graduate placement

coleen

hi i have an interview with ernst and young later this week for a place on their graduate programme which i would love to get it is my first real interview i have just finished my final exams in commerce what type of questions am i likely to be asked will it be the usual type questions does anyone have experience of this programme

Sgt Slaughter

Are u just doing your finals now or did you finish up last year? I didnt know they were still doing interviews seen as the milk round was way back in October. I had interviews for KPMG and PWC, id advise you to find out as much about the company as possible, find out what the training is like, what u will actually do on a daily basis and someone u admire in the business world. I hadnt prepared my interviews well and said Michael O'Leary like everyone else who hasnt a clue. Is it for Tax or Audit that you are applying?

The interviews i did went mainly through your compentence based application form which they will have sitting in front of them. Best of luck, any other questions i can answer i will (with my limited knowledge on the subject)

Sgt Slaughter

Are u just doing your finals now or did you finish up last year? I didnt know they were still doing interviews seen as the milk round was way back in October. I had interviews for KPMG and PWC, id advise you to find out as much about the company as possible, find out what the training is like, what u will actually do on a daily basis and someone u admire in the business world. I hadnt prepared my interviews well and said Michael O'Leary like everyone else who hasnt a clue. Is it for Tax or Audit that you are applying?

The interviews i did went mainly through your compentence based application form which they will have sitting in front of them. Best of luck, any other questions i can answer i will (with my limited knowledge on the subject)

chump

Sgt Slaughter wrote:

Are u just doing your finals now or did you finish up last year? I didnt know they were still doing interviews seen as the milk round was way back in October. I had interviews for KPMG and PWC, id advise you to find out as much about the company as possible, find out what the training is like, what u will actually do on a daily basis and someone u admire in the business world. I hadnt prepared my interviews well and said Michael O'Leary like everyone else who hasnt a clue. Is it for Tax or Audit that you are applying?

The interviews i did went mainly through your compentence based application form which they will have sitting in front of them. Best of luck, any other questions i can answer i will (with my limited knowledge on the subject)

You get a place?

Newaglish

I had interviews with a couple of the Big 4 companies and they generally tend to be quite easygoing with questions.

Just try be confident, smile as much as possible, don't be late, etc.

On the questions side of it, they tend to be taken straight from your application form, but some can be a bit more random. The general rule is that you're allowed to stall once in an interview (ie. say nothing for 5-10 seconds) even though it doesn't look great. But try never to do it a second time!

Questions could be:

Teamwork
Have you ever worked in a team?
What role do you normally play in a team? ie. leader or follower etc.
Do you like working in teams?
Whats the best/worst aspect of working in a team?
Have you ever experienced conflict in a group?
Have you ever had to persuade others to change their mind about something?

Leadership
Have you ever had to work as a leader?
Do you like working as a leader?
What are the qualities of a good leader?
What are the qualities of a poor leader?

Personal
What are your best qualities?
What is your worst quality?

College
What is your favourite subject?
What is your least favourite subject?
Why did you perform so well/poorly in subject X?
Why did you choose subject X as your elective?
Why did/didn't you move home to go to college?

Career
Why do you want to work as an accountant?
Why did you pick tax/audit?
Why did you pick the course that you did?
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

They may often ask you questions that are specifically tailored to you that you can't really prepare for. Like, they asked me if my age was a disadvantage (am only 19) and this may apply to mature students too. Also, they may ask you what topics you cover in specific subjects or what project work you do. Don't be surprised if they ask you about your leaving cert subjects too; what's your favourite or why did you pick certain ones. For instance, they asked me if I was really into Geography because I got an A1. (no!)

Unless you get a nasty interviewer, they tend not to try catch you out or anything; it's not like an interrogation. It's also not possible to prepare for every question so be ready to think on your toes.

Also, if they ask "How are you?" Don't say "Nervous!" Just say "I'm great thanks, how are you?"

I know that might seem obvious, but hey.

Anything else?

Good luck!

coleen

i am applying for a hr position and have just finished exams on fri i think this placement starts sept o6 and i thought that all interviews were over for this year i have also been offered a place on a masters subject to results and basrd on past results but i think i would prefer grad place it would be more experience i think

irlrobins

heya,

I got on to a grad program with one of the Big 4 starting this Sept. Interview process had two parts, the initial interview (one on one) and an assessment day for the final round. Leaving the assessment day aside, the questions that Newaglish listed are pretty much the sort that they will ask you. They will prob start off with an easy one like "Tell me a bit about yourself" before moving to why you want to work in HR etc.

The key thing in the first interview is communication. You will need to come across as confident and able to handle even difficult questions. If you start humming and hawing then you more than likely won't come across well.

Practice answering some of those questions. Have a situation ready for the teamwork and leadership examples you will have to give. If you play team sports than use that for one example and then a work based situation for the other. Shows you to be a well balanced individual.

They will also ask you about anything on your CV/application form. So make sure you know what you put down and be able to back it up.

And don't forget to polish your shoes!