With the risk of coming across as a jerk or arrogant, and also admitting that I have assisted with interviews but have never worked in an HR department: In my

With the risk of coming across as a jerk or arrogant, and also admitting that I have assisted with interviews but have never worked in an HR department: In my opinion HR departments are just lazy or understaffed. A real face-to-face interview with the candidate about the subject you're hiring on is almost always enough to see if a potential candidate has 'got the goods'. And without going to deeply into a discussion about what is and isn't a good interviewing strategy: Ask questions to see if the candidate knows what he/she's talking about. As how a person would react in situations you've come across. Examine the his/her responses with what you'd have done, ask your colleagues what they think after the interview. In short, just talk to your candidate, engage in a discussion. Yes it's impossible to interview each and every single candidate. But, really, a college-degree-filter is not the way to go. A majority of the people will learn important lessons in college (and some won't), but sometimes it's the people that chose another way that prove the most valuable for your company.