Ms Cyprah

Finance is a wide field: from the basic selling insurance, to banking to investments, it is all about looking after clients’ interest and making money, so it tends to be a pretty stressful career. Most finance professionals are involved in selling insurance packages of one kind or another in order to protect people and their loved ones from the adverse financial effects of not having an income, perhaps having an accident, or even dying.

Others concentrate on the savings element for children’s education or for a special goal. The main aim in a finance career is thus to persuade people to take the services on offer. Interviewers will be seeking to test how candidates will cope under pressure and thus all questions will be geared to teasing that out in various ways.

1. Tell me something about yourself. What really motivates you?
This is the opening classic. It seeks to know more about the applicant primarily to assess whether their motivation matches with the company expectations. Whether the person is self motivated or they have to be directed. If the job involves selling financial packages, this question seeks to identify the kind of personality being interviewed, the level of confidence involved and the ability to get a particular message across to reluctant clients. A person motivated by getting results, communicating with, or empowering, others would be highly sought after.

2. What brings you to the job market at this point in your career?
People move from job to job all the time. The trick here is not to sound as though you are just leaving one job for another perhaps mainly for money but not for any great purpose. This is where you need to show that you have explored the financial field and quote a few elements in it which have attracted your attention and convinced you that this move is now right for you. Mention some specifics of what you have done before and how they would now match with, or enhance, your new role. Quote the trends in lifestyles, like older people who now have more money to spend and more time to enjoy their life with greater security which the financial services can provide, or even the recent movements on the stockmarket and the effect that could have on ordinary people’s lives. By noting the latest trends, it will help to demonstrate that you understand the financial markets much better than another candidate might.

3. What would success in your chosen field mean to you?
This question is particularly useful to interviewers to identify where you are now and exactly where you are heading. It is really about your own goals and aspirations in life. If you are ultimately looking for a secure and cosy job, finance wouldn’t really suit you. There are too many fortunes to be won and lost in this field, and more often lost, for anyone to rest on their laurels. The more ambitious you sound, the more you are likely to appeal to the company because only self-belief and hard graft work in these situations.

4. Describe how you provided great service to a difficult client after a shaky start.
This question aims to establish your level of persistence as well as your ability to get results. The answer you give will determine how fit you are for the job. If you don’t expect setbacks in the financial business, you would not be able to cope with it. There will be lots of difficult clients who will have fears around their money or are ignorant of the kind of services you might be able to offer them. Raising awareness and persuasion would be the key, along with resilience and determination in the face of scepticism. if you are not keen to try again when you hit a hurdle, if you are not determined enough to see every failure is really a temporary setback that also teaches you as much as success does, then you won’t last very long in this pressure house. How you handle others when things don’t go to plan tell far more about your character and capacity for real success than anything else. It also demonstrates that you will be more appreciative of the difficult task ahead.

5. Give an example of the approaches you have used to convince your team, colleagues or managers of your views.
This question homes in on your team skills. Working with people in the finance industry is crucial, with their being different aspects to clients’ requirements. Everyone’s input goes toward the end result. Working well with others also makes for a more fulfilling workplace and gets much more done than people merely competing against each other. This teases out your own competence in dealing with others, your persuasive skills and your ability to get results.

6. Describe two major achievements in your life.
These can be anything you think matters a great deal to you, but at least one of them should relate to your career so that you give a rounded impression of your capabilities. This is the time to really go for broke and talk about what those achievements were, the difficulties you faced in reaching them, what helped you to be successful with them in the end and the feeling you had when you did attain your goals. Finally, you should add what they have meant to your life since. Try to chose achievements that also relate to the job you are seeking, or that will give an idea of how those successes can be translated to the new job. These achievements also show what really matters to you and how you might repeat them in this job.

7. Do you prefer to work with words or numbers?
This can be a trick question because you need BOTH words and numbers in the financial field. Words have to be used to get clients on board while numbers assess their take up of the services. You may lean towards one or another, but someone skilled in both areas will make a far better employee in reaching clients and pushing up the earnings.

8. In what way do you think you can contribute to our company?
This is a very important question and your answer will depend on how much you have researched the company, how much you understand its achievements already and future goals and how you see yourself adding to their development and bottom line success. Financial companies are looking to make money, lots of it. They are looking for bright sparks with new ideas, fearless imagination and huge ambition. They have to see examples of how you would work for them, what new business you might generate and how you would help to keep those profit margins up before they are convinced you should be taken on board. It is up to you to show the confidence and skill that will be needed.

9. What do you expect your starting salary to be?
Do not be backward in coming forward on this important issue. Decide what you’re worth before the interview and stick to your guns. Be prepared to explain why you want that too, but don’t undervalue yourself. It is better to state a high figure and have them negotiate downwards than to set a very low starting salary that leaves you at a disadvantage from the very beginning.

10. What’s the main reason why we should hire you for this position?
Talk about the role and what it means to you to get it. Identify just one key reason why you wish to work for that company. Usually it would relate to the reputation the organisation has or the actual perks and conditions it offers for your enhancement and development. Whatever it is make sure that it sets the company in a good, possibly unique, light. That you would be getting, or giving something which is obviously not available elsewhere.

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