The objective of your CV is to gain you an interview either with a potential employer or a recruitment consultant, and to create a positive impression about you in the mind of the interviewer before you meet. It is a good idea to split your CV into four sections: personal information, qualifications, employment history and interests. Organisations interview in many different ways both in terms of style as well as process. As an interviewee you should never assume that each interview will be structured in exactly the same way and you should always aim to improve your interview style through better preparation and understanding of the interview process. Of course, your greatest ally is the recruitment consultant you are working with who will be able to prepare you based on their knowledge of the organisation and role in question.

1. CV & iNTERVIEW
gUIDE
FOR TAX & TREASURY PROFESSIONALS

2. CV ADVICE
Q
How should I
organise my
CV and what
content should I
include?
The objective of your CV is to gain you an interview either with a potential employer or a
recruitment consultant, and to create a positive impression about you in the mind of the
interviewer before you meet.
It is a good idea to split your CV into four
sections: personal information, qualifications,
employment history and interests.
Personal information
• Full name
• Full address
• Telephone numbers (day/evening/mobile
- as appropriate)
• Email address
• If relevant, state whether you are eligible
to work or need a work permit
• Always include any language
capability and state your proficiency
(do not exaggerate your fluency, as an
interviewer may decide to interview you
in the language concerned).
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Qualifications
If educated to degree level (or have a higher
qualification) it is only necessary to briefly
list earlier academic qualifications with
appropriate grades. Any degree should have
the name of the establishment from which
it was gained from and the level/grade
obtained.
This section should also include any
professional qualifications. Additionally,
employers often look for any work related
training - especially if it has led to a particular
qualification.

3. CV ADVICE
Q
How should I
organise my
CV and what
content should I
include?
Employment history
/company/brewer-morris CV & INTERVIEW GUIDE 3
It is generally accepted practice to put your
employment history in reverse chronological
order and this section should include dates,
company size and scope of responsibilities
and achievements.
Remember at all times that potential
employers are looking for evidence that you
can add value to the job and the organisation.
• Give most space to your most recent job
• If you do not work for a well-known
organisation it might be appropriate to
insert a brief description of the company
and its business
• Dates – it is only necessary to put the
month and year of joining and leaving any
employer. Your current position should be
‘to date’
• State your title
• Group your experience according to type
of work
• Use sub-headings
• Value of deal, brief details of transaction/
key points of matter
• List specific project responsibilities/
involvement in matter
• Do not leave out any period of
employment for whatever reason - ensure
that your time is accountable
• Do not give reasons for leaving any of the
jobs on your CV – it is far better to explain
your moves in person at interview
• Do not embellish your CV or be
economical with the truth (i.e. overstating
your experience or accomplishments) –
you will be found out at interview
• Salary information should be left off the
CV but you should be prepared to discuss
your salary with recruitment consultants
at an early stage, so they know you are in
the right range
• Try not to use technical/professional
jargon.
Interests
The key here is that if you are in doubt, leave
them out. Be prepared to elaborate on any of
your interests such as the last play you saw,
the last book you read, the last place that
you visited on a scuba diving holiday. If you
have any interests that might, in any way, be
controversial then leave them off the CV. In any
event this section should be no longer than
one or two lines.

4. INTERVIEW PREPARATION
Q
What is the
best way to
prepare for an
interview?
Organisations interview in many different ways both in terms of style as well as process. As
an interviewee you should never assume that each interview will be structured in exactly the
same way and you should always aim to improve your interview style through better preparation
and understanding of the interview process. Of course, your greatest ally is the recruitment
consultant you are working with who will be able to prepare you based on their knowledge of the
organisation and role in question.
Interviewing can be a pretty daunting
experience, but with some good preparation
you can make things an awful lot easier for
yourself. The following tips may seem obvious
but it is always worthwhile checking them off
in advance.
Do you know where you are going? Check the
address. If you don’t know the area, call your
consultant for directions. Give yourself lots of
time and aim to arrive 10 minutes early.
Have you called your recruitment consultant,
at least the day before, and got a briefing on
the job including who you are seeing, and going
through any job description? They should also
be able to help you with the type of interview,
the personality of the interviewer or with any
other information that you may need.
Have you checked out the organisation’s
website? This will tell you about the business
and should give you some useful background
information. Check if they have a careers
section which may give you information about
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their values and culture. It will certainly tell
you how they want to be seen by prospective
employees.
Make sure you know what is in your CV. Think
about why you have moved in the past, why you
have made certain career decisions, what you
enjoyed about certain jobs. Think clearly about
what you are looking to do now and why.
Make sure you know what information you
want to get out of the interview and you have
a good list of questions to ask. It doesn’t do
any harm to write them down; it shows you
have prepared and you are much more likely to
remember them.

