Jeannie Mabie
"There isn't one single skill that's most important to us. We're looking for a combination of things. Are they quick learners? Do they have flexibility? Can they make quality judgements? Can they organize information? Can they communicate with impact? Are they creative and innovative? Are they committed to continuing to learn? We're looking at the whole person. There isn't really one skill that makes a person succeed. It is the whole person."
"We look at grades as a benchmark to find out how quickly a student can learn and how effectively they'll be able to do the work. We start with a suggested minimum GPA of 3.0 but are not like some firms that will not interview a student if their GPA is below 3.0. We prefer higher grades than that but will sometimes hire a student with a little lower grades. What we try to do is get behind the GPA and understand it. If a student's grades are a little lower than we would typically look for, we'll ask about it. We're looking for a reason. Students need to understand the importance of their grades early."
"New hires need to be able to organize their work to get it all done. They're multi-tasking all the time. It's not like they work on one task and have one boss. In an interview, we want to know how they have managed their time, managed multiple activities, and how they've handled it when unexpected events came up. We get into what they have specifically done to prove that they have the skills."
"There is a lot of pressure on the person doing the recruiting, particularly in an organization like ours where we spend a great deal of money on training. We typically spend many thousands of dollars per new hire so it's very important that we bring in people who are a good match with our organization. The fact that it is so important encourages a very structured approach to the process. We want to get as much information about the individual as possible and also want to make sure they have a lot of information on us, truly understand what we do, and are excited about the opportunity we are offering."
"Don't put yourself into leadership positions just for the sake of being in leadership positions. If someone tells me that he or she was the President of any organization, that alone isn't impressive. I want to know about the contributions you made to the group. Tell me how you left it a better place. If they had the role but didn't leave the group in better shape than it was when they got there, that tells me something too."
South-Western
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