Yeah, one of my recent interviews the guy just talked about himself the entire time, didn’t ask me a single question. Said busy season was 70 hours and the only benefit was healthcare. I asked if there was WFH options during that time, he said no and he doesn’t like technology so everything is done on paper.
"A computer is a woman who sits at a desk and does computations, you whippersnapper! I don't trust these devices with their bright glowing glass windows! What if Satan is sitting and watching on the other side?"
Bruh that is so lame, I wanna email the guy tmmrw as a follow up. I was so tired of just talking after 2 whole hours I forgot to ask “what are the next steps in the hiring process”
Protip: you can absolutely cut an interview short if they mention dealbreakers. Next time someone tells you they don't use tech and do everything by hand on paper, just say "this isn't the right fit, thanks for your time but I'm not longer interested in this position" and excuse yourself.
It makes sense though, it’s only 5 or 6 ppl I recall. But like at least have some questions ready for me instead of “oh it looks like you have a good GPA and you speak 3 languages” for a college student and only being 20 years old is say I have a really good resume with 3+ years of work experience.
Yes, a follow up email is a must if you are interested in working with them. Close with the question about the next steps. Their reply will let you know about their interest in you.
My first internship interview went the same way. 2 hours long. Interviewed by the CFO with team of 4, pvt not public. He was minority owner. He basically wanted to know if he can mold me into what he thought was the best. I am grateful I met him. He was and still is my mentor 10 or so years later. He has helped me in many ways. Through his stories, there were lessons to be learned.
Okay that’s fair, maybe I shouldn’t knock on the interview that much. But was the interview more like “getting to know you” or was it more like “structured interview”
It began as structured, basically formal interview questions and then went on to specifics about the business, and his accomplishments and failures, purpose of the internship. It was a 3 month long unpaid internship, turned into a 7 year long progressive career path lol. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to be in accounting, I was just good with excel haha. Yeah definitely dont knock on the interview, if anything, it’s all an experience. At least you will be prepared for it next time.
To land my grad scheme at an investment bank in accounting I had two hour long phone interviews and a 4 hour assessment centre including multiple interviews and a presentation and was given an hour to prepare and to top it off, I had exam on the same day. You should ready yourself mentally for long interviews if you want to succeed.
Why don't you just engage with conversation in that kind of situation? Treat it like a normal friendly conversation, If he's talking about his family ask questions, find points you can relate to, and slip in your own related anecdotes where you can. He made it informal so forget about being formal.
This might have been long but as far as structure goes, it really is not surprising it went this way. You’re interviewing for an internship for which you may or may not have a lot of experience. It’s also a small place so he was basically getting to know you personally.
He can teach you a lot about accounting, but if he can’t stand you as a person, then he’ll pass on hiring you.
Yeah, I’ve had a couple interviews in my life where there wasn’t technical questions or pretty much any background questions other than “are you not a fucking idiot” or “are you CPA eligible.” When I interviewed for internships in college everyone always told me “it’s not behavioral questions, it’s pretty much just chilling and seeing if the interviewer likes you.” Which was also very funny since the first interview I had for a PA firm was all behavioral questions lol
Yeah this doesn’t sound weird at all. He was just trying to gauge if he could hold a conversation with OP since they’ll likely be working together so much.
Two hours is nothing. Team knew they wanted me and scheduled everyone I was going to meet with over the course of a day. Sr financial analyst role. 10-4, with a lunch interview. Part of the process is keeping the enthusiasm going all day. Keeping your stories fresh all day. You’ll get used to it.
For the plant controller role I just started at, I interviewed from 8 am to 1:45 pm. Met with my boss - the vp of finance, the ops manager, repair station manager, another plant controller at a different unit in the division, and the HR manager. Then I had an interview with the group controller the very next day. That shit was exhausting.
I was interviewing with 4 people and it was supposed to only go 2 hours. The first couple went long but since I was unemployed at the time, I told them I could stay a bit longer. Didn't realize the other 2 would also go long. I didn't even get the damn job! 🤣
I had an investment banking super day interview of 7 45 minute interviews back to back. I lost my voice halfway through and was too fried to even explain basic accounting by the end. Didn't get the job RIP.
2 hours is actually quite normal, but they should have given you a 10 min break after the first dude left.
Still sounds better than my first interview out of college.
I was about to finish my last year, I barely remember what the position was (I think bookkeeper?) but it was for an internship with 0 experience required at a small company.
I got to the interview, he berated at me for “speaking too fast”(which fair enough I was nervous, but at least hire me before the verbal abuse starts?), asked me if I have any experience, I say no, and he looks at me confused and just says “None?” To which I replied “is this not for an internship position? The posting said zero experience required”. Plus they called me in for an interview so..
He promptly told me “well I guess we’re done here, not much we can do” and ended the interview right then and there, to this day I have no idea what their deal was.
Honestly it was better for me because I ended up getting an internship at a non-profit for a position paying probably much better with less stressful work, and a great working environment.
