Episode 123: How Daniel got a graduate job in finance with an international IT services company

December 9, 2021 Podcast

For the 123rd episode of the Graduate Job Podcast, I speak with a listener of the show Daniel, as he shares he secured his dream graduate job in finance with an international IT services company. Daniel signed up for the How to Get a Graduate Job course back in September last year, and we discuss how following the steps in the course led him to graduate job success.  In the episode Daniel shares his experience of going through the application process for a range of different finance, business and accounting firms, sharing his insights into what he learned from the CV application stage, completing dozens of different psychometric tests, and his tips and tricks for passing the recorded video interview stage. We also deep dive into the assessment centre stage, as Daniel shares his insights into how you can impress at this final hurdle. As I said, it’s an inspiring episode, and if Daniel can do it, you can do it too, so strap yourself in and listen to our chat today. Now the links to the show notes today including a full transcript you can download and links to everything we discuss can be found at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/Daniel.

MORE SPECIFICALLY IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

  • How Daniel secured a graduate job in finance with a top international IT services company
  • Daniel’s top tips for impressing in the recorded video interviews
  • How to make sure your work experience stands out from the crowd
  • How to cope with the stress of an assessment centre
  • Why Daniel joined the How to Get a Graduate Job course, and why he thinks you should too.

SELECTED LINKS INCLUDE:

Transcript 123 – How Daniel got a graduate job in finance with an international IT services company

Announcer: Welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, your home for weekly information and inspiration to help you get the graduate job of your dreams.

James: Hello and welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, with your host James Curran. The Graduate Job Podcast is your home for all things related to helping you on your journey to finding that amazing job. Each episode I bring together the best minds in the industry, speaking to leading authors, graduate recruiters and career coaches who bring decades of experience into a byte size show. Put simply, this is the show I wish I had when I graduated.

And today I’ve got another inspiring episode for you. All you hear in the news is the doom and gloom of the graduate job market, the thousands of people applying for each job, the difficulties of getting them, and all that type of thing…but, that isn’t a true reflection of what it can be like if you put you work in, which is why today I continue my theme of having listeners come on the show and share their experiences. Today I am joined by recent Accounting and Finance graduate Daniel as he shares how he secured a highly sought after got a graduate job in finance with a huge international IT services company. Now Daniel is just like you, a listener to the show who got in touch with me over a year ago now to sign up to the first launch of my How to Get a Graduate Job course back in September last year. In today’s episode, he shares his experience of going through the application process for a range of different finance, business and accounting firms, sharing his insights into what he learned from the CV application stage, completing dozens of different psychometric tests, and his tips and tricks for passing the recorded video interview stage. We also deep dive into the assessment stage, as Daniel shares his insights into how you can impress at this final hurdle. As I said, it’s an inspiring episode, and if Daniel can do it, you can to, so strap yourself in and listen to our chat today. Now the links to the show notes today including a full transcript you can download and links to everything we discuss can be found at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/Daniel which is DANIEL.

Before we start a quick message from me to apologise for the time its taken me to get this episode out, it’s over 2 months since the last episode which is far too long, but in my defence I have been super busy working with the latest cohort of the How to Get a Graduate Job gang, shout out to you guys. They are an amazing group applying for a wide range of jobs, from legal trainee contracts to the big grad schemes with huge companies, to government policy roles and everything in between. We have the weekly members webinars where we get together on a Tuesday night and then the course members get 1 on 1 coaching time with me where we go over anything from mock recorded video interviews to online applications. And I’ve also been working with other candidates coaching them individually with their applications for companies like Think Ahead, Frontline, Mars, AON, PWC and loads of other firms in between. So if you would like help with your applications, get in touch, drop me a line at hello@graduatejobpodcast.com, whether it is to sign up to the How to Get a Graduate Job course, as it isn’t too late to join, or if you just want help prepping for an assessment centre, I will make sure you impress and do yourself justice. And speaking of assessment centres, I know the part that most people worry about and struggle with is the group exercise. So to fix this, I am running a mock group exercise practice on the 19th of December. Numbers are strictly limited for this as there are only 6 slots, but you will spend an hour completing a group exercise and then you and I will have a 30-minute individual video call where I will debrief you on your performance and give you pointers on how to improve. I guarantee it will turbo-charge your group exercise performance and completely change the way that you approach them. If you are interested act quick as there are just 6 slots and they will go quickly. Check out the show notes at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/Daniel for details, and also information on my coaching and of course the How to Get a Graduate Job course. Right, with that said, let’s jump in to my chat with Daniel.

James Curran: I am very pleased to welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast today, a former course member for the How to Get a Graduate Job course, and very proud to say current graduate at an international IT services company, Daniel. Welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast.

