Facebook is less particular about their hiring practices, while still being particular.

Potentially an executive at Facebook.

Investment banking.

Law.

Consulting firms.

A small handful of other professions.

Does your mom or dad wear a monocle or own a Bentley [but only with a man servant behind the wheel]? Did your grandfather have a closet full of top hats and smoking pipes? Do you know the elderly nanny that raised you better than your mother and father?  Does your name sound like a piece of furniture from Pottery Barn? Congratulations! You won the life lottery, and odds are you're employed in a small segment of career fields that desire such a background.

Facebook once operated similarly as well. As a smaller, promising upstart years ago born of Harvard's bosom, Facebook focused on hiring from a pool of candidates largely out of Ivy League schools, with the occasional Stanford thrown in for good measure. But today, as powerful companies focus solely on pedigree regardless of ability, the pool has drained thin. Very thin. This has led Facebook to expand their own talent pool search.

"We recruit from three hundred schools," Facebook vice president Janelle Gale mentioned at a San Francisco educator conference recently, all while shuffling her abacus and looking to be awarded a gold star. "We want to hire people who’s need to learn is greater than their need to be right," Gale said. What does that even mean? I don't know, but it's exciting in its ambiguity!

"We want people who are open and receptive. We want to make sure people are in jobs they are good at and enjoy," she continued.  People who are open and receptive and willing to accept being wrong when told so? Sounds like me as a bagger boy at a grocery store when I was fourteen. Where do I sign up?

Gale never specifically detailed the alleged three hundred schools Facebook recruits from, but Forbes analyzed LinkedIn's searchable database and found "at least 40 Facebook employees attended Arizona State, while nearly as many hail from Cal State, Chico. The University of Oregon has at least a dozen alumni at Facebook; Texas Tech can count six."

That's a steep drop off. Texas Tech counts six and we're only four schools into counting. Incuding the Ivy League and a handful of other overly connected schools, we still have a list of roughly 280 schools to flesh out. So how thin is this Facebook job search?

This is all related to what Lauren Rivera wrote late last year in the Harvard Business Review, studying how elite corporations have an incestuous relationship with elite schools, creating a cycle of elitist entitlement. "[Elite professions have] on-campus “school lists” [with] two tiers, based largely on prestige," Rivera notes. "So even before applications are received, employers allocate jobs based on alma mater, skewing opportunities toward (and against) students from particular campuses [...] This leaves most students from nonlisted schools out of the game."

Phew. At least we now know Facebook's hiring ambiguity wasn't done out of nobility but just pure necessity. The plebeian masses thought they might have a chance for a second, and that can't happen.

The publisher of the Dalkey Archive Press is looking to hire.

Good news if you always wanted to recreate The Devil Wears Prada in the workplace environment, but only had a Wal-Mart budget.

The Dalkey Archive Press recently posted an advertisement for new job hires as it transitions its European base to London. John O'Brien, the director of Dalkey Archive, is very specific what he wants in new employees. Oh, and did I mention the following is for an unpaid job?

Any of the following will be grounds for immediate dismissal during the probationary period: coming in late or leaving early without prior permission; being unavailable at night or on the weekends; failing to meet any goals; giving unsolicited advice about how to run things; taking personal phone calls during work hours; gossiping; misusing company property, including surfing the internet while at work; submission of poorly written materials; creating an atmosphere of complaint or argument; failing to respond to emails in a timely way; not showing an interest in other aspects of publishing beyond editorial; making repeated mistakes; violating company policies. DO NOT APPLY if you have a work history containing any of the above.

Sounds like a charming work environment! And unpaid, too! What other lovely tidbits do you have, Mr. O'Brien, before I sign on?

[D]o not have any other commitments (personal or professional) that will interfere with their work at the Press (family obligations, writing, involvement with other organizations, degrees to be finished, holidays to be taken, weddings to attend in Rio, etc.)…

No vacation? Never see my family? Hopefully that elderly, dying relative won't keel off any time soon. Dying is so selfish, what--with their funerals and whatnot. Take a hint, grandma!

47 was always my favorite number anyway.

Are you an English major who has found that the quality of vitriol aimed at your major/degree of choice isn't as creative and passionate as you hoped? Have you looked with envy at the Norwegian Art History majors and the ridicule they receive and wondered, "What do I have to do to receive such mocking sarcasm from the outside world?"

Payscale.com has heard your cries. They offer facts so that you, too, can feel the bitter sting of sarcasm over your educational track of choice. No longer shall the Hospitality and Tourism majors get all the scorn from their friends and family. Now you can point to some statistics to drive home the message that, yes, indeed, you look forward to a life of financial peril.

Payscale releases an annual report that ranks the starting and mid-career salaries for (not really) every major. And, as you can see from this top-ten list, your affinity for the written word is going to pay off huge.

Best Undergrad College Degrees By Salary

Methodology Annual pay for Bachelors graduates without higher degrees. Typical starting graduates have 2 years of experience; mid-career have 15 years. See full methodology for more.

Of course, that is if the written word you have an affinity for is "engineering." You know that kid who aced the long division test in third grade while you squeaked by? He's making $50k+ the second he gets a diploma.

So what of our English major brethren? Well, a not-so-quick scanning of the Payscale list says we come in at a cool #47, right behind Radio and Television majors, and a bit ahead of Forestry majors. You heard right: Smoky the Bear not only helps prevent forest fires, he also prevents you retiring before the age of 80.

As for popular jobs for an English major:

Popular Careers for English Majors

Methodology Jobs ranked by popularity among graduates. Annual pay for Bachelors graduates without higher degrees from all colleges.  See full methodology for more.

That list looked okay until Retail Store Manager came up. Those dreams of someday being the second shift store manager at Lane Bryant just got a little closer to reality, friends. Admittedly, the list does continue after the top ten to mention writing and editing jobs. That's not to say those Lane Bryant dreams need to be put on hold. If there's anything I'm here for, it's to tell you to strive for what you believe in. I just happen to believe that Lane Bryant makes fashionable plus-sized clothing for today's modern woman.

Not all is bad news: Payscale ranks the best schools by region for making money once you graduate. In the Northeast Region, Fitchburg State College ranks 150th. That would sound rather humiliating, except we're only the third state college out of Massachusetts to crack the list. Put another way: we might not be the homecoming queen, but at least we got invited to the prom.

In the end, you're an English major because you're quirky and like to read/write. And maybe--just maybe--you want to wake up every day not hating your job like some of those engineering majors might. Still depressed? Here's the chart for top ten jobs for a History major:

Popular Jobs for History Majors

Methodology Jobs ranked by popularity among graduates. Annual pay for Bachelors graduates without higher degrees from all colleges.  See full methodology for more.

That's right. History major graduates might be aiming too high for that Retail Manager job you just snagged as an English major. Hey, someone needs to get you coffee. Plus, you stand a better than 50/50 shot that they'll understand your Shakespeare references during your lunch break.