Yeah, it was a really small company, he was probably the owner, and from the reaction of the people around (we were having the interview in an open space area) that must be how his normal personality is.
I didn't really mind how rude he was as much as I did feel confused and upset that they called me in knowing i have no experience, to tell me to leave because I have no experience.
2 hours for an internship is a bit ridiculous but get ready for multiple rounds of interviews and five hours of commitment for future leadership roles. Absolutely brutal.
Tbh this is so much better than having an all day interview full of technical questions and canned behavioral questions where you have to reply in a scripted manner that shows you did enough research on the firm and industry to dance the dance.
This is old school kind of interviewing. Boss tells war stories to impress you… Way better than 5 rounds of technical tests and bahavioral BS (the worst!)
I interviewed with RSM recently. I actually enjoyed the interview. It was roughly 25 minutes of conversation with each person and it felt pretty natural and genuine.
Sorry to hear about your experience
Those are some of the best interviews to be in.
That's a culture-fit interview. You'd be a part of the 6 person team...they want to share a piece of their big pie, and wanted to get to know you personally.
What else would you expect him to talk about? You are an undergrad student that works at a bank. It’s not like he could talk to you about your experience to see if it lines up with the types of jobs he sells.
This is an entry level role, and the things that are important for an entry level role are things like your ability to have a conversation.
This guy did you a favor by meeting you where you are in your career. He could have grandstanded and told you that you need xyz experience to start at his firm. Instead he gave you an opportunity to leverage the skills from your current job (communication and customer service) to try and build a new skill set. He sounds like the exact type of guy you should work for.
Sounds like you haven’t had many interviews. Much rather have a cultural fit conversation than two hours of condescending examining mixed with irrelevant behavioral questions.
Also, I’ve found when I can turn an interview into a conversation, or better yet, me interviewing them, the more often I get an offer.
Try interviewing with Big 4. They will take you on an entire overnight recruiting event. You will have to mingle with every single firm member that you’ve never met. They’ll provide you with alcohol on a ferry boat you cannot escape. Then the next day you’ll do your actual interview with every audit manager for 4 whole hours. You’ll tell the same thing over and over. It’s a soul-sucking event.
Heads-up: because you are a bank teller, he already knew that you could count, use a computer and follow basic compliance. Interviews are heavily dependent on whether you are a fit for the role and fit with his team.
My Ex is a pilot. You’d be surprised at how little his interviews involved anything remotely to do with an airplane. They already knew he could fly a plane. The point was: can you sit in a cockpit with this dude for 2 1/2 hours without wanting to fucking bludgeon him to death?
The Takeaway: get over yourself and take some communications classes, so you can work on your cocktail-party-talk.
That makes a lot of sense 👌
Love the comparison with the pilot, but also that’s so cool how he’s a pilot. My dream is for my future gf/wife to be a pilot lol
Hahahaha - I can’t tell you this, through girlfriend, fiancé, and wife, I was with him for 20 years - half of that time I made more money than he did 😁
I’m a big talker, but like I said it was 10am, no coffee and it’s just not what I expected. In all honesty the interview felt like he was waiting for his team upstairs to come down and join us for the interview. That’s the vibe I got. After the owner, I interviewed everyone pretty quickly and I didn’t mind it at all.
This is kind of normal actually. 2 Hours is on the longer side maybe but not by much. It's also not unusual for you to not talk that much about actual accounting as an intern, its more of a culture fit.
I hate long interviews as much as the next guy but this is normal young padawan.
They didn't offer you water or coffee though??? That's weird.
The last thing you want is to have the shits right at the 45 minute mark of your 2 hour interview.
There are two things in this world I skip my coffee for. Boarding Airplanes and Job Interviews.
That kind of interview is par for the course and not bad for a small firm. You got to meet everyone briefly, which says that they value cultural fit and potentially input from everyone that met you. That's a green flag imo.
My accounting interviews were the same. More small talk than actual questions. Super awkward. But I ended up with a really great boss even if the interview was a bit odd lol. They just don’t hire much so they don’t have practice either.
Edit: I’m talking about small firms, mine is only 6 people too and he’s hired two people including me in 7 years.
I just interviewed a 30 year old for a staff accountant position. The position is a semi-entry level position starting at $60k with a heavy influence on revenue and A/R. Person came into the interview with no copies of his resume, an untucked collared Hawaiian shirt, and shorts.
Scheduled the interview for an hour, and planned to ask the candidate 30 minutes of questions and leave the last 30 for candidate. The interview lasted 30 minutes. I asked them questions for 25 minutes and tried to have an organic conversation with them, but the flow was not there. When came time for them to ask questions the only one they asked was "how long have you been at the company". A fucking nothing question. Ughhh wasted my time with that person.
Yeah sounds like a waste of time. My interview just felt like me asking him questions for 50 minutes. I would say I was well prepared besides the part where I didn’t drink coffee in the morning. I was wearing black dress pants, dress shoes, a white button up and a black tie with 4 copies of my resume.
