Jim Schreier ⋅ Milwaukee, WI 212 Leadership/Career Coaching ⋅ 50 years experience

Eli's advice is sound. I'll add this. The interview may be focused on your accomplishments -- a a good interviewer will transfer your demonstrated accomplishments to what they're looking for. You should have multiple, detailed descriptions of your accomplishments. You should be ready to provide 1.5 - 2 minute answers -- so that's much longer than what you should have put on your resume. Also added to Eli's answer -- if they give you a hypothetical question, you are not expected to have the right -- by the company's book right answer -- the interviewer is looking for how you approach the problem.

Eli Lessing ⋅ Hamilton, OH General Electric ⋅ 30 years experience

David; First all RELAX, do your homework on the company so your familiar with as much as you can learn. Have some examples in your pocket to explain what educations, skills, experience, and qualities you bring to the job that will benefits the company.

You will get questions like

Describe a situation when you had to manage a project? You need to briefly describe the project and how you got results. What skills, educations, or experience did you leverage to overcome any obstacles. What was your biggest challenge along the way and how did you overcome it. What did you learn during the project. Did the project succeed or fail? Don't be afraid to say a project failed.

P.S. Take a deep breath and believe in yourself

Good Luck

Eli

Peter Carruth ⋅ Sacramento, CA Strato Communications, Inc - Former USAF ⋅ 15 years experience

David,

I paid for a very comprehensive career transition course (not to be confused with job placement). The information both written and audio is amazing to set yourself up for career interviewing success.

Ping me off line and I'll gladly provide a corp link to the organized files.

Pete Carruth - President
StratoCommunications.com

David Akre ⋅ New York, NY A NYSE listed financial company ⋅ 25 years experience

David - make sure they are people you want to associate with. There are many fast money types in the industry. Do diligence on the principals. I know a great guy that ended up ruined bc he went to work for a low life that used him as a shield. Just saying to be aware.

David Johnston ⋅ Brookfield, CT U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 5 years served

Thank you everyone for your awesome advice. I ended up slipping in an interview with a Bulge Bracket bank the day before the hedge fund. Interestingly enough, the bank extended an offer the very next day...minutes after the interview with the hedge fund. I am still hoping to get an offer from the hedge fund because that would be a great opportunity. I suppose I have a good problem to have since having an offer is better than having no offers. It appears that when it rains, it indeed does pour. I may be barraging this network with questions, but how do we negotiate salary now?

The hedge fund interview was with two people, my future boss and his boss. The 45 minutes with my boss was telling my story and likely a test to see if my boss thought I would be a good fit with the team. The next 45 minutes with his boss was a little more intense. I got asked the stereotypical screwball questions. Explain the difference between a future and a option? (I nailed this one)...When working on Excel using pivot tables and you get an error code that says, "NA", what does this mean? (Didn't get this, but didn't try an B.S. an answer). It was a little annoying to get barraged with screwball questions, because they seemed to come out of left field. However, I was not really surprised considering I had read that questions like this might come up.

The interview at the bank went awesome. It was very hot in NYC on Thursday, so I was sweating in my suit a little bit. Hoped I didn't look like I was sweating bullets. But, I left the interview feeling like I nailed it and I did since they extended an offer.

Decisions. Both would be great opportunities with pros and cons.

David

P.S. apologies for my late response, its been a whirlwind here.

Jennifer Polhemus ⋅ Santa Monica, CA Precision Research (self-employed) ⋅ 25 years experience

Ask good questions
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141124074017-64875646-job-interview-the-5-questions-you-must-ask

Maria Erchul ⋅ Spokane, WA Incyte Diagnostics ⋅ 15 years experience

Congratulations, David - getting to this stage. Get yourself psyched about this opportunity, company, etc. Prepare - even 'talk to yourself' in the mirror - get comfortable with yourself so you'll be relaxed and confident. That's all - as all the other answers are also great feedback for you. We're rooting for you.

Can you drop us a line...let us know? The best -

Joe Doherty ⋅ Stoneham, MA Oracle ⋅ 13 years experience

I'm willing to bet you have more experience in high pressure situations than most people including the interviewer that said mentally you should not feel any intimidation. The point about research on the company is a great tip I would add research the other positions and also research the person doing the interview I.e. commonalities, potential connections etc.

Interviews are a process a person is being considered on certain intangibles, personality/ fit with an existing team, ability to work both in a group and as an individual, attitude and Grit. Your likely able to speak to all of these.

Finally if you have the ability to separate yourself from other candidates you need to leave it all on the table discuss past accomplishments and results I.e. Finished 5 out 495, GPA, dependability, Charitable affiliations especially leadership, these are things that will make you standout but the most important close the interview and ask for the job!!!

Paul Dunn ⋅ Madison, CT ESPN ⋅ 30 years experience

Regarding interviewing in general, display the highest possible level of current knowledge about the industry, the company's core principles, goals and culture, the company's competition and the specific role. Your goal should be to demonstrate why you have the experience, knowledge, competencies and personal attributes to make you a qualified candidate for the specific role. Often, hiring managers are looking at who you are as a person rather than who you are as a candidate. Display an eagerness to learn and an ability to understand information. Demonstrate that you are ambitious, but not impatient about career growth. Stress that you work well with others and want to share in team success. Listen carefully and provide thoughtful responses, not predetermined answers. Don't be timid about asking questions. And more than anything, I would suggest being authentic about who you are.

