how to get a grad job

7/24/2019 How to Get a Grad Job

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HOW TO

GET A

GRAD JOB

WWW . H O W T O G E T A G R A D J O B . C O M . A U

Michelle La


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How To Get A Grad JobCopyright 2016 Michelle La

All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be reproduced,distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including

photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, withoutthe prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotationsembodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permittedby copyright law.

The material presented is primarily based on personal experiences and isprovided for information purposes only.

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A special thanks to Daniel, Ivan, Lachlan, Lizzie and Sharyn for contributingtheir various observations and insights to this book. This book wouldnt haveeventuated without your unconditional guidance, unwavering support and most importantly friendship.

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Introduction 5

Heres Where We All Stand 5About The Book 6About Me 6

Chapter 1: The Foundations 9

Why the #1 Piece of Advice a Recruiter Told Me Three Years Ago is NowRedundant 9The Conventional Way To Be Well-Rounded 11

Participate in Faculty-Led Events 11Get a Casual or Part-Time Job 11Make Your Own Job 12Donate Your Time and Volunteer 12Study Abroad 12

Master Your Online Personal Brand 13The Non-Conventional Way To Be Well-Rounded 13

Get Creative With Your CV 14Create a Website 15

The Overlooked Importance of Soft Skills 16Small Talk 17(Active) Listening 17Emergent Leadership 18Humility 18Resilience 18

How To Be Ahead of the Curve 19Vacationer and Foundation Programs 19Rolling Graduate Recruitment 20Preparation 20

Chapter 2: The Biggest Mistake That Students Make 21

The Main Difference Between a Big 4 and Mid-Tier Firm 22Benefits of Working in a Big 4 22Benefits of Working in a Mid-Tier 23

Audit 23

Tax 24Compliance 24Consulting 24

Business Advisory Services (BAS) 25Industry 25

Chapter 3: Networking 26

Is Networking Even Necessary? 26Professions and Organisational Culture 27A Guide for Introverts 27

The Best Networking Tip 29

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Chapter 4: Online Written Applications 31

How to Write the Best Responses 32The STAR Method 32Research 33

Other Tips 34What About Cover Letters? 35

Chapter 5: Online Testing 36

Aptitude Tests 36Personality/Motivational Fit Tests 36Game Changers 37

Chapter 6: Interviews 38

General 38Video Interviews 38Assessment Centres 40Final Interview 42The Type of Questions You Should Anticipate 44

Tell Me About Yourself 44Why Do You Want to Work Here? 44What Do You Think Will be Some of the Challenges You Will Face as aGraduate? 45What is Your Greatest Weakness? 46Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years? 46

Why You? 46The Type of Behavioural Questions You Should Anticipate 46

Chapter 7: What Happens If Youre Unsuccessful 48

Feedback 48What Next If You Dont Receive Any Offers From Your Applications? 49

Follow the Careers Social Media Pages of the Firms Youre Interested In 49Cast a Wider Net 49Focus on Getting Work Experience 49The Hidden Job Market 50

Chapter 8: Grad Life

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4 Things You May Not Expect to Happen During Your Graduate Year 51Top 3 Tips to Making the Most Out of Your Graduate Year 52

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Introduction

Heres Where We All Stand

Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) reports that 32% of bachelor graduatesfromthe class of 2014 did not have a full-time job four months after graduating.

Since GCA began measuring graduate employment in 1982, this is the highestfull-time unemployment rate ever recorded and the toughest labour marketconditionssince the early 1990s.

One could attribute the issue to graduate oversupply, automation and offshoringof work or just a slower rate of growth in businesses leading to a decreasedgraduate intake.

Either way, it goes without saying that despite being Australias most educatedgeneration in a history, students are finding it tougher than ever to findthemselves a graduate job after completing their studies.

Like many others, I have friends who are remarkably bright students but havestill failed to secure a graduate job in this increasingly competitive market.

From one student to another, I want to share every step of my experience tosecuring a graduate job from my background preparation, to my universityinvolvement, to the mistakes Ive made, to every part of the application processand everything else in between.

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I want to help YOU secure a graduate job.

Thats why I decided to write How To Get A Grad Job.

About The BookAs a commerce graduate myself, this book inevitably places an emphasis oncommerce-based graduate positions particularly within professional servicesfirms and generic industry (e.g. retail supermarkets, banks, telecommunicationsetc.) based roles.

Regardless of whether or not youre interested in the above fields, this book stillprovides an excellent overview of general application tips to domestic andinternational studentsthat are widely applicable to all graduate applications.

Even if youre a veteran to the job application space, I still believe there will besome tangible value you can find in this book so do read on!

About Me

So what makes me qualified to write this book?

Good question.

First up, I am by no means claiming to be an expert in this field.

What I can say is that I have been in the graduate job application market for along time.

I started when I was in my final year of high school. I studied two universitylevel accounting subjects and applied for an accounting cadetship (a full-time

job with part-time university studies) at the Big 4 professional services firms.

I was knocked back on all fronts.

I began a three-year degree at the University of Melbourne, studying a Bachelorof Commerce majoring in Accounting and Marketing.

At this point, I had my mind firmly set on pursuing a career in accountingandhad the belief that it would be a good starting point for any future careerendeavours.

In my first year, I applied for the first year foundation/orientation programsoffered by the Big 4 professional services firms and attended two of them offeredby different firms. I knew that this would help me get my foot in the door andmake it much easier to secure a vacationer placement next year.

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In my second year, I applied for vacationer programs at the Big 4 and wassuccessfully accepted, but subsequently turned down the offer in favour ofstudying on exchange.

It was during my exchange semester that I had a light bulb moment I wasnt

sure if accounting was for me.Sure, I was good enough at it to succeed in theprofession, but it wasnt what I was truly passionate about.

What I increasingly realised what I wanted to do was marketing.

By my third year, I felt that it was too late to change my career direction. I hadgeared my whole degree heck, almost all my life to securing a job within theaccounting profession. My main networking contacts were in accounting, Iknew what the industry would be like and I knew what makes the idealgraduate.

So, I hedged my bets and applied for graduate jobs in the accountingprofessional services field, as well as several marketing based positions.

Unsurprisingly, I was successful on the accounting side of things, but facedrejection after rejection when it came to the marketing roles.

So I accepted an accounting graduate job as an auditor at a mid-tierprofessional services firm, but also made it my personal mission to make acareer change to a marketing based rolewithin one year of being an auditor.

Fortunately, I was successful with my career changeand, at the time of writing,I will be starting my marketing graduate role within the upcoming months.(Youll read all about how I managed to do this later on in the book!)

I tell you about my graduate application history only because my story sets upthe basis of everything else I have written in the book.

A lot of students think that the path to successfully gaining a graduate job islinear (i.e. you study a degree, you apply, you get the job).

However, I hate to break it to you, but this is hardly ever the case.

Those who succeedwith graduate recruitment work hard and there is usuallylots of background work that goes into their eventual grad applications.

Ive applied for over 50 programsand still had to take a one-year side step towork as an auditor before securing a job that I truly wanted.

Other than my graduate applications, Ive also applied for countless otherthings: scholarships, casual jobs, being on the committee of student societiesand volunteering for not-for-profit organisations.

Needless to say, Ive written a lot of applications in my time.

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While working at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, I had theopportunity to assess the written applications of incoming Master of Teachingapplicants and interviewed selected candidates for scholarship positions.

This provided me with invaluable insights into what recruiters are looking for.

In this book, Ill be sharing my journey and everything that I know to ensurethat YOU have the best opportunity in securing a grad job.

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Chapter 1: The Foundations

Why the #1 Piece of Advice a Recruiter Told Me

Three Years Ago is Now Redundant

It goes without saying that all students are different.

But what makes a student stand out in the eyes of a recruiter?

The answer (I was told): Be well-rounded.

In short, this means that students should aim to have a breadth of experiencesand that grades are notthe be all and end all!

