Originally Posted by
The Federalist Engineer
I would say, this is unknowable to us, outside of the actual recruiting war room.
Even in business, you hire a girl from Dartmouth. She seems like a straight shooter and well put together. Then, after you get her verbal, she goes silent and you don't have a signed offer letter. You call, she all of a sudden has a boyfriend in law-school in Chicago. "He could live with her parents for a semester, but he is planning to live with her best friend who is a Norwegian girl that drinks too much."
She calls again, wants more money and to work remotely from Chicago.
Then the kid from Navy that you wanted originally, that told you that he wanted to join GE, now wants to talk again.
HR wants the Dartmouth girl, because she is a girl and they thought she had a Norwegian girlfriend in Chicago. They don't want to pass up on an elite diverse candidate, even as the Navy kid is available.
This whole transfer portal thing probably sucks for drama. There is an awesome interview with Dan McDonnell last year, he decided to keep his recruits that he knew better and cherry picked the Portal carefully. Seemed successful, then he got eliminated by Texas A&M that basically retooled in a single summer with a hiring haul of transfers.