How To greet Employer at an interview (1 Viewer)

[SashatheMan]

yes greeting the employer is important, if you fuck up the greeting, you're done.

true story: i applied for this accounting job, it was like the perfect job for me, so i was pretty nervous. anyway i was sitting there in the reception thinking over my initial greeting to the interviewer. i kept thinking, just say "hi how are you?" , he'll reply, "good, urself?", and ill say "fine thanks", and thats it, we'll go into the room and talk. big deal.

so the prick comes out, and i stand up, "Hi how are you?" before he even had a chance to respond, i said "Fine thanks" and smiled. awkward few seconds. realising what id done i just pretended everything was ok. anway it all went down hill from there, didnt get a call back, fucker.

yeh haha i feel you.

hey what kind of questions did they ask at this accounting interview?

one of my friends said it wasnt very much to do with your previous skills and work, but rather just what uni he goes to , and what he likes doing as his hobbies

 

[SashatheMan]

I'll give you a serious answer;

When you meet them, say "Good morning, I am <full name>. " as you shake their hand (or offer it at this time).. If the handshake is a bit slow or delayed you can add in a "Pleasure to meet you", after that, they should reply with who they are, their title, and what's about to happen (such as move into a room for the interview). Usually they'll try some kind of ice-breaker to make you more comfortable like "How are you enjoying the Christmas break?", but sometimes they dive right into it and act all casual about it- "So why do you want to ...." and then viola, you're in an interview.

By the way if they introduce themselves first (maybe because you were sitting down and not watching? or someone else has pointed them out to you as your interviewer), they will say "I am ...." and usually offer their hand to shake at which point you receive it with the firm shake, etc.. and say who you are and it's a pleasure to meet them.

Of course the key is it has to be natural =]

thanks dude

 

[0o0]

yeh haha i feel you.

hey what kind of questions did they ask at this accounting interview?

one of my friends said it wasnt very much to do with your previous skills and work, but rather just what uni he goes to , and what he likes doing as his hobbies

yeah, ive been to around 5 accounting (cadetship) interviews, mostly midteir firms so they didnt bother with any of that dumb groupwork shit,. some interviewers asked me questions like how i will be managing parttime study with full time work and social life etc, why i want to do accounting, and usually questions to test my general accounting knowledge, just to see if you actually know what you're getting yourself into. others get a little more complicated, with questions like how will you deal with hard co workers, what do you expect from a work team, list some challenges in your life, they should be easy questions if you prepare beforehand. they usually throw in some chit chat just to test your communication skills.

 

[SashatheMan]

yeah, ive been to around 5 accounting (cadetship) interviews, mostly midteir firms so they didnt bother with any of that dumb groupwork shit,. some interviewers asked me questions like how i will be managing parttime study with full time work and social life etc, why i want to do accounting, and usually questions to test my general accounting knowledge, just to see if you actually know what you're getting yourself into. others get a little more complicated, with questions like how will you deal with hard co workers, what do you expect from a work team, list some challenges in your life, they should be easy questions if you prepare beforehand. they usually throw in some chit chat just to test your communication skills.

do they ask any of these three

Q) Why would you like to work for our organization?

Q) What are your strength?

Q) Whats your major weakness? What have I done about it?

 

[stazi]

i dont understand why people cant just answer questions on the spot.
different interviewers will ask different questions. If you dont know your strengths, and why youd like to work for the org, then you're not going for the right job.
Weaknesses perhaps does warrant a prepared answer.

 

[ND]

do they ask any of these three

Q) Why would you like to work for our organization?

Q) What are your strength?

Q) Whats your major weakness? What have I done about it?

Those are the easiest possible questions you can get in an interview (except the weakness one, but you always have a canned response to that).

 

[seremify007]

so the prick comes out, and i stand up, "Hi how are you?" before he even had a chance to respond, i said "Fine thanks" and smiled. awkward few seconds. realising what id done i just pretended everything was ok. anway it all went down hill from there, didnt get a call back, fucker.

Don't worry I went through a bad interview before I picked up good technique. Good thing it was with a small firm which didn't really matter too much to me. Nonetheless, learn from experience... the questions were pretty similar (strengths, weaknesses, etc..) as well as general questions regarding the industry and what I knew about things going on (IFRS, Sarbox, clients, firm nature, culture, etc..) and behavioural questions (how do you react in certain situations, and give examples of real life?), etc...

Btw don't forget you can apply for some firms (cadetships) in first year uni. All the best 0o0.

 

[seremify007]

i dont understand why people cant just answer questions on the spot.
different interviewers will ask different questions. If you dont know your strengths, and why youd like to work for the org, then you're not going for the right job.
Weaknesses perhaps does warrant a prepared answer.

I just had to add this in about my aforementioned "bad interview"... I didn't prepare for it much and when they asked me "What do you think your weakness is?", I stupidly said the following;

I can't stand incompetent people when they don't know what they're doing and try to cover it up. It makes me really annoyed when I have to deal with them.

