What are the skill sets you look for in fresh graduate applicants?
For fresh graduates gaining entry into the industry, I look for a mix of soft skills and hard skills in my assessment. Soft skills include verbal and written communication skills, the ability to work in a team and maintain flexibility, as well as strong work ethics.
Hard skills, on the other hand, include technical skills that graduates have learned from their course of study or from internship experiences such as computing, engineering or data analytics.
Please give us an example of a past year's case study/challenge that your organisation has used in your assessment process.
An example that I have used in one of my past assessment processes was starting off the conversation with a video from Siemens. Then, the candidate had to ask any two questions about the video. This exercise enabled me to evaluate the candidate’s creativity, curiosity, honesty and flexibility.
Although creativity, curiosity and honesty are quite literal in its application, I would like to emphasize on flexibility. In my opinion, if the candidate can demonstrate flexibility while undergoing the exercise, the person is most likely nimble and able to adapt to changing business demands. They are also able to adjust their approach to solve a problem and these are the candidates that would fit into Siemens.
How do you identify culture fit during the recruitment process?
When assessing a fresh graduate, we need to give them some time to warm up and shine. Often, it could be their first time putting themselves out there.
Firstly, to address the area of culture fit, we need to understand the candidate’s motivation and purpose. I would often request the candidate to elaborate on a recent project that they have worked on. Through this sharing, I will better understand their motivation, sense of achievement and purpose. These are the traits necessary to drive an ownership culture. In Siemens, we motivate all employees to think of Siemens as their own company.
Please describe your company's culture in three words.
Responsible, excellent and innovative, as these values are the foundation of ownership culture at Siemens.