Of course, some industries namely management consulting, investment

banking and the like obviously place more emphasis and have stricter graderequirements than other graduate jobs.

Generally speaking though, for professional services firms and broader industrygraduate roles, being well-rounded in your experiences will make yourapplication much more appealing than just having straight, high distinctiongrades.

However, being well-rounded was what recruiters told me three years ago.

Heres the unfortunate thing about the graduate market today.

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Its no longer an added bonus for students to be well-rounded.

It has now become a recruitment standard and expectation.

Let me explain.

As a bare minimum, it is a prerequisite that you will complete your degree andmeet the standard GPA requirement (typically the equivalent of a credit) for anygraduate job application.

(If you have failed subjects, dont be disheartened I know plenty of studentswho have failed subjects and have still managed to secure a grad job.)

At every other step along the application journey, your GPA becomes irrelevant.

In fact, the UK branch of international accountancy firm Ernst & Young (EY) hasalready announced that it will be removing the degree classification from its

entry criteria and that academic qualifications will no longer be a barrier togetting a foot in the door.

Instead, EYs UK recruitment will use online assessments to judge the potentialof applicants.

Whilst this strategy has not been universally adopted by EY internationally orany firms within the Australian industry, it is a clear sign that academicqualifications are not as important as you may think!

Every other part of the application whether it be the initial written application,

video interviews, group assessment centres etc. is all about knowing whoyouare and the type of life experiencesyouhave had.

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Put simply, if youre a student who is solelyfocused on getting high distinctionsfor every subject, chances are youre not going to get very far in your graduateapplications.

Being well-rounded not just meeting the GPA minimum is, now, the newprerequisite.

The Conventional Way To Be Well-Rounded

The following are some of the easiest ways to get life experience under yourbelt.

Dont Just Be a Student Member, Join the Committee of a Student

Society

Depending on your committee position within a student society, youll get firsthand experience in organising events, running promotions and liaising withthird-party sponsors.

This is a perfect, easy way to demonstrate your ability to work as part a teamand to develop interpersonal and communication skills.

Better still, if you join in your first year of university and remain with the samestudent society for the length of your degree, youll also showcase leadershipabilities (assuming that you eventually move up the ranks), consistency and adedicated commitmentto the cause.

Participate in Faculty-Led Events

Most universities have loads of events that students can participate in.

These include (but are not limited to) case competitions, volunteeringopportunities, being an orientation week host or mentoring younger students.

Get a Casual or Part-Time Job

Besides having obvious cash flow benefits, working a casual or part-time job is agreat way to display your time management and negotiation skills.

Many students discount the importance of having work experience in a caf/fast-food outlet as they feel it isnt relevant to the career or industry they wantto work in the future.

This is simply not true!

ALL work experience is beneficial and, I would argue, working in hospitality or

retail is particularly important.

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Why?

Because these are customer service or to put it in a more fancy way clientfacing roles.

Typically speaking, these positions mean youre working in a dynamicenvironment, exercising strong interpersonal and communication skills, solvingproblemsto best meet a customers needs and championing the brandyou workfor.

So, dont be ashamed to list these jobs down on your CV and remember to usethem to your advantage in your next job application!

Make Your Own Job

If youre one of the unfortunate students who have a lot of university contacthours (or forgot the date to enrol in your classes and ended up with a less-than-ideal, system generated timetable) it can be difficult to get a regular, shift job.

Take the opportunity to utilise any strengths and skill sets you have.

For many students, this will be tutoring high school or previous universitysubjects.

For others, it may be coaching junior sport or teaching a musical instrument.

This demonstrates your ability to take initiative and to actively manage yourtimeacross all your commitments.

Donate Your Time and Volunteer

With any not-for-profit organisation, there is generally a lack of volunteers.

Think about a cause that youre passionate about, do a web search and see whatorganisations are available to you.

Even better, some not-for-profit organisations offer internships(e.g. the positionof Social Media Intern is a popular one) to students so you can gain some workexperience and volunteer your time towards a good cause.

Study Abroad

Whilst this can be a relatively expensive endeavour, I personally found studyingabroad to be incredibly valuable and fulfilling.

There are usually two options: 1) A short (typically 4-6 weeks) summer school

program in the Northern hemisphere during our winter break or 2) A semester/year long exchange program.

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Ive been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to complete bothoptions and, honestly, I can say that they are both pretty similar.

No matter which option you choose, studying abroad is a fantastic life

experience and presents the opportunity to step outside of your immediatecomfort zone, learn to study and live independentlyand allows you to be moreculturally awareof others.

Master Your Online Personal Brand

A personal brand simply refers to how you market or present yourself to others.

Its about knowing your value proposition to others that is, the strengths thatset you apart and why firms should want to hire you.

Back in the pre-Google era, you would start to establish your personal brandwhen you first met someone.

However, times have changed and Googling someone, before youve actuallymet them, has become the new norm.

So, if you havent done this already, do a quick Google search of your nameandmake sure that nothing untoward comes up!

Then, ensure the following:

Have a public, professional and up-to-date LinkedIn profile.

One of the most under-utilised features of LinkedIn is the summarysection use it to briefly describe who you are, your experiences andwhat career opportunities youre after.

Where possible, ask for endorsements or recommendations onLinkedIn from previous managers/colleagues.

Consider liking/sharing/posting business articles that are of interest to

you and aligned to your chosen career pathway.

The Non-Conventional Way To Be Well-

Rounded

If youve already done all of the above rather conventional suggestions, kudosto you.

This section is for those who are looking to go above and beyond and want to

have a clear point of differentiationfrom others.

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By the time I was in my final year of university, I had above average grades,been a committee member on three different student societies, held severalcasual/part time jobs, was a self-employed piano teacher, completed twovolunteering placements, studied abroad on a scholarship at a summer schoolprogram in the United States and studied on exchange in the United Kingdom.

I say all of this not to gloat, but to highlight how despite all of my endeavours I still wasnt able to secure a graduate job in the field I wanted marketing.

I was undeterred by this slight setback and proceeded to spend the rest of myfinal year at university figuring out what was missing from my application andhow I could make it even better.

One of the things I realised that I lacked was relevant work experience inmarketing.

However, the problem with trying to get a paid job is that, without relevantpriorwork experience, youre unlikely to be hired.

So, here are some more non-conventional ideas to create your point ofdifferentiation.

Get Creative With Your CV

Depending on the type of industry youre applying for (e.g. marketing, designetc.), it might be worth considering dressing up your CV.

It is said that recruiters spend an average of six secondslooking at your CV.

Most CVs look the same.

Theyre in Times New Roman or Arial, have black text on white paper, twopages long and in PDF format.

But who says it needs to be or look like that?

Your CV is the only item in the initial application step that you can customise.

Play to your strengths and dont be afraid to stand out from the crowd.

One of the most daring CVs Ive ever seen had the persons name on it and aURL link (yep, thats all they had on the page).

The URL link led to a two minute YouTube videowhere the person describedwho they were, what work experience they had and why a company should hirethem (sounds a lot like what you would find on a regular CV doesnt it?).

If videos arent your thing, consider making your CV look more visuallyappealing by turning it into an infographic.

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There are many great web applications available for you to try this out on, likePiktochart or Canva.

If, like me, creativity is not your thing all together, thats fine too.

Just remember the triple S rule for CVs keep it short, sharp and specific!

Create a Website

Your own, personal website is a powerful marketing tool for your personalbrand.

A well written, beautifully designed website will not only allow your personalityto shine, but also allows you to create a positive first impression online.

An article published on LinkedIn Pulse suggests that 56% of all hiringmanagers are more impressed by a candidates personal website than any otherpersonal branding tool however, only 7% of job seekers actually have apersonal website.

Now, I should draw to your attention that this article and statistic relates toprofessionaljob seekers, so you can only imagine how many (i.e. not many atall!) students have their own website!

This will be a clearpoint of distinctionfor you!

A website acts as a platform for you to broadcast your achievements andstrengths to a broader audience.

