Why Are Finance Pros Failing Interviews Due to Poor Communication Skills? Let's Discuss Solutions

Common Reason for Interview Rejection: Poor Communication

I have found one common reason for rejection in interviews: "Poor Communication." I was surprised to see the data at my company, U-Worth Business Management Solutions (P) Ltd. Almost 80% of the total rejected candidates are due to poor communication, with the remaining 20% due to stability, flexibility, poor domain knowledge, or attitude issues. I have retrieved this data from the F&A domain only.

I really fail to understand why people from a very good finance and accounting background do not have good communication skills. They spend a lot of money on obtaining CA/CPA/CIMA/MBA/MCOM/BCOM degrees, which can cost almost 1 to 10 lakh, but can't they invest 10k only on improving their communication?

I have seen a CA/MBA working at a lower salary or position just because they do not have good communication skills. Can someone advise on what feedback we need to give if they are rejected due to poor communication? What is the workaround to improve this among the masses to increase employability?

Regards,
Sanjay Kumar
uwo

True, candidates with an accounts background often have poor communication skills as they spend most of their time on numbers and logical calculations. However, this does not mean they are weak in communication; rather, you will find that most of them have good written communication skills.

Selection Procedure Recommendations

In your organization, during the selection procedure, you can incorporate more written tests for technical and job skills, followed by a few final rounds of interviews. If their domain knowledge is good, you can conduct a small session on effective communication within the organization after they join.

Feedback for Rejected Candidates

For candidates who are rejected due to poor communication, provide correct feedback so that they are aware that communication hinders their selection. Suggest that they work on improving their oral communication skills through websites or communication classes.

Improving English Communication Skills

One of the best ways they can enhance their English is by reading a book, novel, or an English newspaper in front of a mirror and watching English news.

Regards,

How does an accountant with good communication skills help your organization to grow? If an accountant is technically sound, they can further contribute to the growth of your organization. While good communication skills can be an added advantage for the job, rejecting someone based solely on poor communication skills may be a misjudgment.

Regards,
Manjay Sharma

Judging a candidate in an hour is hardly tough. Then rejecting them from the interviewer's perspective is highly unacceptable. Interviewers should analyze which skills can be improved and which are mandatory to work in their organization. They could then finalize instead of searching for more people to interview. Hope this works out for all the employers.

You have dug up this four-year-old thread and replied. Nevertheless, if you say that judging a candidate in an hour is tough, then I beg to differ with you. For a seasoned interviewer, one hour is more than sufficient.

Behavioral Interviewing Method

I conduct training on "Behavioral Interviewing." In this interviewing method, competency-based questions are asked. The questions are framed in a way that the candidate cannot fabricate replies and must tell the truth.

You have proposed to identify the competencies for the job, find out which competencies the candidate possesses, and then "improve" certain competencies that the candidate lacks. While this formula may seem good on paper, for employers, business is nothing but a race that has to be won. They prefer to hire "horses." Hiring and expecting them to improve into assets is nothing but foolhardiness.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar