Knowledgable or Trainable

Salesmanship and likeability--in my line of business I struggle to grow my company because people lack these two qualities.

I am working for an oil company and currently working on my mech eng degree. I have met numerous people in both sides of the spectrum, regarding my question. My opinion is you want someone that is trainable. Knowledgable people would jump into a task thinking they know how to do perform the task by reading books. I believe they wouldn't ask questions. A trainable person would pick up on how the company wants them to complete tasks and would ask questions. Which would lead to that person becoming more knowledgable in that certain area.

My job requires a degree. After that, give me trainable, motivated, personable, and able to meet deadlines in a fast paced environment.

You just have to have the ability to want to learn. I have worked with people on both ends of the spectrum, from techs who barely made it out of high school, to Indian (dot) 4.0 students finishing their Master's degree in the field I was working in.

The tech picked up on things quickly, got independent faster, but we never had him do calculations. The Indians just couldn't figure shite out no matter how many times you told them, so we stuck them inside and just gave them the numbers we wanted crunched.

Best of luck to you. But, in your situation it seems that bank wants trainable over knowledgable. That is not a shot at you. But, they are considering you for your want to learn. Which I believe makes a stronger worker. That person has something to strive for. They have the want to be promoted and move up in a company.