There's a task at my interview!

IvyFlood

Hi, I have an interview for a Finance Officer role with a charity and there's a 45 minute task after the interview. Does anyone have any ideas what it could be?

Also, if anyone has any ideas of questions they might ask outside of the usual? Just trying to be as prepared as possible.

TIA

TELLIT01

Probably stating the obvious, but I would assume the task will be related to the work done by a Finance Officer.  Check the key requirements of the role and prepare to work on elements of that.  I doubt anybody can really give a clear indication of specifically what it might be.

Devongardener

I had a similar task for a FO position at a charity a few years ago, although mine was prior to the formal interview and I wasn’t told beforehand.   Mine  was a question about how to account for advance payments for visitor events and courses.  The actual question was quite lengthy.  I only had 30 minutes, so not a lot of time to read and understand, compose, type and review my work.  When I sent it to the printer,  the receptionist said “oh just the one page?”   10 mins before the  actual interview I was given the profit and loss and balance sheet to study.  I had to comment on those in the interview,  and apparently ruined my chances by remarking that they were making a loss - this was met with a very frosty response that as a charity they were not for profit.   I should have done a bit of background research, although still to my mind they could have been breaking even, rather than showing losses.     Good luck with your interview!

General_Grant

Devongardener said:

I had a similar task for a FO position at a charity a few years ago, although mine was prior to the formal interview and I wasn’t told beforehand.   Mine  was a question about how to account for advance payments for visitor events and courses.  The actual question was quite lengthy.  I only had 30 minutes, so not a lot of time to read and understand, compose, type and review my work.  When I sent it to the printer,  the receptionist said “oh just the one page?”   10 mins before the  actual interview I was given the profit and loss and balance sheet to study.  I had to comment on those in the interview,  and apparently ruined my chances by remarking that they were making a loss - this was met with a very frosty response that as a charity they were not for profit.   I should have done a bit of background research, although still to my mind they could have been breaking even, rather than showing losses.     Good luck with your interview!

I expect the OP knows that a charity will have an annual surplus or deficit rather than profit or loss.

Own_Worst_Enermy

Why do you need to cheat - either you can or can't do job.

In early 2014 going for a customer service job that involved spreadsheets, surely it was better it came to light to light then that I couldn't create a spreadsheet then wondering through some 6 months and an interview access pretending I could.

Sorry I would never dream of trying to treat an interview in these times, although some might think it is a laugh, I don't recommend it. You had to work to work with the people; not internet forum posters.

elsien

Own_Worst_Enermy said:

Why do you need to cheat - either you can or can't do job.

In early 2014 going for a customer service job that involved spreadsheets, surely it was better it came to light to light then that I couldn't create a spreadsheet then wondering through some 6 months and an interview access pretending I could.

Sorry I would never dream of trying to treat an interview in these times, although some might think it is a laugh, I don't recommend it. You had to work to work with the people; not internet forum posters.

In what way is trying to prepare for an interview cheating??
It isn’t just about whether you can do the job or not, it’s about convincing the panel you can do the job better than the other candidates who can also do the job?

The rest of your reply is a tad hard to follow. 

Devongardener

General_Grant said:

Devongardener said:

I had a similar task for a FO position at a charity a few years ago, although mine was prior to the formal interview and I wasn’t told beforehand.   Mine  was a question about how to account for advance payments for visitor events and courses.  The actual question was quite lengthy.  I only had 30 minutes, so not a lot of time to read and understand, compose, type and review my work.  When I sent it to the printer,  the receptionist said “oh just the one page?”   10 mins before the  actual interview I was given the profit and loss and balance sheet to study.  I had to comment on those in the interview,  and apparently ruined my chances by remarking that they were making a loss - this was met with a very frosty response that as a charity they were not for profit.   I should have done a bit of background research, although still to my mind they could have been breaking even, rather than showing losses.     Good luck with your interview!

I expect the OP knows that a charity will have an annual surplus or deficit rather than profit or loss.

Maybe so, but I as an experienced financial controller in a profit driven industrial sector,  had really not considered this, as I say, I should have done my homework,  so just trying to suggest the OP might give it some thought.

74jax

Own_Worst_Enermy said:

Why do you need to cheat - either you can or can't do job.

In early 2014 going for a customer service job that involved spreadsheets, surely it was better it came to light to light then that I couldn't create a spreadsheet then wondering through some 6 months and an interview access pretending I could.

