AU
Candidate cheat sheet: Seven essential interview questions to ask employers who have recently made redundancies
We live in interesting times. It’s not uncommon to hear of financial firms who have begun to selectively hire again, mere months after retrenching staff. Given that redundancies have hit almost every organisation, job seekers need to take extra care in sussing out the longevity of each potential role before coming on board. Clem Cull, [...]
Blue Horseshoe: Three tedious types of interviewers and how best to tackle them
As any exceptional salesperson will testify, knowing not only your client’s needs but also his idiosyncrasies (and tailoring your behaviour accordingly) considerably enhances your chances of clinching the deal. The same applies when you’re talking to potential employers. Below are three common types of interviewers and my tips on coping with them. “Tick the box” [...]
ANZ’s Asian expansion will be steady and “disciplined”, says its HR head for Hong Kong and North East Asia
Tina Lavranos, head of human resources, Hong Kong and North East Asia, ANZ, has a chat with eFinancialCareers about why the firm continues to grow in Asia Pacific, even as some of its rivals scale back in these sombre times. Q: Media reports say ANZ will increase its China outlets to 20 from the [...]
Guest Comment: Unless you follow this advice, you will come to regret your exit interview
An exit interview seems like a riskless trade. A 15 minute nirvana in which you get to vent your spleen after years of grovelling obeisance. It may seem that there’s limited downside to a frank and forthright exit interview. After all, you’ve already resigned. If you’re going to a competitor, there’s surely a limited amount [...]
Blue Horseshoe: Four questions you should absolutely never ask in a first interview
You are nearing the end of an interview with a potential employer. It has gone well, in the sense that there were no questions that made you sweat or stutter. At this point you are suppose to ask the interviewer some questions which bedazzle her with such insightfulness that she will not let you out [...]
Tricky interview question: Why do you want to work in operations when you could get paid five times more as a corporate banker?
The question A candidate for a management-trainee position at a commercial bank was asked to choose between three departments that interested him: finance, corporate banking and operations. He chose operations. The interviewer then said: “Why didn’t you choose corporate banking or finance, which might give you five times the salary of yours in operations?” The [...]
Candidate Blog: If you haven’t tried snowballing, it could explain why your job search has been a complete failure so far
For the vast majority of us, job hunting is never easy. In my opinion, candidates (myself included) often make a crucial mistake: We try one method of searching, and wait for it to fail before trying another one. My main focus in this blog is to show how different job hunting methods can work together [...]
Tricky interview question: When you run, do you take the same route every day, or a different one?
The following took place during an interview for an equities trade support position at a global investment bank in Australia… The question The interviewer asked me what my interests were outside of work. I casually mentioned a few things, such as travelling, reading, camping and running. When I said running he fixed me with a [...]
Tricky interview question: What would you do with a million bricks?
The question During an interview for a fixed-income job at a global investment bank in Australia, a candidate was asked the following question: What would you do with a million bricks? Tell me as many uses as you can think of in two minutes, starting now. The candidate’s reply I don’t know. I might first [...]
Tricky interview question: If you were a contestant on “Survivor”, how would you play it?
The question I was interviewing with a bulge bracket bank. I was asked lots of the standard silly IB questions – number of nappies used per year in Australia etc – but then they hit me with this one: If you were a contestant on “Survivor”, how would you play it? The candidate’s reply This [...]
Follow eFinancialCareers
What is RSS?
Advice
