“Hiring is one of the most consequential status sorts that people face—not only are people's salaries on the line, but people's livelihoods are on the line,” says Rivera.

I recently spoke with Rivera about her research. The following transcript of our conversation has been edited for clarity.

Bourree Lam: You spent a lot time with the gatekeepers of elite jobs. Why are these people important? Can you tell me a bit about who they are generally?

Lauren Rivera: In terms of the gatekeepers to these elite jobs, these are just people who are on the ground and responsible for deciding who is in and who is out, who gains access to professional jobs in management consulting, investment banking, etc. The decisions they make have huge consequences for students, in terms of not only their immediate post-graduate opportunities and the salaries they make, but also opportunities for future and career growth and development.

There are commonalities with these individuals: They tend to be a very elite group, they tend to come from a fairly prestigious set of institutions, and they tend to come from some of the most highly educated and affluent backgrounds as well. This is pretty standard across the industries.

Lam: Do these elite firms only recruit from elite schools? Or is it more like elite schools preferred?

Rivera: It's an interesting situation. I think if you were to ask someone at first glance, they would say "Oh anyone can work at my firm" and they could probably point to one or two people who didn’t attend elite schools. But if you look at how these firms' recruiting processes actually work in practice now, the chances of getting into one of these firms from what's called a non-targeted school is extremely low. And this is because these firms starting around the 1980s shifted from a hiring system in which people were hired in a one-off fashion through informal networks to really focusing on on-campus recruitment where firms hire directly out of the graduating classes and oftentimes earlier from elite universities.

What ends up happening is that firms create lists. So there's a school list, and on the list there are cores and there are targets. Cores are generally the most prestigious schools; targets are highly prestigious schools. Cores receive the most love. But basically if you're not from one of these cores or target schools it's extremely hard to get into one of these firms.

Lam: Are we talking about a mental list or a physical list?

Rivera: It varies. Most firms actually have physical lists. Sometimes it's more mental but more often than not it's actually a list that an HR professional will have. It's very clear who's a core and who's a target and if you're not on the list, it's just really hard to get your resume seen, partially because these jobs are highly desirable—they receive so many applications—and there's a widespread perception that "the best students go to the best schools." The list may vary from firm to firm but they are convinced that the schools on their lists are the best schools. So sticking to that list you might miss some people, for them it seems like a pretty good solution. But in terms of inequality, what ends up happening is if you're not at one of those schools, the only way to really get into one these firms is to have a personal connection to someone who already works there.