Student Teams: A Ready-Made Recruiting Solution
A May 19 Fast Company magazine article reports on a radical proposal for corporate recruiters by Lauren Cohen ’15 and Robert Kimball ’16. The two advise recruiters to consider hiring existing student teams.
The students recently took an independent study course with Professor Amy Wrzesniewski, exploring models of team hiring. Their findings? GPAs and resumes are outdated tools when it comes to figuring out who’ll work well together. Student teams offer a ready-made solution.
The idea was inspired by their experience at Yale SOM, Cohen tells the magazine: “Business school is anchored in this idea of working in small groups or teams, whether it be learning teams or group projects. You’re constantly in this mode of collaborating with others. We couldn’t help but notice that once teams formed that really clicked, they wanted to stay working together.”
Kimball adds, “Instead of trying to tease out from resume and cover letters and interviews, [recruiters can] go to the people who really know the candidate the best—their colleagues.”