Tips For Your First Job Interview
Posted by Administrator on Feb 3, 2010
If you are about to leave school or college and are applying for your first job, the thought of your first job interview can be pretty scary.
Having a formal interview for a post which could launch you on your career is much more important than an interview for a casual student job such as working in a burger bar.
There will be a number of people shortlisted for the job and invited to interview. Every one of them has got past the first hurdle – they have produced a resume and cover letter or application form which proved they can do the job.
So you are competing against the best. If you want to get the job, you have to make sure that you stand out.
First of all, you must get the basics right. This means dressing appropriately for the interview. You’ll need to wear a business suit if you are going for a corporate job. In other industries, where dress code may be more casual, wear something a little smarter than you would expect to wear on the job.
Make sure you show up on time. You should work out the route in advance and time the journey. If possible, do a trial run at the same time of day as your interview. This will give you an idea of traffic conditions and help you find the building.
If you can’t do this, leave plenty of time on the day. It can be difficult to find some addresses, despite having a map. As if that’s not enough, you could find yourself faced with a company which is housed in several buildings with a complex network of connecting corridors. Arriving 5 minutes early is no good if it takes you 10 minutes to find the place you are meant to be.
Be sure to have the phone number handy so that you can let them know if something goes wrong on the journey, or an unavoidable crisis means you will be late.
Think about the type of questions you might be asked and come up with short intelligent answers. For a first job it’s likely you’ll be asked about your studies, why you have chosen this career or company. Make sure you know the answers.
It’s important to really think about your strengths and what you have to offer the company. What special contribution will you be able to make, which sets you apart from the other candidates?
Look at your work experience and find transferable skills – even if you have only worked as a waiter or waitress, you’ll have developed customer service and communication skills. Don’t forget about any clubs or societies you belonged to at college or any volunteering you were involved in.
Take a copy of your application to remind yourself of what you said and be sure you can explain any gaps in your resume. With the right preparation, you can ace that first interview.
Keys to a Successful Job Interview
Posted by Administrator on Jan 15, 2010
The purpose of this article is to cover the most frequent mistakes made by applicants. Although most of these points appear to be common sense, human resource professional often witness these pitfalls. For more information visit our resume and job interview training and services on one of the largest job sites in Canada, US and UK.
1. First, turn off your cell phone during an interview. A ringing cell phone won’t impress an interviewer. With today’s reliance on cell phones, in our experience about 1 in every 5 applicants forget to turn off their cell phones during an interview.
2. Reciting your resume and cover letter is also something that’s common, but should be avoided. The interview is your chance to expand on these documents and discuss your qualifications.
3. Mumbling is another common mistake that can often be corrected with ease. Some applicants mumble, are soft-spoken, or perhaps have a slight accent. Remember to speak up and speak clearly when you are in a job interview.
A useful exercise to refine interview skills is the use of role-play. Find someone who is willing to role-play some interview questions with you and ask them to provide feedback. For your convenience, we have a Mock Interview Exercise that simulates a real interview and contains grading tools to show ways to improve and reveal answering patterns. You can also enhance this exercise with the use of an audio/video recording tool.
4. Over answering is one of the most common and easily correctable mistakes. Over answering is also one of the biggest pet peeves among interviewer circles. Know when to stop. The interviewer’s body language can signal to the applicant when it is appropriate to stop answering. These signals include briefly looking away, leaning away from the applicant, and shifting their positions frequently during your answer. If you see one of these signs in your next interview, ask yourself: “have I answered the question?” and act accordingly. Try timing your answer to see the length of your response. On average most people take between 5 to 7 mins to answer which exceeds the attention span of most interviewers.
5. Avoid being negative. While your previous employer may have been a tyrant and difficult to work for, it is not to your advantage to speak negatively about past work experiences.
Accounting Jobs Worth Interviewing for
Posted by Administrator on Jan 10, 2010
The field of accounting is diverse and offers a lot of different positions where your skills can work to your advantage. Finding the right accounting position that suits you will help to better your chances during the actual interview. Some of the positions worth considering when thinking of a career in the field of accounting include:
- Accountant
- Accounting Assistant
- Accounting Clerk
- Accounting Manager
- Accounts Payable Clerk
- Accounts Receivable Clerk
- FSA Actuary
- Auditor
- Billings
- Bookkeeper
- Collections (Collector)
- Staff Accountant
- Taxation Accountant
Knowing the associated responsibility with these positions will help you to fare well during the job interview.
Job Interviews – The Nightmare
Posted by Administrator on Jan 4, 2010
The night before the interview you diligently sit down and get ready. It might be the pay, the conditions or simply you hate your current role, but you are desperate for this new job.
Working through some of the advice on the internet you start practicing imagining the interviewer naked. This works for a while until you get the idea that they might do the same to you. Then your head is suddenly filled with thoughts of hundreds of people with better CVs, family connections or just being able to talk their way into the company. You read through your CV not taking anything in.
Your sleep is disturbed with dreams of turning up to the interview naked and forgetting everything on your CV. You sleep in and barely make it to the company on time. Out of breath, crumpled and flustered you wheeze your interviewer’s name at the receptionist. When she asks your name you go blank and you get the impression the receptionist thinks you are an idiot.
The wizened old hag that is your interviewer eventually comes to show you to the interview room. Every time she smiles you feel as if someone has died. In an attempt to build rapport you babble about traffic, the weather and strangely drift into the socio economic policies of Thailand. She looks confusedly at you and you let the subject drift.
You eventually make it to the interview room and the old crone offers you a coffee. After spending a few minutes wiping yourself down from the coffee you just spilt down your front the old crone asks if you are ready to start the interview proper. She then says something like, “Just as a nice gentle start, talk me through your CV.”
