Why do big companies attach so much importance to your "first degree"?

Why do big companies attach so much importance to your "first degree"?

Bro, remember this most heart-wrenching sentence first:

Because in their eyes, your first degree checks your "intelligence and pedigree", while subsequent degrees only check your "effort and attitude".

I know this sounds disgusting and politically incorrect, but keep reading and you'll understand how these shrewd people think.

First, the college entrance examination is the only "intelligence verification report" they trust. Do you think it tests knowledge? Wrong!

For big companies, the college entrance examination tests the top configuration performance of you as a "product" at the age of 18. It is a three-year "extreme pressure test report" backed by the state, unified nationwide, and almost impossible to cheat.

Those who can get into top universities for undergraduate studies at least meet three hard criteria at the age of 18:

The "hard currency" of intelligence: No matter how severe your subject bias is, you can understand a bunch of completely unrelated subjects like math, physics, chemistry, Chinese, history, and geography within the prescribed time and perform better than millions of people. This shows that your "CPU" has a high main frequency, large memory, and good compatibility.

Absolute "ruthlessness": Who are you ruthless to? Yourself! From 15 to 18, the most playful and restless years of life, you can keep yourself firmly in your seat and grapple with tens of thousands of knowledge points. This kind of anti-human nature self-discipline is a basic quality for doing great things.

Stable "psychological quality": The more "one exam determines your life", the greater the pressure. You can maintain your mindset and perform normally under the expectations of your family, the pressure from your teachers, and the internal competition among your classmates. This kind of stress resistance will be useful in the future when you have to handle KPIs and office politics.

Which of these qualities is not as precious as gold? And the most crucial point is that this "verification report" is free! HR doesn't have to go through the trouble of giving you personality tests or intelligence tests. Just take a look at your graduation certificate, and it's done.

Second, postgraduate entrance examination? That's a "post-event remedy", and its value is different.

I'm not saying that postgraduate entrance examination is not impressive. Those who get into top universities for postgraduate studies are all tough people.

But in the eyes of those seasoned HRs, it's like this: Different tracks: The college entrance examination is a million people crossing a single bridge, while for postgraduate entrance examination, you can choose your track. You can choose a relatively easy school, switch to a less competitive major, or even take the exam multiple times. Its "randomness" and "uniqueness" are not as strong.

Different purposes: Many people take the postgraduate entrance examination to "wash away" the "stain" of their first degree. HRs are well aware of this motivation. It's like a piece of clothing with a defect at the factory, and you later sew a beautiful patch on it. HRs will appreciate your patching skills, but they will always remember that defect.

Different circles: This is the most fatal point. Where did you spend the four most crucial years for the formation of your worldview, values, and circle of friends? Your undergraduate classmates are likely to define your "social starting point" and "way of thinking". HRs will assume that a person who has spent four years in a top circle is different from one who has spent four years in an ordinary circle in terms of their vision, resources, and problem-solving approaches.

To put it more bluntly: Your first degree is like the foundation of a house. If your foundation is the standard of a self-built house in the village, and you later get a postgraduate degree and decorate the exterior like a five-star hotel, it looks luxurious, but an experienced engineer (HR) will know that your load-bearing capacity and earthquake resistance are not the same as those with a foundation built to the standard of a skyscraper.

Third, this is the most genuine "office politics": find your kind, reduce risks.

In big companies, when department managers hire people, there is a hidden demand besides getting the job done: hire someone who is "one of us".

A Harvard manager naturally has a lower communication cost when hiring a Harvard subordinate. They share inside jokes, similar ways of thinking, and even know the same teacher. This sense of trust among "insiders" is something no resume can offer.

This is a kind of implicit "circle culture" and "bloodline certification".

Moreover, if a person with a prestigious first degree performs poorly later on, the supervisor can always explain to the boss, "I hired someone from XX University. Logically, there shouldn't be a problem!" The supervisor is not to blame. But if the supervisor defies the majority and hires someone with an ordinary first degree, and this person causes trouble, what will the boss say? "You insisted on hiring him. Look, something went wrong! Your judgment is flawed!" The supervisor will have to bear the blame for life.

Tell me, if you were the supervisor, would you take the risk?

So, in the end, it's not that your ability is unimportant.

It's that your "first degree" has already completed a comprehensive assessment of your "learning ability, self-discipline, and stress resistance" for large companies, and provides a guarantee of "circle recognition" and "hiring risk".

This world is so plain and dull. It doesn't make sense; it only talks about probability. Before you cover this label with your achievements over the next ten or twenty years, it is the brightest brand or the heaviest mark on you.