Daniel: Thank you for having me, James.

James: It’s great that you’ve come on the show, and looking forward to sharing your story of how you got on going through the application process for lots of different graduate schemes over the course of the last year and how you ended up at the firm that you are currently working at the moment. Before we get into that though, let’s maybe delve into your background. Do you want to give us a brief introduction to who you are, and where you’ve studied, and all that good stuff?

Daniel: Yeah, sure. My name is Daniel, and I studied Accounting and Finance at De Montfort University. I graduated last year, 2020, which was a whirlwind of a year, and it was really good just to study there and have the interaction, completing the course, and everything to do with that as well.

James: You did graduate at a crazy time coming out of mid-pandemic just as everything was getting very crazy. It was just over a year ago that you signed up to the How to Get a Graduate Job course. Let’s maybe start there. Why did you sign up for the course? What made you want to sign up?

Daniel: The reason I signed up for the course is just because I felt like I needed that extra help, that extra input in terms of how to go about applying to graduate jobs because I think I did it in my last year at university, but I wasn’t as successful. I think that’s just because I’d just gone around looking for various different sources and just trying to find out bits of information here and there. I felt like to sign up to the graduate course would be something that would be more structured, that I would actually learn how to do things and the best way to go about things. Once I came across it, I was like, “Yeah, this is definitely what I want to do.”

James: I guess you didn’t get the job when you were applying in your final year. What stages did you get to when you were applying, would have been, sort of two years ago now?

Daniel: I got probably to like the online testing stage and maybe one or two video interviews. That’s as far as I got to in my final year application. Not very successful, you could say.

James: You certainly made huge improvements last year. When you signed up, were you crystal-clear on the types of companies that you wanted to apply to? You mentioned you have that accounting and finance background. Were you 100% set on, “Yeah, I want to go into accounting finance”?

Daniel: When I did sign up, I was very clear on just wanting to go into what I studied because I really do enjoy accounting and finance. Many people might not say so, but I actually like accounting and getting to the depths and details of things like that. I wanted to go into accounting straight from when I graduated from uni. I was quite clear in terms of roles that I wanted. It was more accounting or just strictly finance that would help me to get a good couple of years in the industry, potentially get a professional qualification with it as well. That was what I was pretty much set on doing.

James: I’ve just got your application tracker that all members of the course have just so we can track your progress, and just looking through the list of companies, there’s all the usual Big 4 and big accounting companies everybody’s going to know by name, and then also some of the bigger international firms who will offer accounting and finance options within them. Did you ever have a preference when you were initially applying, whether it was straight for, say, an accounting firm or an accounting or finance practice within a big firm? Did you have a preference or were you open at this stage?

Daniel: To be honest, I was really quite open. With every typical accounting and finance student, you think of working for one of the Big 4 because it’s working about, and you just feel like you have that nice career in a professional services firm, but I also considered industry as well, and it was something that I was considering before I graduated from university because I wanted to see how finance actually works within the business and what impact you can actually have within the business as well. I was pretty much quite open, to be honest.

James: The Big 4 do spend a lot of money advertising to graduates, which is why people tend to – they do get lots of people applying, they spend the advertising cash widely. There are huge, huge billion-dollar firms out there who, of course, have huge finance departments, and the experience that you’re going to gain is going to be second to none. Listeners, don’t just be myopic in terms of the types of companies that you’re applying to. If you have an interest in accounting and finance, there are loads of different options out there for you. Maybe then just thinking about this time last year, end of September, beginning of October, just as the applications for most of these big firms are opening up, how did the course initially help you then at the beginning when you were at that beginning application stage?

Daniel: At that beginning application stage, I was a little bit nervous going into it, but I think what really helped was that first introductory video into how the course is going to go, and what it’s set out, what the objective is. It was quite nice to know that this is someone that’s got your interests at heart and just wants to help as much as they can, and telling you in the first video that you’re going to be successful, you’re going to do well. This is actually quite nice to hear. I think that really helped just to maybe settle my nerves in terms of going into the course and everything. That did really help.

James: We had a really nice gang last year. It was yourself and six other people, so seven in total. Some of them have already been on the show. I guess what was good for you was that it was quite a few people who were going for the professional services firm, so Jack, Athavan, and Sibrah, and also Callum who were all going for either finance roles, audit roles, or consulting roles in the Big 4. It was good that you were going on the shared journey together applying for the same companies, you’re hitting the stumbling blocks at the same time. How did that group aspect help you as you were going through the process?

