COMMENTARY: Academic credentials are a poor measure of talent. So why do businesses keep relying on them? – By Tarika Barrett (Fortune) / June 5 2021
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It’s graduation season—that time of year when millions of students get their diplomas and enter the workforce. Among them will be thousands of Girls Who Code alumni looking for their first job in the competitive field of computer science. You would think—given the roughly 500,000 open jobs in computing right now, and only 40,000 computer science graduates—that our alumni would find it easy to find opportunities.
But one thing regularly gets in the way: the outdated and elitist system of academic credentialing.
Recently, I was in discussions with executives from a large, multinational firm about our new pilot program Work Prep, which helps college-age women connect with future employers. This company has supported our work for years and was interested in doing so again—on the condition that students meet a minimum GPA threshold.
On its face, this seems innocuous enough. Reasonable, even. Why shouldn’t a firm demand high academic standards?
CONTINUE > https://fortune.com/2021/06/05/academic-credentialing-hiring-tech-girls-who-code/