Ive seen personal websites that act as a general online CV, ones that showcasean individuals portfolio of work from university and others that are tailoredtowards a single industry or market.

Personally, I set up my personal website to demonstrate that my interest andpassion for marketing extended beyond my university studies.

As I love to read marketing articles and news, I used my website to write myown articles and I subsequently shared what I wrote with my LinkedInconnections and potential recruiters.

To give you an example, you can access my website here:www.michelleyla.com.

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The Overlooked Importance of Soft Skills

What weve spoken about so far mostly relates to a students tangible attributes that is, the work and life experiences they can list out on a sheet of paper.

Its all well and good to have a long list of achievements, but what skills haveyou actually learnt from them?

Hard skills, like technical competencies of using a software program, arecertainly a favourable trait to acquire.

However, more often than not, employers are interested in the intangiblebenefits of being well-rounded and how applicants have developed their softskills.

The term soft skills simply refers to personal attributes that allow us to interacteffectively and harmoniously with others.

One of the reasons why recruiters look fondly upon work and life experiences isbecause, in the process of participating in these activities, students tend to alsobe honing their soft skill interactions at the same time.

Intangible attributes like good communication, cooperativeness, self-management, learning on-the-fly and adaptability are impossible to quantifybut, the more life experiences a student has, the better the chances that theirsoft skills are well developed.

Ask any partner at a professional services firm and theyll tell you that soft skillsare crucial to be successful within the industry.

Why?

Because client relationships are pivotal to a firms profitability.

Clients can take their accounting and tax business anywhere, but ultimately, it isthe strong and robust working relationships that partners form with their clients

that makes them sticky.

More often than not, partners look out for potential graduates who can breakthe ice, hold a conversation and build a relationship.

Any other technical competencies can be taught along the way, but soft skillsare hard to teach.

The importance of some soft skills like communication, leadership, team worketc. are widely known and regarded. (And there is lots of literature on themalready Google it!)

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Here are five soft skills that Ive personally found to be very important, but dontget as much attention as they possibly should.

Small Talk

If youre an introvert, like me, youll find small talk with others a difficult,daunting and challenging ask.

You might actually be asking yourself, why is small talk even necessary?

What Ive found, in client facing roles, is that small talk actually facilitatesgetting the job done by building rapport and the beginnings of a workingrelationship.

As social beings, we inevitably find it easier to work with people who we arefamiliar with, even if we only know them through some brief (often, mundane)conversation.

The key to small talk is to actually try and turn it into an actual conversation ,rather than a series of back-and-forth questions and answers.

Here are a few things you can do:

Answer the inevitable How are you? question with an extendedanswer. Instead of just replying with Good, you? add some detailsabout what youve done. For example, you could respond with Good, I

spent last night watching this movie, have you seen it?.

Ask relevant questions. Its much easier for you to listen first, talk secondand then, based on what the other person has said, ask questions tofurther progress the conversation.

Prepare and have a few go-to stories. Ive met people who regurgitate thesame stories over and over again (to different audiences, of course) andhave perfected them in the process.

(Active) Listening

I personally dislike the phrase active listening as I think all listening should beactive.

Active listening simply refers to the following:

Asking questions either to clarify a situation or to show further interestin what the other person is saying.

Maintaining eye contact.

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Not interrupting others.

Paying attention to your own and the other persons body language(which is another form of expression in itself).

Emergent Leadership

Examples of traditional forms of leadership would be being school captain orpresident of a student society.

The idea of emergent leadership ties in with taking initiative and adaptability.To illustrate this concept, a typical question posed may be:

When working in a team and an unexpected problem arose, how did you stepin and take the lead particularly when you werent assigned the role of leaderat the beginning?

With many things in life, emergent leadership cant necessarily be taught, but itdoes come with practice.

Practice taking initiative and leading in smaller group discussions, remainingcalm in chaotic situations and emulating positive traits from leaders youadmire.

Humility

Generation Ys are typically seen to be a self-obsessed and narcissistic bunch.

Humility is having the willingness to learn from others, accepting that you maynot be the best and being open to new ideas, failures and your ownshortcomings.

If youre wondering why humility is important, it is often through humbleindividuals where group innovation can best thrive.

Innovation is rarely cultivated through individual breakthrough moments, butrather, requires a collaborative group effort.

Within that group, you need individuals who are willing to think imaginatively,ask big questions, but also accept that their ideas may be shut down andshelved in the process.

Resilience

All of us have experienced failure.

You would probably be surprised to know that the most successful people are

often also the people who have failed the most times.

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Resilience is picking yourself back up after youve been faced with a setback (ormany setbacks).

If anything, the mistakes weve made, the failures weve encountered and thedisappointments weve faced make us a stronger character than before.

Here are some tips to help you stay strong in times when you may want to giveup:

Remember why you started the project/application in the first place.

Search for the inner motivation and drive you once had.

Try to think rationally often, emotions cloud our better judgement whenweve experienced negativity.

Reward the small wins.

Learn from your mistakes remember that they will help prepare you forany future mishaps.

How To Be Ahead of the Curve

Vacationer and Foundation Programs

Most seasoned experts of the grad job market will be aware that most firms who

offer graduate jobs will also have vacationer programs.

Vacationer programs are typically run over the summer break (from Novemberto February the following year) and can vary in length from 4-12 weeks long.

Vacationer placements are a great way for students to see what an industry orfirm is like.

However, dont forget that it is also a way for employers to try before they buy;so treat your vacationer placement like an extended interview.

What some students may not be aware of is that some firms also offerfoundation programs.

The names and timings of these programs vary from firm to firm, but they arebasically an introductory program that students can be a part of from their firstyear of university (if completing a three-year degree).

These programs are designed to provide some elementary insights into aprofession, industry or firm and are a great way for students to start exploringcareer options, network and secure a vacationer placement later on.

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Rolling Graduate Recruitment

Many firms will not stipulate an end date to their graduate recruitment program,but rather will work on a rolling recruitment process.

This simply means that firms will assess applications as they receive it.

Therefore, the earlier you get your application in, the faster it will be processedand the higher the chance of success!

Preparation

It can be really intimidating, not to mention time consuming, to fit applying forgrad jobs in with your weekly schedule.

The best way to tackle this is, as always, to be prepared. Try the following:

Plan well ahead before the university semester commences and certainlydont leave it until week 4-5 of semester when assignments and testscome rolling in.

Be proactive, not reactive (e.g. follow careers social media pages andsubscribe to job alerts).

Make a list of which companies you would like to apply for.

Block out a few hours in your daily/weekly schedule to start your writtenapplications and make an achievable, realistic to-do list.

Keep a spreadsheet of which firms youve applied for, what division youchose and the date you applied.

Monitor your own progress for each firm, including which firms you havedone the online testing for etc.

Remember, if youre going to apply for a job, you might as well give it your bestshot.

A rushed application is a wasted application.

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Chapter 2: The Biggest

Mistake That Students Make

I made this mistake and I dont want you to make the same one.

This is it: I didnt really know what kind of graduate job I was applying for.

When I was a student, I read a myriad of employers websites and theirbusiness area descriptions, but most of the time, I found myself thinking Whatwill I actually be doing?.

For example, in professional services, Assurance/Audit is key to sustainingconfidence in an entitys financial statements, Tax helps businesses to navigate

ever-changing, complex tax regulations and Business Advisory Services assistsorganisations to improve their performance or, more likely, an even morecomplex expansion of the above!

What does any of that even mean?!

Industry based firms (e.g. retail supermarkets, banks, telecommunications etc.)are marginally better with their approach, but some will still describe thestreams they offer using business catchphrases like dynamic, resilient andstrategic.

Sure, the large majority of students would be happy to get a graduate job literally, anyjob and will just be applying to anything and everything possible.

Maybe Im more optimistic than most, but Id like to think that students can notonly get a graduate job, but they should also be able to secure a grad job thattheyll actually enjoy.

