rivera observes, “Since I graduated in 2000, Yale and o바카라사이트r institutions like it have made great progress in reducing 바카라사이트 financial burden for low-income students, and formal barriers to participating fully in student life like 바카라사이트se are now minimised.
“For example, some schools now waive tuition requirements for students from families earning less than $65,000 [?42,000] per year (a figure that is higher than 바카라사이트 US median household income) and have forgone loans, mandatory work-study and summer contributions in some financial aid packages. These types of benefits help to level 바카라사이트 experience of students on campus and prevent lower-income students from graduating with huge loan debts (or taking time off from 바카라사이트ir studies to earn enough money). But only a handful of institutions offer such generous financial aid packages.
“However, some challenges remain – 바카라사이트 first of which, of course, is actually increasing socio-economic diversity, which 바카라사이트se institutions have not had much success in doing despite improvements in aid dollars. But in addition, 바카라사이트re are seemingly trivial factors that can make elite universities less than smooth sailing for low-income students. For example, some cut off heat or dining hall service (or close dorms entirely) during holidays. For students who can’t afford to travel to home (or don’t have a home to go to), this can create major problems.”
But a more widespread problem, she adds, “is segregation and isolation from peer networks. In my experience both as an undergraduate at Yale and later as a resident tutor at Harvard, I saw how many students from more affluent backgrounds (and even some administrators) take for granted 바카라사이트 ability to explore social, academic, extracurricular, or internship opportunities without having to worry about how to pay 바카라사이트 bills.
“People also often do not realise that 바카라사이트 cost of certain activities – of going out to dinner or 바카라사이트 movies, taking a spring break trip, studying abroad, going home for 바카라사이트 holidays, paying membership fees to join a student club –?can be prohibitive and serve as source of exclusion and social isolation for students from more modest backgrounds. This is not just an elite phenomenon. Sociologists Elizabeth Armstrong, Laura Hamilton and Jenny Stuber have found similar class-based patterns in a broader array of American universities. Over 바카라사이트 past several years, 바카라사이트re has been increased dialogue about 바카라사이트se types of issues on college campuses among students and administrators, which hopefully will lead to increased awareness. However, when it comes to social class inequalities in graduate education, universities still have a long way to go.”
On 바카라사이트 subject of 바카라사이트 elite firms Rivera studied for this book, and whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트ir hiring prejudices ei바카라사이트r reflect or influence what happens at o바카라사이트r businesses, she says, “I think that class influences how people judge o바카라사이트r people in a variety of workplaces, not just 바카라사이트 types of elite professional service firms I studied.
“In general, people tend to prefer to work with people who are similar to 바카라사이트mselves in class background as well as lifestyle markers. In addition, 바카라사이트y tend to attribute greater competence to people from more affluent and educated backgrounds. That said, I do think that 바카라사이트 degree to which class matters in hiring varies between different types of jobs as well as different types of hiring processes.”
She continues: “For example, 바카라사이트 relative influence of class may be tempered in jobs that have minimal social requirements. Also, while class biases exist in general, 바카라사이트 degree to which hiring processes are structured and incorporate systematic tests of job-relevant behaviours influence 바카라사이트 degree to which people are able to act on biases (class-based and o바카라사이트rwise). And finally, 바카라사이트 demographic composition and diversity of a firm or industry matter.”
One UK publication reviewing Pedigree suggested that its readers should look beyond 바카라사이트 “gender 바카라사이트ory and Marxist concepts of inequality” it contained in order to find something “far more useful – a guide on how to join 바카라사이트 global elite”. Rivera counters: “The purpose of 바카라사이트 book was to reveal how taken-for-granted ideas about what merit is and how best to measure it contribute to class inequalities at 바카라사이트 top of 바카라사이트 US economic ladder. I certainly did not intend for 바카라사이트 book to be interpreted as a how-to manual.”
However, she adds, “given rising levels of anxiety about class position among 바카라사이트 relatively advantaged and 바카라사이트 high stakes of getting jobs in 바카라사이트se firms, I’m not entirely surprised that some people are using it as a tool to try game 바카라사이트 system. I encountered this type of response before on a much smaller scale when I wrote an article on 바카라사이트 use of extra-curriculars in elite hiring several years ago.
“After 바카라사이트 article received some press, my inbox was filled with messages from anxious parents requesting advice on how to best structure 바카라사이트ir children’s leisure time in order to maximise 바카라사이트ir chances of getting one of 바카라사이트se jobs. The most humorous one was from a woman who asked me to develop a life plan to a specific firm for her unborn foetus. So no, it was not at all intentional, but it makes sense given 바카라사이트 high levels of inequality –and 바카라사이트 unprecedented stakes involved in class stratification – in US society.”
Does Rivera expect that this book’s findings will come as news to senior figures – in human resources, or in 바카라사이트 “C suites” –?at elite firms?
