Abstract
We’ve all heard the conventional wisdom about the randomness and unpredictability associated with hiring decisions. At some point during the hiring process, an apparent coin toss occurs, and qualified job applicants are left to ponder what subtleties may have contributed to their exclusion from a potentially lucrative position at a desirable firm. In Pedigree, Lauren Rivera explores these often unseen dynamics that can affect employment decisions shaping access to some of the world’s most elite professional service firms. Such coin tosses are not entirely random; some outcomes are the product of inside knowledge, careful preparation, and cultivated participation in extracurricular activities. Successful applicants often convey “fit” (that is, social and cultural similarity) with a firm’s existing workforce. This demonstrated “cultural capital” is the focal subject of Pedigree.
Each year, newly-minted bachelor degree recipients from leading US universities are drawn to careers in investment banking, consulting, and law. The allure of six-figure salaries, year-end bonuses, and high-profile clients has directed disproportionate attention and interest towards these high-status entry-level positions. In Pedigree, Rivera explores processes of economic stratification by examining the screening and selection of potential new hires within these three industries. The core pursuit at the heart of this work is to advance understanding of how the most prominent firms in these industries select new members, and what organizational structures and informal processes shape the hiring decisions that translate into employment opportunities at these top-echelon employers.
The structure of Rivera’s book mirrors the recruitment process at these elite firms. The book’s chapters thus logically follow the progression of college information sessions, application preparation, first- and second-round interviews, and candidate deliberations that result in job offers. Rivera’s ethnographic work is thoughtfully described and rich qualitative evidence is presented. Revealing quotations offer unvarnished insight in the selection procedures and thought processes applied by the gatekeepers to these high-status entry-level positions.
Rivera argues that recruitment in elite professional service firms today appears to be open and meritocratic. Yet in actuality, she finds that applicant consideration is substantially constrained due to a system of formal and informal recruitment procedures. First, applicant pools are primarily drawn from a small number of prestigious universities though “target” and “core” school lists and hiring quota systems. She notes that hiring managers at these elite professional service firms appear to regard admission into a top university as a strong measure of applicant quality. Thus, university selectivity is used by these decision-makers as a key proxy for applicants’ intelligence. Through on-campus recruiting and lavish information sessions at “target” and “core” schools, these firms build applicant pools that largely comprise rising graduates from a select few elite universities.
Things get interesting during first-round interviews, and it’s here that the theoretical contributions of this work are most explicit. Generally, elite professional service firms recruit students with little deliberate attention to their undergraduate major (though this is less true for law firms). Hiring managers noted that entry-level work at these firms is “not rocket science,” frequently involving long hours and sometimes even dull and repetitive work. Key aspects of these positions can be taught during a firm’s initial training and if university selectivity is used as a proxy for applicant intelligence, then other criteria are necessary when screening candidates. So what do interviewers select on?
When assessing applicant pools, grades and scholastic achievement clearly matter, but during initial resume screenings potential hires are also notably assessed through subtle cues to determine whether an applicant is socially and culturally similar to members of the hiring firm. In this regard, an important component of selection focuses on high-status extracurricular activities, though not just any activity will do. Rivera’s qualitative work points out the highly scripted and choreographed nature of describing individuals’ extracurricular pursuits. Those selected for an initial interview will likely demonstrate quantifiable measures of prolonged and recognized achievement in one of a small number of elite activities that align with the social interests of current firm members. Acceptable activities generally vary from firm to firm, but such activities frequently have high barriers to entry and costs associated with membership (examples within sports might include nationally-recognized achievement in court tennis, squash, and polo). Why should decision-makers care about such pursuits? Screeners at these firms suggested that such activities demonstrate evidence of passion and drive in addition to a capacity to balance the competing demands of schoolwork and extracurricular excellence.
By selecting candidates for first-round interviews based on their alignment with current firm members’ broad interests and likes, elite professional service firms may (consciously or unconsciously) advantage members of the socio-economic elite who not only engage in exclusive activities, but are aware of the key styles in which they must be described and quantified in an application. This results in selection based on “cultural fit,” and it is through this process that Rivera’s theoretical contributions are most specifically detailed. There is longstanding scholarly interest in how key labor market outcomes may be shaped by human capital (education and credentialing), social capital (relationships), and observable demographic characteristics (bias). Through the investigation of hiring assessments at elite professional service firms, Rivera examines how cultural capital (exemplified in this setting as an expression of participation and demonstrated achievement in a minority of high-status activities) may be a key signal during firms’ candidate selection. Notably, candidate selection based on cultural capital may occur in conjunction with selection based on human and social capital, or bias (see Rivera, 2012, for a parallel discussion). Along these lines, Rivera’s qualitative analyses in Pedigree build upon a literature suggesting that culture may have explicit value in labor markets. This investigation notably details the specific forms of cultural capital that are desirable in this setting and how such signals impact applicant assessments.