Daniel: The group aspect really, really helped because it’s just nice to know that there’s someone else that’s like, “I’m going through the same thing that you’re going through just further along the stage,” so it gives you the motivation to say, “Okay, I need to get my act together and start applying and completing tests,” and things like that. It’s nice just to have a bunch of people who are the same age as you and pretty much the same situation also. I actually did look forward to those Tuesday evening calls that we had as well. It’s kind of like a thing just to brighten up your day as well. You’ll see people and you share what you’re feeling. I really enjoyed that aspect of it.

James: They’re still going strong half-7 on a Tuesday night. A bit of a clash with Champions Leagues some nights, but don’t have to trouble Arsenal fans at the moment. No problem for them. Let’s move on then to the initial application stages. Again, looking through your tracker from all the companies you applied to, you flew through the initial application stages. You had your CV down pat there, and it was obviously in good shape. Any advice for listeners for that initial application stage and what you obviously did so well that you got through it for all the companies you applied to?

Daniel: I think one advice that I would give is take your time in terms of reading the job role and just actually understanding what the role is or what you might be likely to do over the next two, three, however many years the role might be as well, because I think that’s where people maybe fall down is they just look at a role, they look at the title, and think, “Oh yeah, that’s definitely why I want to do it,” but they didn’t go into depths in terms of what the actual role is and whether you meet the requirements of the role as well.

Just taking the time to look at the role, look at whether you meet the requirements as well. The main thing that they ask for if, for example, the company says, “This is the mandatory thing that we want, and these are nice to have as well.” Just making sure you meet those mandatory stuff, and then I think I’ve said it, it also helps to tailor your CV to what they’re looking for. Not necessarily put, word for word, if they put this skill down, but just put it in a way that basically answers that question and answers what they’re looking for, the requirements that they have as well. I think that’s something that really helps.

James: Definitely, and you did that really well with your CV when we spent a lot of time on the course on that is just making sure that your CV is tailored to the specifics of the firm you’re applying for. Candidates might think, “It’s an accounting firm. I can just use the same CV that I used for a different accounting firm or a different professional services firm. They’re another big financial company.” No, you can’t. You do need to spend the time and energy to tailor your CV. Yes, it’s a pain, but it needs to be done, and you did that really well with yours. When I read it, it was as if that CV had been solely written for the company you were applying to. You did a really good job there.

Moving on then to the online testing phase, you mentioned that when you first applied two years ago in your final year at uni. This is often the stumbling block. Again, looking at the tracker from how many companies did you just apply for? Let me just have a tot up. Quite a few. You applied to 17. You got through the online testing stage for 15 of them, so you did really well. What did you do differently then from last year to the year before where you really struggled at this stage?

Daniel: I think one thing that I did really well, one thing I did differently this time around was rather than just looking for where I could get free tests here and there, I actually decided to invest in myself. I felt like this was a stage that I struggled with the most in terms of just applying to the graduate role. When I was applying for that in my placement and things like that, this was another thing that I struggled with as well. I thought, one, just invest in myself, and if this is something I’m struggling with, what’s the best way to deal with it?

I found that, through the course, you recommended a few psychometric testing sites as well. I actually bought one of those as well, and that just helped me to pretty much just settle down and settle my nerves as well. I felt like probably what happened to me was I was probably rushing through and just looking, always trying to read the question and looking at the time at the same time. You get quite nervous and get quite muddled up and not answer everything on time as well. I think purchasing the course and actually practicing the test as well, that was probably the main thing that really helped me.

James: Listeners, it is a false economy to try and skimp and save at this stage. Yes, you can find a free test here on the internet, and a free test there, and somebody else gives you a free test. But, that’s no good for if you’re wanting to actually benchmark where you are and see if you’re improving. I’ll link in the show notes, which you can find today at GraduateJobPodcast.com/Daniel a couple of really good test providers that I recommend. Yes, you’ve got to pay for them, but it’s really worth the investment, as Daniel said. It is an investment and you can track your performance over time, you can see which quartile you’re getting in. They give you answers to all the questions. Especially with the games-based test, you do need to practice. It’s definitely well worth the time there. Speaking of games-based test, did you have many of the games-based ones or was it mainly just straight your traditional numerical test and verbal reasoning test?

Daniel: I think it’s pretty much just a straight numerical and verbal reasoning, but there was like maybe one or two that was quite different to your normal numerical ones. It’s pretty much the same.

James: Listeners, this is a stage where practice does make perfect. As I said, invest in yourself, and it will pay dividends. Moving on then to the stage after the online testing, which nowadays, comes straight after you’ve done the initial application is the video interview stage. You mention you’ve done a year in industry. Had you done recorded video interviews previously or was this really the first time where you were doing recorded video interviews?

Daniel: I’ve actually done them previously as well. I think I did two, if I can remember, when I was applying for placements as well. I was sort of used to completing the video interviews, but I think this time around, there were a couple of things that I did quite differently as well.

