Writing your CV & preparing for interview - Information for tax professionals

Writing your CV & preparing for interview - Information for tax professionals

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  CV & iNTERVIEW gUIDE FOR TAX & TREASURY PROFESSIONALS
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  CV ADVICE Q How should I organise my CV and what content should I include? The objective of your CV is to gain you an interview either with a potential employer or a recruitment consultant, and to create a positive impression about you in the mind of the interviewer before you meet. It is a good idea to split your CV into four sections: personal information, qualifications, employment history and interests. Personal information • Full name • Full address • Telephone numbers (day/evening/mobile - as appropriate) • Email address • If relevant, state whether you are eligible to work or need a work permit • Always include any language capability and state your proficiency (do not exaggerate your fluency, as an interviewer may decide to interview you in the language concerned). 2 BREWER MORRIS @BrewerMorris Qualifications If educated to degree level (or have a higher qualification) it is only necessary to briefly list earlier academic qualifications with appropriate grades. Any degree should have the name of the establishment from which it was gained from and the level/grade obtained. This section should also include any professional qualifications. Additionally, employers often look for any work related training - especially if it has led to a particular qualification.
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  CV ADVICE Q How should I organise my CV and what content should I include? Employment history /company/brewer-morris CV & INTERVIEW GUIDE 3 It is generally accepted practice to put your employment history in reverse chronological order and this section should include dates, company size and scope of responsibilities and achievements. Remember at all times that potential employers are looking for evidence that you can add value to the job and the organisation. • Give most space to your most recent job • If you do not work for a well-known organisation it might be appropriate to insert a brief description of the company and its business • Dates – it is only necessary to put the month and year of joining and leaving any employer. Your current position should be ‘to date’ • State your title • Group your experience according to type of work • Use sub-headings • Value of deal, brief details of transaction/ key points of matter • List specific project responsibilities/ involvement in matter • Do not leave out any period of employment for whatever reason - ensure that your time is accountable • Do not give reasons for leaving any of the jobs on your CV – it is far better to explain your moves in person at interview • Do not embellish your CV or be economical with the truth (i.e. overstating your experience or accomplishments) – you will be found out at interview • Salary information should be left off the CV but you should be prepared to discuss your salary with recruitment consultants at an early stage, so they know you are in the right range • Try not to use technical/professional jargon. Interests The key here is that if you are in doubt, leave them out. Be prepared to elaborate on any of your interests such as the last play you saw, the last book you read, the last place that you visited on a scuba diving holiday. If you have any interests that might, in any way, be controversial then leave them off the CV. In any event this section should be no longer than one or two lines.
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  INTERVIEW PREPARATION Q What is the best way to prepare for an interview? Organisations interview in many different ways both in terms of style as well as process. As an interviewee you should never assume that each interview will be structured in exactly the same way and you should always aim to improve your interview style through better preparation and understanding of the interview process. Of course, your greatest ally is the recruitment consultant you are working with who will be able to prepare you based on their knowledge of the organisation and role in question. Interviewing can be a pretty daunting experience, but with some good preparation you can make things an awful lot easier for yourself. The following tips may seem obvious but it is always worthwhile checking them off in advance. Do you know where you are going? Check the address. If you don’t know the area, call your consultant for directions. Give yourself lots of time and aim to arrive 10 minutes early. Have you called your recruitment consultant, at least the day before, and got a briefing on the job including who you are seeing, and going through any job description? They should also be able to help you with the type of interview, the personality of the interviewer or with any other information that you may need. Have you checked out the organisation’s website? This will tell you about the business and should give you some useful background information. Check if they have a careers section which may give you information about 4 BREWER MORRIS @BrewerMorris their values and culture. It will certainly tell you how they want to be seen by prospective employees. Make sure you know what is in your CV. Think about why you have moved in the past, why you have made certain career decisions, what you enjoyed about certain jobs. Think clearly about what you are looking to do now and why. Make sure you know what information you want to get out of the interview and you have a good list of questions to ask. It doesn’t do any harm to write them down; it shows you have prepared and you are much more likely to remember them.