5. Q
What form can
I expect the
interview to
take?
/company/brewer-morris CV & INTERVIEW GUIDE 5
Generally, interviews will take the form of one
of the following formats:
The CV-based Interview
What it means
This interview style follows the more traditional
question and answer format.
How it works
This will normally entail a chronological run
through of your background and experience.
Typical questions might include ‘How would
you describe yourself ’ or ‘Why did you leave
X organisation for Y’ or ‘What do you not like
about your current role’ or ‘What are your
career objectives’.
How you can prepare
It is important to know the content of your
answers to the standard interview questions,
particularly if there are obvious issues in your
CV – such as a period of unemployment or a
quick move from job to job. However, try not
to over rehearse and appear formulaic or not
genuine in your answers.
The Behavioural Interview
What it means
The thinking behind behavioural interviewing
is that it provides the most accurate prediction
of future performance through analysis of past
performance in similar types of situations. The
company has already identified job-related
experiences, behaviours, knowledge, skills
and abilities (competencies) that they feel
are desirable in the position and these are
sometimes hinted at in the job description.
How it works
The employer will ask very specific questions
which they hope will elicit a response which
will determine if you (the candidate) possess
the desired characteristics. Candidates who
tell the interviewer about specific situations
that relate to each question will be far more
effective and successful than those who
respond in general terms.
How you can prepare
Read the job description in detail and then
think about 6-12 past situations in which you
have exhibited strong job-related behaviours.
Additionally, look at the careers section of
the company and see whether they have any
reference to behaviours that they look for
when hiring.

6. THE TEAM INTERVIEW
What it means
In an effort to get a well-rounded perspective
on candidates, many companies ask more
than one team member to take part in the
interview and selection process. Using pre-agreed
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criteria, job descriptions and personal
impressions, they assess the feedback
following the individual sessions and discuss
their reaction.
How it works
Generally they are either an interview
conducted by more than one interviewer at the
same time, or a series of one-on-one interviews
with a number of different team members.
How you can prepare
Whatever the format, you should expect
team interviews to be challenging. The initial
exchanges with the interview team are the
most difficult and you will need to be able to
interact with different people from different
backgrounds. Be prepared to cover the same
ground with a number of different interviewers
because they may want to see if your answers
change; however, at all times remain patient
and composed.
TECHNICAL INTERVIEWS
The goal of the technical interview is to get to
understand your technical skill set. By sharing
the thought processes with your interviewer
you demonstrate your communication skills
and analytical ability. Interviewers are looking
to assess not only your technical ability but
also your ability to think critically, to solve
problems.
You are not going to be expected to know
everything so, if you are asked a question you
just don’t know the answer to, then don’t try
to talk your way around it. This can also be a
good opportunity to tell the interviewer how
you would research that particular question.
It’s not about knowing everything, it’s about
being able to find out anything.
Because there are an infinite number of
technical interview questions that interviewers
can throw at you, and many may consist of
hypothetical scenarios with no single correct
answer, there is not a perfect way to prepare.
That is precisely what technical interviews
are all about. Just make sure that you are
comfortable talking through the technical
areas on your CV and you are not thrown by the
obvious simple questions.

7. COMPETENCY BASED INTERVIEWS
/company/brewer-morris CV & INTERVIEW GUIDE 7
Competency-based interviews are becoming an
increasingly common part of the recruitment
process with many organisations attaching a
high level of importance to their outcome. To
help you through these we have identified 16
typical competencies that employers seek to
explore.
Competency interviews can sometimes
be quite daunting, but with an element of
preparation and a broad range of examples,
they can actually run quite smoothly and be an
opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
Competency-based interviewing is a structured
interview approach which aims to gather
evidence of how well a candidate will perform
in a particular role. This is achieved by asking
candidates to describe past experiences of
when they have demonstrated particular
competencies (or job relevant behaviours).
Employers will want to explore your past
experiences as a large amount of research
suggests that past behaviour is a strong
predictor of future behaviour. For each
particular competency, you will usually be
asked a number of questions, to give you more
than one opportunity to demonstrate your
abilities.
In order for an organisation to assess whether
you are appropriate for a role it is important
that you talk about specific past experiences,
rather than your general way of working. It
is also important that you describe what you
actually did, rather than talking about the
performance of a team you were a member of.
Competency-based interviews are very
structured, with every candidate often being
asked the same questions. This is to ensure
that everybody gets the same opportunity and
the process is completely fair to all.