James: How did you find them? Because, we did quite a few practice sessions which were good fun. Listeners, when you sign up for the course, you get some credits with myself where we can do mock video recorded interviews with a video-recorded interview tool I’ve got where you’ll do the questions that you’ll face with a real company in the same time conditions, etcetera, then we spend an hour and we go through the video, your performance, looking together at how it looks, and how it sounds, and how you come across, and all that type of thing. Daniel, how did you find that? Did that help you improve?

Daniel: Yeah, definitely because I think, with the video interview as well, this time around, we had it on the course as well is that this section talks about video interviews and how to prepare for that as well, which I went through as well as the sessions that we had, which was quite useful as well, because watching yourself, trying to imagine the person on the other end of the screen looking at you and looking at how you’re answering the questions as well.

I think this time around, I was definitely more prepared, and I think what I did differently was just come into it like this is my show, essentially performing in terms of showing forth my skills, my strengths, my abilities all through video as well. I think I also showed more life. I was more happy about it and smiling at lot more, and being a little bit animated here and there just to get my personality across as well. I think that pretty much helped me in my video interviews.

James: Earlier today, I was looking back at the early ones we did with then the later ones you did. Huge improvement, and listeners, as Daniel said, it’s not the verbal answers that you’re giving. It is a performance. It’s all aspects of that performance need to come into play. It’s how you’re lit. It’s the room behind you. It’s can you actually be seen? I can remember looking at the first ones, Daniel. It wasn’t well set up. You weren’t the star of the show. It’s not being vain. You do have to think about, “How am I lit? Where’s the light? Can I be really seen really clearly? Can I be heard really clearly?” That’s a big part of it, and you really, really improve that over the course of the practice sessions.

But, as you said as well, the passion that really came across from the beginning, the early ones to the later ones was night and day. You were just more animated, more passionate, using your body, using your voice. That was really, really impressive to see how you did that. As well, just practicing the time management and being able to, “Okay, I’ve got 20 seconds left. How do I wrap up?” You did really well there. After the practice ones, then you were doing the real-life video interviews. How did you find them? Any advice for listeners who were going to be doing the same thing for how they can impress?

Daniel: I think, with the video interview, as well as showing your passion and everything, at the end of the day, you still have to answer the question and in good time as well. I think what I would have done previously was look through the question, look through the time, and try to just scurry a little answer here and there. I was quite nervous during the time I was doing the previous video interviews before, but I think this time around, it’s actually just settling down, and just relaxing, and just saying, “Okay, this is the question I’ve got to answer. To actually answer this question, I need to make a start.” Maybe not going straight into the question, but try and break it down in your mind, like systemize it and maybe start off with a mini-introduction and then explain your points. Maybe give one, two, three points, and then at the end, to wrap up it all, tell them how you’ve answered the question, pretty much.

It’s like you’re going through a system. You’re introducing the question back to them again, you’re giving your points as well, and then you’re telling them that you’ve answered the question as well. I think that’s something that will definitely help as you’re going through your video interviews as well. Even if you don’t know the answer to the question straight away, as long as you have a process for how you want to answer the question: you have your introduction and you have your little bits here and there that you can talk through as you’re going forward, I think that will definitely really help.

James: Definitely, and you had really good competency answers. With your work experience, you had work experience in the finance departments for counsels, and you were crafting those answers so you had really strong competency answers, but also the strength-based answers as well. You did a really good job there. Can you remember any particularly difficult questions that you came across at this stage?

Daniel: Difficult questions, I’d say one that I probably wasn’t expecting, it’s important to practice the competencies because that will most likely come up as well, but you mentioned something, James, as well is the strengths questions as well. I can remember this so clearly. One of the interviewers asked me, “What are your five main strengths? What are your five key strengths?” Because of something that I’d done earlier, I know in the course, you mentioned something about a book of things called “StrengthsFinder” as well, so I went through that as well, and I was able to find my five main strengths as well.

When that question came up, although I was a bit surprised, I was prepared at the same time, so I just basically was able to go through my five key strengths. It actually really helped because sometimes you’re expecting one type of question, and another one comes up, and you have to think about what you’ve done previously as well. That was maybe not a hard question, personally, but it was quite hard for a lot of people because you’ve got to think of your five key strengths on the spot, and then maybe you go through one or two, and then you spend time trying to think of, “What’s the other strengths that I have?” as well.

