How to Prepare For Your Financial Interview is the topic for today’s post. Interviews are a daunting prospect for many financial professionals. Even if you’ve demonstrated exceptional experience and knowledge with your CV and cover letter, a poor interview can still ruin your chances of earning the ideal role.
Whether you’re interviewing face-to-face or over video, numerous factors can influence how your hiring manager perceives you and whether they decide you’re right for their role.
Everything from your body language to how you respond to certain questions will impact your chances of success.
The good news is there are various ways to position yourself as the best hire during the interview process while you also manage your nerves.
So here are six steps to prepare for and ace your next financial interview.
1. Do Your Research
Confidence in a financial interview comes from knowing as much as possible about the company you’re applying to work with and the financial market. Start by researching your potential employer. Find out what makes them unique in the market, what they’ve accomplished in recent years, and what they aim to achieve.
This will help you to answer questions like “How do your values align with ours?” or “Why do you want to work with our company?” It’s also worth learning as much as you can about the current financial landscape.
Many hiring managers will use questions about economic market conditions to examine your passion for and knowledge of the industry.
Look up trending news in the sector that might be relevant to your position. For instance, you might want to discuss changing accounting regulations or stock market indexes. Make sure you’re prepared to answer technical questions like “Which financial statement would you use to assess the overall health of our company?” or “How would you suggest we alter our budget based on the current economic climate?”.
2. Prepare for Competency-Based Questions
While financial hiring managers can ask various questions during an interview, competency-based questions are extremely common. These questions allow business leaders to learn more about your responses to certain situations and experiences.
Notably, competency-based interviews can look at both hard and soft skills. For instance, your hiring manager might ask, “Tell us how you addressed a budgeting problem in your last company,” or “Tell us about a time when you needed to work with your team to overcome a challenge.”
To prepare for these questions, identify your key competencies and craft STAR stories around them. STAR stories cover:
- S: Situation: The specific situation you addressed, your role, and responsibilities.
- T: Task: What you needed to accomplish and the goals you were trying to achieve.
- A: Action: How did you achieve your goals and overcome challenges?
- R: Result: What were the outcomes of your actions?
Try to demonstrate tangible results in your stories. For instance, if your employer asked how you used your financial analysis knowledge to overcome a problem at work, explain how your actions improved profits or productivity by 20-25%.
3. Get Into The Right Mindset
Anxiety is a major problem for many financial candidates seeking new roles. While most hiring managers will expect you to have some nerves, they’ll also be looking for evidence that you’re confident in your ability to thrive in a new position.
Before the interview, remind yourself of your accomplishments, qualifications, and why you’re a good fit for the role. List the things you’ve achieved for similar companies to elevate your confidence. Visualise success and what you’ll achieve in your new role rather than worrying about what might happen if you don’t get the job.
If you’re particularly anxious, consider practising relaxation techniques before the interview. Take a moment before you turn on your camera or step into the interview room to breathe deeply and centre yourself. During the interview, if you need a second to collect your thoughts, smile and say something like “That’s a great question” to give yourself a moment.
4. Practice Interview Scenarios
Practice makes perfect. If you haven’t had an interview for some time, consider asking a friend or relative to walk through some common interview questions with you. Practice responding to each question, and ask your friend for feedback.
You can practice responding to a range of questions, such as:
- Technical questions: “Why is it important for a company to have a strong financial model and budgeting strategy?”
- Soft skill questions: “Tell me about a time you used your communication skills to overcome a problem at work?”
- General questions: Like: “What interests you most about finance, and how might you apply those passions to this position?”
If you’re preparing for a virtual interview, experimenting with the video conferencing tools and software you will use is also worth experimenting with. Make sure you feel comfortable using video equipment, and check you have a space available for a distraction-free discussion.
5. Dress Appropriately
People are prone to snap judgments about others based on pre-established unconscious bias. Often, these judgements are based on what we see when we look at another person. If you’re dressed professionally, your hiring manager is more likely to be able to visualise you as a key member of their team.
Alternatively, dressing too casually or making no effort with your appearance could tell your hiring manager that your uninterested in the role.
If you’re unsure how to dress for an interview, check the company website you’re applying to work with and use the “About Us” page to see how team members normally dress. Ask your recruitment consultant who will know and understand the organisation’s culture.
Ensure you follow the company’s dress code, whether you’re interviewing in person or via video. If you’re using video, ensure your video stream is high quality before you jump into the conversation and that your background is clean and tidy.
6. Remember Your Body Language
Finally, it’s important to remember that confidence and competence don’t just show in what you say; How you present yourself to others is also important.
Your body language can tell an interviewer much about who you are and how comfortable you are in the financial space.
Ensure you sit up straight during the interview and smile regularly to build rapport. Don’t cross your arms and legs; make eye contact whenever possible to show you’re paying attention. At the same time, avoid fidgeting or constantly looking around the room or away from your camera when answering questions.
If you’re unsure how effectively you manage your body language, consider asking a friend to give you feedback during a practice interview.
Ace Your Next Financial Interview
Interviews can be nerve-wracking, even for people with years of experience in the financial sector. Fortunately, with the steps above, you’ll be prepared to impact any hiring manager or recruitment team positively.
If you need extra help preparing for interviews, contact your financial recruitment company for additional guidance and support.
Thanks
Rachel
About Rebus Financial Recruitment
Rebus Financial Recruitment provides a specialist and focused recruitment service to its customers, ranging from various organisations, including SMEs, to large PLCs.
We strive to offer both the client and candidate a seamless recruitment experience. Using our expertise, we get to the heart of employer and employee needs, and, in doing so, we match the two perfectly.
To learn more, contact one of our team members today or call us at 01282 930930.
