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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Financial Services
They are talking about this topic: General Skills
The quotes below are about this issue:
Interviewing skills are often lacking in candidates.
| "The other thing that I've been impressed with—and it's the minority, which is a surprise, because if this generation has a strength it's the use of virtual interactions—is that I don't see enough of them jumping on LinkedIn to say, 'Thanks for the interview.' A fair amount will do emails, but they're not using that strength to make a difference in their connection with the employer." | Central |
| "It's not uncommon for us to get enough resumes. We put a minimum at the grade point average. We like to see some activities outside of school. We get enough of those. But a 'ten' becomes a 'two' after the interview and it's because they just don't present themselves with confidence. They don't interact with people. We struggle with finding candidates that can interact and that we feel comfortable with on day one. They're going to be in front of a client, eventually, and they're going to be representing your company. And it's a matter of whether or not they're going to be able to do that professionally." | Central |
| "I think a lot of the people that we are interviewing right now, it's about professionalism. Everything is so casual these days that people just don't know how to act professional when we're in an interview or when they start on the job. And we're like, 'What just happened there?' They're so casual about everything." | Central |
| "I think that the biggest challenge that I've come across when trying to find candidates is not the volume of applicants. We have a pretty good volume of applicants. It's when we bring people in to interview. A lot of times the hiring managers ask questions and the candidates can't articulate clearly or concisely their answers. They're not able to give clear or concise examples. And so I almost think it goes back to maybe earlier in somebody's career...or maybe a school of helping people to develop those skills of communication and articulating what they want to do, what they have done, and even thinking about if accounting is where they want to be." | Metro |
| "When you go to [non-MnSCU school] it is almost like they are accountants already; they look like accountants and they talk like accountants. They know about your company. They have so many tools and resources available through career services that they are prepared and you literally—it's almost impossible to make a decision on who you're going to pursue because they're all very talented. And they know what it is that they're doing. Like I said, they have a phenomenal career services center. They also have a class that they require all entering students to take; it's about doing your resume and working at or touring the career center. So, they learn interviewing tips; they do mock interviews; they learn how to research a company; they learn how to come up with questions for a company. It's the most work they will do for one credit, but it prepares them for when they are ready for employment. You sometimes go onto other campuses and the students there show up not dressed professionally. You ask them, 'What questions can we answer for you?' And they know nothing about us. They don't have any questions. And to me that's just an indication that they're not really that interested. So, there is a difference in the way that they prepare." | Metro |
| "The other thing that would be helpful is—and I don't know if you can teach this or not because it almost comes with maturity—but I was talking with one of my peers and we were talking about the difference between filling an executive-level position and dealing with those candidates versus filling a staff-level position. And at the executive or even senior management level, candidates will understand what their skills are and where they want to go in their career. And it's hard for people to predict and declare what they want to do in five years or ten years. But it'd be good to start helping people earlier in their careers to really think through their options and to help them understand where their strengths and skills lie. And to really find a way to leverage those skills rather than just interviewing for a job. And I think that comes through in interviews with hiring managers. They'll pick up on, 'Okay, this person's just looking for a job,' or 'This person really wants to be a public accountant,' or 'This person really wants to work in corporate financing.' Those are the people that get hired—the ones that know what they want and can articulate it. And I don't know if that can be taught in a school or if people can be helped with that. That's invaluable from my experience." | Metro |