- Plan Your Education
- Explore Education Options
- Prepare for College
- Pay for College
- Apply to College
- How to Choose a Major
- Education Search Tools
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:
The field of financial services is constantly evolving and requires that new hires are proactive in their learning, are flexible, and have strong critical-thinking skills.
| "Employer 1: I also think there's some opportunity—career development—and it's kind of the driven piece of it. And the career development piece of it is: What are they doing? And what are their skills to help them develop their own career and continue to learn and grow in their roles? I mean, I think a lot of us are in the boat where we hire those entry-level positions no matter what their background is. And the people who are coming out of college and fit for those upper positions—that's what they want—there's a sense of entitlement there. They think they should start in upper-level positions, and it's not going to happen. Interviewer: They think they ought to be the CEO. Employer 1: In five years. Employer 2: It's their own continued skill development." |
Central |
| "The soft skills, again, is what some of our supervisors call...well, they'll say, 'I just wish that person was a digger.' That's what the other respondent was referring to. Peel back more than just one layer of that onion before you start yelling, 'I need help!' Demonstrate that you truly got to a roadblock and that you can't go any farther before you ask for help. Consider the paths available and then select one. Be a continuous learner and cultivate the desire to get to the right answer. Drill completely down." | Central |
| "I think it's the ability to research. One of the things technology has given us is the ability to be lifelong learners in a really easy way. We don't have to go back to St. Cloud State University or wherever because you've got Khan Academy. You've got a bazillion things out there, and different ways to learn. I think creating lifelong learners, inquisitive people that...I mean, in the future—over the course of a lifetime—you're going to have maybe 20 different jobs. So, you've got to be able to very quickly retool and re-understand new ways of doing things. When you think about what's available out there today for knowledge...and yet there's this lack of ability to go get it. Yet, it's right there. I mean, you can take Stanford courses if you want or MIT. You can get the best education in the world if you just—so, the problem I have is I don't see that inquisitiveness and that ability to go out there and do that extra mile of research to be able to be successful. In a world that's changing this fast, the stuff that these people are teaching these kids today is irrelevant 12 months from now. They've got to have that in them or they're going to be obsolete the day they get their degree." | Central |
| "The common theme is flexibility. Just real quick, I had an experience yesterday with our youngest who is in kindergarten—he had his first conference yesterday. We were told he needed assistance on his assessment test, which was a surprise because he does fine. He's a normal five-year-old. But come to find out, on the assessment test, they had to use a mouse and on the phone we have touchpads. I'm realizing I need to be flexible with how I teach him—to teach him how to adjust to a new situation where he has to learn a new task. He's only five but soon he'll be there." | Central |
| "We feel candidates are sometimes missing very basic soft skills—things like communication skills and critical thinking skills—and how to turn those skills into more of a leadership role." | Metro |
| "We have upped our bar as far as the critical-thinking skills and the technical skills. For example, we used to hire quite a few folks that would have maybe an MIS degree, and now those people would not get through the interview process unless they've got a math background. The MIS programs have been watered down to become less technical programming, software development, and more business analyst type roles." | Metro |
| "The way that we look at it right now is how can we multi-task them? Not only do they have to do transaction-oriented items, but we want them to be very much socialized. And we want them to provide referrals and act kind of as a sales lead to the next person. So, really getting out from behind the counter and doing transaction after transaction after transaction. And really understanding that consumer, that consumer experience, and how can that feed into our other divisions? We have a mortgage division. We have an investment services division. We just launched our own insurance agency. So, how can we use that contact at the front-line for them to have a better understanding and critical thinking of who they are talking to? And what would be the next best product or service for this member as they're making a deposit or whatever the minor transaction is? So, being really analytical and looking at—going back to your point earlier in terms of data analytics—that's a huge portion of our world, too. Understanding those analytics behind the scene, but how can we give them a glimpse up-front of what would be the next best product when they're live, physical, in our branch location? And then directing them to a particular person in that division." | Metro |
| "I'm new to the accounting world—I come from advertising—but what I've noticed in a lot of younger hires is that the resourcefulness and independent thinking doesn't seem to be there. I don't know if that's something that can be taught in a classroom? And I know this generation grew up working in teams and with hand-holding. But we notice that a lot of our younger people really struggle because their hands need to be held; they can't just take that next step and lead to the logical next step. They have to be told to do it, and it's really mind-boggling." | Metro |
| "Employer 1: You asked earlier about what we see in the next three to five years. I don't know what our hiring plans are going to be in that timeframe, but I do know that it's a lot easier and a lot more attractive to hire somebody who has come out of school knowing what they wanted to do. Somebody that stuck with it for three years and then, at that point, if they're looking for a change for whatever reason—and they're clear about why they're making the change rather than getting into something and realizing, 'Okay, this isn't what I thought it was and I need to get out.' So, if somehow the new graduates could come out with that propensity and would understand the concept of just sticking with it...and it's so easy to change jobs these days. People just do it all the time and it doesn't help their cause in five years. Interviewer: Do you think that's a generational thing or has that just been an issue for 30 years? Employer 2: It's generational. Interviewer: The moving? Employer 1: It's so short-term focused. It's always short-term. They don't think about what's going to get them to their long-term goals. They're focused on right now." |
Metro |
| "We're only hiring entry-level. We're a small company with a small accounting department. And what I find is that they may have the skills to come in, but what we're looking for are people who can show some motivation and drive to continue their learning. Because they may have the skills today, but next year they're going to be behind if they don't continue learning. There are a lot of projects that we're now working on and we're struggling to get the training in-house because we've fallen behind a bit on that." | Metro |
| "The other big challenge is that we get a lot of applicants that spend a year here and then two years there and then three years someplace else. And it's really damaging to their prospects if they do that three or four times. So, if there's a way to say—early on in their college experience—to really say, 'Okay, there's a job waiting for you in accounting when you get out, but is that really what you want to do?' Because it may be what you want to do, but the risks of taking something and trying that, and then trying something else, and then trying something different—those risks become greater as you move two, three, or four years down the road. That three-to-five-year person is what we're looking for." | Metro |
| "Employer 1: I would like to ask you about the critical thinking skills? And how important is it for the IT people to be able to communicate and have soft skills? Employer 2: Very. They need to have the communication skills and they need to have the critical thinking skills to be able to take a business problem and develop a technology solution. I mean, they're working in teams, but that is still a critical point." |
Metro |