It’s tough out there for university graduates.
Research from Graduate Careers Australia shows nearly one in five employers that usually employ graduates did not take any on last year. Employers said economic conditions, budgetary constraints and the quality of candidates were the main factors affecting how many graduates these employers took on. In addition to asking employers what they looked for in an application, the 484 organisations were also asked what turned them off graduate job seekers.
The list, of the “Undesirable Aspects of Graduate Applications” of candidates, is a short, sharp checklist of things to avoid if graduates want to at least make it into a first interview. And although the list runs to 13 items, employers only really nominated three key factors in large numbers.
1. Lack of interpersonal and communication skills (nominated by 48.5 per cent of employers).
Top of the list of turn-offs was an inability to communicate. This included candidates not being able to communicate clearly in person or written form. Employers also added the inability to listen as something they disliked in candidates. That means job seekers need to not to only be able to articulate why they would be good for a role in their application and interview, they also need to be able to demonstrate that they can listen carefully to employers in the interview and beyond.
2. Untailored / general applications (nominated by 46.1 per cent of employers).
Employers also disliked a generic job application. Everyone may know candidates are applying to many different graduate positions in many different industries, but they still want to feel the candidate has taken the time to adapt their application for the specifics of the role.
3. Lack of passion / knowledge of the industry (nominated by 33.8 per cent of employers).
Closely related to the lack of tailoring is when graduate recruits do not seem to have any real interest or knowledge of the company and the industry it operates in. The message from employers is they expect candidates to have researched their company and the opportunities and challenges it faces.
There are a further 10 undesirable graduate application characteristics (listed below) but even number four, poor grades, is seen as a problem by only 16.7 per cent of employers.
4. Poor or inappropriate academic qualifications/results (16.7 per cent).
5. Lack of or irrelevant work / extra-curricular experience (12.3 per cent).
6. Arrogance / selfishness / aggressive / dominating (9.8 per cent).
7. Unprofessional demeanour (6.4 per cent).
8. Lack of commitment / high absenteeism / lack of loyalty (5.4 per cent).
9. Lack of emotional intelligence, self-awareness or self-confidence (4.9 per cent).
10. Lack of work ethic / poor approach to work (3.9 per cent).
11. Poor teamwork skills (2.9 per cent).
12. Inflexibility / inability to accept direction, challenges or change (2.9 per cent).
13. Lack of leadership skills (1.0 per cent).
Edmund Tadros | March 20 2014
Australian Financial Review
