Subj : Re: Academic grades should be USELESS
To   : comp.programming
From : Ed Prochak
Date : Tue Jul 26 2005 02:24 pm

The company MUST condider ALL the posibilities that the candidate

A with lower grades because
(JOE) he's smart but doesn't like to follow directions (IOW "play
scholastic games")
(SAM) he's not smart and should consider another field of study

B with higher grades because
(MOE) he's smart AND is willing to "play scholastic games"
(TOM) he's not smart, but is able to produce high test scores (an
over-achiever)

Hiring JOE or SAM is a gamble. Even in an interview, it might be hard
to tell them apart. There are likely more SAMs than JOEs so the odds of
getting that diamond in the rough are low.  OTOH it's hard being an
overachiever, so there are likely more MOEs than TOMs. So the odds of
getting a bad employee by picking the ones with better grades are low.

 If the company can find enough  MOE and TOM candidates, why should
they bother trying to find that one JOE?

.