Thomas Friedman gives the outsider an inside look into how Google hires new employees in the article “How to Get a Job at Google.” Mr. Brock, the senior vice president of Google discusses what the company is looking for in future employees and offers insight to those who may be hoping to hit the profession gold mine. In theory, all that he talks about is what we would hope that any company looks for during their hiring process by the striking reality is that it is quite the opposite of what we are doing in education for the 15+ years that a student spends to prepare for said job. Here is how I break down some of Mr. Brock's thoughts regarding their hiring attributes, and what we as educators can do help prepare our students if Google is such a company that they would hope to work for.
“G.P.A.’s are worthless as a criteria for hiring, and test scores are worthless. ... We found that they don’t predict anything…” We need to move away from assigning grades on a test bases, and move towards content mastery. Testing reflects how well of a test taker the student is and not necessarily how much they know the content. “...the No. 1 thing we look for is general cognitive ability, and it’s not I.Q. It’s learning ability. It’s the ability to process on the fly. It’s the ability to pull together disparate bits of information.” Our classroom setting needs to include discussion that is not following a pattern on given worksheets. Too much of a student's day becomes predictable and instead of learning outside the box they are learning how to fit in the box. “...What we care about is, when faced with a problem and you’re a member of a team, do you, at the appropriate time, step in and lead. And just as critically, do you step back and stop leading, do you let someone else?” First, we need to include problems in our students day that they can actually discuss and solve. Worksheets with DOK1 questions that are fillers for time will not allow our students to grow as leaders. On another note, teaching students to not always be in the spotlight, is something even adults need to be learning. Too many leaders today could do a better example of stepping back to allow others to lead. We need to get this right before our students will ever see a need to change. “Without humility, you are unable to learn...successful bright people rarely experience failure, and so they don’t learn how to learn from that failure.” We need to teach failure, admit failure, embrace failure….all of it. How do we do this? Share with others via blogs something that did not work. Humble ourselves when we thought a presentation at work was going to go one way, and it went another. Admit misconceptions, own our mistakes, and ask for forgiveness. Listen with the intent of listening to hear the person, not to respond with our own thoughts. “...and loving to learn and re-learn. This will be true no matter where you go to work.” Ultimately that should be our goal starting at TK. Teaching our students to love learning and re-learning by emulating that ourselves. The day we stop loving to learn is the day we need to step out of the classroom to find it again or allow someone else to come in. While these are all important for educators, I think what is more important is that employers like Google make the switch and value those that are extraordinary and not someone simply because they have a paper from a certain University. Until then our students will only continue to follow the equation that millions others before them have followed to attempt to earn a successful job in our society. Resources: Friedman, T. (2014, February 22). How to Get a Job at Google. Retrieved June 20, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-to-get-a-job-at-google.html?_r=2
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KellyI like people. I love their stories even more. Archives
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