Find Job Leads in the Business Section

Courtesy of the Recruiting BlogSwap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter. Article by: Lorraine Russo of the Underground Job Network

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I was reading the New York Times this morning and came across an interview with William D. Green, chairman and C.E.O. of Accenture. One of the things that caught my eye in this article was his statement:

“This year…we built a human capital strategy for the future…refreshed our corporate-wide strategy, and I moved my leadership people around into different positions and promoted some new people into leadership roles to infuse energy.”

This statement alone suggests a number of things happening at Accenture:

1. They are changing the way they attract and retain employees.
2. People are being moved laterally within the company.
3. A few folks were promoted
4. With all these internal changes and employee movement, opportunities could be awaiting you at this global consulting firm.

When you get to know Mr. Green a bit better through this article, you’ll find that he is a plumber’s son who made good. He appears to be a down-to-earth person who looks for qualities in his employees that speak to character and integrity—characteristics that are often challenging to convey on a resume or cover letter.

He also mentions that Accenture “gets two million CVs a year and…hire[s] between 40,000 and 60,000 people...we need people who are analytical, and have common sense, good judgment and the ability to get along with other people.” So if Accenture hires around 40,000 people per year, let’s see what's on their website.

A visit to Accenture's career pages shows HUNDREDS of openings in the US, including quite a few entry level opportunities. Click on the <more> button on the left side of the screen to see all US openings by location. So with what you now about the TYPE of people Accenture likes to hire, how will you describe yourself when applying? As Mr. Green says:

“We’re taking a more scientific approach to how we recruit. We do something called “critical behavior interviewing.” It’s based on the premise that past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior… essentially what we’re looking for is, have you faced any adversity and what did you do about it?

“…It’s what have you learned, what have you demonstrated, what behaviors do you have? Have you shown intuition? Have you shown the ability to synthesize and act? Have you shown the ability to step up and make a choice? How have you dealt with the hand in front of you, played it out?”

“What critical behavior interviewing does is get at people’s character, and you get to see where work fits in their value system, where pride fits in their value system, where making hard decisions or sacrificing fits in their value system. I mean, you sacrifice and you’re a victim, or you sacrifice because it’s the right thing to do and you have pride in it. Huge difference. Simple thing. Huge difference.”

Hopefully the above quotes will give you some insight as to the traits and characteristics of an Accenture employee. Knowing this, take a closer look at your resume...does it read like someone William Green would like to hire? Does it tell the story of what you've accomplished and how you got there? Take a moment and read the NYT article in its entirety here.