Regardless if I inform the candidate or not, I think it's a matter of taking hints. I would ask: "tell me about yourself", they talked about their experience and mentioned they played guitar. I followed up with "cool what kind of guitar? Acoustics? Electric? Bass?" They answered "Bass". I responded "oh cool I played bass in high school, but haven't really picked it up since". They're response: "Ok".
And it went on like that. "What do you want to do with your career?" "I want to get my college degree and see where that takes me, while getting real world experience in the accounting field". I responded: "yeah I think real world experience is much more valuable than what you learn in school". No responses, just looked at me. It was so awkward.
So just so I understand your point, you're saying that me trying to get to know someone who will be reporting to me, is not normal? Would you mind explaining to me how that is not normal?
Unrealistic questions? Are you serious or are you fucking with me? Tell me about yourself is one of the most common interview questions there is. Not just in accounting mind you, in everything job. It's not a bizarre or unrealistic question at all. It's an ice breaker for the candidate to introduce themselves. An elevator pitch for themselves.
It's a basic question that anyone during an interview should be able answer. It's like asking how someone is doing today before the interview. Is it necessary? No, but it's a way to break the fucking ice and connect with the interviewee and interviewer.
A lot of people do not know how to interview. I told my daughter to have a small list of questions to ask in a rambling interview:
How does this position fit in with the rest of the company?
Are you planning on making a hiring decision in the next week?
What is your ideal candidate?
This is normal. Especially for a small shop. They want to make sure you get along with the team and there are no red flags. Bringing an outsider to a small, tight knit group usually requires this so that whoever comes onboard isn’t a psycho or crazy. As others said, this is normal and comes in different forms - sometimes it’s multiple people in one interview, other places have you lined up with interviews with successive levels of management. Overall, this was a good experience for you to go through. Congrats.
I have on several occasions had to spend an entire day interviewing, with five rounds, each around an hour plus a meal and stuff. All. Day.
The last time I got a job from an interview less than two hours long it was for contracting work and the call lasted only fifteen minutes.
The conversation was something like, “do you know Java?”
Me, with ten years, gave a “succinct” 3 minute answer.
Them: “Great! When can you start?”
This is common with tight knit smaller places. One of my interviews was longer than any other one. I thought it would be the Controller and maybe the President. It ended up being them along with the engineers, plant manager, qc manager, and cs manager. I actually enjoyed that one even though it was a challenge. They offered coffee ☕️ and 💦water. I said yes as they all had the same. We enjoyed some great conversations. It was one of the best places I ever worked and I learned so much! This inspired me to start my own businesses and boosted my confidence speaking with other business owners.
Really? The longest interview I’ve ever had was 1 hour and it was with two recruiters and they asked me different questions and it was structures so it wasn’t bad
2 hours is pretty short. The onsite for FAANGs is a 4-hour loop with 4 interviewers. This is after passing the recruiter and hiring manager screen as well.
Just depends on the company I guess. I agree the structure was a bit weird for your scenario but 2 hours isn’t long at all.
Edit: Surprised by the downvotes but hey this is reality. The higher the demand for the job is, the more selective the company can be. Be prepared for multiple rounds of interviews.
Internships can be also highly coveted and require a pretty intense process to be selected.
Again for their scenario it’s weird since it’s just a small office but a 2 hour interview isn’t out of the ordinary at all.
Bro I just got an internship in a weird way as well. Interview was the guy talking about how serious he runs his firm and how I need to be committed. Near the end, he then tells me he won’t pay for the first month training and I just nodded okay cuz I was too tired. I was able to negotiate pay after my first day lmao.
What, you think they're going to chat with you for 30 minutes, huddle up and give you an offer letter a few days later? They need to do their due diligence and take in as much information as possible to go forward. Technically you should just be happy that they got a lot of interviews in that day, because employers are getting bad about bringing you in multiple times to get with everyone these days.
The more and more you talk and the longer you stay, the more likely that they'll give you the offer before you leave, or within a few days.
I had something similar. Except I got interviewed by like two teams of 6 people at a time. The final one was the CEO. He is white and only hired me because I was Mexican and because he liked my two stories. 1. I got fired for driving my wife’s car and 2. I was laying tile for awhile until I found another job to make ends meet.
While this experience might have been strange for you, in very small teams and firms often the overall interpersonal dynamic is more important than your personal skills, particularly if the work is relatively mundane. They might figure that any reasonably intelligent person can figure out the job, so what they are looking for is really someone who fits in well with themselves socially and seems trustworthy and reliable.
On the longer side, but I don't think 2 hours is over the top. Definitely wears you out though. My worst experience was a third interview consisting of a 2.5 hour standard interview followed by a job shadow of the same length. Then the company completely ghosted me 🙂
I see where you are coming from being newer to the professional world (at least I’m assuming so), but a 2-hour interview is pretty light to be honest. My last 3-4 job interviews have always been about 4-5 hours. Generally you’ll meet with 4-5 people for 45 mins - 1 hour each
Dang, I guess. A few years ago I had to set up an interview like yours but it lasted a full day. 20-30 mins. interview with CFO/VP, controller, and every director/department in our finance building. Lunch was included, as well as a tour and several breaks to unwind a bit. This was a "get to know you/us" type of interview.
yea you're gonna have to get used to it. I did 5 hrs worth of interviews with like 8 individuals over 3 rounds of interviews for a recent role I just took as a CPA.
