Five Important Factors to Success Essay Example for Free

Five Important Factors to Success Essay Employers today look for a variety of skill sets and personal strengths in an individual and hire those whom they feel will contribute most to their company. As an individual applying for employment or an internship with a company, one should be well aware of the necessary requirements and the recommended skill sets that each company looks for in a potential employee. While there are many different factors that can impact an individual’s success in gaining an internship or employment, there are five factors that especially highlight one’s qualifications. The first thing that employers search for in a future employee is the quality and extent of the individual’s academic background. â€Å"The importance of a college education has become quite evident in terms of earning potential within today’s economy† (College View). A knowledge base of all general education classes along with classes that focus on the individual’s major are an extremely desired asset for most high-income jobs. Specialization of one’s education builds and structures the skills and strengths that an individual will need to be successful in their desired industry. Within this one industry, employers have to start what is called a â€Å"weed out† process in order to narrow down their applicant list. One of the most highly used techniques among these businesses is creating an automatic drop list based on academic achievement for the recent college graduates. Each college graduate will have taken the same set of classes for a particular major, therefore, if one student’s grades do not compare to those of the high achievers, they will have less of a chance finding employment or an internship. However, these college graduates with lower grade point averages are still more likely to obtain important job positions than those who lack a degree altogether. According to College View, â€Å"attending college provides opportunities for graduates which are not as widespread to those who have not received a higher education.† Leadership is a key factor in building one’s path to success. Success Magazine says â€Å"leadership is everything, whether you are leading a life, a community, an organization or a business, or you are in school.† Businesses looking to hire employees want to ensure that each applicable individual demonstrates the initiative to take on projects and fully complete them in an organized and timely manner. According to Success Magazine, it is extremely important that new hires â€Å"develop the abilities of leaders in the areas of strategic and critical thinking, enhancing relationships, negotiating, managing risks, people, change, conflicts and financials, making the right decisions, managing work-life balance† in order to become successful in their new position. Businesses also look for leadership like characteristics in their potential new hires such as integrity, honesty, drive, and excellence. These qualities within an individual will help a company progress and become more successful. Hiring new employees is a risk for each company. Because of this liability, businesses want to make decisions in which they feel confident that will benefit their company due to the fact that it is so costly to hire a new employee undergoing extensive training. Having a leadership background can definitively increase an individual’s likelihood of gaining employment or an internship. Recruiters find it significant that their potential new hires show diligent involvement and a proactive attitude throughout their years attending a university. Being involved with organizations on and off a university campus will greatly benefit an individual because of the variety of different learning, volunteer, and career opportunities given by each of the organizations. Small Business Advice found that a proactive employee â€Å"is not going to sit back and wait for opportunities to land in their lap. Instead, they are going to go out and get what it is they want.† Employees want to make sure that the people they are going to hire will work proactively and in the best interest of the company and nobody else. Individuals that show experience with commitments of an organization in which they are involved demonstrate a more effective work ethic. Small Business Advice says â€Å"you will never see a leader sitting back and waiting for someone to tell them what to do and when to do it.† This is exactly what a company looks for in a new hire. Networking is an extremely important part of successfully gaining employment or internships. The most successful people in the world today would not have been able to achieve such great measures if they hadn’t encountered other influential people. People and connections are the greatest resources an individual has. If an individual has connections with respectable and influential people, they are more likely to succeed in their business. Applicants must put their name and qualifications out there in a positive for all to see in order to begin constructing their own effective social network. A way for individuals in college to network is to join organizations and meet with professors and other academic advisors. The more connections one has, the more likely they will receive a job or internship within a company. It is absolutely necessary that an applicant or new hire demonstrate professional behavior at all times. Recruiters are looking to hire individual’s that will represent their company in a good light 100 percent of the time. No matter where one is or what one does in their free time, if they are publicly misrepresenting themselves, and therefore, the company as a whole, the business will no longer allow that individual to continue portraying the company in such a bad manner and will fire them. A professional businessperson is always on the best of their behavior and always keeps the goals and priorities of the company before their own personal goals and priorities. There are numerous factors that influence a recruiter’s decision to hire a new employee. However, the five main factors are a strong academic background, leadership, proactive involvement, networking and professional behavior.