Does the college a person comes from influence your decision?

neil_18_

I have a few questions for anybody working in recruitment.

1. Does the college the person attended influence your decision?

2. Would you rather hire a Trinity graduate over a DIT graduate, or UCD over DCU or vice-versa?

3. Which college, in your opinion, have the most suitable graduates come from?

4. Are there general charecteristics you notice in grads from different colleges? (example : Do you notice that some colleges are more exam based, some are more practical)

5. And when it comes to the point of having hired them, do *trinity students show their lack of common sense, or do *DIT students struggle due to their course being less exams based, or is that an advantage?)



Thanks.


* I just chose these as examples, i'm not saying anyone from trinity lacks common sense, i'm not saying DIT don't have enough emphasis on exams*

the_syco

Before you look at what college you wish to go to, answer me this: what job do you want? IMO, different job sectors have different views on IT's, universities, etc.

Otis Driftwood

There was a joke I heard when I was in college

"what do IT graduates call University graduates"

Boss.

Im an IT grad myself so have no sway either way but from experience university grads are invariably looked upon more favourably than IT grads although this would never be readily admitted to.

I worked in recruitment for a couple of years and often came across it in terms of financial graduate jobs,eg trainee fund accountant roles,unless you graduated from a university they didnt want to know,and thats when the environment was job rich so god knows what its like now.

neil_18_

the_syco wrote: »

Before you look at what college you wish to go to, answer me this: what job do you want? IMO, different job sectors have different views on IT's, universities, etc.

I'm already in college, doing business and languages

AARRRGH

I would have the same opinion roughly about what university they went to, but I have serious problems with private colleges.

neil_18_

AARRRGH wrote: »

I would have the same opinion roughly about what university they went to, but I have serious problems with private colleges.

I had a feeling someone would say that, i was talking about this with my mates today. Surely if someone went to Trinity, dcu, ucd or dit it looks better than having daddy pay for their degree

Sleepy

It'd depend on the degree area tbh, I'd look more favourably upon a UL Business Studies degree holder than a B. Comm holder from NUI, Galway for the work experience that forms part of their degree. It would be easily balanced out by good extra curricular activities / part-time work experience etc. though.

Wouldn't consider a private college degree to be worth the paper it's printed on unless there was an external qualification e.g. a CIMA or Microsoft qualification.

Sergeant

I'm a Trinity graduate in engineering, and have hired a number of graduates from both universities and ITs. Where they went to college is of little concern to me, more so their ability to learn quickly on the job, show definable skills, and have enthusiasm. Work experience as part of their degree program is a big bonus. Certain colleges have better programmes than others, and not all of them are universities.

AARRRGH

Sleepy wrote: »

Wouldn't consider a private college degree to be worth the paper it's printed on unless there was an external qualification e.g. a CIMA or Microsoft qualification.

I would only hire someone who went a private college if they got a first. It's too easy to get a 2.1 etc., in private colleges.

billybigunz

It does. I regret not going to a bigger University and I have paid the price.

MysticalRain

I do feel sometimes that there is some snobbery among Irish employers. I can recall a recruiter from a big multinational posting on boards.ie that he only recruited people from the top three universities in the country, and in the same post complaining that he "couldn't find enough graduates in Ireland". If someone is that choosy, they will always have a problem finding people.

However, I have found that if you can get as far as the interview stage and make a good impression, it doesn't really matter that much in the end. Experience will usually count for more than what college you went to for most employers.

I might add that some of the best people I've ever worked with had no degrees at all.

damnyanks

If you go abroad you want the brand, therefore its probably one of the Dublin Universities.

People wont care about hiring someone from a certain college, but what they will do is filter out people based on their college.

If 10,000 people apply for 100 jobs anyone with a 2.i from IT's is gone.

Got 5,000 left? Get rid of the 2.ii from universities

and so on.

Once you are in front of someone it becomes less relevant.

It depends.

If you want to do grad programmes in banks then yeah probably...for most jobs, it's about your ability, your enthusiasm and your personality/people skills, most importantly it comes down to how good of a team player you actually are and how good you are at articulating your thoughts. Nobody likes a pushover, if someone asks for your opinion, you give it.

XxMCRxBabyxX

How about in the law sector?

The University a potential employee went to must have an influence there? And what looks better: Pure Law or law and...?

I'm doing Law and Arts (History) (BCL) in Maynooth and my plan is to major in Law with history as my minor. How is that going to look against Trinity law graduate or a UCD Law and Business grad? The NUI degree is only in it's second year with no graduates yet.

In saying that, my plan is to work my ass off getting as much experience for my cv as possible, planning to do a summer research programme this summer, hopefully manage to get a summer internship in MOP or one of the big firms next summer, already have work experience with MOP. Also hope to study in Boston for a year and try get a good masters.

So back to my original question: how is my CV as an NUIM student going to look against those that went to the well established law schools?

Sleepy

Arts students going for Law have always had a harder time than those with a pure Law degree, most I've known have had to go do an LLB afterwards before heading for the Inns or the Law Society.

It's going to be tough for you, XxMCRxBabyxX, there's already an over-supply of law grads and many in the profession are struggling (I know fully qualified Barristers who got firsts that still earn less than the dole after a few years of practice). The whole industry is rotten through cronyism and unless you've incredible connections, I'd seriously consider an alternative career - compliance is a growth area and would make good use of a legal background.

XxMCRxBabyxX

Sleepy wrote: »

Arts students going for Law have always had a harder time than those with a pure Law degree, most I've known have had to go do an LLB afterwards before heading for the Inns or the Law Society.

It's going to be tough for you, XxMCRxBabyxX, there's already an over-supply of law grads and many in the profession are struggling (I know fully qualified Barristers who got firsts that still earn less than the dole after a few years of practice). The whole industry is rotten through cronyism and unless you've incredible connections, I'd seriously consider an alternative career - compliance is a growth area and would make good use of a legal background.

Well my degree isn't Arts it's Law and Arts - a BCL and it is a recognised degree!

Does a partner in one of the major Law firms help?!

Sleepy

Probably. The law industry's all about the nepotism

XxMCRxBabyxX

Also, and I hope I don't sound rude here, what experience do you have in the Law field?

Sleepy

I've never worked in it and wouldn't - I'm lacking the amorality gene required to work in the field. I've friends at the bar, in a number of different solicitors firms and know quite a few still struggling to get apprenticeships despite having gotten their FE1's a couple of years back.

Out of the fifty or so law students I knew in college only one achieved the dream of becoming a human rights lawyer in the UK, the rest have sold their souls