8. COMPETENCY BASED INTERVIEWS
Before attending the interview:
• Think about what kinds of behaviours may
be important to perform well in the job
• Think about times in the past when you
have demonstrated your abilities e.g.
successful projects, interactions with
other people, convincing a difficult
audience, analysing a large amount of
information
• Think through exactly what you did in
these scenarios and separate your own
actions from those of any team you were
a part of
• Don’t be restricted to purely job related
examples; you may also have good
examples from school/university or
hobbies.
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During the interview:
• Listen carefully to the question and
make sure you provide an example of
what is being asked, not just telling the
interviewer what you want them to know
• Talk about a specific example, not about
how you generally act
• Talk about what you did e.g. “I spoke to
lots of different individuals” not “We spoke
to lots of different individuals”.
Q
How can I
prepare for a
competency
based
interview?

9. ATTRIBUTES
Q
What kind of
attributes are
employers
looking
for during
competency
interviews?
/company/brewer-morris CV & INTERVIEW GUIDE 9
Action orientation
Demonstrates a readiness to make decisions,
take the initiative and originate action.
Commercial awareness
Understands and applies commercial and
financial principles.
Views issues in terms of costs, profits,
markets and added value.
Creativity & innovation
Creates new and imaginative approaches to
work related issues.
Identifies fresh approaches and shows
a willingness to question traditional
assumptions.
Drive & resilience
Maintains effective work behaviour in the face
of setbacks or pressure.
Remains calm, stable and in control of
themselves.
Flexibility
Successfully adapts to changing demands and
conditions.
Interpersonal sensitivity
Interacts with others in a sensitive and
effective way.
Respects and works well with others.
Leadership
Motivates and empowers others to reach
organisational goals.
Oral communication
Speaks clearly, fluently and in a compelling
manner to both individuals and groups.
Personal motivation
Commits self to work hard towards goals.
Shows enthusiasm and career commitment.
Persuasiveness
Influences, convinces or impresses others in a
way that results in acceptance, agreement or
behaviour change.

10. ATTRIBUTES
Planning & organisation
Organises and schedules events, activities and
resources.
Sets up and monitors timescales and plans.
Problem solving & analysis
Analyses issues and breaks them down into
their component parts.
Makes systematic and rational decisions
based on relevant information.
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Quality orientation
Shows awareness of goals and standards.
Follows through to ensure that quality and
productivity standards are met.
Specialist knowledge
Understands technical or professional aspects
of work and continually maintains technical
knowledge.
Strategic
Demonstrates a broad based view of issues,
events and activities and a perception of their
longer-term impact or wider implications.
Written communication
Writes in a clear and concise manner, using
appropriate grammar, style and language for
the reader.

11. PSYCHOMETRIC TESTS
Q
What should
I do after the
interview?
These are a structured way of evaluating how someone behaves, acts and performs under a range
of circumstances and are often administered online. As with all forms of testing, practice can
help you improve your performance on the day but make sure that you arrive with time to spare,
well presented and calm.
Personality questionnaires are used to determine how people are likely to behave under various
conditions. There are no right or wrong answers and the best way to approach them is to answer
them as honestly and straightforwardly as you can.
Aptitude tests examine abilities such as numerical, verbal or abstract reasoning; they do not test
intelligence or general knowledge. Often presented in a multiple choice format, the questions
have definite right and wrong answers and to be successful you need to work through them as
quickly and accurately as possible.
/company/brewer-morris CV & INTERVIEW GUIDE 11
Do remember that it may be unclear what
role or position the interviewer has within
the organisation so at all times be respectful
towards everyone you meet.
• Find out from the interviewers what the
next steps are in the process
• Let your consultant know your feedback
as soon as possible. It is important for
us to know what you thought of the
organisation, the role, the people who
interviewed you and your impression of
how you performed in the interview.
Psychometrics is the field of
study concerned with the theory
and technique of psychological
measurement, which includes
the measurement of knowledge,
abilities, attitudes, personality
traits, and educational
measurement. The field is
primarily concerned with the
construction and validation of
measurement instruments such
as questionnaires, tests, and
personality assessments.
Best of luck with your interview!

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