Plus, if you know more about what youre actually applying to be a part of, youcan draw on these insights throughout the application and interview process.

Admittedly, professional services firms are increasingly shifting to a one-stop-shop business model rather than just specialising in audit, tax or advisoryservices.

As a result, this has resulted in a larger graduate intake to fill more specialisedroles within the aforementioned broader divisions.

The following chapter is dedicated to deciphering the business jargon andhelping you make an informed decisionon what a graduate job will actually belike in these fields.

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The Main Difference Between a Big 4 and Mid-

Tier Firm

Most students think that the bigger the firm, the better the opportunities right?

Not necessarily.

The size of the firm typically dictates the size of its clients.

For example, ASX 200 listed companies are more inclined to go to one of theBig 4 firms for their accounting and business needs rather than a mid-tier firm,simply because mid-tiers dont specialise in that area, nor do they have the staffnumbers or expertise to accommodate such a large client.

The choicebehind working for a Big 4 or mid-tier firm primarily comes down towhat type of clients you want to work for.

Big 4 firms will be dealing with medium to large sized companies, largegovernment sector jobs, as well as important high-net-worth individuals.

Mid-tiers specialise in the small to medium enterprise (SME) space, not-for-profits, trusts, high-net-worth individuals as well as small government sector

jobs.

Benefits of Working in a Big 4

Higher, albeit marginally, annual salary at the graduate level.

Exposure to more complex work and larger clienteles.

Greater networking opportunities both internally (within the firmsvarious divisions) and externally (through client based work).

Better secondment opportunities.

More opportunities to transfer to different divisions internally.

More peer support and resources available when undertaking CharteredAccountants (CA) modules.

Internationally renowned brand that allows for better future careeropportunities overseas.

More of a work hard, play hard culture (ideally suited to graduates).

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Benefits of Working in a Mid-Tier

Lower working hour expectations and better work-life balance.

Ironically, often a higher wage per hour.

Wider exposure to different sectors and types of clients.

Develop broader skill sets across your division rather than being pigeon-holed in one specific area.

Culture is less political, hierarchical and competitive.

More adaptable to individual needs and preferences for personal andprofessional development.

No matter whether youre at a Big 4 or a mid-tier firm, here is a snapshot ofwhat youll typically be doing in the three main divisions of Audit, Tax andBusiness Advisory Services.

Audit

As an overview, auditors assess whether or not an entitys financials arematerially misstated and present a true and fair view.

In order to do this, auditors plan and perform testing procedures on different

sections of the financials.

There are typically two audit visits during the year an interim and a final visit.

At the interim visit (prior to the financial year-end), auditors will performpreliminary reviews to determine the unique inherent and business risks facedby that particular entity.

Auditors also complete a walkthrough of key business cycles e.g. accountsreceivable/payable to determine if there are any controls in place to mitigate

these risks.

At the final visit (post financial year-end), auditors typically complete themajority of their testing procedures to evaluate if the year-end financialbalances are true and fair.

These tests including detailed testing, recalculation of balances, analyticalreviews etc. typically involve sampling a selection of transactions andconfirming it with prior expectations or a set list of criteria.

Audit is renowned for having a particularly intense busy season after the

financial year ends from July to October each year.

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Audit is well suited to those who enjoy working in a dynamic teamenvironment, thinking on their feet and are adaptable to change. Youll alsorequire good verbal communication skills to liaise with clients, as well asattention to detail in your work.

Tax

Corporate tax is typically split into two streams: Compliance and Consulting.

Compliance

As the name suggests, tax compliance helps to ensure that clients are meetingtheir tax obligations as per the ATOs requests and guidelines.

As an example, in most corporate businesses, accounting for accounting

purposes is usually different to accounting for tax purposes.

Compliance involves finding the discrepancies between the two methods ofaccounting and ensuring that a business tax receivable/payable is based ontheir taxable profit and not accounting profit.

In order to find and calculate any discrepancies, a tax provision review isconducted and a firms deferred tax assets/liabilities are assessed by referring tothe Income Tax Assessment Act (ITAA) 1936/1997.

Other specialised areas of tax compliance include GST, indirect taxes, expatstax, transfer pricing etc.

Consulting

The overriding purpose of tax consulting is to retain a clients wealth.

This is completed via a client letter of advice (based on research conducted byreading the ITAA or case law) and submitting private binding rulingapplications to the ATO.

When a client has taken a contentious tax position, the consulting tax team willput together a reasonable arguable position paper where they will presenttheir findings as supporting evidence to their clients tax claims.

Tax is suited to graduates who are logical and methodical in their thinking, goodat researching, writing and have strong attention to detail.

A law degree will certainly help (due to the heavy legislative work involved) butis certainly not necessary to do well in the field.

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Business Advisory Services (BAS)

First up, the title of business advisory services particularly at the grad level is a bit of misnomer.

Its less of the advisory type and more of the accounting and reporting type.

As a BAS grad, youll be doing high-level bookkeeping tasks for small tomedium sized companies, high-net-worth individuals, trusts, charities andcompanies to ensure that their accounts are in an orderly fashion.

Increasingly, the BAS sector is seeing a major shift towards cloud accounting-that is, using online accounting software like MYOB, Xero etc.

Tasks include management reporting, completing business activity statements,

fringe benefits tax (FBT), special purpose financial reports, managing theadministration of share portfolios, ensuring tax compliance, preparing budgetsetc.

The advisory part of it comes in when you and your team makerecommendations to your clients as to what accounting approaches they shouldtake, with almost all of this done by the manager or partner.

BAS is best suited to graduates who desire exposure to a wide variety ofaccounting tasks across a diverse client base. BAS also has a more practical,real-world focus that is more transferable than other service lines to

entrepreneurial pursuits.

Industry

An industry graduate role refers to positions offered by retail supermarketchains, banks, telecommunications sectors etc.

In my opinion, the best feature of an industry graduate position is the teamrotations they offer.

Typically, youll apply to be a graduate under a certain stream (e.g. finance, risk,marketing, operations etc.) and then youll also have the opportunity to rotateround 2-4 different divisions within that stream.

This is perfect for graduates who have a general knowledge of what they wouldlike to do, but who dont quite know what role will best suit their personalityand strengths.

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Chapter 3: Networking

As a student, I found general networking tips and advice online (e.g. make sure

you bring plenty of business cards, try and add value where you can, have asales pitch etc.) to be largely inadequate and irrelevant.

This next chapter is specifically written with students in mind who are attendinguniversity career fairs or networking events hosted by prospective graduateemployers.

Is Networking Even Necessary?

In short, no.

(If youre satisfied with this answer, feel free to skip this chapter but I do stronglyencourage you to read on)

I say this because Im living proof that you can still land yourself a graduate job in a completely new industry setting without attending a single networkingevent during the year.

For background purposes, the reason why I didnt attend networking events wasbecause I, at the time, was working as a full-time, graduate auditor at a mid-tierprofessional services firm.

As an auditor, I was constantly travelling from one client to the next and found itdifficult in fact, near impossible to juggle my existing work commitments,apply for other graduate positions AND make time to attend networking eventswithout arousing too much suspicion.

As a result, I chose to bypass the networking stage and just focused onsubmitting exceptional written applications. (See how I did this in Chapter 4:Online Written Applications)

For me, this strategy paid off and, at the time of writing, Ive resigned from myposition as an auditor and will be moving into an industry-based, marketinggraduate role in 2016.

However, networking played a pivotal role for me in securing my first graduatejob as an auditor.

Why?

Because it allowed me to gain a deep understanding of the profession, thedifferent firms and their cultures.

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Professions and Organisational Culture

A lot of students think they know what they want to be when they graduate.

In reality, hardly any students knowwhat individual professions are going to belike.

The solution? Ask the professionals.

I started attending professional networking events when I was in my final year ofhigh school and continued attending some events every year during my three-year degree.

During this period of time, I cannot even count how many employers, HRprofessionals and existing graduates that I spoke to.

