This is only a problem if the interview/hiring/capitalism process is meant to be fair.
> Imagine how it must feel to be an uneducated demographic in most other parts of the world
The less privileged here certainly had jobs in HS and college where you just filled out an application, the manager made sure you weren't a convict or on drugs, and you got the job. The "uneducated demographic in most other parts of the world" is probably not solving algorithm quiz questions on a whiteboard.
It's also a problem when those same companies want to bitch and whine about a "talent shortage" or a lack of diverse candidates.
so much this. Why do companies get to receive all sorts of incentives to hire when candidates they reject walk into other great tech firms, make bank, and generate boatloads of value?
Maybe some should just pay more, too. There are plenty of firms just being too cheap to hire great talent, including some large, well-known ones.
It is as you put: depressing as hell. And this is among white collared, educated, demographics. Imagine how it must feel to be an uneducated demographic in most other parts of the world...