After clearing CA Inter starts the long process of travelling from one CA firm to another, dropping CVs and appearing for interviews. While you can take care of the hard skills and prepare within a very short time, you need to consciously develop your soft skills to absolutely ace your interviews. Read on for some tips and guidance...
The Interview Process
The CA articleship interview process differs from one CA firm to another. Some prefer only one round of face-to face interviews, while in the bigger firms, there are typically 3 rounds - HR round, 1-2 technical rounds and Psychometric/Behavioral test. While the technical rounds can be easily taken care of in a short span of time if you still retain some portion of your CA Inter syllabus, the soft skills is where most candidates are found lacking. In fact, many students do not know that soft skills carry more weight in interviews than your hard skills. The reason is simple - the fact that you have already cleared CA Inter is proof enough that you know the concepts, what is tested in interviews is their application.
This post deals largely with developing the right soft skills for your CA articleship interviews.
What are Soft Skills?
If you are hearing this term for the first time, soft skills are nothing but the traits or characteristics which define you as a person. These are attributes that help you to interact with people freely, build relationships, solve problems and manage your work effectively and efficiently. The major soft skills at test during interviews are:
Communication - both oral and written
Teamwork
Punctuality
Critical thinking
Problem-solving
Organization
Creativity
Interpersonal communication
Flexibility
Emotional intelligence
The only flip side about soft skills is that it takes too much time actually to develop certain soft skills. You either possess them, or you do not. You cannot wake up one fine morning and say that you are a creative person (if you are not that creative, of course). It takes time and effort to build these qualities up and justify to others that you possess them. Sadly, most students neglect these soft skills while preparing for the interviews, and end up performing much below their potential.
Soft Skills - Key Pointers
The major reason for CA firms to conduct face-to-face interviews is to be able to judge your soft skills better. All your soft skills will be tested between the time you enter the interview and the time you leave the interview room. As such, it becomes important to know some hygiene points and know how to behave in front of the interviewer, because every word and every movement of yours will be judged. Let's have a look at some dos and donts...
Create that first impression. Dress in formals, no bold accessories or hairstyle, clean-shave for boys, very light make-up for girls. In short, be dressed as a professional, not as a college student.
When entering the interview room, knock the door and ask for permission to come in.
Wear a confident smile as you enter
Walk confidently to the designated seat and stand behind your chair. Don't sit till you are asked to.
Greet everyone with a smile. Do not offer your hand first to shake hands with the interviewers. Let them make the first move here.
Most interviewers will already have a copy of your CV with them. Just in case someone doesn't have or asks you for your CV, give your CV holding it with both hands (like a tray). No one will respect your CV if you yourself don't.
Sit with your back firmly on the backrest of the chair. Keep your hands on your lap and not on the table. Sit with your spine straight (but not rigid), and your feet firmly on the ground, not cross-legged.
Make sure to keep your body language positive. Body language is the first cue that you are being nervous or confident. Interviewers can easily turn a normal interview into a stress interview in case your body language is not very positive or confident.
Be confident while answering.
Don't bluff, and don't hesitate to politely own up that you don't know the answer to that particular question. It is fine if you do not know the answers to say, a couple of questions. If this count is higher, then there is a problem.
If you are thinking about any particular answer, do not look into the sky or give a blank look. It is perfectly fine to ask for a couple of minutes to think. Do not tap your fingers on the table or your feet on the floor, or shake your legs.
Think and answer. It is not a fastest-finger first contest. Whatever you are saying should make sense, be logical and should be defendable. Be prepared for counter-questions.
Once the interview is over, get up from your seat, push the chair neatly back to its original position.
Before leaving the room, greet everyone with a smile and thank them for the interview.
In short, put your best foot forward in the interviews and leave a good impression in the minds of the interviewer.
Conclusion
I hope this little list of dos and donts will help you plan better for your interviews and perform better on D-Day. Keep this list at the back of your head and make sure to tick all the boxes.
In case of any queries, comments, suggestions or feedback, please feel free to get in touch with me.
Thanks for reading!