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  Q What formcan I expect the interview to take? /company/brewer-morris CV & INTERVIEW GUIDE 5 Generally, interviews will take the form of one of the following formats: The CV-based Interview What it means This interview style follows the more traditional question and answer format. How it works This will normally entail a chronological run through of your background and experience. Typical questions might include ‘How would you describe yourself ’ or ‘Why did you leave X organisation for Y’ or ‘What do you not like about your current role’ or ‘What are your career objectives’. How you can prepare It is important to know the content of your answers to the standard interview questions, particularly if there are obvious issues in your CV – such as a period of unemployment or a quick move from job to job. However, try not to over rehearse and appear formulaic or not genuine in your answers. The Behavioural Interview What it means The thinking behind behavioural interviewing is that it provides the most accurate prediction of future performance through analysis of past performance in similar types of situations. The company has already identified job-related experiences, behaviours, knowledge, skills and abilities (competencies) that they feel are desirable in the position and these are sometimes hinted at in the job description. How it works The employer will ask very specific questions which they hope will elicit a response which will determine if you (the candidate) possess the desired characteristics. Candidates who tell the interviewer about specific situations that relate to each question will be far more effective and successful than those who respond in general terms. How you can prepare Read the job description in detail and then think about 6-12 past situations in which you have exhibited strong job-related behaviours. Additionally, look at the careers section of the company and see whether they have any reference to behaviours that they look for when hiring.
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  THE TEAM INTERVIEW What it means In an effort to get a well-rounded perspective on candidates, many companies ask more than one team member to take part in the interview and selection process. Using pre-agreed 6 BREWER MORRIS @BrewerMorris criteria, job descriptions and personal impressions, they assess the feedback following the individual sessions and discuss their reaction. How it works Generally they are either an interview conducted by more than one interviewer at the same time, or a series of one-on-one interviews with a number of different team members. How you can prepare Whatever the format, you should expect team interviews to be challenging. The initial exchanges with the interview team are the most difficult and you will need to be able to interact with different people from different backgrounds. Be prepared to cover the same ground with a number of different interviewers because they may want to see if your answers change; however, at all times remain patient and composed. TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS The goal of the technical interview is to get to understand your technical skill set. By sharing the thought processes with your interviewer you demonstrate your communication skills and analytical ability. Interviewers are looking to assess not only your technical ability but also your ability to think critically, to solve problems. You are not going to be expected to know everything so, if you are asked a question you just don’t know the answer to, then don’t try to talk your way around it. This can also be a good opportunity to tell the interviewer how you would research that particular question. It’s not about knowing everything, it’s about being able to find out anything. Because there are an infinite number of technical interview questions that interviewers can throw at you, and many may consist of hypothetical scenarios with no single correct answer, there is not a perfect way to prepare. That is precisely what technical interviews are all about. Just make sure that you are comfortable talking through the technical areas on your CV and you are not thrown by the obvious simple questions.
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  COMPETENCY BASED INTERVIEWS /company/brewer-morris CV & INTERVIEW GUIDE 7 Competency-based interviews are becoming an increasingly common part of the recruitment process with many organisations attaching a high level of importance to their outcome. To help you through these we have identified 16 typical competencies that employers seek to explore. Competency interviews can sometimes be quite daunting, but with an element of preparation and a broad range of examples, they can actually run quite smoothly and be an opportunity to stand out from the crowd. Competency-based interviewing is a structured interview approach which aims to gather evidence of how well a candidate will perform in a particular role. This is achieved by asking candidates to describe past experiences of when they have demonstrated particular competencies (or job relevant behaviours). Employers will want to explore your past experiences as a large amount of research suggests that past behaviour is a strong predictor of future behaviour. For each particular competency, you will usually be asked a number of questions, to give you more than one opportunity to demonstrate your abilities. In order for an organisation to assess whether you are appropriate for a role it is important that you talk about specific past experiences, rather than your general way of working. It is also important that you describe what you actually did, rather than talking about the performance of a team you were a member of. Competency-based interviews are very structured, with every candidate often being asked the same questions. This is to ensure that everybody gets the same opportunity and the process is completely fair to all.
