In an article in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman describes his interview with Lazlo Bock, the senior vice president of people operations at Google, in which he asked Bock what he looks for when interviewing prospective Google employees. Bock's reply was a bit unorthodox. First of all, Bock says that GPA and college degrees are not good indicators of the quality or worth of an individual as an employee. Many jobs at Google are technical so computing and coding skills are of high value, but those skills aren't necessarily quantified by high school or college grades. In fact, Bock goes on to say that, "Your degree is not a proxy for your ability to do any job. The world only cares about — and pays off on — what you can do with what you know (and it doesn’t care how you learned it)." In order to figure out "what you can do with what you know," Bock focuses on five key attributes: cognitive ability, leadership, humility, ownership, and expertise. These characteristics inform Bock as to how well someone can adapt to different situations and learn new information, take initiative when needed, know when to let someone else take the reins, how committed they are to succeeding, and how much prior knowledge they have.
If I've done my job as a teacher, my students will have a good shot at getting a job at Google. The attributes that Bock is looking for in employees are the attributes that I wish to help my students develop. I agree with Bock in that these characteristics are valuable not just at work but in most aspects of life. Of course, I still care about my students's grades and I still want all of my students to succeed academically, but these soft skills that cannot be measured by any school test are just as important to succeeding in the real world as SAT scores and GPA. Friedman, T. (2014, February 22). How to get a job at Google. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-to-get-a-job-at-google.html?_r=2
3 Comments
|
AuthorGeorge Porter, English Teacher at Sage Creek Archives
May 2016
Categories |