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Employer Quotes

The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Financial Services

They are talking about this topic: Educational Partnerships

 

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Employers suggest including coursework on the differences between public and private accounting as well as what graduates can expect in the work environment. Other curricular recommendations include Certified Financial Planner (CFP) training, foreign lang

Employer Quote Region
"Interviewer: How do licenses and certifications fit into your hiring needs? Probably the CPA, and I understand the ramifications around that, but other certifications or licenses that would be helpful or assist graduates if we can integrate them into the curriculum?

Employer: For us, it's mostly front-office skills, doing the CFPs—becoming a certified financial planner."		 Central
"If there was something in the fraud area that would be helpful." Central
"Employer: So, it's almost like some education needs to happen at the college level just to prepare them for a career in accounting, because it's not cut out for everybody. I will admit that. I'm not an accountant, but I watch them work and see what they do, and then I watch them go into private industry. And I talk with them about what they're doing in private industry, and they're doing a lot of the same stuff and they're still working the same number of hours. And they don't quite get that. Someone said that when they enter public accounting it's around $50,000 plus benefits. Well, when I was an HR professional graduating from college, I sure as heck did not earn $50,000 plus benefits. There's that trade-off. They are going to be paid a higher salary for the type of work that they're going to be doing, but they don't get that it is not an industry for the faint of heart.

Interviewer: So, maybe one of the takeaways on this topic is that when people are choosing this career they need to understand that, particularly during certain seasons, it may be not be an 8-to-5 job.

Employer: However, it's also a very flexible profession. Because when you're not in the busy season, there's a lot of flexibility with regards to how you work. I mean, you can take afternoons off and you can be involved in the things that are going on with your family. I think accounting has a really bad image—that you just work, work, work. But that's not the case. It's true you have to do that during certain times of the year, but there's also a lot of flexibility. The opportunity to work from home sometimes and those kinds of things aren't communicated very well either."		 Metro
"I think what I'm hearing here is so fantastic. It's very important that our private-sector friends say that foreign languages are critical, because they are being cut all over the place. If you could say that two years of a foreign language should be a requirement for every college graduate, then that would be great because I think the institutes would hear that coming from you." Metro
"Employer: I think they need more education on what public accounting really is and what private industry really is. Because we have a lot of people who are very confused about that.

Interviewer: The ones who are already working—they still don't understand? Is that what you're saying?

Employer: Exactly. That's why we still have some of that turnover...because people come in without really knowing what the job is going to entail."		 Metro