What Employers are looking for in Recent College Grads
In many ways, employers are very much like professional football teams looking for the best and brightest from among recent college graduates to see who they might want to take on. And in many ways, they look for a lot of the same thing.
As a former IT manger who regularly interviewed recent college graduates for positions within the firm, I learned what most other people learn that wind up in the position of hiring people, and that is good people have specific qualities and traits that are common across areas of employment, and it’s the combination of these traits that most employers are looking for.
The most common trait that employers are looking for is intelligence. They want smart people who can learn a new job quickly and perform at a high level once they do. And if that isn’t enough, they want these high performing individuals to work independently and also with a team, and to be proactive in decision making without stepping on anyone’s toes. That’s the main thing employers want to see when someone walks into their office holding a resume; and it doesn’t matter if they are a recent college graduate, or someone who has been in the field for years. They want someone that can give them results and who might one day be a team leader; someone who doesn’t shy away from challenging assignments or try to push the blame for failures onto someone else. Employers want good people and it always starts with intelligence.
Other traits employers are looking for include: honesty, integrity and a sense of fair play. They want people they can put into positions and not have to worry about how they might behave when the boss isn’t around. Along with that, they want people that won’t embarrass them by saying or doing things that reflect badly on the company, the team, the person doing the hiring, and themselves. They surely don’t ever want to find themselves having to explain a few months after a new hire why they took on someone with such obvious shortcomings. And they don’t want anybody that has a questionable history. They want people with squeaky clean records who know and understand the seriousness of the business world.
After that, the things employers look for are character traits like a willingness to work hard, to stay late if need be and to understand the implications of missed deadlines. They look for people who are mature and carry themselves well, and that are likeable. They look for people who they feel are like them; because it’s always easier to spend time with people you like and can relate to in personal ways.
And finally, employers look for people who look like they’re ready to start working the minute they walk in the door; confident people who aren’t cocky but carry an air of surety, dependability and self-confidence born of successes in previous ventures. People who look like they will succeed.