James: Definitely, that’s a tricky one, coming up with five. I’ll link to StrengthsFinder in the show notes at GraduateJobPodcast.com/Daniel. It’s an absolutely cracking book. More graduate recruiters are moving towards strength-based questions. You need to have a good answer for what your strengths are. As Daniel said, it’s not just what is one strength. How many people listening can easily give a good answer to, “What are your top 5 strengths?” I’m guessing not many people. You just need to be aware of the types of questions that you’ll get, which is one of the advantages of the course when you’re going through it with a cohort of six other people and you’re able to, on our weekly webinars every Tuesday night, people sharing, “This is a video interview I did. These are the types of questions I was getting.” It’s a great way to think, “Okay, how would I answer that question, how would I answer that question? Do I have an answer to that question?” which really helped.

We then move onto the assessment centre stage. Before we did that, on the course, we did a couple of practice group exercises, which of course, is the key parts of the assessment centre. How did you find the practice ones, and did they help?

Daniel: Yeah, the practice ones did help, especially when you had the comments at the end just to tell how you’ve been doing the exercises and what you can improve on as well. I think it helps if you’ve got like maybe you have an assessment centre coming up or you’re going to have one pretty soon just to have people that you sort of know because you’ve been with them over the last couple of weeks, but then you’re not in a different environment where you have to work as a team or work as a group.

Trying to find what tends to be your role within the group like how do you tend to be more of a person that steps forward, are you like the leader, are you the communicator, the collaborator, getting everyone together? Just trying to find out, through those sessions, what tends to be your role and how you can put that across in the best possible light as well so it was really useful.

James: Definitely, because they are such artificial situations. You don’t normally just get thrown together with five people you’ve never met and, “Okay, go, solve this problem in half an hour,” in really strict time pressure. They are very artificial, but you just need to know how to play the game. I’m glad the practice group exercises were useful. Moving on in the process then. We just talked about assessment centres. You’d been applying to different companies, doing well, getting through.

Just looking at your tracker, the first assessment centre though wasn’t until February, and given that you’d applied to the majority of these companies sort of October time, maybe some November, it was a good few months, how were you feeling at this stage? Were you still confident, “I’ve got this. Just waiting my time,” or were you starting to get a bit twitchy?

Daniel: The first assessment centre that I was feeling quite confident like all of the things that I’ve been doing has been leading up to this final stage, this final process, which is the assessment centre is all. The funny thing about the assessment centre is I think I was actually considering whether or not I was going to go through it as well, because at the time that the email came through, I was looking at my calendar in my previous job where I was working for, and it was literally the following week, I think it was on a Monday or a Tuesday or something, so it’s quite a quick turnaround. I was able to get everything sorted because I was even thinking, “How am I going to be able to make this assessment centre?” because it’s such short notice. I had to let my manager know and things like that.

I was able to get all of that sorted out in the end. I think, generally, the assessment centre is something else you’re looking forward to because I just felt like everything I’ve been doing has been leading up to this process, so it’s now time for me to just basically show forth my best possible light one other time, one more time again and just let everyone know I am the best person for this job. With my skills and my experience, you’d definitely want me, basically.

James: That’s a really good point, and a really good way to look at it. It is your chance to shine when you get to that stage. By that stage, the companies looked at you five, six times through all the different stages from when you first submitted your initial application, with the scanning of your CV, etcetera, or the online testing, or the video interview, everything. They’ve looked at you and everybody said, “Yeah, we want you. Yeah, we want you. Yeah, we want you.” You don’t get to an assessment centre by luck, you don’t get there by charity. You get there because you deserve to be there. If you can go in with that positive attitude and that positive mindset that you deserve to be there, and it is your chance to shine, then it just helps with showing the best side of yourself and of your performance.

You mentioned there about having to get time off work at short notice, which is often the case, and I can remember when I was applying, I had a job where I was working, and for all intents and purposes, they thought that was my job forever. They didn’t know I was applying for graduate jobs, and I had to pull a sickie, I think, to come down to London at short notice for an assessment centre. Were you honest with your people you worked with at the time that you were looking for other things, or was it a sort of skive to get off the assessment centre?

Daniel: This is the thing as well. The assessment centre, and just the role in general, is something that I’ve been looking forward to and looking to do over the last couple of months that I’ve been applying. I was just basically trying to make sure that I managed to attend the day as best as I can as well. That time, as well, I had a really good manager who was just quite careful with things, and I just told him that I’d need to have the day off just because I had to tend to other things as well. They were quite fine with it and quite welcome. I had built a good relationship with him as well, so everything’s pretty much quite okay. It wasn’t easy, as well, just because it’s quite a short notice but because of the manager I had, they were just quite welcoming. He was just like, “Yeah, that’s fine. You can just resume the next day as well.”

James: It’s good that you had that. If not then you just sometimes have to pull a sickie at the last minute, or you know, “The boiler’s broken.” It’s easier now, though, with people working from home than it was when everybody was in the office. The initial assessment that you had was for a large international IT service company. Do you maybe want to take us through this one, what the day looked like, different parts to it, and how it went?

