Most accountants are really bad at
job interviews.
And I mean BAAAAAAD.
But thats good news.
It means it's easy to stand out with
the right prep. Here’s how to do it
👉🏻
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
The first job interview I had when I left
audit (nearly 20 years ago) was horrible.
I didn’t make time to prepare properly
and I embarrassed myself.
It’s not even a funny story, it was just
f*cking awful.
I promised I wouldn’t let it happen again.
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
So I developed this framework for
interview prep, that I’ve used ever since.
It's evolved a bit down the years.
I’ve also given it to a bunch of others who
have used it successfully too.
Let’s get into it 💪
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
There are two areas you need to prepare
for interviews:
1. Prep on yourself (this is leveraged time
and transferable to every interview)
2. Prep for the specific role (specific to
each job; generally not transferable)
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
1. Prep on yourself
There are three things you need to
prepare.
a) Pitch
b) Personal SWOT
c) Transformation Stories
Good news is once you have done this
once, you can use it time and again.
Updating it as you go.
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
1a) Pitch
This is the most important bit.
Most hiring managers make their decision
in the first 7 minutes.
That means you've got time to pour
yourself some water and answer the first
question you get asked, before they’ve
made their mind up. The first question?
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
90% of the time it’s some variation of
“tell me about yourself”.
Same nearly every time.
This is a free hit, you are 90% sure what
that first question is going to be.
And given the first 7 minutes are what
matters, having the right opening pitch is
the most important thing.
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
So, we know we are starting with a pitch.
And we've established it’s important...
So, we’ve all agreed having a good pitch
is crucial? Right?
So here’s the question…
Why are you all so f*cking bad at it then?
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
Most accountants answer the ‘tell me
about yourself’ question with a 20 minute
aimless ramble through their
experiences, roles, previous businesses,
etc ...
It's painful.
As a result I’ve taken to asking this way;
“in 5 minutes or less, tell me about
yourself”
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
About a year ago, I left one guy to it, to see
how long he would go for.
45 minutes was the answer. I didn’t speak
again for 45 mins.
He finished up with “I know that was longer
than 5 minutes, but I thought it was all
important”.
It wasn’t dude.
Nor was it interesting.
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
I’m sorry to be the one to tell you.
But you aren’t interesting enough to
introduce yourself in more than 60
seconds. Neither am I.
You can have 120 seconds if you are
sending people into space and doing Elon
shit. But I’ll guess you aren’t.
So 60 seconds please
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
Your interview pitch should be
structured as follows:
- Who are you
- What box are you in
- What makes you different
- What are you trying to achieve
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
Go for simple, clear, and short.
Write out your version. Refine it. Perfect
it. Practice it. Then practice more.
And use it whenever you can. Not just in
interviews.
Do this well, and it will put you ahead of
99% of accountants before you even do
anything else.
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
It could look like this ....
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
1b) Personal SWOT
So you’ve got your pitch. You now need a
personal SWOT analysis.
- Strengths (What are you good at)
- Weaknesses (What are you bad it)
- Opportunities (Where could you go
next, what are your options)
- Threats (What could stop you getting
there)
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
Make sure you have good answers on
strengths and weaknesses.
This gets asked in nearly every interview.
It stuns me how badly this gets answered.
And ...give real weaknesses, not fluffy half
strengths. What are you actually bad at.
I want to know you have self awareness.
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
Write your personal SWOT in a simple
little 2 x 2 grid, a bit like this …
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
1c) Transformation Stories
This will help you prepare for those
dreaded competence questions.
You know the type: “tell me a time
when…”
These are harder to prepare for.
But your old buddy Secret CFO is here to
make it easier.
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
Start by preparing these two questions
1. Give me an example of a time you
made a difference that had a measurable
impact.
2. Give me an example of a time you
resolved a conflict.
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
So how do you structure your answer?
The pros will tell you to use the STR
(Situation, Task, Result) method.
But this is boring.
You want people to remember what you
said?
Tell them a story. Stories engage people.
And, who are the best storytellers?
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
Pixar.
There are two types of people in the
world; people who cried through the last
10 minutes of Coco.
And then there are liars.
And their simple formula for telling
stories is brilliant. Use their framework to
set out your transformation story 👉🏻
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
Make sure you are the reason it all works
out in the end.
You are Woody the Cowboy in this
particular story about reducing DSO by 3
days.
It will make for a sh*t film. I mean awful.
But a great answer to an interview
question.
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
If you do this well for the two questions I
set out, you’ll find that these can be
easily adapted on the fly to answer most
competency questions.
You can expand your library of
transformation stories with any
additional examples you think relevant.
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
So now you have your personal prep;
your pitch, personal SWOT and
transformation stories.
Write them down, refine and update it.
Keep it with you, it will serve you well.
And it will be relevant for every job
interview.
You just need to add in your specific role
prep…
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
2. Specific Role Prep
So, you’ve got your personal prep
together and now you’ve landed an
interview for that first CFO job.
How do you do your research?
The challenge here is when to stop. So
I’m going to give a hack that will help you
get prepared quickly
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
Start by identifying what the Big 3-4
issues facing the business today are.
Use some or all of the following:
- SWOT analysis
- Review summary financials
- Review recent press
- Economic Impacts
- Ask people in the industry
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
Once you’ve identified those 3-4 issues.
Now ask yourself, how exactly will each of
them impact the role you are interviewing
for.
You can structure these as questions for
the interviewer, meaning you are ready to
show off at the end.
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
For example. Lazy Question:
“Is inflation important to your business?”
This just shows you own eyes, ears and a
mouth.
Better Question:
“How have the margin pressures as a result of
inflation changed the business reporting
needs?”
This shows me you also have a brain (&
empathy)
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
By focusing your questions around
‘second order effects’ for the finance
team of big business issues, you will:
- show empathy which will score points
- show you are smart and well prepared
(more points)
- cut out wasted time for preparing on
unimportant things
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
For subsequent interview rounds for
more senior roles (VP and CFO) you will
need to go deeper in research on the
business.
But we’ll talk about that for another time.
The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]
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The Secret CFO
@secretcfo
[Link]