A Reddit user claims that a recruiter unintentionally sent him her "secret internal selection guidelines", which go into great depth about what they look for in a candidate.
The leaked internal document sparked outrage online because it revealed selective selection criteria for software developers.
The memo specified rigorous requirements, prioritising graduates from elite universities while expressly excluding individuals from major tech firms and specific backgrounds, Hindustan Times reports.
As per the memo, ideal candidates must possess “Bachelor or Masters of Computer Science from a top CS program,” preferably from universities like MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, University of California, Berkeley, California Institute of Technology, University of Waterloo, or University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
Further, the company could make “special exceptions” for graduates from other colleges, provided they have a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 4.0.
Furthermore, the memo stressed hiring people with "4-10 years of software development experience," proficiency in current JavaScript (TypeScript, NodeJS, ReactJS), and AI/LLMs (Artificial Intelligence/Large Language Model), and discourages applicants from large corporations unless they have startup experience.
It also clearly excludes "job hoppers" and candidates with consultancy backgrounds.
The document featured a blacklist of employees from large corporations, stating, "Candidates who have ever worked for the following companies are not the right fit."
The list featured Intel, Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata, Mahindra, Infosys, Capgemini, Dell, Cognizant, and Wipro.
It also stated that there would be "absolutely no visa sponsorships," with applications limited to US citizens, permanent residents, and Canadians.
The post rapidly went viral, generating a heated debate on social media. Many people viewed the hiring guidelines as elitist and exclusionary.
Even the original poster expressed frustration at the document, saying, “The sheer pretentiousness and elitism kinda pissed me off ngl. And I'm someone who meets a lot of this criteria, which is why the recruiter contacted me, but it still pisses me off (.sic).”