Sure enough, I didn't get a call back. And I quote, "We'll call you within the next week if we want to progress to the next interview." and a couple of weeks later I got a letter in the mail saying I was rejected. Fortunately though this experience taught me to think of a better answer~ and the next couple of times I was asked, I had a perfect response^^ Pity they didn't ask me that in the interview which was the firm I ended up signing with!

 

[stazi]

i really don't know what I could possibly say about weaknesses in an interview. i'm glad that's never been asked. I guess I suck at maths, but that doesn't have much to do with marketing at all.
If you say something that's related to the field as a weakness, you won't really get hired.
If you say you don't have any weaknesses, you won't get hired.

 

[0o0]

Don't worry I went through a bad interview before I picked up good technique. Good thing it was with a small firm which didn't really matter too much to me. Nonetheless, learn from experience... the questions were pretty similar (strengths, weaknesses, etc..) as well as general questions regarding the industry and what I knew about things going on (IFRS, Sarbox, clients, firm nature, culture, etc..) and behavioural questions (how do you react in certain situations, and give examples of real life?), etc...

Btw don't forget you can apply for some firms (cadetships) in first year uni. All the best 0o0.

thanks dude, ive just decided to do some summer vacation work now, cadetships take to long.

do they ask any of these three

Q) Why would you like to work for our organization?

Q) What are your strength?

Q) Whats your major weakness? What have I done about it?

yes ive been asked those a few times. strenghts one is easy, but the first question caught me off guard. in my eyes, an accounting firms an accounting firm, i applied for a number of places and would have worked at the one that paid the most, so i didnt bother to do lengthy research into all the firms, anyway the guy asked my why i would prefer to work at his firm and not some other firm, i didnt know how to respond so i just said his firm has a good repuation, (even though its small and has a shitty website).

the weakness question is always quite hard, i said 'my major weakness is i work to hard', LOL.

 

[SashatheMan]

i found this

"What is your greatest weakness?"
The key to answering this question is the same as the last: turn a negative into a positive. Do not try to come up with a character flaw or personal weakness. Instead, rephrase the question for yourself: "How do I want to improve to become better in my career?" Identify areas in which you want more training or guidance.


What i prepaired.
I think my major weakness is not being able to say “no” to a person when they ask for my help. I tend to abandon what I am doing at the time without prioritizing and deciding the importance of the two tasks. I am working on trying to overcome this in me.

 

[0o0]

that sounds so cheesy no "omg i cant say no", if i was interviewing smoeone and they said that to me i would knock them out

 

[SashatheMan]

that sounds so cheesy no "omg i cant say no", if i was interviewing smoeone and they said that to me i would knock them out

i found this memorable quote from the simpsons

at the job interview...

Smithers: What would each of you say is your worst quality?
Man 1: Well, I <am> a workaholic.
Man 2: I push myself too hard.
Homer: Well, it takes me a long time to learn anything,
I'm kind of a goof-off...
Smithers: Okay, that'll do.
Homer: ... a little stuff starts disappearing from the workplace...
Smithers: That's enough!

 

[redruM]

What are your greatest weaknesses?

TRAPS: Beware - this is an eliminator question, designed to shorten the candidate list. Any admission of a weakness or fault will earn you an “A” for honesty, but an “F” for the interview.


PASSABLE ANSWER: Disguise a strength as a weakness.
Example: “I sometimes push my people too hard. I like to work with a sense of urgency and everyone is not always on the same wavelength.”

Drawback: This strategy is better than admitting a flaw, but it's so widely used, it is transparent to any experienced interviewer.


BEST ANSWER: (and another reason it's so important to get a thorough description of your interviewer's needs before you answer questions): Assure the interviewer that you can think of nothing that would stand in the way of your performing in this position with excellence. Then, quickly review you strongest qualifications.
Example: “Nobody's perfect, but based on what you've told me about this position, I believe I' d make an outstanding match. I know that when I hire people, I look for two things most of all. Do they have the qualifications to do the job well, and the motivation to do it well? Everything in my background shows I have both the qualifications and a strong desire to achieve excellence in whatever I take on. So I can say in all honesty that I see nothing that would cause you even a small concern about my ability or my strong desire to perform this job with excellence.”

Alternate strategy (if you don't yet know enough about the position to talk about such a perfect fit):
Instead of confessing a weakness, describe what you like most and like least, making sure that what you like most matches up with the most important qualification for success in the position, and what you like least is not essential.
Example: Let's say you're applying for a teaching position. “If given a choice, I like to spend as much time as possible in front of my prospects selling, as opposed to shuffling paperwork back at the office. Of course, I long ago learned the importance of filing paperwork properly, and I do it conscientiously. But what I really love to do is sell (if your interviewer were a sales manager, this should be music to his ears.)

 

[seremify007]

My favourite weakness is 'perfectionism'- I don't like doing a half-assed job; and if something is going to have my name on it, I like to know that I did my best.

It got me through to 2nd round interviews^^ (mind you, I withdrew applications after that so I never really knew the outcome).

(EDIT)
Btw redruM, I can't seem to figure out what 'selling' and 'paperwork back at the office' have to do with a teaching position?