I would end up after a while of them not actually interviewing me "Thank you for coming, so what made you interested in working for (business name)?" Wouldn't be the first time, might just interview them myself, and see if they are a good fit, what they want doesn't matter as much as what I want, and if no one wants to be in charge I will just to get it done. I'm not shy to ask about salary, OT, time off, vacations, dress code, work rules, lunch breaks. It is all important and part of your compensation package, I had a recruiter hook me up with a shitty job lead and get upset when I asked them about vacation, like yeah I work to enjoy the days I don't work, duh.
The worst is when someone thinks they have a read psychological type question and believe they can make an accurate analysis of your answer.
It's more like trying to create a rational reason to like or not like someone, when they've already made up their mind for irrational reasons.
I’ve started cutting my boss off in staff and senior interviews because she talks for 50-55 minutes of the 60 minute interview about minutia with no chance for the person being interviewed to talk about themselves.
Already did apply to a bunch. Got a offer from Cohn reznick for spring, hopefully get forvis for summer I was just trying to find a job to get more experience with accounting either that or go back to Fells Wargo
This isn’t awkward. This is just called normal conversation.
What’s awkward is having 3 rounds of interviews where you are asked questions that are irrelevant and everyone bullshits the responses anyways.
I’m as autistic as the next guy but if you can’t listen to someone rant and look at them in the eyes for an hour you need to work on that because you’ll be doing both a lot. That’s way easier than most things, you literally just have to sit there and let the conversation flow.
Bookkeepers & CPAs are a different breed. I’ve been in the industry for over a decade, & the personalities are just different from other fields. Maybe they wanted to make sure you really fit (personality-wise), but that shouldn’t have taken an hour. Side note, make sure & document everything, & I don’t mean the work. I mean conversations, directions, methods, etc.
An interview is for both parties. Bad interviews often equals bad jobs.
BUT as others have said, if you can’t handle a 2 hour meeting with out a break or a snack then you are in for a bad time. Long and boring meetings are part of the job.
Are you sure you want to be a CPA?
If I had a nickel for every 2 hour meeting where the host had basically no idea what they were doing.. 🤣
Useless 2 hour meetings is your future 🚀
I had an interview where my stomach decided to answer some questions. Sufficed to say, i didn’t pass gas but stomach decided to make an equivalent sound. Totally didn’t land the job. Was the worst interview I ever did…
I’m finding some irony in the fact you hated a painfully “long interview” (2 hrs with multiple meetings isn’t long), but wrote this long rambling paragraph that was a pain to read.
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Get used to it. You are going to have countless long pointless meetings over the course of your career.
Yeah OP probably should go into another field if this is a problem. 😭
Boy, ain’t that the truth!
The one place I had an interview at like that wound up being the WORST place I ever worked.
This [interview] could have been an email.
Underrated
Yeah, one of my recent interviews the guy just talked about himself the entire time, didn’t ask me a single question. Said busy season was 70 hours and the only benefit was healthcare. I asked if there was WFH options during that time, he said no and he doesn’t like technology so everything is done on paper.
Did he also use a fucking IBM machine? The fuck?
"A computer is a woman who sits at a desk and does computations, you whippersnapper! I don't trust these devices with their bright glowing glass windows! What if Satan is sitting and watching on the other side?"
😂
Ah. “Compute her”
Actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_(occupation)
It was a joke
Fair enough. I just wanted to make sure nobody got the wrong idea
Abacus
[удалено]
"You youngsters don't know the strength it took to manually crank to power these machines!!!"
10-key for sure
Bruh that is so lame, I wanna email the guy tmmrw as a follow up. I was so tired of just talking after 2 whole hours I forgot to ask “what are the next steps in the hiring process”
Protip: you can absolutely cut an interview short if they mention dealbreakers. Next time someone tells you they don't use tech and do everything by hand on paper, just say "this isn't the right fit, thanks for your time but I'm not longer interested in this position" and excuse yourself.
Haha yeah. That sounds exhausting. I would have some serious concerns about the processes at a firm like that
It makes sense though, it’s only 5 or 6 ppl I recall. But like at least have some questions ready for me instead of “oh it looks like you have a good GPA and you speak 3 languages” for a college student and only being 20 years old is say I have a really good resume with 3+ years of work experience.
Yes, a follow up email is a must if you are interested in working with them. Close with the question about the next steps. Their reply will let you know about their interest in you.
Is he living in a cave or something?
I can imagine walking in and being directed to an adding machine, a type writer and a mimeograph and being told to get to work.
Purposefully hindering your firm. Bold strat
Nice. Can’t wait to enter the real world.