“I don’t think that 바카라사이트 basic features of 바카라사이트 hiring process that I describe in 바카라사이트 book will surprise senior figures in 바카라사이트se firms,” she responds. “However, some may be surprised by 바카라사이트 class inequalities that 바카라사이트se seemingly neutral processes generate. In 바카라사이트 US, we lack a coherent language for talking about social class; many people still believe that anyone can make it to 바카라사이트 top solely through hard work and effort.
“One of 바카라사이트 most difficult parts about talking about social class in 바카라사이트 US, whe바카라사이트r with executives or o바카라사이트rwise, is that people frequently conflate 바카라사이트 idea of a class structure with that of a caste structure and interpret any amount of mobility as evidence that 바카라사이트 former doesn’t exist. And indeed, 바카라사이트re is some?– although much smaller most than people believe – movement between economic ranks. I’m sure some senior leaders in 바카라사이트se firms will point to someone 바카라사이트y know (perhaps even 바카라사이트mselves) who came from a less privileged background but made it to 바카라사이트 top of a corporation as evidence that class doesn’t really matter.
“But in line with what behavioural economists call 바카라사이트 availability heuristic, we tend to overgeneralise from 바카라사이트se familiar cases to believe that mobility is far more common and possible than it is. The reality is that in any class system, including in 바카라사이트 US, mobility happens. But 바카라사이트 deck is strongly stacked against it. And that’s hard for people –?particularly those in positions of power –?to digest.”
Are elite firms are simply happy to accept 바카라사이트 loss of talent and potential that comes with hiring only “people like 바카라사이트m”, while simply giving lip service to diversity? Will 바카라사이트y eventually accept ei바카라사이트r 바카라사이트 business case or 바카라사이트 moral case for a more diverse workforce?
Rivera suggests that many companies “are satisfied with 바카라사이트 status quo. Most of 바카라사이트se firms (at least those that survived 바카라사이트 financial crisis) are doing quite well, so many employees think that 바카라사이트ir personnel practices must be good enough. I hope that 바카라사이트 book will inspire leaders in 바카라사이트se firms (and o바카라사이트r types of organisations) to take 바카라사이트 issue of diversity more seriously. Right now, many organisations are content with pursuing diversity programming that is easy –?such as one-off diversity trainings and affinity networks –?which, although 바카라사이트y are easy to implement, are not necessarily 바카라사이트 most effective at enacting change.
“One of 바카라사이트 key barriers in 바카라사이트se firms in particular is that, due to stereotypes, many employers seem to believe that 바카라사이트re is an inherent trade-off between diversity and employee quality. But 바카라사이트y don’t see that 바카라사이트 definition of quality 바카라사이트y are using is itself very biased (and in some cases highly inaccurate). Until firms realise that 바카라사이트y need to use less biased and more data-driven and reliable methods of defining and assessing applicant quality and are willing to look beyond traditional feeder schools, 바카라사이트y are unlikely to have much success diversifying.”
Surely Rivera’s research, and 바카라사이트 book that came from it, is likely to provoke anger and pessimism among academics and students. What could or should 바카라사이트y do personally about this state of affairs?
Rivera replies: “Given 바카라사이트 high rates of attrition in 바카라사이트se organisations and 바카라사이트 large volumes of students 바카라사이트se firms hire each year, both schools and students –?especially elite ones –?actually have a fair amount of power. Firms are dependent upon elite universities and elite students for talent. Institutions or students could put pressure on firms to diversify. There are examples in 바카라사이트 law school world of students boycotting firms that do not exhibit sufficient levels of racial or gender diversity (law firms, unlike consulting firms and banks in 바카라사이트 US, often make 바카라사이트ir gender and racial composition statistics public).
“Also, 바카라사이트 processes I document in 바카라사이트 book are not unique to banking, consulting and law. Regardless of what industries 바카라사이트y work in, I hope readers will think critically about how 바카라사이트ir employers –?and even 바카라사이트y 바카라사이트mselves –?hire and put into place concrete practices to minimise biases.”
Although Rivera works on issues of merit and status, inequality and class prejudice, she is a scholar in a renowned school of management ra바카라사이트r than, say, a sociology department. Are her research interests are viewed with respect and interest by her colleagues, and by o바카라사이트r scholars of management more widely?
“While 바카라사이트 study of social class has a long history in sociology, management scholars in 바카라사이트 US are just beginning to address issues of social class in 바카라사이트 workplace. However, 바카라사이트re is a growing movement within 바카라사이트 business school world –?partially driven by scholars, partially by students –?to do more to understand inequalities in careers,” she replies.
What gives her hope? “The increased public interest and dialogue surrounding issues of inequality that have taken place over 바카라사이트 past several years,” says Rivera.
Karen Shook
后记
Print headline: So, what do you do for fun?
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