Realising you can’t remember anything on your CV and that you have not brought any spare copies you mutter things about how much you have enjoyed working for you last company. You are convinced she thinks the CV is a fake when you come to the conclusion that she said “gentle start” and that implies things are about to get worse.
The old crone decides to focus you in on some key areas by asking why you want to leave your current employment. You fumble around trying not to admit that you hate the company, the work and your boss and eventually hit on a “looking for fresh challenges” answer. Annoyingly she asks what sort of fresh challenges you think her company will give you.
Panicking for any answer you realise that she might be thinking of you as prey you try to calm your nerve by thinking of her as naked prey. But the only image you get is of you as naked prey. Now you have completely forgotten the question. The interview seem to go on for ever.
Just as you are losing the will to live the old cow informs you that this is your chance to ask questions as she has finished hers. Trying to appear still alive you ask her how soon will the company make a decision. Having answered your question she shows you out and you leave hoping beyond hope that they offer you the job.
Should you have experienced any of this, think about how different things could be. If only you could develop a persona of calm, focused authority, knew how to dramatically increase rapport and take control and could confidently answer any interview question naturally. How about the idea of being able to implant the idea of you being the best candidate for the role in to the interviewer’s head?
Sound impossible? May be not, many of these skills happen naturally and you have certainly seen others do this as part of their daily lives.
Some people just walk through life always getting what they want, including the best jobs. I am sure you have seen people like that. These are the people using these skills, sometimes naturally, sometimes they have been trained. In most situations these skills are quick and easy to learn.
Your CV will pull a lot more interviews if you just add some NLP and psychological techniques. Spending just a couple of hours CV Writing would pay you back dividends. Having the skill to be able to answer interview questions artfully only takes two hours to learn and you will keep that skill for life, as well as learn to apply it in many more situations.
Banishing interview nerves, building rapport, maintaining composure and taking control of the interview all seem like hard skills but they can be learnt in less than thirty minutes.The only question is how much people are prepared to devote to mastering these interview techniques because just a couple of hours is the difference between a great job and just the job you are doing now.
Preparing for the Interview
Posted by Administrator on Dec 10, 2009
In preparing for a finance and accounting job interview, there are vital points to keep in mind and take into consideration. These points can be broken down into six important details:
1. Analyze the job posting – what do they really require
2. Know more about the company – the interviewer may ask you some details about the company
3. Assess your skills – know your strengths and project them
4. Prepare for possible questions – learn to anticipate what the recruiter may ask
5. Ask some questions from the recruiter – this establishes your interest in the position
6. Prepare your references and presentation – make sure your references are verifiable and most of all make a good first impression
Finance Department
Posted by Administrator on Nov 10, 2009
Accounting job applicants may find themselves being assigned to the company’s Finance Department which is in charge of providing various services that supports the firm’s operation. The Finance Department also actively works with other departments to provide payroll processing, central purchasing, mail handling, accounting and reporting, reproduction and central store services. The accounting services directly supports all other departments, agencies and divisions related to employee compensation, budget control and is usually in close interaction with the Personnel Division and Purchasing Department. This department is also responsible for conducting external and internal audits including production of assessment reports on the company’s financial stability.
Dealing with job interview stress
Posted by editor on Oct 10, 2009
by: Djai Tanji
Job interviews can be a stressor. Just preparing for it is stressing enough as well as choosing what to wear, how to say words politely yet assertively at the same time during the job interview and waiting for the result. There might be ways of dealing with this kind of stress you cannot escape from. Having an early, good sleep the night prior to the interview could help you be more alert and awake during the day of the interview. And make sure you’ve prepared everything including the requirements and your clothes before going to sleep. Arriving earlier in the place of the job interview could help you compose yourself before the interviewer arrives. At this point, you can prepare yourself mentally and have time to let your brain breathe. With this, you will surely be confident and stress-free while the interview is ongoing.
GET YOUR ACCOUNTING CERTIFICATION ONLINE
Posted by editor on Sep 10, 2009
by: Djai Tanji
An accounting degree and work experience in accounting is needed when you want to apply for an online accounting certificate. Review everything you know in accounting. You need to contact the state’s “License and Certification” office/agency to know the guidelines and things you need. You can download some forms from the net for free but there are also charged forms. Know the certification you need as well as the benefits and options because they may vary according to states. The Licanse and Certification Office have to approve your qualification first before they give you a certification. If they hand the certification form to you, fill it out and then pass it to the state so they can review it.
Six Common Questions
Posted by Administrator on Aug 10, 2009
One of the greatest confidence builders when going for a job interview is to be prepared for the questions to be asked. Whether you are applying as an accountant, programmer or secretary, there are some general questions that are commonly asked during the interview:
1. What do you think are your strengths and weaknesses?
2. What is the reason for leaving your previous work?
3. Can you describe a previous job condition where you? (a situational)
4. What do you consider an ideal work environment?
5. How do you deal with mistakes?
6. What do you consider as your best achievement?
Illegal Questions
Posted by Administrator on Jul 10, 2009
The interview process will already be full of stress without you trying to promote your skills and project your enthusiasm while desperately keeping your concentration. Adding to the stress are illegal questions which can suddenly sneak up during the course of the interview. Knowing how to identify what types of questions are illegal is an effective way of diffusing the tension immediately.
Majority of interviewers are unaware that they are posing illegal questions and will readily withdraw them once tactfully pointed out to them. Bottom line is to learn how to deal with the situation in a diplomatic manner so as not to agitate the interviewer.