All of them provided me with invaluable insights into their professions, as wellas their organisations.

Existing graduates at an organisation would tell me what their typical dayconsisted of, what work they completed and whether or not they receivedongoing training and development support.

HR professionalswould inform me of what they were specifically looking for intheir graduates, the career progression opportunities and what their firmsculture was like.

For me, the process of attending networking events helped me narrow downwhat I wanted to do and I found networking particularly helpful in the earlieryears of my degree.

If youre unsure of which profession or industry you want to be in, networking isan incredibly useful tool and a great way for you to find out.

Even if you have made up your mind on the profession, its always good to findout which organisations culture best suits your personality.

A Guide for Introverts

Despite attending countless networking events in the past, you may be surprisedto know that, as a self-identified introvert, I despised networking events.

The mere thought of having to socialise with strangers (namely, HR professionalswho are trying to recruit the very best) in a noisy, crowded environment withdozens of other students vying for their attention was enough to set me on edge.

Once, when a HR Manager was doing a presentation on the different servicelines in their organisation, I even managed to let my glass of water slip out of my

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hand. The glass hit the white tiled floor, shattered into dozens of pieces and thespectacle was complete when the water splattered onto everyone elses shoes. Imade an impression alright.

I found networking events overwhelming and it goes without saying when

you feel overwhelmed, youre not performing at your best.

If youre a fellow introvert, firstly, do not fear.

Secondly, follow these top strategies that I used to overcome my anxiety:

Do your research. At career fairs or larger networking events, there willbe dozens of employers available for you to speak to. At first, this can beincredibly daunting. Before attending the event, look up whichemployers are attending, research their respective graduate programsand make a list of who you would like to speak to.

Prepare questions. Besides company/graduate program specificquestions, here are my personal favourites:

o To employees/current graduates:

" What do you wish you had known about your role/theindustry before you started?

" What type of person do you think will succeed in yourrole?

" Could you describe a typical workday for me?" Do you receive ongoing training and development?

" What advice would you give to students when applying tox organisation?

o To HR professionals:

" What separates your firm from the competition?

" What opportunities do you have for future careerprogression?

" I understand that there are sub-cultures within anorganisation, but what are the three words you would use

to describe your firms overriding culture?" What makes an application stand out?

" What service line/division are you hiring the mostgraduates in?

Dress up! Knowing that youre dressed correctly means that there is oneless thing to be worried about. As a general rule of thumb, if youreattending a universitys careers fair, smart casual attire should suffice. Ifyoure attending a formal networking event at an employers premises,

dress in professional corporate attire.

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The Best Networking Tip

Someone told me the best networking tip and I used it to secure my firstgraduate job as an auditor.

Here is theBESTpiece of advice Ive everreceived when it comes to attendingcareer fairs or networking events: Be an early bird and beat the crowd!Why?

Its more time efficient. By being one of the first through the door, youwont have to wait around for other students to finish asking theirquestions.

You wont be facing a tired and disgruntled HR Managerwho has beenanswering the same questions all day long! (As a general rule of thumb,always try and appease HR Managers and their staff!).

You can have longer, more meaningful one-on-one discussions with HRand their staff. During this discussion, do the following:

o Ask thoughtful questions and actively listen to their response.Questions like What is your GPA grade cut-off? and Whatservice line divisions do you have? are dull and can easily beanswered by a simple Google search. See above for suggestedquestions to ask.

o Make mental notes of the key takeaways from your discussionand, when youve walked away, quickly write down these mentalnotes in a notebook or on your phone. Then, where possible, tryto intertwine this in with your online written application.Thiswill show the HR team that you have not only made the effort toattend a networking event and meet their staff, but also that youvetaken onboard what theyve said and applied it to yourapplication.

o Ask for their contact details. Once your written application iscomplete, submit it through the typical portal online, but also,

email it to the HR member you spoke to. This will, hopefully,allow for your application to be fast-tracked and, by adding apersonal note to your emailed application, this will help the HRstaff identify who you are and where theyve met you.

o Follow up with them. After the networking event, send a quickemail to thank them for their time. Add a note about theconversation that you had (e.g. as you may recall, travelling is apassion of mine and I really appreciated your explanation on theglobal secondment opportunities you have in your firm etc.).

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Alternatively, you can add them to your LinkedIn connections(ifyou dont have a LinkedIn account already, I highlyrecommendyou set one up) and remember to send them a personalisedmessage!

In general Always keep in mind that youll either be speaking to those whowill ultimately hire you, or those that should you be successful youll beworking with.

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Chapter 4: Online Written

Applications

First up, do not underestimate the time required (it honestly feels like anotheruniversity subject altogether!) to write and submit your online applications.

Secondly, think of your written application as you making your first impression.

Thirdly, do be aware that some (if not, most) firms operate on a rollingrecruitment basis. This essentially means that rather than assessing allapplications in one big batch when applications close, those who apply first willbe assessed and processed first.

So, it is certainly advantageous to get your foot in the door as early as possibleto maximise your opportunity of being selected!

A word of caution: most students (typically around 50%) will be rejected bythe end of the combined online written application and testing stages.

Therefore, it is crucial that your written application stands out from the rest ofthe crowd!

The above diagram provides a general depiction of the application funnelandhow many students are likely to progress onto the next stage.

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How to Write the Best Responses

Regardless of your prior work/life experiences, here are some things you can doto maximise the effectiveness of your application.

The STAR Method

The STAR method is a preferred and commonly used techniqueby recruitersin behavioural interviews.

In one-on-one interviews, recruiters will often ask applicants to respond to theirquestions using the STAR method as it provides a clear, signposted structure tothe applicants answer.

Whilst the STAR method is not compulsory in the written application stage, I

find that it is a great way to structure my responses to behavioural questions.Also, recruiters will be familiar with this technique and theyll find it mucheasier to read and digest.

STAR is an acronym for:

Situation: Describe the specific situation that you were in or the contextsurrounding the event.Task: What task did you need to achieve or accomplish?Action: As a result of the situation, what action did you take to ensure that thetask was carried out properly?

Result: What was the end result was your course of action appropriate for thesituation and was the task completed?

Heres an example.

Q: Describe a time when you had to adjust to a significant change in your life?

A: A situation where I had to adjust to a significant change was when Iwas 19 years old and went to study on exchange at the University ofNottingham in England for a semester.

The task I faced was the challenge of living, studying independently andadapting to a new foreign environment whilst on exchange.

The actionI took is as follows I approached the situation by doing lots ofprior research online, such as researching the university, reading forumsabout the living conditions and putting together a financial budget toensure I had the means to cover my own costs. I also sought out somestudents who had previously studied at the University of Nottingham andkept in close contact with them to ask about their exchange experiencesand any potential problems they faced.

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The end resultwas overwhelmingly positive. The experience of exchangeforced me to step outside of my immediate comfort zone and, as a result, Ilearnt that I am a highly resilient character. Studying and travelling aloneoverseas brought out my strengths and made me more culturally aware ofhow to interact with others from different walks of life.

Research

Often, a little research can go a long way.

Simple things like knowing what the cultural valuesof an organisation are, orwhat they pride themselves onwithin a particular industry, or even any industrynews or wins (i.e. new client, successful tenders, release of a new product,expansion into a new market etc.) they might have had can add to yourapplication.

Your first port of call should always be the firms website, but then expand yourresearch out to a general Google search for current news and industry insights.

Most importantly, weave this research into your application.

Use it to think about how you would fit in to the organisation and what valueyou could add to it.

From a recruiters perspective, its always reassuring to see students taking thetime to research their respective firms, thinking about how they could fit in and

knowing that they havent applied just on a whim.

If Why are you choosing x company within y industry? isnt a question onthe initial written application, I guarantee you that youll hear it somewherealong the other interview stages.

Heres an example of how I answered this question for an application to NAB:

Q: In 250 words or less, please tell us why you would like to be considered for aposition in the 2016 NAB Graduate Program.

