WHO ARE WILLING TO INTERVIEW PSYCHOLOGY MAJORS

What skills are employers looking for when they interview psychology majors? To answer this question, a questionnaire was sent to 39 employers who are willing to interview psychology majors. The 14 employers who returned the questionnaire rated the importance of the following skills in their hiring decisions on a 5-point scale (5 = extremely important, 1 = unimportant). The results are displayed below with the skills organized according to categories, the number to the right of each category reflecting the average rating of the skills in that category, and the number to the left of each skill representing its average rating.

Social Skills: 4.65

4.8 - Deals effectively with a wide variety of people

4.8 - Displays appropriate interpersonal skills

4.6 - Handles conflict successfully

4.4 - Works productively as a member of a team

Personal Skills: 4.35

4.7 - Shows initiative and persistence

4.6 - Exhibits effective time management

4.6 - Holds high ethical standards and expects the same of others

4.2 - Remains open-minded during controversies

4.2 - Identifies and actualizes personal potential

3.8 - Adapts easily to organizational rules and procedures

Communication Skills: 4.28

4.8 - Listens carefully and accurately

4.5 - Speaks articulately and persuasively

4.1 - Writes clearly and precisely

3.7 - Comprehends and retains key points from written material

Information Gathering/Processing Skills: 3.97

4.3 - Plans and carries out projects successfully

4.2 - Thinks logically and creatively

3.4 - Gathers and organizes information from multiple sources

Numerical/Computer/Psychometric Skills: 2.17

2.9 - Displays computer literacy

2.1 - Performs and interprets descriptive and inferential statistics

1.5 - Selects, administers, and interprets psychological tests

These data indicate that employers do not rate all categories of skills as equally important (e.g., they appear much more interested in the social, personal, and communication skills of potential employees than in their ability to perform numerical, computer, or psychometric operations). Psychology majors should use this information in two ways. First, they should take every opportunity to develop and strengthen these crucial skills while they are in college. Second, they should do all they can to insure they can demonstrate or prove the existence of these skills during an interview. Many frequently asked interview questions are designed to uncover the presence or absence of these skills (e.g., Tell me about yourself; expand on your resume. What was your greatest accomplishment? Tell me about your extracurricular activities and what you learned from them. What was your most stressful experience and how did you handle it? How have you worked successfully with people who are different from you.) Be prepared to give impressive answers to these questions!

Although the majority of these employers indicated satisfaction with the performance of the recent college graduates they had hired, several also provided the following negative characteristics of their recent hires:

• poor work ethic (e.g., lacking motivation or complaining about having to work hard to obtain what they want)
• too dependent on "book" knowledge
• believe they are overqualified for their jobs
• appear to be looking to their next job rather than attempting to master their current one