Zuckerberg Visits CMU Campus To Recruit
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg was in Pittsburgh today.
It was his first visit to the city, and he had a specific goal in mind -- a recruitment mission at Carnegie Mellon University.
"Please have your IDs available," a CMU employee shouted as Carnegie Mellon students lined up an hour before Zuckerberg hit the University Center.
Nearly a thousand students heard the social network icon speak at a private -- no media allowed -- event.
"I think it's impressive," said Craig Schwartz, a computer science student.
"I think it's a good thing for the school, good thing for the community to get that kind of recognition. I think he's only visiting three schools on the East coast. It's a pretty big deal to be one of them," Schwartz said.
Before the event, Zuckerberg said he wanted to recruit CMU graduates to work for Facebook.
"We have a lot of Carnegie Mellon alums, and some of them are our best engineers," he said at a press conference where he took just four questions, including one from KDKA money editor Jon Delano.
Zuckerberg said CMU students are at the top of his list for Facebook.
"Mark, do you actually conduct the interviews and what kind of questions do you ask specifically of the interviewees?" Delano asked.
"We have a whole process at the company. We really value teamwork as well, so it is really important that people who are coming through have an opportunity to talk to a variety of folks. We test them both on technical skills and teamwork ability and how they fit with the values of Facebook," Zuckerberg said.
"Do you do the interviews yourself?" Delano asked.
"Sometimes I do. I don't interview every single person. That would be too many, but for certain folks, I definitely drop in and talk to them," Zuckerberg said.
For most students, Facebook is a dream job.
"If I was given the opportunity, I'd definitely take it," said CMU's Schwartz, as he walked into the event.
After visiting Harvard and MIT, Zuckerberg's visit here to CMU is his third and last campus recruiting effort.
A computer science graduate -- a good one -- can make over a $100,000 in his first year out of school.
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