General Flashcards
What are your hobbies and interests?
Chess
Learning foreign languages
Weightlifting
Golf
How would you describe your communications skills?
Verbal - My experience marshalling at park run involved working with a large team. Career Ready program gave me exposure to multiple communication methods
Written - Strong. S: OU, T: Report writing and presentation, A: Structuring through numerous business frameworks, R: Strong grades
Overall, I communicate very clearly and concisely
What makes you unique?
What can you do for us that other candidates can’t?
Reliable through my studies, strong independent learning abilities
Because of autism, had bad social skills - Overcame these challenges through numerous coping mechanisms, I can communicate much better now. Whether that be my email, letter or telephone. Experiences have helped here
How do you handle stress?
Remaining physically active through my interests - (Weightlifting is very demanding)
Have a positive mindset - (Glass half full rather than glass half empty)
Focus on fixing the stress - (e.g. offering solutions for a debtor, instead of going straight to legal action)
What was your biggest failure?
Not completing the computer science degree at Newcastle. The subject just wasn’t for me. Greatly improved my decision-making abilities
Resolved this through subject change, leading to the high degree grade
Tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of?
Getting my driving license
S: Had poor practical skills
T: Do driving lessons
A: Studied highway code religiously, practice
R: Passing my driving test first hand
How would you describe your organisational skills?
I am highly experienced with spreadsheets - (Formatting, V-Lookup, Pivot tables)
Google calendar (Scheduling throughout the day, Open university meant a lot of independent learning and up to me to submit assignments)
Eisenhower matrix I use personally (Analyse the urgency and importance of tasks)
Do you prefer working independently or on a team?
Blend of both.
Do some of my best work independently (e.g. my assignments, doing data entry into Quickbooks)
Collaboration is essential for a business’ success (VR awards ceremony)
What did you do in the last year to improve your knowledge?
Gain a deeper understanding of accounting - OpenTuition ACCA videos
My degree studies contributed to it, my many assignments. The Udemy courses, and the remote internships I undertook
How do I prioritise tasks?
A useful tool I’ve used is the Eisenhower matrix (Do, schedule, delegate, delete)
Example was balancing multiple degree assignments and my work experience
How do you handle conflict at work?
S: Bright Network remote internship presentation
T: Me and a team member wanted to do the same task
A: Heard their point of view and we agreed a compromise
R: The PESTLE analysis on the company was successful
What experience do you have liaising with wider teams and stakeholders?
S: Internship at AIXR then VR Bound
T: Preparing for the VR Awards ceremony
A: Making notes in Google Sheets on potential contacts
R: Posted my work for everyone else to see on Slack and discussed how to progress with the Awards ceremony in AIXR
What is my biggest weakness?
What areas need improvement?
Since I’m very motivated, I sometimes take too much on, have a hard time saying no to people.
I’ve been improving on this by learning how to delegate, which ensures I don’t take too much on.
Discuss your role at AIMS?
Work experience in a family business alongside my business management and accounting degree
Data entry in QuickBooks, Xero. Through data entry, I explored the functions of the purchase and sales ledger. Gained a strong understanding of VAT
Bank reconciliation within Xero
Discuss your role at Bright Network?
More of a networking event - Communicated using Guild
Had to write a report on a fictional company’s situation
Using PESTLE and risk analysis in the report
Discuss your role at City Investment Training?
Investment banking, financial modelling
Strong excel skills
Excel shortcut (Alt + I + C, Alt + I + R)
Discuss your role at AIXR?
Research assistant
Used spreadsheets to organise data
Implemented programming skills, created a ticket generator in Python
Leads to a successful awards ceremony
Discuss your role as a cleaning operative?
Helped create a COVID secure environment
Introduced staff to the role
Helped students find locations around campus
How is your telephone manner?
Unemotional, focus on the problem. Be polite at all times
Follow company policy
Have all the evidence about the customer beforehand
How do you plan your day?
Make a list of goals the night before and the tasks required to achieve those goals.
Rank these goals by importance and urgency
Tick them off throughout the day
What motivates you?
A strong return on investment - not just financial success, my work is making an impact
Gaining new skills to benefit company - Allows me further opportunities
A positive atmosphere - A supportive team gives me motivation to achieve
What makes a good team?
Everyone is involved - (e.g. drives an organisation’s success)
Good listener and communicator- (e.g. communicate clearly, listen to everyone, not a select few)
It is diverse - (e.g. composed of people of many different backgrounds)
How do I handle conflict?
Don’t leave it, resolve ASAP - waiting for long periods of time really annoys me
Keep a positive attitude - being negative doesn’t get anywhere
Review my own performance - identify the root cause of the problem
How do you define success?
A very profitable company
Employees have new found knowledge
Very high work satisfaction rate
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
The new challenges the day has
Getting the tasks done
Do you like constant change?
If such change is necessary, I’m ok with it
I worked at a startup, new staff were being introduced, leading to changes in company’s structure
What is great customer service?
Maintain a positive attitude - If a customer gets angry, don’t get angry
Actively listen - Show the customer I care
Follow company procedures
Can you tell me about a time you overcame a difficult work situation?
S: Financial modelling at City Investment Training
T: Had a hard time keeping up, as it was very fast-paced
A: Researched the concepts of IB in more-depth and tried the task again
R: Was endorsed for my ability in financial modelling
How would you describe yourself?
Use strengths and weaknesses
Intelligent
Organised
Motivated
Have a hard time saying no
Can burn out easily
