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interviewing (part three)

Answers to some questions posted by a reader -

"a) Do you think that passing the exams (all 4 sections) would give an advantage for the entry-level job seeking? "

Absolutely, I'd be pretty impressed as an interviewer if you already had your CPA by then. That's pretty huge.

b) "What were the questions that you asked by candidates when you were interviewing them?"

Well, I did have a standard list of questions provided by the firm, a list of recommended questions I should say. That was a basic list of questions..example of your strengths and weaknesses, example of a time you worked in a team through a stressful project, etc...essentially the questions on leadership, teamwork, communication, etc. that pop up in a google search.
I'm not a fan of these questions because I remember making up canned answers and giving them out in every interview. So I primarily focused on getting a sense of their personality, intelligence, motivation and communication skills.
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Comments

another71.com said…
Great blog!

If you would, please e-mail me...I have a question for you and didn't find your contact info on here

another71cpa@gmail.com

Someone recommended your blog for my blogroll.
December 11, 2008 at 7:55 AM
Anonymous said…
I am so glad that question was asked about having passed the CPA exam before applying to the Big 4 firms. I am 29 years old with a bachelor's in accounting and I hope to have passed all 4 parts by October 2009 although I probably won't find out until the blackout period. I have my own bookkeeping business because I realized that working for other companies as an accounting clerk was making me extremely uncomfortable and slowing down my progress. Running my own business has exposed me to many different industries and I hope this will have an impact on being hired at a B4 firm.

Thank you so much for your blog. It's absolutely amazing.
April 18, 2009 at 12:48 PM
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