Just scrolling across Linkedin today and came across someone posting about being an incoming RPM candidate. Out of curiosity I click into their profile. Boston University No Internships except one called in an risk analysis role at a non profit Black female I was kind of shocked at how they made it when I referred friends (mostly East Asian guys and girls) from top universities with google/fb experience in SWE/PM and successful startup experience and they didn't even get the interview. A bit salty. I continued clicking through suggested people (all from the incoming RPM cohort) UWashington for Medical Anthropology Multiple Internships in marketing from unknown companies White Female Cornell Biology Undergrad Internships in marketing from unknown companies Hispanic Female Boston College Only notable internship as a 'Developer Program Intern' for G Hispanic Female Shit. Maybe I'm biased but I don't get where my friends fell short except in their ethnicity. Keep in mind this isn't about interview performance, this is my friends from top universities NOT GETTING THE INTERVIEW AT ALL, and these people getting them. Note that when I do see white/east asian guys, they're mostly from MIT/Stanford/Harvard So what's going on here guys? #rpm #product #productmanagement #Facebook #faang
Incoming APM with other friends who applied to APM positions. Yeah I think everyone knows but no one is saying this but this year's Facebook RPM class does seem to be like that. Aside from my salt, it does make sense tbh. Small class size, training program, not a very technical job. Great place to test diversity programs. I am a fan of diversity programs until ofc it affects me. So glad I got to eat shit witht his experience and see the flip side.
Incoming APM where?
I think this is the same with university admissions. The people getting into Stanford / Harvard for undergrad / MBAs aren’t necessarily the most qualified (otherwise the cohort would skew heavily white / East Asian). Heck, even the East Asians I went to college with were pretty “eh” - I knew plenty of *way* smarter/more talented people who went to lower ranked programs because they couldn’t pole-vault or play quidditch competitively. Honestly for minorities, I don’t mind this too much. It’s important to have some level of rebalancing, even if that isn’t too fair at the individual level. Also, diversity of perspective and avoiding group-think is a very important, and provably useful, asset for most companies. This is coming from a relatively talented guy who was heavily rejected from all the tech company APM programs pre-interview because he wasn’t born in the US. Such is life 🤷🏽♂️
I'm not understanding the part where you say "otherwise the cohort would skew heavily white/East Asian"...whats with the assumption they're more qualified? Genuinely curious here 🤔
I'm also all for diversity. Only as long as it doesn't affect me and my learning.
he should just make a study out of it at that point
The results would be incredibly depressing
If your friends did not get interview/ call backs from their earlier internship companies as you said (google/fb) then it’s probably performance based?
No lol they interned in other roles (and received return offers)
I think it’s similar to the HBS/GSB 2+2 programs- anyone who is super qualified they assume will make it to FB later as a PM. This is their chance to get non-traditional talent in the door and find the ‘diamonds in the rough’. I get it though I’m mad too- I got referrals from 2 former RPMs (one of whom leads RPM interviews) and still got rejected without an interview
If it makes you feel better, I’m a minority female from a top school and didn’t get an interview. Perhaps these people met recruiters at events, or spoke to somebody somewhere, or did something that your friends did not do. Maybe. Additionally, it’s a training program, and so training programs are a great way to fix the pipeline and get more women into technology. Take it from an engineer on a team of 9 men. I remember in college taking classes and not being able to get a partner for projects because , well. Simply because I was a girl. Didn’t help with my learning or skills at all. Our industry needs this. Our products are for EVERYONE. Feel free to sprinkle the salt.
This gives me flashback to some systems management course in college. We had a take home test and the prof said we could work with a partner. The only other person in the class that didn't have a partner did not want to pair up with me. I don't know if he didn't feel comfortable working solo with a girl or didn't think I could help with the workload or what. I am pretty fashion forward and aesthetically don't pass for a nerd. I ended up doing the test alone and got a perfect score. I know he didn't. Oh well...
You referring only your friends (likely from the same ethnicity) is a very good reason why D&I was created. Most minorities don’t have access to these kind of advantages to help propel them forward due to years of discrimination, bias and sexism. The only advantage they could get from D&I is passing resume screening. Hiring bar remains the same. It’s called equity. Level the playing field. Go cry about something else
I'm not asking that they don't interview these candidates, but they should also interview those more qualified no? Some of these friends I referred (girls and guys) are from poor immigrant families, lived in low income housing growing up and have worked their asses off to study while working part time in high school in order to get to the top universities. While they were at the top universities, they grinded away on side projects and internships while continuing to work part time to support themselves which is what led to them getting those top internships. Are these hardworking immigrant kids getting rejected based on their ethnicity without even an interview your definition of equity? They can do everything they can - top school, impressive internships, referrals, but at the end of the day they still don't pass resume screening.
Well, your friends likely do not suffer from institutional racism and weren’t enslaved for 400+ years. They have people like you to give them referrals and tons of other companies that don’t care about diversity to apply to. Did you also consider other factors like luck that could’ve been in play or you just hurriedly jumped on to the diversity bashing bandwagon? Look at the bigger picture, minorities might have 1 or 2 opportunities like this for them out of thousands out there. Like I said, stop whining, your friends have prestigious Universities on their CVs, so I’m sure they’d be fine in the long run.
who cares? this is for an RPM role. Most PMs get their jobs based off qualitative assessments as well so that is just part of the position. And most PMs are useless anyway yet have horrible WLB so your friends actually lucked out.
Another point that is little mentioned is that minorities add intrinsic value by virtue of having their perspectives. Case in point, I’ve seen people point out some offensive content on our platform and it’s been immediately removed. Staying socially in touch is critical to not bleeding revenue unnecessarily.
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You’re not going to get any sympathy here. Blind is full of sjw/h1b loyalists. It is obvious they don’t decide based on merit. Amex is the same. They gave all hispanics and african americans raises and gave no merit increase to everyone else.
Hey.. It's not the same. I do support H1B for highly qualified and educated people. Every country has immigration and America can also prosper from immigration. But that does not mean H1B does not have flaws. Diversity push is another topic. Again, every country has immigration, no country pushes diversity (at least from what I know). Mainly because even left-wing countries and socialist countries are moderate left, not extreme left.
So they gave raises to <3% of employees. Isn't that the makeup of AA in tech companies.