What company wants
According to an industry report, there are some interesting facts about what software companies are looking for in college graduates. Many students believe that test scores and grades are key factors in hiring but the report found that soft-skills, especially communication and the ability to work in teams, are the most critical factors in hiring. A senior manager said: “Test scores do not say much about the workers, only that they did well in school. We do not care about what they did in school but only care about what they will do in our company.”
Of course, good grades and high test scores are good but what companies want most are soft-skills, problem solving skills, and the ability to understand complex information or to see problems from different views. The report found that actual academic achievement was rated much less than these soft-skills and problem solving skills. Nearly 72% of technology companies preferred graduates with high motivations, maturity, and have career goals that matched those of the companies they were applying to.
A company owner explained: “Hiring college graduates is a major investment. With so many graduates to choose, many have high test scores and good grades which mean they all have good technical skills. However, technical skills are not enough; we want to select the best who have the potential to be future leaders in our company. In today’s competitive climate, companies must “work smart” to find these ideal candidates. That is why we focus on career plan and soft skills. Most graduates only want a job; they do not distinguish a job and a career. A job means they only care for getting paid and if somebody pays more they will switch job. That is not what we want because it is a bad investment. We will focus more on graduates that have a career plan. We want to know what they want to achieve in 3 years, 5 years or 10 years so we can determine if they want a career or just a job. Only people with leadership quality have career plan and they are people that we want.”
The report is the clear evidence that the industry is working on solution to solve the issue with so many graduates switch jobs often to get better salary. What they want is to hire people who may stay with them to build a long term career, people who look for more than just salary when applying for jobs.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