Daniel: It was pretty much almost like a whole day experience as well. I think we started around 9:30 in the morning. Obviously, we had the introductions, and you get to see who’s on the call, the others, the other people that were applying for pretty much the same role that you’re applying for as well. We had that introduction part, and we had like a little bit of an icebreaker as well just to say – I’m trying to remember what it was. Say which actor was mostly like us or who do we resemble in terms of an actor, that kind of thing, and one place that you’d pick to travel in the world, which was quite funny, considering the times that we’re in. They were asking you where would you like to travel. It was like the initial icebreaker. I think that was just to calm everyone’s nerves, which was pretty much okay.

Then we had to get into groups as well. I had one group that I was in, pretty much just had to answer questions as a group as we were going along. We had things like email come through, telephone conversations, we had some data resource. We were given about, I think, about a minute to look through the data and write down key things as well, and then discuss them as a group. Later on, we had another exercise where we had to choose, I think, it was about four different options, like the best thing to go for. We have to consider things like the percentages for profit, a little bit of things like cost, and just which customer to go for. We had to discuss as a group. That was the group exercise.

After that was then we had a bit of break, and then we had another group exercise. After that session was done, it was pretty much like a waiting game. What would happen is they would send you an email later on in the day to let you know whether you’ve gotten past the first stage, which was the group exercise stage. It was pretty much just me in my house with my family around as well and just waiting for the email to come through. Once the email came through, it was like, “Okay, well done, you’ve managed to pass the first stage. You can move on now to the second stage,” which was an interview as well, like a normal interview. It was weird. He’s actually my line manager right now and another graduate as well. That was the second part of the assessment centre, which was like about 45 minutes to an hour-long interview as well. After that process was done, I said goodbye to the line manager and everyone, then it was pretty much a waiting game after.

James: It’s quite brutal, the X-Factor style, you know, “Okay, you didn’t make it past the first stage,” but I guess it saves you time for the people who don’t make the cut. You found out nice and early. Let’s maybe break down the different aspects then. How was the 45-minute interview? Was it as you expected? Was it focused on what competencies, or strengths, or your background, or your motivations for joining, or was it a mix of one of those?

Daniel: Yes, so I was actually forgetting there was another bit of it as well with the part of the assessment centre which was a presentation that we had to prepare. There was the group exercise bit, there was a presentation I had to do within, I think, it was like, maybe a maximum of five minutes or something like that on the company, your role, and why you want to do that role, and a little bit of introduction about yourself as well. I had a presentation, and then the interview at the end. The interview was just pretty much like a standard interview in terms of competency, questions, and things like that. Aside from that, it was quite focused on the role, so a bit of finance questions about whether you’ve had experience in finance, just explaining things here and there. It was actually just quite specific to the role, and asked about your motivations for things, which qualification you want to study, just very specific to the role.

James: One of the advantages, of course, was having been really focused in the types of company that you’re applying to was that you had really strong answers for “Why finance? Why this particular exam? Why this particular qualification over that qualification?” Again, that comes back to what you mentioned earlier on about really understanding the company, and having done research and knowing that some companies might be the ACA, while other companies are particularly different ones. Just having that knowledge, again, just will impress, at that stage, and you had great finance background that you were able to call back on. Can you remember any particularly difficult questions that they asked you that threw you during the interview?

Daniel: The couple of questions I got asked about, I said about how it was quite specific to the role. There was a question about, if I can remember, how to deal with a mistake that you’ve made, or something that didn’t quite go as well, maybe you feel like an exercise that you had to do or a task that you had to complete. I was able to explain it, like answer the question quite well, so the interview kind of went into more detail in terms of how did you go about making the mistake or what would you do, going forward. It was a bit weird in terms of the question, but it was like, I had to basically just specify that I actually understood the process by just explaining where I made a mistake and what I will do going forward.

It was like, in that situation, at that time I felt like maybe I showed myself in “a bad light” by saying I’ve made a mistake in terms of the interview. They might think, “Okay, this person might not be as competent in this particular aspect of finance,” or stuff like that. I basically turned it on its head and just told them that I actually understood the specific term within the financial statement, profit and loss, cash flow, balance sheet, and things like that. Basically, just reiterate myself and let them know that I understood that as well. That was probably the most difficult thing I’ve come across as well, when you feel like you’ve answered a question but it looks like you put yourself in a bad light, but you can always turn that around, and just show your confidence again, and that gives the interviewer confidence in you as well.

James: Definitely. It’s about turning what might be seen as a negative into a positive. If you can talk about what you’ve learned, if you can talk about how you’ve developed additional skills, you’ve had to pick up as a result of errors, and also just being honest about where things might not have gone the way you wanted to. It’s good characteristics to be demonstrating, and you obviously you did that really well. It was over a week before they got back to you. How are you feeling at this stage, just waiting?