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  COMPETENCY BASED INTERVIEWS Before attending the interview: • Think about what kinds of behaviours may be important to perform well in the job • Think about times in the past when you have demonstrated your abilities e.g. successful projects, interactions with other people, convincing a difficult audience, analysing a large amount of information • Think through exactly what you did in these scenarios and separate your own actions from those of any team you were a part of • Don’t be restricted to purely job related examples; you may also have good examples from school/university or hobbies. 8 BREWER MORRIS @BrewerMorris During the interview: • Listen carefully to the question and make sure you provide an example of what is being asked, not just telling the interviewer what you want them to know • Talk about a specific example, not about how you generally act • Talk about what you did e.g. “I spoke to lots of different individuals” not “We spoke to lots of different individuals”. Q How can I prepare for a competency based interview?
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  ATTRIBUTES Q Whatkind of attributes are employers looking for during competency interviews? /company/brewer-morris CV & INTERVIEW GUIDE 9 Action orientation Demonstrates a readiness to make decisions, take the initiative and originate action. Commercial awareness Understands and applies commercial and financial principles. Views issues in terms of costs, profits, markets and added value. Creativity & innovation Creates new and imaginative approaches to work related issues. Identifies fresh approaches and shows a willingness to question traditional assumptions. Drive & resilience Maintains effective work behaviour in the face of setbacks or pressure. Remains calm, stable and in control of themselves. Flexibility Successfully adapts to changing demands and conditions. Interpersonal sensitivity Interacts with others in a sensitive and effective way. Respects and works well with others. Leadership Motivates and empowers others to reach organisational goals. Oral communication Speaks clearly, fluently and in a compelling manner to both individuals and groups. Personal motivation Commits self to work hard towards goals. Shows enthusiasm and career commitment. Persuasiveness Influences, convinces or impresses others in a way that results in acceptance, agreement or behaviour change.
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  ATTRIBUTES Planning &organisation Organises and schedules events, activities and resources. Sets up and monitors timescales and plans. Problem solving & analysis Analyses issues and breaks them down into their component parts. Makes systematic and rational decisions based on relevant information. 10 BREWER MORRIS @BrewerMorris Quality orientation Shows awareness of goals and standards. Follows through to ensure that quality and productivity standards are met. Specialist knowledge Understands technical or professional aspects of work and continually maintains technical knowledge. Strategic Demonstrates a broad based view of issues, events and activities and a perception of their longer-term impact or wider implications. Written communication Writes in a clear and concise manner, using appropriate grammar, style and language for the reader.
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  PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS Q What should I do after the interview? These are a structured way of evaluating how someone behaves, acts and performs under a range of circumstances and are often administered online. As with all forms of testing, practice can help you improve your performance on the day but make sure that you arrive with time to spare, well presented and calm. Personality questionnaires are used to determine how people are likely to behave under various conditions. There are no right or wrong answers and the best way to approach them is to answer them as honestly and straightforwardly as you can. Aptitude tests examine abilities such as numerical, verbal or abstract reasoning; they do not test intelligence or general knowledge. Often presented in a multiple choice format, the questions have definite right and wrong answers and to be successful you need to work through them as quickly and accurately as possible. /company/brewer-morris CV & INTERVIEW GUIDE 11 Do remember that it may be unclear what role or position the interviewer has within the organisation so at all times be respectful towards everyone you meet. • Find out from the interviewers what the next steps are in the process • Let your consultant know your feedback as soon as possible. It is important for us to know what you thought of the organisation, the role, the people who interviewed you and your impression of how you performed in the interview. Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, personality traits, and educational measurement. The field is primarily concerned with the construction and validation of measurement instruments such as questionnaires, tests, and personality assessments. Best of luck with your interview!
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