I'm right with you when it comes to dealing with people on an individual basis.
I think his approach makes more sense if he has to weed through 1000 resumes submitted by total strangers, and since he doesn't have the time to zoom in too much on all 1000 of them, he would like some heuristic for narrowing them down to say only 100 or so. Applying a stereotype or thinking in general terms can be a useful filter to achieve that result.
But yes, it's going to also filter out some people who would have been a great fit. This is another argument in favor of the 37Signals approach, because the Big Dumb Companies can disproportionately suck up the Good School types whereas the Small Smart Startups can disproportionately suck up the "Gets Things Done But Went To Bad Schools Or None At All" types. And they complement each other in the hiring ecosystem. It all works out in the end! :)
And yes, I am speaking in broad brush stokes here, and there are exceptions for every rule.
I think his approach makes more sense if he has to weed through 1000 resumes submitted by total strangers, and since he doesn't have the time to zoom in too much on all 1000 of them, he would like some heuristic for narrowing them down to say only 100 or so. Applying a stereotype or thinking in general terms can be a useful filter to achieve that result.
But yes, it's going to also filter out some people who would have been a great fit. This is another argument in favor of the 37Signals approach, because the Big Dumb Companies can disproportionately suck up the Good School types whereas the Small Smart Startups can disproportionately suck up the "Gets Things Done But Went To Bad Schools Or None At All" types. And they complement each other in the hiring ecosystem. It all works out in the end! :)
And yes, I am speaking in broad brush stokes here, and there are exceptions for every rule.