A: I graduated with a BCom from the University of Melbourne withMarketing and Accounting majors. Im looking to join the Marketingstream and I see a big 4 bank, like NAB, as the perfect union between myfinancial commercial knowledge and my creative, strategical marketingmind. What differentiates NAB from the other banks is its brand andproduct campaigns such as the famous Break Up campaign from 2011by Clemenger BBDO, the more give, less take slogan coupled with nomonthly account fees and, more recently, the NAB Footify project.

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Furthermore, as with any organisation, I strongly believe it is the culture,values and people that set it apart from the rest. Having been to countlesscareers fairs, I have had many opportunities to speak to NABsrepresentatives. Everyone that I spoke to had a welcoming and genuinedisposition and addressed any questions that I had with personal insights

and honesty. Furthermore, from my conversations with graduates, NABscommitment to continuously provide constructive feedback and support toits graduates is one that I deeply admire. Undoubtedly, the transition tofull-time work will require some adjustment, but NABs emphasis on work/life balance is one that will certainly direct graduates in the right direction.

Other Tips

Write and save all your application responses in Word first. This willhelp to ensure that all your spelling and grammar is correct. This alsoprovides a saved reference point for any future interview stagesso youcan refresh your memory on what you previously wrote.

Try and not use the university group assignment example. Every studenthas worked as part of a team and has completed a group assignment.Try and use examples that are unique to you to showcase the workexperiences you have had.

Less is more. The typical graduate program receives thousands ofapplications each year. Recruiters dont want to be spending all of theirtime reading through your waffle and padding signpost, be concise

with your answers and most importantly answer the question!(On another note, make sure you stick to the word allocation limit if

theyve provided you one.)

Do not write refer above. This is plainly frustrating to the reader andadds a sense of confusion to your response as to where the readershould refer above to.

Dont submit your application right away. Finish writing it, leave it thencome back and re-read it later on with, hopefully, a fresher perspective.This will enable you to pick up on any mistakes or disfluencies you may

not have realised previously.

Check online forums like Whirlpool. If its been a while since you heardback from the firm or if youre unsure about how your online writtenapplication is progressing, you can check sites like Whirlpool.Whirlpool is an online, collaborative forumwhere applicants can sharedetails about the progress and status of their application and whether ornot theyve progressed to the next stage.

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What About Cover Letters?

I am of the school of thought that if youve done a good enough job on the restof your written application, cover letters are redundant.

Usually, cover letters are optional in the recruitment process and Ive neverbothered with submitting a generic one.

Why?

Because your written application and CV combined should already sayeverything that is included in your cover letter. Simple as that.

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Chapter 5: Online Testing

Online testing, or psychometric testing, is used to assess a students aptitude, as

well as their personality and motivations.

By employing the same psychometric test on all candidates, these tests providea fair, standardised result to compare and rank all students against, regardless ofuniversity studies or work experiences.

Online tests are typically broken up into two categories: aptitude tests andpersonality/motivational fit tests.

Aptitude Tests

Aptitude tests are typically broken down into numerical, verbal/comprehensionand logic/spatial reasoning tests.

These tests werent meant to be easy theyre inherently designed to rank everycandidate in the pool of applying graduates. Therefore, the tests have to give achance for the very best to shine and will weed out the weak.

Contrary to what some sources may suggest, theres no real way to ace thesetests.

Sure, definitely do the practice questions (this is a good website for someadditional practice) and familiarise yourself with what type of questions youllbe expected to answer. After doing a few practice tests and some real tests,youll soon realise all the questions are quite similar in nature.

Keep an eye on the set time limitand try to work as quickly, but as accurately,as possible.

Note that some tests dont allow for you to skip questionsand then go back tothe blank questions at the end. Make educated guesses, mark down the onesthat youve guessed and, if you have time and if the test allows for it, you cangive those questions another crack at the end.

Personality/Motivational Fit Tests

These tests are designed to understand your personality, as well as whatmotivates youto work within an organisation.

Unlike aptitude tests, personality tests are typically untimed and there is noright or wrong answer.

Theyll be a series of situations or problems that, as a hypothetical employee atan organisation, youre likely to face. A series of choices will be available for

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you to choose from and, based on your personal preference, youll select onethat aligns with your personality.

These tests will assess your emotional intelligence (i.e. capacity to recogniseand manage your emotions, using your emotions to guide your decision making

etc.) and, ultimately, whether or not youll fit in to an organisation.

Personally, I know that every student just wants a grad job at the end of the day,but I think its really important that you answer the personality test truthfully.

The test acts as an indicator as to whether or not the culture of an organisationsuits you. If you have provided responses that you think an organisation wantsto hear, and then you get the job, you might feel as if the firm isnt the bestcultural fit for you.

Game ChangersSoon, these aptitude and personality tests may be a thing of the past.

Big 4 professional services firm KPMG have taken to gamifyingtheir approachto hiring graduates.

Instead of traditional testing, KPMG have introduced gamified recruitmentassessments which combine gamification with analytics, big data, predictivepsychometric models and cloud technologies.

To break this down, candidates are given 10 minutes to complete a game thatwill measure their mental agility, cognitive speed, attention, spatial aptitude andnumerical reasoning.

The overriding concept behind this is to provide a better opportunity for digitalnative students to showcase their talents by immersing potential graduates in agame-like assessment where they will respond naturally.

This process will filter out 60% of candidatesbefore KPMG recruiters even lookat a single resume.

Gamification assessments are already widely used in the United States and arepredicted to take up a larger market share in the Australian graduate recruitmentmarket in the future.

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Chapter 6: Interviews

General

An interview should be a conversation with a purpose.

Those that do succeed in securing a grad job dont get through by sheer luck.

The best way to ensure your success during the interview process is to prepareand research.

This means preparing your own responses to commonly asked questions (seethe end of this section) and researching the company youre interviewing for.

Above all else, make sure you can articulate confidently why you want to workfor this firm and what you can bring to it.

Also, remember that during this process, you are also interviewing the firm too.

During the interviews, youll get a good feel of how the firm operates, what typeof people work there and whether or not youll fit in. Make sure you take noticeof this and consider what may be best for you.

In addition, try and keep up to date with the news including national,

business and industry specific headlines. You never know when this may comein handy.

Finally, if your interviewer is just responding to you with a blank face andgiving you absolutely no indication at all they are even hearing what you aresaying, dont take offence.

This technique is used to ensure that there is no bias in assessing candidates.For example, if an interviewer is overly enthusiastic with one applicant, and lessenthusiastic with another, there may be an unfair bias towards the formercandidate.

The following chapter will be broken down into the specific types of interviewsyoure likely to encounter, as well as my tips and suggestions for each of them.

Video Interviews

Video interviews are the new version of phone interviews.

They provide recruiters the chance to finally put a face to the name behind anapplication and the opportunity to virtually meet you.

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Therefore, you should treat the video interview as if you were actually meetingyour interviewer for the first time.

Prepare, dress up and make the video as professional as possible.

That is, try and find a white background to film in front of, make sure yourewearing a professional shirt/blouse (and tie, if applicable) and try to ensure thereisnt any noticeable or distracting background noise.

Depending on the type of organisation, the format of the video interview maydiffer.

Some video interviews will consist of a set of pre-recorded questions whereyoull be given 1-2 chances and a set time limit to record your answer.

Other video interviews will have pre-recorded questions but infiniteopportunities for you to re-record your answeruntil youre satisfied with it.

Another more innovative approach, known as the selfie interview, will askapplicants to record a 2-4 minute introduction of themselves.

This allows candidates to showcase their verbal communication, personality,creativity and ultimately how well they can sell themselves.

Here are some general tips to succeed in the video interview stage:

Prepare! (I honestly cant stress this enough!) Think about the pre-recorded questions that are likely to come up (see the end of this chapterfor examples and responses) and make sure youve prepared appropriateanswersfor them. Usually, you wont have enough time to articulate andthink up a great response on the spot, so its vitally important that youhave some examples at the tip of your tongue!