Edward (Ted) Klemm III ⋅ Boston, MA Liberty Mutual ⋅ 25 years experience

David - the respondents so far have provided excellent advice. Here are my thoughts. Remember that whoever you are interviewing with is simply another person. Regardless of how robust their title is or how expensive their shoes are, at the core, you have more in common with them than you think. When answering questions try to answer by describing the context of the situation, the behaviors you exhibited in that instance, and the result of the actions you took. Always have a number of questions prepared to ask them. Don't let the interview end without giving your "closing line". You want to synthesize why they should consider you for the role. The more you can weave what you heard in the interview (skills and traits they are looking for) into that closing statement the better.

James Bishop ⋅ Columbus, OH Morgan Stanley ⋅ 8 years experience

This position probably reconciles multiple sources of funds with both inflows and outflows. High level of detail is an absolute. Without stretching too far, find away to tie your atttention to detail with the fact that people lives depended on you everyday. In that way their few hundreds of millions are no big deal.

My mentoring experience with soldiers from the field, has found that interviewers may be intimidated by you. Dont make it more awkward by thinking that they dont like you, they need your help in understanding that you didnt go to battle everyday, "you went to work" and you did your job and you did it really really well. Tell them your daily tasks at work at not the important matter.

Kevin MacWalters ⋅ New York, NY ⋅ 14 years experience

Be prepared to be yourself. Yes that seems cliched. But it's important. You're going to meet the person/people you're likely to spend more time with than your closest family and friends. The interview is as much an exercise in the employer looking for what they need, as much as you looking for the right fit for you. Observe cues that suggest the culture. Is there emphasis on thought, action, quality, results, teams, individuals? What is the organizational structure? How are decisions made? Allow yourself to be in your own skin. Does the environment, behavior, language, tone, vibe resonate with you?

It’s reasonable to assume that with processing financial transactions, they’re looking for someone who is detailed, resourceful, and diligent. So play to your strengths. Highlight specific examples from your military service that demonstrate those qualities and how it would be of value.

Robert Brockman ⋅ San Diego, CA San Diego State University now Self Empl ⋅ 52 years experience

If you brought this question to me I would ask you what you know about Hedge funds and what you know about the "accounting" details they are likely looking for......but from your question, it seems you know details about the position and that is a good start. Assuming you have the competencies and knowledge for the duties......how you prepare for competing for this job is not unlike how you prepare for any other....... and advice with information is abundant as to the basics. Find what looks like a good set of the basics and perform an honest assessment of yourself whether you are comfortable to expose yourself to a group of people who might be very picky about everything your are or are not. If you have not had some supervised practice in interviewing, now would be a good time to discover what you need to fine tune interview skils. I recommend 2 to 3 sessions of mock interviewing. If you have already done that......then try to at least find some one to do a brush up with or consider best you can what went right or wrong in the last few interviews you may have had. There is no trick to interviewing or preparing your self. You either know the job or you don't. If you do, you then just need to work on presentation of yourself and it starts with basics. A good start almost always is: "I am here today because I truly believe I am a capable candidate for this job and I hope that I can show you that I am in the time we have now. Thank you for the opportunity." If you are not given the chance to say that up front by a requested intro, work it in to the beginning of your answer to the first question or two that you get. And yep, don't forget to thank them. If you come across as being genuine, you have a better chance against the competition which is I think, sort of a hedge.

Douglas Lavelle ⋅ Chatham, NJ Financial Services ⋅ 24 years experience

The answers this far have been superb. To be crisp here, I would add that you ensure you know the basics of the business and do not get thrown off by a blocking and tackling question..like something on NAV. Depending on number of folks you see, some may be a little more "textbook" interview style than others. Another suggestion would be to know and perhaps understand the funds competitors. Know the competitive landscape will be a instant bond with them. Final note, don't forget to ask the job, in your own words and style. Best of luck. - Doug

Bob Molluro ⋅ Wilmington, DE Benchmark Consulting Services ltd. ⋅ 30 years experience

Read the first answer as it is very good. I would add that the key to hiring the right person for a position is does the person take responsibility for the outcomes they produce? If you lack this trait, that is in your DNA you may not be a very good candidate. Let me explain. When you ask a person to explain their results they will fall into one of two categories. "The below the line " person who blames circumstances and people who are beyond their control to explain their lack of results. The "Above the Line" responsible person says here is what I did, here are the results, this worked and this didn't and here is what I am doing to improve the situation. When an employer finds a person like this he has a potential winner. Everyone else becomes a management nightmare because no one has the time or skills to constantly motivate the underachiever.
One last tip as the other answer said RELAX. Here is how to relax. First realize that it is your bodies natural instinct to feel anxious. That just means your fight or flight reflexes are kicking in. Here is what to do to calm yourself down and to be your best. Try saying the word me to your self repeatedly for about 60 seconds. In fact do it right now. I am willing to bet if you tried it that you are more relaxed than you were one minute ago. Do the same , right before you are going into your interview and you will get rid of the jitters so your best self comes through.