Monday 11 July 2016

After the Interview—What Now? Here are 3 Follow-up Tips


In this post, Lewis Daidone discusses the importance of following up after a successful job interview. Lewis Daidone is a CPA and consultant to several financial firms and tech companies.

Congratulations! You’ve scored an interview at a highly impressive financial firm, and it went exceedingly well. So, should you just wait for the inevitable call inviting you to join the team?

Not necessarily.

Even if you’re confident that you nailed your accountant job interview, without the gift of telepathy, you can’t be certain that you will actually be their newest hire. Keep your great interview fresh in their mind by applying strategic post-interview follow-up techniques.

Send a brief email to all of your interviewers

No more than two days after your interview, you might want to send a thank you message to the interview team—individually. Make sure you don’t wait; the final decision could be made quickly, and you should make sure you communicate before it’s too late. Don’t make it too long, just a few sentences that could serve as an elevator pitch. Also—triple check for grammatical errors and misspellings!

Connect via Social Platforms

Social media conversations can be tricky if done via Facebook, but LinkedIn is a great professional channel. (Twitter could also be useful, depending upon the company culture.) However, you have to assess the willingness of the hiring manager to engage in a social media conversation. If he or she divulged any professional affiliations or school associations, you might leverage those for a social network connection.

Call the Hiring Manager

Don’t make the phone call immediately—if you still haven’t heard anything after a week, then go ahead and call the manager for an update.

Whatever you do, don’t be afraid to take initiative. If done professionally, it will only impress your prospective employers. Even if you aren’t their first choice, your name may still pop up for another opening!

Lewis Daidone, a certified public accountant, works as an investment management consultant with BlackRock.  Learn more about him by visiting this blog.

Public Accounting Vs. Private Accounting


Lewis Daidone discusses the fundamental differences between public and private accountants. Lewis Daidone is a Certified Public Accountant and consultant to tech companies and financial firms.

What makes accounting careers so attractive? Although they are definitely appealing to those of us with a natural facility for analysis, calculation, and finance, it’s the diversity of professional applications that makes them so dynamic. While there are numerous branches of accounting with slightly different focuses, there are two major career tracks accounting students can choose: public accounting or private accounting.

Public Accounting

Those who work in a public accounting capacity will offer advisory, tax, analysis, auditing, and consulting services. They will typically work for public accounting firms—the largest being Ernst and Young, Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and KPMG (known as the Big Four) —and will serve a broad array of clients from different industries. It is essential that public accountants not only have an accounting degree, but also be in possession of a Certified Public Accounting credential. Furthermore, it is extremely helpful for a public accountant to develop a strong and flexible understanding of a wide variety of industry practices and accounting transactions.

Private Accounting

While public accountants will have to be in possession of a CPA designation, private accountants may only need a bachelor’s degree—although those who hold CPAs will command higher salaries. The main difference between public and private accountants is the private accountant’s dedication to a single organization; rather than having to constantly adjust to different industries and practices, the private accountant must only focus on one. It is the job of the private accountant to process company transactions (billing and payable), as well as to develop expertise in their industry in order to help management with daily operations. This means liaising with the heads of different departments, so developing excellent team building skills is critical.

Which to Choose?

Public accounting can be quite exciting—the client base is constantly changing, and public accountancy often requires a great deal of travel. Private accountants, on the other hand, work from a single office, and are surrounded by the same team every day, which might be more comfortable for a homebody kind of personality. There might also be more room for work-life flexibility, depending upon the private accountant’s industry.

Your decision to become a public or private accountant may depend upon your desired career trajectory, your need for variety, and your personal disposition. Nevertheless, both public and private accounting careers can be thoroughly rewarding, challenging, and satisfying.

Lewis Daidone, a certified public accountant, works as an investment management consultant with BlackRock.  Learn more about him by visiting this blog.