As the book examines first- and second-round interviews, an applicant’s “fit” with the organization appears to be a key determinant of candidate advancement. Applicant interviewers are generally provided few explicit assessment criteria and thus often rely on measures of excitement or engagement resulting from an initial informal interview conversation. Common interests and ease of conversation thus frequently result in high marks. Through such a process, applicants’ “cultural capital” may be cashed in. Notably, interviewers described instances in which they would throttle up or down the difficulty of technical portions of the interview (in particular, the case-based assessment associated with consulting interviews) based on candidate “performance” during a preceding informal conversation. The primacy of “fit” is seemingly rationalized by the extreme working hours often associated with these positions, which necessitates extended interaction with peers. Thus, identifying future colleagues with similar interests may reduce the monotony of long hours and extended on-site client visits. Given this, applicant fit and cultural capital appear to emerge as an important consideration during subsequent interviewer calibration meetings and offer decisions.
Rivera’s work also includes several noteworthy chapters discussing the limited impact of diversity efforts at these elite professional service firms and in non-standard cases that defy the advancement pathways described elsewhere in the book. These chapters are particularly revealing. Interviews with hiring managers suggest that firms’ presence at diversity fairs is largely perfunctory, resulting in a collection of resumes that are generally ignored or reviewed only superficially. Rivera regards such diversity fairs as “false doors” that offer applicants little-to-no opportunity for serious consideration at the elite professional service firms she studied. Such is the result of an initial applicant screen that relies on university selectivity (i.e., “target” and “core” schools) as a proxy for applicant intelligence. Clearly, such an assessment system misses many promising candidates. As one attorney notes early in the book, “[t]here are many smart people out there. We just refuse to look at them.” Pedigree does describe instances in which elite professional service firms hire diversity candidates, though they primarily appear to be drawn from the ranks of “target” and “core” schools and are subject to the same assessments of cultural alignment described earlier in this review. In contrast, the book’s discussion of non-standard cases offers guidance for those individuals enrolled in programs outside of these firms’ “target” and “core” schools. These cases highlight the importance of internal champions and social connections to current and former firm members, and association with select nonacademic organizations (notably including military service and the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity).
Some readers will doubtless wonder why it is that these elite professional service firms engage in such narrow recruitment efforts, which by definition exclude large numbers of qualified candidates. Unfortunately, the empirical question pertaining to how such hiring procedures impact organizational performance and worker attrition are outside the scope of this work, though in closing, the book briefly discusses the challenges and opportunities associated with such future research endeavors.
Rivera’s work offers unique insight into the process by which a small, but highly visible, group of firms recruit and select elite entry-level employees. This selection procedure, strongly influenced by assessments of fit and applicants’ cultural capital, results in entering cohorts that are socially and economically homogeneous and thus mirroring the likes and interests of existing firm members. In motivating this discussion, the book describes the reproduction of elites and persistence of economic privilege through the higher educational system—suggesting that higher education is an important driver of social stratification and economic inequality in the United States today. Elite professional service firms’ use of “target” and “core” schools provides some explicit evidence for the argument of elite reproduction through a limited set of educational institutions.
Yet, while a small number of elite universities may be the primary recruiting sources for a handful of elite professional service firms, alumni earnings data also shows that graduates’ field of study is generally a more important gauge of earnings than where an individual studies (Economist, 2015). An education from an elite university may confer access to unique employment opportunities (provided, in some instances, one has the cultural capital to mobilize during candidate assessments), though individuals’ field of study may be a more important indicator of earnings for the majority of graduates.
Unaddressed in Pedigree is the question of under what circumstances individuals’ cultural capital should be a salient signal during employment evaluations. Elite professional service firms may, for instance, represent a unique case due the frequent lack of explicit qualifying criteria and necessary prerequisites for entry-level positions at these firms. Applicants’ cultural capital may thus be less important in industries where job-related skills can be quantified and assessed more easily. Cultural capital may also be a less critical applicant selection tool in those occupations that aren’t characterized by extended interactions among co-workers brought about by extreme working hours.
Finally, it should be noted that if six-figure salaries are the outcome of interest, then opportunities for newly minted bachelor’s recipients also exist outside elite professional service firms. For instance, recent US Department of Education (DoE) data show that some of the American universities that produce graduates with the highest median salaries are those institutions that train pharmacists (US DoE, 2015). Pharmacy programs frequently have high acceptance rates and many graduates reach six-figure salaries after a few years on the job. It’s an open question as to how applicants’ cultural capital might shape access to such positions, but this occupation is illustrative for the purpose of thinking about the types of firms or industries where cultural capital may (or may not) be instrumental in shaping hiring decisions.
Pedigree offers a compelling look inside the hiring decisions of elite professional service firms, organizations that provide access to high-status and highly compensated entry-level jobs. Through this examination, Rivera offers significant insight into the importance of applicants’ cultural capital in these recruitment procedures.