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Employer Quotes

The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Information Technology (IT)

They are talking about this topic: General Skills

 

The quotes below are about this issue:
Employers look for individuals who are passionate about the field and are self-motivated to learn new technologies.

Employer Quote Region
"I think the big thing is finding people that are really excited about IT." Central
"If they don't have passion, they're not going to be successful regardless of what they do in life." Central
"It goes back to the curiosity. When I was in high school and college, I went home to a house that I rented down the street and I had six servers running, just playing with anything and everything I could get my hands on. It's curiosity. You've got to see emerging trends—I mean, you've just got to go out there and look. It really is as simple as looking for it. You don't need anybody to tell you this. 'Is there a different way to do this? Oh, let's go find one.' It really is that simple." Central
"You know, finding people who are really analytical—we call it curious—that really want to know how things work and they're not just there to show up. They love computer science and developing software. They want to understand how the business works and how to add value. We see a lower percentage of those types of people coming out of programs than we would like. So, we're having to really dig deep." Central
"I want to go back to the inability to find quality students. In my opinion, it's an issue of qualifying students and getting the right people in the right programs. We see a lot of computer science students or IS students, and they're just not curious or passionate about it." Central
"The major problem we have is the personality issue. That's huge, and I don't even know if we have a plan for how to solve that. I think that's the hardest part, trying to get those free thinkers. Those people that want to come in and even suggest other ideas or other ways of going through their skill sets. People who think outside of just software development. I think that's a really tough skill set to find." Central
"In a lot of our recruiting talks to candidates, we ask, 'What do you do in your spare time?' And, 'When you go home and play with your home network, what does that look like?' Because more education is happening there, just in the engineer's tinkering, than it is in a traditional academic setting. And we find that more relevant to the roles that we are filling on our engineering team." Metro
"We want people who are interested in knowing more about multiple things. Then they would be willing to jump in and learn more, whether it's on the technical side, or maybe migrate to the project management side and the analysis side." Metro
"Education has got to be a lifelong endeavor for everybody that's in a technical field. You can never stop or you will just work yourself right out of a job." Metro
"There are students who just go through the motions. You know, they go to class every day, they do everything by the book, and they just get the degree. There's a big difference between that person and the person at home who is going to play around with Java on their own, or Visual Studio Express Edition, or something like that. That's the employee that I'm looking for. The person that's going to play around with stuff on their own, who's passionate about it, who's going to learn more than they do just in class." Metro
"You're also going to have your 'rainmakers,' as I call them, who are going to be out there seeking out new technology and mastering that, and learning how to deliver that. To me, it's a mindset difference not an educational difference. It's part of who they are, and part of their character. They think, 'Okay, I know this. I've mastered this. It now bores me and I'm done with it. I want something new.' I don't know that those are teachable aspects as much as they are just character." Northeast
"It's nice to know that new hires can move, change, and adjust. And that they're flexible. But they're not going to be able to be everything to everybody." Northeast
"You need flexibility. If I just know how to do a job, that job is going to change. So, we need someone who can change along with those technologies, who can be flexible, who is able to learn, and who is open to new things and new ideas." Northeast
"It's teaching students how to learn. How to be lifelong learners." Northeast
"You need people who just really have a passion for it, and they want to engage in that. But it's a marrying of marketing as well as technology, and it's complex." Northeast
"Employer: We've found success with the people that have the background from school, but are learners themselves. During nights and weekends, they play around and learn things themselves. That's the stuff that makes a good employee compared to someone who's just going to do their job.

Question: So, are you saying that the formal training may be less important?

Employer: To some degree, yes. I think they need that base, but where we've found success is with people who love it, and invest their own time into it."
Northeast
"We see such a rapidly changing landscape that we need people who can adapt to change. If they have specific skills today, those skills are going to be different in a year or two, so people need to be able to learn and figure things out on their own." Northeast
"Well, I think the big thing now is finding those people with a passion for learning, and who have the critical thinking skills. They're going to be able to move as things move, and they're going to be on top of the technology as it's changing, and trying to react to it constantly." Northeast
"It just depends on the topic, but there are a lot that are self-taught. The technology just changes so fast, and there's so much information available. If somebody's motivated and willing to learn things and take the initiative and do things, those are the ones that will excel." Northwest
"For us, it starts with hiring. We're hiring sophomores and juniors in college. For a lot of them, this is their first job in the field. So, our challenge is just trying to figure out how to get the right person when they don't have any work history. We're really looking for people that have a lot of passion and who take initiative. We find those types of people, especially at that age. It's easy to see what they've done outside of school, and what they've done on their own. People who take the time and the initiative to do that are often the more successful people." Southwest
"We're looking for someone with that passion and that drive for IT." Southwest