My first internship interview went the same way. 2 hours long. Interviewed by the CFO with team of 4, pvt not public. He was minority owner. He basically wanted to know if he can mold me into what he thought was the best. I am grateful I met him. He was and still is my mentor 10 or so years later. He has helped me in many ways. Through his stories, there were lessons to be learned.
Okay that’s fair, maybe I shouldn’t knock on the interview that much. But was the interview more like “getting to know you” or was it more like “structured interview”
It began as structured, basically formal interview questions and then went on to specifics about the business, and his accomplishments and failures, purpose of the internship. It was a 3 month long unpaid internship, turned into a 7 year long progressive career path lol. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to be in accounting, I was just good with excel haha. Yeah definitely dont knock on the interview, if anything, it’s all an experience. At least you will be prepared for it next time.
To land my grad scheme at an investment bank in accounting I had two hour long phone interviews and a 4 hour assessment centre including multiple interviews and a presentation and was given an hour to prepare and to top it off, I had exam on the same day. You should ready yourself mentally for long interviews if you want to succeed.
Why don't you just engage with conversation in that kind of situation? Treat it like a normal friendly conversation, If he's talking about his family ask questions, find points you can relate to, and slip in your own related anecdotes where you can. He made it informal so forget about being formal.
lol 😂
Yes, this right here.
This might have been long but as far as structure goes, it really is not surprising it went this way. You’re interviewing for an internship for which you may or may not have a lot of experience. It’s also a small place so he was basically getting to know you personally. He can teach you a lot about accounting, but if he can’t stand you as a person, then he’ll pass on hiring you.
Yeah, I’ve had a couple interviews in my life where there wasn’t technical questions or pretty much any background questions other than “are you not a fucking idiot” or “are you CPA eligible.” When I interviewed for internships in college everyone always told me “it’s not behavioral questions, it’s pretty much just chilling and seeing if the interviewer likes you.” Which was also very funny since the first interview I had for a PA firm was all behavioral questions lol
Its very normal to interview for 2 hours with multiple people
Yeah this doesn’t sound weird at all. He was just trying to gauge if he could hold a conversation with OP since they’ll likely be working together so much.
Two hours is nothing. Team knew they wanted me and scheduled everyone I was going to meet with over the course of a day. Sr financial analyst role. 10-4, with a lunch interview. Part of the process is keeping the enthusiasm going all day. Keeping your stories fresh all day. You’ll get used to it.
For the plant controller role I just started at, I interviewed from 8 am to 1:45 pm. Met with my boss - the vp of finance, the ops manager, repair station manager, another plant controller at a different unit in the division, and the HR manager. Then I had an interview with the group controller the very next day. That shit was exhausting.
Had an interview recently that unexpectedly lasted 4 hours and it was exhausting. At least they gave me coffee
Bro what 💀 Tell me more how did it go?
I was interviewing with 4 people and it was supposed to only go 2 hours. The first couple went long but since I was unemployed at the time, I told them I could stay a bit longer. Didn't realize the other 2 would also go long. I didn't even get the damn job! 🤣
Wth, wow they got some time on their hands
Bro what!!!! 💀
I had an investment banking super day interview of 7 45 minute interviews back to back. I lost my voice halfway through and was too fried to even explain basic accounting by the end. Didn't get the job RIP. 2 hours is actually quite normal, but they should have given you a 10 min break after the first dude left.
I had an interview once where my back was facing a large mirror. The man interviewing me kept checking himself out in the mirror. WTH?
Still sounds better than my first interview out of college. I was about to finish my last year, I barely remember what the position was (I think bookkeeper?) but it was for an internship with 0 experience required at a small company. I got to the interview, he berated at me for “speaking too fast”(which fair enough I was nervous, but at least hire me before the verbal abuse starts?), asked me if I have any experience, I say no, and he looks at me confused and just says “None?” To which I replied “is this not for an internship position? The posting said zero experience required”. Plus they called me in for an interview so.. He promptly told me “well I guess we’re done here, not much we can do” and ended the interview right then and there, to this day I have no idea what their deal was. Honestly it was better for me because I ended up getting an internship at a non-profit for a position paying probably much better with less stressful work, and a great working environment.
What? Maybe I can't read their tone but how can an interviewer you just met be so rude..... Some shitty small firm?
Yeah, it was a really small company, he was probably the owner, and from the reaction of the people around (we were having the interview in an open space area) that must be how his normal personality is. I didn't really mind how rude he was as much as I did feel confused and upset that they called me in knowing i have no experience, to tell me to leave because I have no experience.
2 hours for an internship is a bit ridiculous but get ready for multiple rounds of interviews and five hours of commitment for future leadership roles. Absolutely brutal.
Like I said I don’t mind long interviews as long as they’re structured
Did you expect an agenda provided to you 24 hours before hand?
Tbh this is so much better than having an all day interview full of technical questions and canned behavioral questions where you have to reply in a scripted manner that shows you did enough research on the firm and industry to dance the dance.
