I was connected to a marketing recruiter at LinkedIn's Mountain View office via a current employee to discuss potential marketing manager opportunities. Although I have held several executive positions over the past few years, this move would represent a transition into a new industry, and I was therefore willing to take a demotion in order to excel and allow my merits to continue propelling me forward and upward. The recruiter very tactfully let me know that I didn't have the 'pedigree' to be considered even for marketing manager positions at LinkedIn - these positions are apparently reserved for MBA's, and not for people like me, who demonstrate their merit by their achievements and capabilities in the real world, and not by taking out $200k in student loans to be part of a networking club/fraternity for the privilege of a demotion. Apparently, this nebulous and subjective idea of 'pedigree' is what 'progressive' companies such as LinkedIn equate to merit and capability, despite copious data that would suggest otherwise. A bit of background on me: I have been a marketing executive in the music industry for 5 years - since age 25 - and have been solely responsible for creating and executing comprehensive, multi channel campaigns for grammy-winning artists, and generating millions of dollars in revenue for major record labels and boutique firms alike. I have an array of awards for my marketing work, as well as accolades from my world-famous former clients, and my work has received coverage in publications ranging from NPR to Rolling Stone to Time Magazine. It is so interesting that nearly a decade of 80 hour work weeks, nearly a decade of laudable achievements, and nearly a decade of substantive contributions to the bottom lines of the companies that I've worked for, fundamental contributions to the careers of clients that you likely know by name, and even my contributions to the industry as a whole mean nothing, and yet a two year degree or even the name of any notable tech company on my resume - regardless of the position - make me a desirable candidate. Given the frequent lamentations that I hear from many friends who work for major social media companies such as LinkedIn about a lack of diversity in the skill sets and backgrounds of their colleagues, recruiters seem to adhere to a formulaic approach in hiring 'talent' with carbon-copy educational and work backgrounds. A study published by Stanford University and frequently cited by McKinsey (how's that for pedigree?) states that "diversity across dimensions, such as functional expertise, education, or personality, can increase performance by enhancing creativity or group problem-solving," and "makes a team function with more of the razor's edge it needs to be innovative." Why then, do companies such as LinkedIn, that consider themselves progressive and at the cutting-edge of innovation continue to think within such a narrow, outdated and subjective scope when it comes to hiring? Perhaps, since they are unable to innovate in this arena on their own, they should take a page from Google's book in hiring practices based around the concept of 'intellectual humanity'? In any case, thank you for showing me what your values and developmental level as a company are early on in the process, LinkedIn. It enabled me to find substantive work with an ethical company that uses actual facts and data in its decision-making processes rather than made up parameters, like 'pedigree.'