Dear friends,
This is what I had written for a friend of mine who found it useful.
Dont worry on job front
Please don't worry much about the job prospect because you are a Chartered Accountant. You have really worked hard to reach where you are today. So you know what your capabilities are, and it wont take much of time to get the job, you deserve.
Infact utilise the free time that you are getting at this point of time. Use this time for doing all those stuff that you wanted to do at one point of time but could not take up because of your busy schedule while you were pursuing the CA course. Enjoy this free time which you are never going to get afterwards in your life. Trust me, once you get a job, you will be very busy. So enjoy this free time now.
You can do the following at the interviews :
1) Always prepare the Accounting standards and be aware of the Auditing Standards. You can also be asked questions in Costing / Valuation of stock (if appearing for audit firm/manufacturing company interviews). Be aware of the recent Schedule VI changes and Taxation amendments. Basically, understand the company for which you are going to appear for an interview. Understand what the company is looking for in the candidate and prepare those areas a bit so that you are confident enough. You can also prepare/modify your C.V. accordingly.
2) To begin with basic tips, always praise the audit firm where you have done your articleship from. You can say "I have been lucky to be given enough exposures and opportunities by my employer. I am glad that he understood my capabilities". This creates a good impression and shows that you have belief in your employers.
3) Always mention in your C.V. only about the jobs you have actually done. Don't mention anything extra. If you go for interviews they are going to ask you practical questions from the areas you have audited. So avoid any unnecessary add-on's in your C.V, as these create a negative impression of yours on the interviewer.
Some questions that can be asked in interviews are like :-
a) What major audit assignments you have handled. How was the experience?
b) Any assignment that you have handled as a manager/single-handedly ?
c) What are your responsibilities as an auditor ? Do you think you have carried out them religiously ?
d) Does your audit approach changes when you go for an internal audit than a statutory audit ?
e) What were the two major observations that you found out during your audit life ?
f) How did you resolve those two issues/observations ?
g) Why do you want to move out of auditing to industry ?(if it's so in your case)
h) Are you comfortable getting a posting outside? And if we relocate you on a regular basis ?
Prepare answers for these common questions beforehand.
4) Always go through the profile of the company you are appearing for. You should mention some cool facts about the company during interviews. It shows that you have interest and you are keen to join that particular organisation.
5) In the interview you may be asked "whether you have any questions?"
Be ready with you question. Never say that, you dont have any question. You can ask "How can I contribute to the growth of the organisation, or, how would I be useful to the organisation"
6) You may only have done statutory audits during your articleship days, still you can comfortably sit for interviews in other areas apart from Statutory Audits, beacuse you would be treated as a fresher only and the interviewer well knows this fact.
You can say "I have sincerely and diligently fulfilled my responsibilities given to me by my employer. So I think that I can fit any role given to me and would love if the role is challenging enough and if it adds value to my experience and knowledge.
You can further add saying "In the course of audit, I even used to instruct and advice our clients on Taxation issues and financial issues".
7) You can forward your C.V. to as many people you know. Call them personally and ask if they can help with reference. Put your C.V. on job sites like Naukri.com, monster.com, timesjobs.com, shine.com, etc(Clearly give and validate your mobile number by sending sms and also validate your e-mail. This helps in getting more interview calls ) and join professional sites like linkedin and share your C.V.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Sumit Patwari
CAclubindia