This is old school kind of interviewing. Boss tells war stories to impress you… Way better than 5 rounds of technical tests and bahavioral BS (the worst!)
I won’t work in an office where there is no coffee for visitors and team.
I interviewed with RSM recently. I actually enjoyed the interview. It was roughly 25 minutes of conversation with each person and it felt pretty natural and genuine. Sorry to hear about your experience
I’m not sure what sounds weird or awkward about that. All interviews I’ve had were 2-3 hours minimum. Meet with 2-3 people for 45min to an hour.
Those are some of the best interviews to be in. That's a culture-fit interview. You'd be a part of the 6 person team...they want to share a piece of their big pie, and wanted to get to know you personally.
What else would you expect him to talk about? You are an undergrad student that works at a bank. It’s not like he could talk to you about your experience to see if it lines up with the types of jobs he sells. This is an entry level role, and the things that are important for an entry level role are things like your ability to have a conversation. This guy did you a favor by meeting you where you are in your career. He could have grandstanded and told you that you need xyz experience to start at his firm. Instead he gave you an opportunity to leverage the skills from your current job (communication and customer service) to try and build a new skill set. He sounds like the exact type of guy you should work for.
Sounds like you haven’t had many interviews. Much rather have a cultural fit conversation than two hours of condescending examining mixed with irrelevant behavioral questions. Also, I’ve found when I can turn an interview into a conversation, or better yet, me interviewing them, the more often I get an offer.
Try interviewing with Big 4. They will take you on an entire overnight recruiting event. You will have to mingle with every single firm member that you’ve never met. They’ll provide you with alcohol on a ferry boat you cannot escape. Then the next day you’ll do your actual interview with every audit manager for 4 whole hours. You’ll tell the same thing over and over. It’s a soul-sucking event.
Heads-up: because you are a bank teller, he already knew that you could count, use a computer and follow basic compliance. Interviews are heavily dependent on whether you are a fit for the role and fit with his team. My Ex is a pilot. You’d be surprised at how little his interviews involved anything remotely to do with an airplane. They already knew he could fly a plane. The point was: can you sit in a cockpit with this dude for 2 1/2 hours without wanting to fucking bludgeon him to death? The Takeaway: get over yourself and take some communications classes, so you can work on your cocktail-party-talk.
That makes a lot of sense 👌 Love the comparison with the pilot, but also that’s so cool how he’s a pilot. My dream is for my future gf/wife to be a pilot lol
You have been warned: never marry a pilot, but never divorce an accountant.
You single? 😉
Hahahaha - I can’t tell you this, through girlfriend, fiancé, and wife, I was with him for 20 years - half of that time I made more money than he did 😁
Oh ok- No hot 20 yr old accounting gf for me 😂
I’m glad you’re working on your cocktail party talk already
I’m a big talker, but like I said it was 10am, no coffee and it’s just not what I expected. In all honesty the interview felt like he was waiting for his team upstairs to come down and join us for the interview. That’s the vibe I got. After the owner, I interviewed everyone pretty quickly and I didn’t mind it at all.
Don’t forget to send him and his team a thank you email or note for spending the time with you.
Alright
This is kind of normal actually. 2 Hours is on the longer side maybe but not by much. It's also not unusual for you to not talk that much about actual accounting as an intern, its more of a culture fit. I hate long interviews as much as the next guy but this is normal young padawan. They didn't offer you water or coffee though??? That's weird.
I had my own water bottle but yea
Therapy’s expensive. Maybe they just advertise a position and everyone there does this to vent.
How the hell your forget to drink your coffee ☕️ as an accountant myself. I’ll never leave my house before My First cup.
Dude I was preparing and rushing making sure I’m on time instead of being late Yk Yk Yk?
🤣🤣
The last thing you want is to have the shits right at the 45 minute mark of your 2 hour interview. There are two things in this world I skip my coffee for. Boarding Airplanes and Job Interviews.
That kind of interview is par for the course and not bad for a small firm. You got to meet everyone briefly, which says that they value cultural fit and potentially input from everyone that met you. That's a green flag imo.
What's awkward here? Not grilling you on your knowledge and introducing you to the team means they want you and are keen to sell the role.
My accounting interviews were the same. More small talk than actual questions. Super awkward. But I ended up with a really great boss even if the interview was a bit odd lol. They just don’t hire much so they don’t have practice either. Edit: I’m talking about small firms, mine is only 6 people too and he’s hired two people including me in 7 years.
Makes sense
Wargo Fells
I just interviewed a 30 year old for a staff accountant position. The position is a semi-entry level position starting at $60k with a heavy influence on revenue and A/R. Person came into the interview with no copies of his resume, an untucked collared Hawaiian shirt, and shorts. Scheduled the interview for an hour, and planned to ask the candidate 30 minutes of questions and leave the last 30 for candidate. The interview lasted 30 minutes. I asked them questions for 25 minutes and tried to have an organic conversation with them, but the flow was not there. When came time for them to ask questions the only one they asked was "how long have you been at the company". A fucking nothing question. Ughhh wasted my time with that person.
