Acing an Accountancy Interview

By Daniel Jones

Daniel Jones is the head of Alexander Lloyd’s Interim Accountancy division, which is part of the South East’s leading recruitment consultancy for the Accountancy market. With an unrivalled network of contacts and industry knowledge, they continually and successfully place the region’s top candidates in a range of companies. 

Being a job seeker is challenging in today’s highly competitive marketplace. One of the most consistent areas of concern for those seeking new roles is performing successfully at the all-important interview. It is not surprising considering the time and effort that has gone into getting this far and the pressure on you to shine is considerable.

The very first thing to do is thoroughly quiz your consultant on the interviewer and the company. How many people and who will be conducting the interview and what are their roles within the company.  How do these relate to the role that you are interviewing for?  Any good consultant will have all these details to hand and be able to fully brief you.  The other important question to ask them is what format the interview will take, will you be asked to take tests?  Many accountancy and finance roles will require you to pass numerical and verbal reasoning and possibly personality assessments.  Whilst there is little practical preparation you can do for these, you must be prepared for them so that there are no nasty surprises on your arrival.

Use Interim Effectively

Despite a slight decline of 17,000 in the UK’s unemployment figures this month, with the total unemployed currently at 2.48 million, unemployment levels are still at their highest since 1994. Predictions are (or are not, depending on whose line of thinking you follow) encouraging for the long term, with the OBR forecasting an employment increase of around 900,000 by 2015; bringing us back to pre-recession levels.

However, these forecasted levels are not going to be realised overnight, and there are people who still will find themselves unemployed due to one of many potential factors. So, if you do find yourself facing the predicament of unemployment, how do you maximise your chances of getting your career back on track?

One of the biggest concerns from a potential employer’s perspective is seeing long-term inactivity on a CV. Long periods of time spent unemployed, but more significantly doing nothing, leads to questions over the individual’s drive and determination to succeed. It does not present a particularly favourable image to prospective employers. 

You need to make sure you are doing something during this time. Interim work is preferable to that show you are keeping your hand in, and it also offers the added benefit of bringing in an income. My advice would be to firstly register with a reputable agency. Meet your dedicated consultant and explain to them what you are looking for on a permanent basis, but that you are also open to the possibility of interim positions in the meantime.

One of the things to take into account when looking at interim work is the danger of ending up jumping from short-term position to short-term position, which can create a cycle that is very difficult to break. If you are considering taking on interim roles, here are my top tips on managing the transition successfully:

1.  Try to take longer-term roles, rather than a couple of weeks here and there. Maternity covers are ideal, primarily around the six-to-nine month opportunities are the ones that you really want to take. They demonstrate commitment to prospective employers and provide you the opportunity to make an impact in the organisation that you can quantify on your CV.

2.  Specialist projects are the opportunities that will really add the most value to your CV in the long term. They provide the opportunity to add to your current skill set and further develop your expertise, attracting the eye of potential employers and helping you to stand out from the crowd.

3.  Don’t take any old role for the sake of it. You still need to spend a large proportion of your day there and if you can’t tolerate it for any length of time you will move on quickly, which can reflect poorly on your CV.

4.  Demonstrate commitment. If you take on an interim role, treat it in the same way that you would a permanent one. Show the same level of focus and commitment and you stand a greater chance of seeing your contract renewed or extended, or even a permanent opportunity offered.

5.  Many more organisations are offering the temp-to-perm option at the moment. It is a good way for both parties to obtain a thorough understanding of the other prior to entering into a commitment on a permanent basis, and ideal if you are seeking a permanent position in the long term.



Dan Jones is Manager of the Accountancy & Finance Division and Head of Interim Accountancy at Alexander Lloyd, part of the South East's leading recruitment consultancy for accountants.

 

‘Blue Monday’ Sparks Mass Job Hunting

The arrival of the statistically ‘most depressing day of the year’ – Monday 16th January – drove a 505% increase of traffic to our job site – suggesting that disillusioned employees chose that day as the first day of 2011 to start the search for a new job.

With terrible weather not helping the mood and causing some commuters difficult journeys and delays, people with a long way to travel may have decided to look for something closer to home.

‘Blue Monday’ traditionally falls on the third Monday of January, when the memory of Christmas revelry has dissipated and the harsh reality of summer a good few months away leaves people cold.

It is no coincidence that as people wind down over December, traffic levels to recruitment sites slow dramatically in comparison to the rest of the year. But with January bringing New Year’s resolutions to find that perfect job, it is no wonder that site traffic is on the up.

So far, January has been both candidate and job-rich, with an increase in both finance and accounting professionals looking for work and employers creating new roles.

Jobseekers know that there is generally an influx of new exciting roles after the end-of-year lull, and since ‘Blue Monday’ is the third Monday of the month, it has given recruiters the time to source and upload their roles onto their sites. The peak of visitors hit a high between 12pm and 2pm, the lunchtime slot, suggesting that the majority of people are already at work when they are looking.

We have been able to note that, with the rise of the smartphone and mobile-friendly technology, jobseekers are now logging onto job sites at all times of the day – accessing the web when on their commute and even at their desks without fear of being caught in the act.

The amount of traffic also rises between 6pm and 9pm, when people can sit and watch TV or eat dinner with full access to online jobs and mobile apps at their fingertips. We are looking forward to seeing how jobseeking trends progress as technology advances throughout 2011.



Dan Jones is Manager of the Accountancy & Finance Division at Alexander Lloyd.