It will be awkward. Theres no sugar coating it talking to your laptop,when youre dressed up in a fancy business attire in your bedroom willbe awkward.

Just try and imagine that your interviewer is sitting on the other sideand dont do anything that you wouldnt typically do at a real interview.

Look into the camera. Again, if you imagine your interviewer is in frontof you, you want to be making eye contact with them (and you dontwant to make it look like youre staring at their ear the whole time).

If youre reading from notes that youve typed up on your laptop (tick good preparation), make sure you dont make it too obvious and try notto read it word for word.

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Be genuine. Getting to the video interview stage is a great achievementand its your first opportunity to let your personality shine through! Smile,use hand gestures and be genuine, enthusiastic and thankful for havingthe opportunity to be part of this process!

Assessment Centres

An assessment centre is where a group of students are invited typically to theemployers offices to participate in a set of exercises designed to simulatedifferent aspects of the work environment.

This will usually be the first chance that recruiters have to finally meet you inperson, so assessment centres provide a great opportunity for recruiters to assessyour overall personality and, more importantly, how you communicate andwork with other people.

The most common type of activities both in a group dynamic and, less likely,as an individual youll encounter during an assessment centre include:

Problem solving activities i.e. following instructions to build somethingas a team.

Case studies i.e. coming up with a solution to a hypothetical businessproblem.

Public speaking i.e. presenting your groups findings from the casestudy back to the wider group/audience.

During each activity, an assessor will sit with on your table to rate eachindividual on pre-defined core competencies. Some of the main competenciesinclude:

Leadership Teamwork Negotiation Problem solving Initiative Adaptability to change

At first, it may seem intimidating having an assessor rate youre performance, butits really important to just focus on the task at hand and soon, youll forgettheyre even there!

Having sat through countless assessment centres, here are my personal tips onhow to stand out:

Be a team player. Putting your team first is vital to your success. This maysound counter-intuitive (after all, youre the one trying to get the grad job,not the whole team) but acting in your teams best interest shows that

you understand the task at hand is not all about your individual success.

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o Furthermore, keep in mind that the activities you do within theassessment are designed to simulate real-life work experiencesand decisions. Your capacity to be a team player in these activitieswill be indicative of how you perform within the organisation.

Participate in every activity. Whether it be a simple brainstorming ofideas, solving a case study, or presenting information back to a group,make sure you offer your insights and put your hand up for everything.

Volunteer to be the scribe and/or time keeper. In group activities, this is asimple way to take initiative and show that youve thought aboutrecording down your teams ideas, as well as having the attention todetail to keep a close eye on the time(and steer your team back on trackat the five minute warning mark!).

Be the devils advocate. Offer contrarian opinions and dont be afraid tothink outside the box. For example, if your team is largely focusing onthe short term benefits of a given proposal or strategy, suggest some longterm implications that may impact upon its viability.

Bring in quieter members of the team into the discussion. Part of being ateam player means being inclusive and listening to everyones opinion.There will inevitably be some members of your team that either:a) feel intimidated by the level of discussion that is happening;b) naturally are soft spoken and just like going along with the crowd;and/or

c) actually want to participate but feel as if they would be interruptingthe flow of ideas.

If you notice that someone hasnt said anything for a while (or at all), feelfree to say What do you think about this ? or Isthere anything you would like to add ?.

This shows the assessor that youre aware not everyone has had their sayand that you are interested in ensuring that everyones opinions areheard.

Try and get the balance right. In every assessment centre that Ive everbeen to, there is always someone in the team who is the loud dominantone. Theyre usually pretty easy to identify theyre rather obnoxious,overly assertive and generally thinks that the team activity is all aboutthem. You dont want to be this person. As suggested above, you want tobe an inclusive team player that doesnt shout over the ideas of someoneelse. In my experience, this loud, dominant applicant hardly ever getsthrough to the next round.

By the same token, dont be too quiet. I know it may be hard to offer

your opinion when everyone else is shouting out theirs, but try to find anopportunity to say what you think.

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Be weary of your team size. This may sound like a strange thing to say,but from personal experience, the size of your team drastically affectsthe overall team dynamic.Generally, a team of 3-6 people is a good sizethat allows everyone to have their say. However, anything above a team

of 6 people may mean that it becomes rather difficult for you to get yourpoint across. In these circumstances, you may need to adjust yourbehaviourto become slightly more assertive to ensure that youre heard.

Finally, treat everyone at the assessment centre like a future colleague.Show that youre a great person to work with, not only to the assessors,but also to all applicants at the assessment centre.

Final Interview

First up, congratulations on making it through to the final interview!

By this stage, youre probably part of the elite ~5-10% that have made it throughfrom the many hundreds, if not thousands, of applications.

Having said all of this, you can be sure that the remaining applicants are also ofa pretty high calibre.

I think this adage best sums up how to succeed in the final interview: failing toplan is planning to fail.

That is, preparation is key.

See the following section The Type of Questions You Should Anticipate forsome general themes and questions that are likely to come up.

Other than this, here are some general tips on how you can ace your finalinterview:

If you know who your interviewer is, do a quick Google search of them.This will give you an idea of their professional background, how long

theyve been with the company and what division they belong to. Youmay be able to use this information to your advantageby asking relevantquestions in your interview.

Be aware of your body language. It is said that 55% of ourcommunication is delivered by our body language, 38% by vocal signals(i.e. tone) and the last 7% by our words. Things like smiling, using openhand gestures and maintaining eye contact can help to engage yourinterviewer in a genuine conversation.

Use the STAR method. As reiterated above in Chapter 4, using the STAR

method to answer an interviewers questions will provide a familiarstructure and clear signpost to your response.

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Focus on you. As narcissistic and egotistic as this may sound, theinterview is all about you. Even when asked questions relating to teamwork and cooperation, dont speak about the overall teams achievement,but focus on whatyou did to facilitate the teams success.

Answer the question! This sounds simple enough, but Im an absoluteshocker when it comes to this I tend to waffle on and on and then,when I finish waffling, the interviewer will probe me even further on thesame question (and thats when you know you really havent answeredthe question).

One way to overcome this issue is to begin answering the question byrephrasing the question itself, or by using the STAR method above tohelp keep you on track.

Make it sound like a conversation. As said before, an interview should bea conversation with a purpose. Yes, interviewers will want to know aboutyour personal experiences and decision-making process, but above allelse, they want to see how you communicate with others. Talk to themopenly about what makes you you and, if the time is right, dont be afraidto crack a joke.

Lacking confidence? Try power posing. This is best articulated by AmyCuddys famous TED talk on how our standing posture can affect ourlevel of confidence. Dont believe me? Watch the vid.

Dont be afraid to pause. Sometimes, youll just need a moment or twoto gather your thoughts.Dont be afraid to take a bit longer than usual tostart responding to the question and, if youre really stuck, ask if you cancome back to that question later.

Refrain from making derogatory remarks about prior employers orcolleagues. This just makes you sound and look like a bitter, negativeperson that enjoys gossiping and talking about others behind their back!A general comment like I didnt feel like my prior workplace had themost conducive learning environment would suffice.

Ask questions. Even if you dont have a particularly pressing question,still ask a question. Why? Asking questions shows that you have thoughtdeeply about the position and the organisationand, with anything in lifethat youre interested and invested in, you want to know everything aboutit. Here are some good general questions to ask if youre stuck:

o Are you able to provide me with any more details on what myresponsibilities might involve?

o If successful, what do you think is the single most important thing

a graduate should learn or do in their first year?o What do you enjoy most about working here?

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o How do you see the company evolving in the next three years?o Can you tell me what your typical working day looks like?o What sort of training or career development opportunities do you

offer?

The Type of Questions You Should Anticipate

This section provides examples of the types of questions you should anticipatereceiving not only at the final interview, but also throughout other stages of theapplication process.