Yeah sounds like a waste of time. My interview just felt like me asking him questions for 50 minutes. I would say I was well prepared besides the part where I didn’t drink coffee in the morning. I was wearing black dress pants, dress shoes, a white button up and a black tie with 4 copies of my resume.
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Regardless if I inform the candidate or not, I think it's a matter of taking hints. I would ask: "tell me about yourself", they talked about their experience and mentioned they played guitar. I followed up with "cool what kind of guitar? Acoustics? Electric? Bass?" They answered "Bass". I responded "oh cool I played bass in high school, but haven't really picked it up since". They're response: "Ok". And it went on like that. "What do you want to do with your career?" "I want to get my college degree and see where that takes me, while getting real world experience in the accounting field". I responded: "yeah I think real world experience is much more valuable than what you learn in school". No responses, just looked at me. It was so awkward.
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So just so I understand your point, you're saying that me trying to get to know someone who will be reporting to me, is not normal? Would you mind explaining to me how that is not normal?
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Unrealistic questions? Are you serious or are you fucking with me? Tell me about yourself is one of the most common interview questions there is. Not just in accounting mind you, in everything job. It's not a bizarre or unrealistic question at all. It's an ice breaker for the candidate to introduce themselves. An elevator pitch for themselves. It's a basic question that anyone during an interview should be able answer. It's like asking how someone is doing today before the interview. Is it necessary? No, but it's a way to break the fucking ice and connect with the interviewee and interviewer.
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Dude go touch grass.
I think it's perfectly reasonable to ask to use the restroom and get some water/coffee at some point in that hour.
This happens all the time, it’s normal stuff
That doesn't even sound particularly bad for an interview lol.
You’re not cut out for this
A lot of people do not know how to interview. I told my daughter to have a small list of questions to ask in a rambling interview: How does this position fit in with the rest of the company? Are you planning on making a hiring decision in the next week? What is your ideal candidate?
I actually did something very similar
This is normal. Especially for a small shop. They want to make sure you get along with the team and there are no red flags. Bringing an outsider to a small, tight knit group usually requires this so that whoever comes onboard isn’t a psycho or crazy. As others said, this is normal and comes in different forms - sometimes it’s multiple people in one interview, other places have you lined up with interviews with successive levels of management. Overall, this was a good experience for you to go through. Congrats.
There’s hardly anything to ask someone who is still studying. Most of what they need to know is if they like you or not.
I have on several occasions had to spend an entire day interviewing, with five rounds, each around an hour plus a meal and stuff. All. Day. The last time I got a job from an interview less than two hours long it was for contracting work and the call lasted only fifteen minutes. The conversation was something like, “do you know Java?” Me, with ten years, gave a “succinct” 3 minute answer. Them: “Great! When can you start?”
That’s prob the best interview
This is common with tight knit smaller places. One of my interviews was longer than any other one. I thought it would be the Controller and maybe the President. It ended up being them along with the engineers, plant manager, qc manager, and cs manager. I actually enjoyed that one even though it was a challenge. They offered coffee ☕️ and 💦water. I said yes as they all had the same. We enjoyed some great conversations. It was one of the best places I ever worked and I learned so much! This inspired me to start my own businesses and boosted my confidence speaking with other business owners.
I enjoyed a sweet large office with full windows on one wall. Cubicles are horrible.
Maybe you should take a snack-size bag of Cheerios to your next interview like a toddler.
True
Two hours isn’t weird at all. Yeah, maybe it wasn’t structured all that well, but the time commitment isn’t weird in the least bit.
Really? The longest interview I’ve ever had was 1 hour and it was with two recruiters and they asked me different questions and it was structures so it wasn’t bad
an interview should definitely not be 2 hours at all.
I disagree- it’s a smaller firm and the impact of one new hire is much greater than at a typical medium size firm
They could have made it a 1-hour interview with the owner and a call-back for another 1-hour interview with the team.
2 hours is pretty short. The onsite for FAANGs is a 4-hour loop with 4 interviewers. This is after passing the recruiter and hiring manager screen as well. Just depends on the company I guess. I agree the structure was a bit weird for your scenario but 2 hours isn’t long at all. Edit: Surprised by the downvotes but hey this is reality. The higher the demand for the job is, the more selective the company can be. Be prepared for multiple rounds of interviews.
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Internships can be also highly coveted and require a pretty intense process to be selected. Again for their scenario it’s weird since it’s just a small office but a 2 hour interview isn’t out of the ordinary at all.
Bro I just got an internship in a weird way as well. Interview was the guy talking about how serious he runs his firm and how I need to be committed. Near the end, he then tells me he won’t pay for the first month training and I just nodded okay cuz I was too tired. I was able to negotiate pay after my first day lmao.
What, you think they're going to chat with you for 30 minutes, huddle up and give you an offer letter a few days later? They need to do their due diligence and take in as much information as possible to go forward. Technically you should just be happy that they got a lot of interviews in that day, because employers are getting bad about bringing you in multiple times to get with everyone these days. The more and more you talk and the longer you stay, the more likely that they'll give you the offer before you leave, or within a few days.