Daniel: This is the famous waiting period as well. Obviously, I think, with me, I felt like I did quite well in terms of the assessment centres. Another thing that I think that really helps in terms of if you’re doing the assessment centre is just going back and reflecting on that experience. One thing that, I think, the course has shown us was like after each stage, whether it’s a telephone interview, video interview, assessment centre, reflect back on it. I went through that whole worksheet just to write how I felt I did and what I could’ve done better. As long as I did that, I felt like that was okay, and then it was pretty much just waiting period. That was quite difficult to have to wait for that long to see whether you are successful or not.

James: You got it in the end. A week later, they give you a ring, and let you know the good news. Fast forward a few months, and you’ve been working there for just over a month now. How’s the process been starting your grad job? Is it what you thought it would be?

Daniel: Yes. They let me know literally on the first day of the month back then, which was like a nice early month surprise or present, whatever. Yeah, I’ve started now and I’ve just been there just over. Actually, exactly a month right now. It’s been good so far, I think, leading up to the start. It’s something where they send you text messages so you can go through them. They’re quite interactive in that early stage process, so they don’t leave you in the dark between the time that I finished and when I started. We had an event for all the other grads where you could meet other people as well. It was quite good leading up to that process. In the first month, it’s been definitely a learning curve that I’ve encountered, and I think it’s definitely worth expecting in terms of what a grad role is supposed to be, a learning curve, a learning experience, getting to meet new people, looking at working in different departments, and what qualification you’re going to go down, what route you’re going to go down, so a whole host of different things.

James: When did you get your first exam then, when are you hitting the books?

Daniel: I’m still in the process. I think we’re just waiting for pretty much the examining body to sort things out and just pretty much come back to us and say everything’s been sorted. Along with your qualifications, your transcripts, as long as they’ve got that, then definitely you can take an exam, you can register with them as well. Most likely probably next year.

James: You can chill then for a bit before then, or chill as much as you can whilst working for such a busy big firm. That’s great news, and many congratulations. You did brilliantly well. You put the work in, you invested in yourself, and you improved over the process of the application process. You can see just how well you did, so all that hard work and effort was well worth it. Maybe one final question then before we move on to the weekly staple questions. What advice would you give someone who’s maybe thinking about joining the How to Get a Graduate Job course? Would you give them any advice?

Daniel: One advice that I would give is definitely to join. If you’re someone like myself, I’ll use myself as an example. If I like to go onto the internet and find out those different bits of information here and there, watch something here and there. But if you feel like myself like once you have something that’s more structured and more focused and you’re aiming to go through each stage, you get that good thing about, “Okay, you’ve completed this. Now you can move onto this next stage.” If you’re someone like myself, you feel like you like a certain structure, and like to be just coached through, and experienced, then definitely I would say sign up for it.

James: Amazing. Listeners, look forward to getting you in, and you could be as successful as Daniel has been. Daniel, final questions then. Let’s go to the weekly staple question. Question number one, what one book would you point listeners towards to help them as they look for a graduate job?

Daniel: That’s a very good question. I think one book that I would point them as they’re looking for a Graduate Job, I think, is something you’ve raised up pretty much the last few weeks is the Email Attraction by Kim Arnold. I think that’s something that I’ve read, and it’s actually been really useful in terms of my day-to-day work and emailing people.  I’d recommend that book because, just generally, and just general professionalism, and learning how to respond to HR when you’re applying to graduate jobs and things like that. Just having that clear communication as well, because sometimes you might be feeling like someone is taking too long. I’ve looked back on it now and I feel like there are a couple of emails that I could’ve probably worded a bit better as well, and just because it’s just the situation that I was in. I’d say that book really helps just to have that clear communication. If you want something like feedback after maybe the video interview, or telephone interview, or even like an assessment centre, so I’d definitely recommend that.

James: I really enjoyed it. It changes the way that you look at emails, and looking at previous emails you’ve sent me, I can see now why maybe I didn’t get a response to that one. You’re going to spend so much of your life sending emails. I think the stat from the interview I did with Kim in episode 121 was six years of your life, which is just a depressing thought. But you’re going to spend so long, you might as well send good emails that are going to work. A top tip there. Listeners, all links to everything we discussed today, including a full transcript and the link to the episode with Kim and also the link to her book, Email Attraction, in the show notes at GraduateJobPodcast.com/Daniel. Next question, what one internet resource or website would you point listeners towards?

