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Have you ever wanted to be a fly-on-the-wall in a typical on-campus interview? 

On September 25, 2002, an audience of almost 50 accounting majors and Accounting Association members had an opportunity to do just that when John Formica, an Assurance and Business Advisory Services Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, conducted mock interviews with four PC accounting students:  Stephanie McSherry ‘03, Aaron Holzinger ’04, Rob Burkhart ’04, and Michael Crawley ’04.

After each 10 minute interview, the audience offered feedback for the mock interviewees.  The audience’s positive feedback included comments about the interviewees’ prior work experience, confidence, dress, communication skills, and thorough research on PwC. 

And as expected, the audience felt that each mock interviewee made critical errors in their interviews.  Most everyone agreed that one of the interviewees failed to do research on PwC since he/she was unable to provide an adequate response to Mr. Formica’s question, “What’s your interest in PwC?”

The audience was also quick to point out that one interviewee shouldn’t have asked Mr. Formica about salary and benefits and that another interviewee didn’t seem to know why he/she wanted to pursue a career in public accounting.  And the audience felt that at least two of the interviewees seemed to lack confidence because they made poor eye contact and had poor posture.

The mock interviews allowed the audience to actually see some common mistakes made by students in a first interview and helped them get a better idea of what to expect in an actual interview.

"We [the Accounting Association officers] all agreed," says President Tim Wilkin '03, "that the best way to introduce some interviewing tips would be with an active demonstration. We wanted the students, especially the juniors, to see a glimpse of the interview process up close and personal."

Brittany Migoski '04, a junior accounting major, plans on working for a Big Four accounting firm after graduation and found the mock interviews both entertaining and enlightening.

"I thought it was very helpful to see the mistakes individuals made in their interviews. Some of the mistakes people made are probably things I may have done and not even been conscious of. 

"You can always think about what you should do and not do," says Brittany, "but when you actually see it, it will always stick in your head. Also, by seeing the good aspects of the interviews helped me know what I should try to do and aim for in order to be an effective interviewer."

Despite being critiqued in front of a large audience of their classmates, the mock interviewees felt that this was a beneficial experience for them.  

According to one participant, Michael Crawley '04, "It was . . .  nerve wracking listening to what the other students and faculty members had to say about my interview.  

"[But] participating in the mock interview program was beneficial to me," says Michael, "because I got to meet a partner of PwC (and hopefully have him remember my name, or at least my face), sweat out a real life interview with Mr. Formica, and gain interview experience responding to questions on the spot."

'If you fail to plan . . . you plan to fail!'

Before conducting the mock interviews, John Formica offered some candid advice about the interviewing process. 

According to Mr. Formica the first is to develop a personal balance sheet by determining your strengths (assets) and weaknesses (liabilities).  Taking this first step allows you to focus on what you need to improve about yourself.  Sometimes it may be necessary to elicit feedback about your strengths and weaknesses from your network of contacts, which could include members of your family, friends, professors, and athletic coaches.

Also stressed was the importance of knowing the type of work environment you want for yourself.  Do you have any geographic preferences?  Would you prefer working in a large city or a small city?  How do you feel about travel?  Would you prefer working in a public accounting firm or a private company? 

These two initial steps, developing a personal balance sheet and identifying your work environment preferences, are critical to the entire interviewing process because they provide you with direction and a sense of focus.  A job candidate’s lack of direction or focus will be apparent to the recruiter and may cause him or her to question whether or not the job candidate will be satisfied working for his or her firm – staff turnover is very costly. 

After this brief discussion of the initial steps in the interviewing process, Mr. Formica provided insight into the process of interviewing, successful preparation for interviewing, and the importance of selling yourself.

Mr. Formica felt that one of the most important goals of a campus recruiter is determining whether a job candidate has the attributes for being successful.  Some of those attributes include taking initiative, communicating with impact, and having the ability to work in a team.  A few related attributes also sought by campus recruiters include ethics and integrity, technical and analytical skills, effective leadership skills, and broad-thinking and problem-solving skills.

Successful preparation for interviews involves doing research about the company or firm by visiting the company’s website, attending career fairs, and making use of career centers.  Mr. Formica added that mock interviewing is a great way to prepare yourself for the interviewing process because it allows you to practice responding to questions.  He went on to suggest a strategy, the STAR format, for responding to questions and emphasized the importance of non-verbal communication to the interviewing process.

With this basic advice, students can make the most of their on-campus interviews by being prepared and by avoiding common interviewing pitfalls.