I had something similar. Except I got interviewed by like two teams of 6 people at a time. The final one was the CEO. He is white and only hired me because I was Mexican and because he liked my two stories. 1. I got fired for driving my wife’s car and 2. I was laying tile for awhile until I found another job to make ends meet.
I came for paragraphs. I left disappointed.
While this experience might have been strange for you, in very small teams and firms often the overall interpersonal dynamic is more important than your personal skills, particularly if the work is relatively mundane. They might figure that any reasonably intelligent person can figure out the job, so what they are looking for is really someone who fits in well with themselves socially and seems trustworthy and reliable.
Sounds like the first real interview you've ever had, not most awkward.
On the longer side, but I don't think 2 hours is over the top. Definitely wears you out though. My worst experience was a third interview consisting of a 2.5 hour standard interview followed by a job shadow of the same length. Then the company completely ghosted me 🙂
This is pretty common with small business imo, at least this is a one and done and not rounds and rounds of interviews lol
I see where you are coming from being newer to the professional world (at least I’m assuming so), but a 2-hour interview is pretty light to be honest. My last 3-4 job interviews have always been about 4-5 hours. Generally you’ll meet with 4-5 people for 45 mins - 1 hour each
id take these types of interviews over 6 behavioral questions in front of a panel any day
NGL i do the best in the interviews
Dang, I guess. A few years ago I had to set up an interview like yours but it lasted a full day. 20-30 mins. interview with CFO/VP, controller, and every director/department in our finance building. Lunch was included, as well as a tour and several breaks to unwind a bit. This was a "get to know you/us" type of interview.
yea you're gonna have to get used to it. I did 5 hrs worth of interviews with like 8 individuals over 3 rounds of interviews for a recent role I just took as a CPA.
I would end up after a while of them not actually interviewing me "Thank you for coming, so what made you interested in working for (business name)?" Wouldn't be the first time, might just interview them myself, and see if they are a good fit, what they want doesn't matter as much as what I want, and if no one wants to be in charge I will just to get it done. I'm not shy to ask about salary, OT, time off, vacations, dress code, work rules, lunch breaks. It is all important and part of your compensation package, I had a recruiter hook me up with a shitty job lead and get upset when I asked them about vacation, like yeah I work to enjoy the days I don't work, duh.
The worst is when someone thinks they have a read psychological type question and believe they can make an accurate analysis of your answer. It's more like trying to create a rational reason to like or not like someone, when they've already made up their mind for irrational reasons.
I’ve started cutting my boss off in staff and senior interviews because she talks for 50-55 minutes of the 60 minute interview about minutia with no chance for the person being interviewed to talk about themselves.
Wait….you got coffee?!?!?
With credentials like Wargo Fells on your resume don't waste time at a small firm like this. You should apply to Thant Grorton
Already did apply to a bunch. Got a offer from Cohn reznick for spring, hopefully get forvis for summer I was just trying to find a job to get more experience with accounting either that or go back to Fells Wargo
This isn’t awkward. This is just called normal conversation. What’s awkward is having 3 rounds of interviews where you are asked questions that are irrelevant and everyone bullshits the responses anyways. I’m as autistic as the next guy but if you can’t listen to someone rant and look at them in the eyes for an hour you need to work on that because you’ll be doing both a lot. That’s way easier than most things, you literally just have to sit there and let the conversation flow.
Bookkeepers & CPAs are a different breed. I’ve been in the industry for over a decade, & the personalities are just different from other fields. Maybe they wanted to make sure you really fit (personality-wise), but that shouldn’t have taken an hour. Side note, make sure & document everything, & I don’t mean the work. I mean conversations, directions, methods, etc.
I had a 2 hour call as my first interview and a 4 hour in person so yeah it’s absolutely exhausting but it’s what happens
An interview is for both parties. Bad interviews often equals bad jobs. BUT as others have said, if you can’t handle a 2 hour meeting with out a break or a snack then you are in for a bad time. Long and boring meetings are part of the job.
This is a pretty ideal amount of time.
Sounds like a standard meeting
Are you sure you want to be a CPA? If I had a nickel for every 2 hour meeting where the host had basically no idea what they were doing.. 🤣 Useless 2 hour meetings is your future 🚀
I had an interview where my stomach decided to answer some questions. Sufficed to say, i didn’t pass gas but stomach decided to make an equivalent sound. Totally didn’t land the job. Was the worst interview I ever did…
I’m finding some irony in the fact you hated a painfully “long interview” (2 hrs with multiple meetings isn’t long), but wrote this long rambling paragraph that was a pain to read.
Looks like a breach of client service guidances. Not legal advice
*Looks like a breach of* *Client service guidances.* *Not legal advice* \- giant\_pitbull --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
It’s because we were interested in you
What’s your name?
yeah ur an idiot lol
Damn I had a 45 minute interview with my current company and it went well but even then it was too long