Daniel: I think I probably recommend something that’s called FT News Daily. You can get it on the FT website, or you can get it from different podcasts, streams, from maybe Spotify, or preview podcasts as well. It’s something that I listen to pretty much every morning just to get an update on the business world, and what’s going on finance, and just general politics and just current affairs as well. That’s something I definitely recommend. If you don’t have enough to always read through news articles

James: We just lost you slightly there but we got the gist of that, I think. That’s not one that I’ve come across but definitely for carrying you the daily update of the news, because it’s so important. You will get asked questions about commercial awareness when you’re going for finance roles, you know, “Tell me about a new story and how it’s going to impact our clients, tell me about a recent new story and why you find it interesting,” those types of questions. If you’re not up to date with it, if you don’t know what’s going on, especially if you’re going for finance and finance-related roles, you need to have an awareness of what’s going on in the wider world. Top tip there, and again I will link that in the show notes. Final question today, Daniel, what one tip would you give listeners that they can implement today to help them on their job search?

Daniel: One think that I would recommend is just to utilize your experience as well. What I mean by that is in terms of your experience and everything that you’ve gone through leading up to the time you applied for graduate job, just utilize the resources pretty much is what I’m getting at. Utilize the resources that’s available to you.

When I was applying, one thing that I did, looking back on my CV now, it’s always that I had my brother go through them as well. My brother is quite good at English, so he was able to spot out the grammatical errors and things like that so I had him look over it as well just to spot things, because sometimes you’re reading through and you might not be able to spot things easily. Also, during the time that I was applying, my mum was helping me out with a couple of things here and there, just letting me know if she found a new opportunity and things like that. That was quite helpful. Lastly, I’d probably say, as well as utilizing the resources you have around you, like my experience, I completed a placement year, and I completed it in a local council.

I think sometimes people might look down on maybe you didn’t complete your experience, your placement in like a massive company or massive organization. Now that I’m started in this new role, so I’ve had talks with one of the VPs within finance, and he said that one of the reasons he chose to have the hire manager go through and pick me for the assessment centre and actually pick me for the role is because of my experience, and because of the fact that I worked at a council where it’s sort of like our customer, if that makes sense. Because of my role within public sector, that was one of the advantages I had going into the role.

It’s just pretty much just utilizing all the resources that you have around you, making use of maybe if you have someone to look over your CV, if you have friends that you’re applying to graduate job roles together, you can help each other out in that sense, or just utilizing the experience that you have. Whether it’s volunteering, a part-time job, or just anything that you can, just make sure that you show forth that experience in the best possible light to help you get the graduate job that you want.

James: Brilliant, that is a great advice. Two eyes are definitely better than one. If you’ve got your family and friends that will help, make sure you’re taking advantage. It’s so easy to, when you’re looking at your CV 20 times, you look at your application 20, 30 times, you just miss stuff, your eyes just glaze over. That’s great advice. All experience is great experience. Look at it from that way. If you’re going to an interview and you’re like, “Oh, just sort of been working at a corner shop,” or whatever might be, don’t talk it down. Every experience is valuable and you can talk about what you’ve learned and the benefits you’ve got. You don’t have to have an internship with the World Bank to impress people. They will be impressed by the work experience you’ve got, so be confident. Daniel, thank you so much for coming on the show. It’s been great to have you, and all the best for your future career with this global IT and service company.

Daniel: Thank you so much.

James: Thank you for joining me on the Graduate Job Podcast.

Daniel: Thank you for having me, James.

James:  So there you go, many thanks to Daniel for coming back on the show and sharing his experiences over the last year and congratulations again for getting your graduate scheme with the huge multinational company that we kept anonymous today. Now if you would like to follow in Daniel’s footsteps and get some structured help as you embark on your hunt for a graduate job, then don’t be a stranger, get in touch via hello@graduatejobpodcast.com and let’s have a chat. I offer a completely free 30-minute video coaching call where we can go through anything which is on your mind, from help with applications to interview prep. I have a range of coaching offers you can choose from, from one-off coaching sessions with me to the mock group exercise that I’ll be running on the 19th of December and other dates in the new year, through to the How to Get a Graduate Job course which Daniel signed up for. It worked for him, it worked for the other course members Sibrah, Saffy, Jack, Callum and Athavan who came on the show in episodes 115 – 119 and they talk about how great the How To Get a Graduate Job course is and the multiple offers they received as a result. Getting a graduate job doesn’t have to be a solo activity, get expert help with my course and completely change the way you approach applying for graduate jobs, from the initial application to the video interviews and the assessment centre, and all stages in between. Go to www.howtogetagraduatejob.com to find out more, and take advantage of the 4 hours of one on one coaching with yours truly that comes with the course if you sign up now. That’s www.howtogetagraduatejob.com. That’s everything from the episode today, I hope you enjoyed it, but more importantly, I hope you use it and apply it. See you next time.