It is college recruitment time here at Cain Ellsworth & Company. This is the time of year when we spend a lot of time on college campuses informing students of who we are and searching for bright new talent to bring onto our team. It is always enjoyable for us to have the opportunity to tell people more about our Firm and spend time with college students as they look forward to entering the “real world” as we like to call it.
Each year I am impressed with the quality of students that are coming out of our local colleges and universities. They do a great job of preparing students for the next stage in their lives. We have had the pleasure of working with and hiring many great accounting students both as interns and full-time employees in the past and we look forward to continuing this trend in the future.
So, what are some of the most valued skills that business are looking for today? The following list comes from the web-site StartHereGoPlaces.com, which lists these four business skills among the top of the list. Would you agree with these? What are the most desirable skills and qualities in your organization?
Leadership: Being a good leader includes such things as being able to bring other people together for a common goal and knowing how to get the best out of those around you. Strong leadership is critical to the success of any organization. There are many great examples of leadership we look for when hiring into our organization: perhaps someone has tutored a classmate, served as an officer in student government, organized a school event, acted as a captain of a high school or college sports team. These are all great examples of showing leadership.
Communication: Good communication isn’t limited to public speaking, but also includes things such as listening and writing. All of these things contribute to a person’s ability to communicate. A person’s ability to receive information is just as crucial as their ability to present it. Ways that a person can develop their communication skills is by simply paying attention to the way you interact with others, being a good listener and looking for opportunities to work in a team environment.
Technology: Nearly every industry is computerized in some way and the accounting industry is certainly one of those industries that utilizes technology in most everything we do. Technology is here to stay and those entering the business world should know about existing and emerging technologies in business environments and understand how to use them effectively. Things such as email, net-conferencing and the web as well as wireless technologies are just a few examples. Many people may not even realize how much technology they use each day and how they can work that into real professional skills. For most of the college students we meet, the technology part of business is second nature to them.
Business Savvy: Being business savvy requires creative thinking and problem-solving skills. Those in the business world should know how to examine information, interpret it and use results to drive solutions. But I think we would all agree that this doesn’t just happen over night. Most often business savvy is developed with time and experience. However, there are things that people may be doing every day that lend to being business savvy. Things such as watching the news, playing strategy games, enjoying solving logic problems, coming up with creative ways to solve ordinary problems just to name a few.
And, don’t forget that responsibility, superior ethics and honesty always go without saying in the world of business.
We are excited for another great year on our local college campuses! As we look to recruit new accounting majors into the world of public accounting you can be sure that leadership, communication, technology and business savvy are on our list of most-valued skills.
