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While academic achievements are important for new accounting recruits, they should be viewed in context to ensure a balanced candidate is being selected, according to a university professor and a recruiter.
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Deakin Uni identifies 'red flags' for accounting grads
04 July 2017
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Speaking to Accountants Daily Luckmika Perera, who is the director of teaching in Deakin University’s department of accounting, said that accounting firms need to reflect on their recruitment methods.
“From a firm's perspective they need to obviously look at the technical skills. Without having the technical skills then you cannot go out there and present yourself and be confident in what you do,” Mr Perera said.
“But in saying that you have to look at the balance side of things.”
Mr Perera said that it’s important that firms look for a balanced CV, not just high achievers.
“If I was an employer and if I was to trying to look at a number of CVs I would look at firstly what kind of extracurricular activities they have, different societies and so forth, have they been doing any voluntary services, do they have international experience,” he said.
“I would actually be worried if the student had all high distinctions and no social activities or social life. That’s a red flag for me. So obviously when you're picking somebody it has to be a balanced person who's able to manage the academics with the non-academic soft skill components.”
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Robert Half director Nicole Gorton agrees that the hiring process is two-fold and should be focused on a combination of both their results and their cultural fit.
“It’s looking at their results and their performance in their previous work history, because you’re looking for a work ethic, and then its assessing how they fit into the environment,” Ms Gorton said.
“Looking at whether they're a match, and not necessarily the same as the rest. It’s good to have a different mix of people within an organisation, but also look at how they would add value to the organisation.”
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