For all the talk of "cognitive ability" and "behavioral interviewing," tech firms like Microsoft and Google have a similar hiring pattern to just about any other business: proximity.

That's according to Wired, which found that recruitment is typically tied to how close a college campus is to the corporate campus, with a few notable exceptions.

To find this out, Wired did a little poking around LinkedIn to find the top five "donating" schools for seven tech firms. The magazine's mission was "to see if non-Stanford grads have a chance at Silicon Valley firms (they do) and whether Ivy Leagues dominate (they don’t)."

Take Microsoft, for instance. Bill Gates's empire is headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Correspondingly, lots of recruits come from that state. Judging by Wired's infographic, Microsoft employs approximately:

5,000 University of Washington grads

1,000 Washington State grads

800 Western Washington University grads

Then there's Apple. The house that Steve Jobs built has this employee breakdown:

900 University of California, Berkeley, grads

800 San Jose State grads

300 University of Texas, Austin, grads

Lastly, let's look at Google. The prestigious search giant has loads of California connections, with some East Coast schools thrown in. The approximate numbers are:

2,500 Stanford grads

2,000 University of California, Berkeley, grads

800 Carnegie Mellon grads

800 University of California, Los Angeles, grads

Why would big, global companies hire from their nearby colleges? While we don't have anyone in HR at Microsoft, we do know hiring trends. Namely, people hire people they know, and it's easiest to know the folks who are nearby.

And if you didn't go to Stanford, fret not; you can still end up at Google. Just spend a stint at Microsoft: Wired reports it's the top feeder company to Google.