7Nov
Typically, I see companies want to interview at least 3 to 5 candidates for a specific open role on their team. With the strength of the Charlotte Accounting/Finance market it is important for a candidate to realize they are in a very competitive situation and look for ways to differentiate themselves. One way you can do this is around the questions you ask the hiring manager and how you respond to their answers.
What a GOOD candidate does is ask a question, listen to the answer, and then ask another question which tends to be unrelated. What a BETTER candidate does is ask a question, listen to the answer, and then sell themselves back to the answer. Below is an example of an opportunity a candidate has to stand out from the competition:
CANDIDATE QUESTION – What is the biggest challenge this role will face?
HIRING MANAGER ANSWER – The biggest challenge will be working with an ERP system where most of the analysis will be manual and have to be done in Excel.
CANDIDATE RESPONSE – In my role at XYZ Company I worked with an antiquated system where I had to pull voluminous amounts of data and work with it in Excel using pivot tables, vlookups, and macros. I was able to utilize my advanced Excel skills to provide some automation to this process and was able to save 4 hours off the month-end close process. I always met my reporting deadlines and was able to provide management with the data they needed to make decisions.
Now you can’t do this for every question in an interview, however a candidate should have their ears open and be looking for opportunities to relate their experience back to the hiring manager’s needs. This small interview tip could be the difference between offer or no offer.