Tell Me About Yourself

Summarise your professional and educational background and make aconnection to the positionand organisation you are applying for. Then, mention

your strengths and abilitiesand why you are well suited to the role.

Heres an example of what I would say when applying to be an auditor at aprofessional services firm:

Im in my final year of a Bachelor of Commerce degree, majoring inAccounting and Marketing, at the University of Melbourne. During mystudies, I have held several leadership positions, actively participated in avariety of extra-curricular activities and have worked as a self-employedpiano teacher, research assistant and annual giving caller.

For example, as an annual giving caller, I would cold call alumni from theUniversity to ask about what they were currently doing, as well as askingthem to make a donation to the Universitys fundraising campaign. I amable to easily strike up a conversation with a stranger and build rapportover a short period of time. I believe that this would be a useful skill topossess when building and maintaining a working relationship with newclients.

Why Do You Want to Work Here?

This is a question that youve got to think deeply about and perform thenecessary researchto determine what stands out about x company. Its also agreat way for you to demonstrate your knowledge about the organisation andwhy it takes top spot on your list.

This may be the companys commitment to developing graduates, or their focuson corporate social responsibility or even how youve been impressed by howothers describe the firms culture and work environment either way, findsomething genuine that clicks with you.

Here is an example of what I wrote to explain why I wanted to work for Telstras

marketing team:

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I would love to work in an organisation that is passionate about innovationand adding value to everyday Australians. Despite an increasinglysaturated telecommunications market, Telstra has delivered wonderfulmarketing campaigns that have set its brand apart from its competitors. Forexample, Telstras core message to deliver a brilliant connected future

was highlighted in the Count on Me marketing campaign and thispromise to customers has been backed up by new product launches andconsistent improvement of their network coverage.

All these reasons above make Telstra a fantastic place to work and I wouldlove a spot in the graduate program so that I can learn more about Telstrasbrand positioning, customer service and development. It would facilitatemy career dream of being part of a fully integrated marketing division thatplaces a huge focus on innovation, technology and a developing a betterway of doing things for all future Australians.

What Do You Think Will be Some of the Challenges You Will Face as a

Graduate?

Articulating the challenges you think you might face and following up withaction steps on how to overcome these challenges is a fantastic way to letassessors know that youve thought deeply about the job.

Here are some challenges (again, what I wrote as part of my Telstra application) and some ways to overcome them:

Experiencing a steep learning curve. As with any new job, there is often alearning curve at the beginning where new employees learn aboutexpectations, key skills and the culture of the firm. Often, this processcan be quite overwhelming, but I think it is necessary to embrace it andbe a spongeto absorb as much information as we possibly can.

Fitting into the firms corporate culture. Ive always believed that a firmsculture plays a huge role in determining its success. Id like to think that Ishare all of the firms values such as taking responsibility, beingdetermined as well as having an immense desire to learn. However,culture is an intangible item that is very difficult to articulate in words

and something that can only be truly experienced when youre in thefirm itself.

Finding that work-life balance. As important as work is, Im someone thatstrongly believes there is much more to life than just work. Striking awork-life balance is something that will be challenging, particularly inthe first couple of months as work load expectations are set. However,having spoken to friends who are working or have worked at this firm, Ido believe that finding that a work-life is very achievable.

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What is Your Greatest Weakness?

This is a question about self-awareness. Its easy to name your greatest strengths(after all, we do like to focus on what were good at), but its much harder topinpoint and name your greatest weakness.

You may have heard others tell you that you should turn your greatest weaknessinto a strength. For example, My greatest weakness is being a perfectionist, butthis also means that I exhibit strong attention to detail skills and my work is ofan exemplary standard.

Personally, I dont like this approach. More often that not, interviewers want tohear candid, straight responses about an applicant not something sugarcoated.

Surprise them by admitting a real weakness albeit one that doesnt reallyimpact on the job then describe how you overcame it by using strengths thatare relevant. For example, you can refer to overcoming nervousness at publicspeaking by thorough organisation and preparation.

Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?

Outline your career goals in the industry and how securing this particulargraduate job will help you accomplish them. Include specific stepson how youplan to achieve your overall career goal and how you intend to take initiativeand action to successfully reach them.

Why You?

This two-word question is probably the toughest one yet.

The key here is articulating your motivation, why you believe you are betterthan every other candidate and what key strengths you can bring to the job.

The best way to answer this question is to think of it as a sales pitch: Draw onyour experiences, outline how they are applicable to the role youre applying forand what key attributes you possess.

The Type of Behavioural Questions You Should

Anticipate

The following are some common behavioural questions that might be asked inyour final interview. As these questions are often context and individualspecific, it is best for you to personally consider how best you would answerthem depending on your own circumstances.

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As always, remember to use the STAR methodwhen answering these questions.

Describe a time when you came up with an idea that required you to getthe support of others.

Describe your greatest personal or professional achievement to date.

Describe a time when you were faced with a stressful situation. How didyou cope and what was the result?

Give me an example of a time where you set a goal. What steps did youtake to try to achieve that goal? Were you successful?

Tell me a time when you had too much to do and too little time. How didyou manage to complete all your tasks?

Give me an example of a time where you had to cope with interpersonalconflict when working in a team. How did you deal with it and what wasthe result?

Give me an example of when you showed initiative and took the lead. Describe a situation where others you were working with on a project

disagreed with your ideas. What did you do? Describe a time where you demonstrated leadership skills. Describe a time when you were able to successfully work with someone

who you found difficult.

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Chapter 7: What Happens If

Youre Unsuccessful

It would be foolish of me to claim that if you followed everything in this book toa tee, then voila, youll get yourself a grad job.

Who am I kidding? All of us no matter how much of a gun you are are goingto receive one of those trusted rejection emails.

You know the ones Im talking about: Unfortunately, due to the high calibre ofapplications we received this year, we are unable to process your applicationany further.

So what should you do when faced with such regrettable rejection?

Feedback

The smartest graduates actually use rejection to improveand make their nextapplication even more effective.

Until you land a job, you should constantly be asking yourself What could Ibe doing differently that might get me better results?

If youve progressed through to the assessment centre stage or further, always askfor feedback.

If youve been rejected earlier on (i.e. during the written application or videointerviews stage) then youre more unlikely to receive feedback simply due tothe sheer number of applicants however, it doesnt hurt to try and ask anyway.

Email the HR recruitment division (or your particular interviewer), beappreciative, thank them for their time and ask them if they have any feedbackfor you to improve upon your next application.

You may feel as if youve already given each application everything youve got,but realistically, there is always more you can do to increase your chances.

Accept this, use the feedback youve got, stop repeating the same mistakes andwasting your time and energy.

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What Next If You Dont Receive Any Offers From

Your Applications?

I know this can be a gut-wrenching feeling, but its really important to not lose

motivation.

You may not have been successful this time around, but opportunities arealways there.

Here are some things you can do before next years opening grad intake:

Follow the Careers Social Media Pages of the Firms Youre Interested In

This is more commonplace in professional services firms, but there maybe the chance for the opening of additional graduate roles later on inthe year. This may be because some employees from the firm have left (ahigh turnover of staff is particularly prevalent in professional services) orit may be due to more clients coming on board, which require more staff.

Lower-end retail or customer service roles may be advertised that arewell suited to students. Although it may not be as promising as a fully-fledged graduate job, its still a great way to get your foot in the door.

Cast a Wider Net

Consider the small-to-medium enterprise (SME) space. Sure, these jobsdont have the prestige of some of the larger companies, but they arestill a fantastic way for you to get industry related experience.Furthermore, SMEs usually:

o Have a shorter and less competitive recruitment process.o Have a more personable work culture.o Allow you to have broader work experiences, responsibilities and

opportunities across the division.o Are less hierarchical in nature.o Have more flexible working arrangements.

Dont limit yourself to one sector or industry. You might have your mindset on working in a business related field, but perhaps you could alsoreconsider sales or an admi

how to get a grad job

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