Interview secrets for Financial Services 

The Secret to Interview Success

Establish a good relationship with the interviewer by making sure that he or she knows that you understand what they are speaking about.  Asking questions about what they've just said and showing an interest in it is very useful way of doing this.

Technical Ability

Make sure that you can demonstrate that you hold Competent Adviser Status, if this is the case.  Know when you first got this and have evidence that you hold it.  Take the letter your employer gave you, or a certificate, or the printout from the FSA Individual Register to show that you hold this qualification.  Have copies of your professional qualifications with you.  Make sure that you know where you are with your CPD.

Motivation

The most common feedback received following first interview is “thank you for sending us a good candidate; we feel that they could do the job.  However, they failed to demonstrate real drive and motivation to exceed target.”

The second most common feedback is “Candidate failed to provide evidence to support the claims made about previous success and achievement.”

Be brave and demonstrate that you have the drive and determination to make a success of this role.  Ensure that you have documentary evidence of your sales success to date.  A copy of a good appraisal, complimentary letter or e-mail, awards and achievements such as attendance at sales conferences and conventions will aid your case dramatically.  Employers like to see clear written evidence of success to date.  You should have a “Brag File” with all of this information available. Create a simple summary sheet to place on the front of your brag file.  This should give figures and sales achievements in a clear and concise way.  Put the suporting documents behind this sheet so that the interviewer has the confidence that you can back up your claim.  You should not show the employer anything confidential, of course.

Professionalism and confidence

Whilst you should avoid being arrogant you should be bright, cheerful, sociable and people to promote yourself to the employer.  You should be confident in your abilities and in your conversation.  Be able to demonstrate your knowledge and ability.  Be yourself and be interesting, too.

Have your CV with you and be able to talk about each role in what you achieved in each one.  Be certain of your start and finish dates.  Always answer questions about your CV factually. Be able to answer queries about your bancassurance and non-industry roles.

Research

Make sure that you have fully researched the employer before the meeting.  Having copies of their company web site printed out and referring to them during the meeting is excellent.  Better still, know one or two key figures concerning the company’s recent performance and size.  For example, their last net profit and how many branches they have.

Get your points across to the interviewer succinctly and directly.  Avoid a lot of detail and don't ramble on and get distracted from the thrust of your answer.  You can always précis an answer by saying that you could go into great detail but “the crux of the matter is...” or “in a nutshell...” or “briefly...”.  You can always come back and go into more detail if needed to.  However, if you think of answers in headlines it will allow both parties to have a productive meeting.

Answering Interview Questions

Prepare answers for the following questions:

What can you bring to this job?

Why do you want this job?  

What are your strengths?

What are your weaknesses?

What do you do outside work?

Why do you want to leave where you are?  

What are your personal and professional goals?

What do you like most about your current job?  

Where do you see yourself in five years?

What do you dislike about your current job?  

Always avoid being negative about your existing employer and any of your colleagues or managers.  Concentrate more on issues to do with career progression of the direction of the company.

Ask The Interviewer Questions

It's okay to ask about salary and benefits.  It's better if you ask questions about the company and the role before doing so.  Here are some ideas;

What are the challenges of this role?

What are the key things that I would need to have to be successful? 

What changes of going on within the company at the moment, and why?

Who would be my immediate superior?

The Recruitment Consultancy

The Consultancy should guide and assist you.  Whilst you should not be given specific answers to questions, a good recruitment consultant will have interview preparation material available for you.

Please call free on 0800 612 1028