{"id":73325,"date":"2024-06-27T00:01:22","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T04:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=73325"},"modified":"2024-06-27T00:01:22","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T04:01:22","slug":"college-may-not-be-the-great-equalizer-%e2%88%92-luck-and-hiring-practices-also-play-a-role-a-sociologist-explains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/college-may-not-be-the-great-equalizer-%e2%88%92-luck-and-hiring-practices-also-play-a-role-a-sociologist-explains\/","title":{"rendered":"College may not be the \u2018great equalizer\u2019 \u2212 luck and hiring practices also play a role, a sociologist explains"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The idea that a college degree levels the playing field for students of different socioeconomic classes has been bolstered in recent years. Research from 2011 and 2017, for example, found that earning a bachelor\u2019s degree\u00a0helped students from less advantaged backgrounds<\/a>\u00a0do\u00a0as well as their better-off peers<\/a>.<\/em>_<\/p>\n

Jessi Streib<\/a>, a sociology professor at Duke University, was skeptical. According to other research, everything associated with landing a good job \u2013 professional networks, high GPAs, internships, status symbols \u2013 is\u00a0unequally distributed by class<\/a>. To find out whether college is the \u201cgreat equalizer,\u201d or whether more is at play than a bachelor\u2019s degree, Streib interviewed 62 students at a public university who were majoring in business \u2013\u00a0the most popular major<\/a>. She also chatted with 80 hiring agents and formally interviewed many more employers. Here, she shares her findings.<\/em><\/p>\n

Based on your research, is college the \u2018great equalizer\u2019?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

College helps, but widespread employment practices that keep salary information hidden seemed to play a larger role for the students I interviewed. Prospective employers in that job market frequently hide key information, such as salary range and a detailed job description, that would help graduating students decide what jobs to apply for. The information is often not provided until a job offer is made.<\/p>\n

In addition, employers\u00a0regularly offer graduating students<\/a>\u00a0different amounts to do similar jobs, so it\u2019s hard for the soon-to-be grads to develop a general idea about what they should be paid for the type of work they want to do. Salary information found on websites such as\u00a0Glassdoor<\/a>\u00a0is often unreliable. Because of this, graduating students whose parents have different levels of education \u2013\u00a0one facet of socioeconomic status<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 must guess where to apply to get ahead. That makes luck the \u201cgreat equalizer\u201d for people with bachelor\u2019s degrees.<\/p>\n

What other hiring practices affect the jobs new grads receive?<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In addition to hiding salary information, hiring agents tend to obscure the criteria they use to evaluate prospective employees. For example, they might announce that they are looking for applicants with strong communication or teamwork skills, but they don\u2019t describe what meets those criteria. Good communications could mean the ability to be concise or to be thorough and a bit wordy. On top of this, different hiring agents may use contradictory criteria. I\u2019ve found that some prefer students who answer quickly and decisively, while others want those who take time before responding.<\/p>\n

At the same time, employers \u2013 those who hire students such as the business majors I interviewed \u2013 tend to use neutral criteria that students from all class backgrounds can meet. They often don\u2019t require a high GPA and ignore students\u2019 status symbols, such as familiarity with expensive activities such as golf, skiing and international travel. They also tend to refuse to negotiate with new college graduates over pay. Students from middle- and upper-class families, who are\u00a0more likely to know how to negotiate<\/a>, lose their advantage. This, in turn, leads to less disparity in income for new hires.
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