Google Exec: Grades, Where You Went to School Don't Matter

Laszio Bock, right, a top executive at Google, was among the speakers Tuesdy at Forbes Reinvent America Workforce Summit in downtown Detroit. (Photo by @DanAlexander21 via Twitter)

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Google executive Laszlo Bock had some reassuring words Tuesday for anyone who ever slacked in school or attended a college unknown to most potential employers.

Grades don’t matter, Bock said, according to a Detroit Free Press account from the Forbes Reinvent America Workforce Summit.

The two-day summit wraps up Tuesday afternoon in downtown Detroit, chosen in part because Forbes thinks the Motor City is “a model for how cities that are broken can begin the hard work of reinventing themselves,” according to the summit website.

Bock said employers “used to care a lot about where you went to school,” but Google has found “that has no relationship with how you perform.”

“It is a mistake, and we don’t focus on that anymore,” he said.

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Bock, whose official title at Google is senior vice president of people operations, is also the author of the book “Work Rules!” that outlines the Internet giant’s hiring process.

Last week, Google announced it would be expanding its Ann Arbor campus and consolidate all of its operations there in a single location. The company employs 400 people in Ann Arbor and Birmingham, but would not speculate on whether the expansion comes with a big jobs boost.

But if it does translate to more job opportunities, a 2.0 GPA shouldn’t hold anyone back, and lackluster academic performance may not automatically translate to lower pay.

Laszlo advocates large merit pay increases to reward high-performing employees doing the same work as low-performing workers.