Proving Proficiency

During this last weekend, I had the fortunate experience of being flown to Seattle Washington to interview for a prestigious internship this upcoming summer.  Huge amounts of communication, and the resources and time of many company employees were dedicated to evaluating if I constituted a good investment for my prospective employers.  In the down time on my trip, and since then, I have put some thought into how employers decide who to hire.  It dawned on me that such decisions have been around for all of written history and in many civilizations that couldn't even write.