Employers perceptions of graduates

Employers perceptions of graduates – an open forum/discussion at Bloomberg, London – September 2012

I attended the above event at Bloomberg's offices in central London last week.  The event was attended by some representatives of Bloomberg and other major City employers, including:Head of Graduate Recruitment & Development at Citi Group  who made the following comments:

They look for people that think differently, outside of the box.  They are not always looking for people with the exact technical skills, as the organisation can teach them that.  They recruit from any subject and recruit more based on personality, attitude, and diversity of thought rather than subject specialisation.

There was also some discussion about the Bloomberg Evaluation Test (BAT).  In summary they said the following about the test:

 

    Evaluates student knowledge and aptitude of finance.

    Focuses on practical application of their knowledge

    Receive feedback after taking the test.

You can put the fact that you have taken the test on your CV

Also option to opt into talent search database
(20,000 Financial companies are using this tool as a means of hiring staff)

Bloomberg Careers – Recruitment Process

·         Hire around 80 interns every summer.  They operate rolling recruitment, so no set deadline.

·         Strong emphasis on languages and they will support Tier 2 visas for International graduates.

·         Applicants need to demonstrate an interest in Finance.

·         Be aware that they receive high volumes of applications each year. For every 100 roles, they get 4-5,000 applications.

Open forum/discussion – main points

Agreed that the main ‘attributes’ that graduates need are:

·         Enthusiasm

·        Talent

·         hard work

·         work place communication skills

·         work place behavioural skills

They are also looking for what else a graduate has done, apart from academic study.

http://www.bloomberg.com/careers/