It's deliberate -- although I don't know about being "profound". :-) In other words, while I take prior places of employment as signal (just as others do), I t

It's deliberate -- although I don't know about being "profound". :-) In other words, while I take prior places of employment as signal (just as others do), I tend to discount it heavily. I know smart people working at not-great places, as well as people I would never hire working at some very well-respected companies. In the end, I'm hiring the person now, not their history.