Sorry I would never dream of trying to treat an interview in these times, although some might think it is a laugh, I don't recommend it. You had to work to work with the people; not internet forum posters.

I don't understand your reply at all? Is it on the right thread? 

prowla

elsien said:

Own_Worst_Enermy said:

Why do you need to cheat - either you can or can't do job.

In early 2014 going for a customer service job that involved spreadsheets, surely it was better it came to light to light then that I couldn't create a spreadsheet then wondering through some 6 months and an interview access pretending I could.

Sorry I would never dream of trying to treat an interview in these times, although some might think it is a laugh, I don't recommend it. You had to work to work with the people; not internet forum posters.

In what way is trying to prepare for an interview cheating??
It isn’t just about whether you can do the job or not, it’s about convincing the panel you can do the job better than the other candidates who can also do the job?

The read of your reply is a tad hard to follow. 

Preparing for an interview is eminently sensible.

Actually, there are some sites which have prepared interview questions/tasks in specialist areas, so they are worth checking out; they may give a flavour of the kinds of things which may be covered, though not be the exact questions asked in a specific case.

I've had interview activities/tests several times:

• A while back I was job hunting and one prospective employer gave a task to prepare for an interview and it took several hours to do and then I gave a presentation; they said they didn't like my method, so I didn't get that job.
• Another time I went for an interview and they asked me if I'd prepared the exercise and I said what exercise?; they gave me a few minutes to prepare and then I gave a presentation. They offered me the job at a higher salary than published.
• Another one gave me three 1-hour online tests to do, followed by several hours of interviews on-site; the online tests were really the 11-plus, which we'd been coaching our kids to do, and were a fundamental company-wide requirement - I treated them as an interesting exercise. In my time at the company, there were some candidates who refused to do them and others who failed them.
  
• My last employer did three on-site interviews with test scenarios covering design, problem-solving, and technical aspects.
• Whilst I was looking this time around, another tried giving me an exercise to prepare and present and I looked at it and said it represented hours of work and I wasn't prepared to go ahead with it.
• With my current employer, I prepared some demonstrations in advance showing my approach and techniques; when the interview got to that general area I offered to screen share and showed them my work. I've been in that job for a few months now and it seems to be going well.

My experience is that the tests can sometimes be a useful tool, sometimes be a waste of time, and sometimes give you an insight into the company and their issues or expectations; the gist of it, though, is that it makes good sense to get the lie of the land and be prepared.

As an aside, one thing to remember with interviews is that it is a two-way process and you are also interviewing the prospective employer.

TELLIT01

General_Grant said:

Devongardener said:

I had a similar task for a FO position at a charity a few years ago, although mine was prior to the formal interview and I wasn’t told beforehand.   Mine  was a question about how to account for advance payments for visitor events and courses.  The actual question was quite lengthy.  I only had 30 minutes, so not a lot of time to read and understand, compose, type and review my work.  When I sent it to the printer,  the receptionist said “oh just the one page?”   10 mins before the  actual interview I was given the profit and loss and balance sheet to study.  I had to comment on those in the interview,  and apparently ruined my chances by remarking that they were making a loss - this was met with a very frosty response that as a charity they were not for profit.   I should have done a bit of background research, although still to my mind they could have been breaking even, rather than showing losses.     Good luck with your interview!

I expect the OP knows that a charity will have an annual surplus or deficit rather than profit or loss.

So the terminology used by Devongardener was incorrect.  The reality of the statement still valid.  If they are not creating a surplus they will go bust.

ElefantEd

TELLIT01 said:

General_Grant said:

Devongardener said:

I had a similar task for a FO position at a charity a few years ago, although mine was prior to the formal interview and I wasn’t told beforehand.   Mine  was a question about how to account for advance payments for visitor events and courses.  The actual question was quite lengthy.  I only had 30 minutes, so not a lot of time to read and understand, compose, type and review my work.  When I sent it to the printer,  the receptionist said “oh just the one page?”   10 mins before the  actual interview I was given the profit and loss and balance sheet to study.  I had to comment on those in the interview,  and apparently ruined my chances by remarking that they were making a loss - this was met with a very frosty response that as a charity they were not for profit.   I should have done a bit of background research, although still to my mind they could have been breaking even, rather than showing losses.     Good luck with your interview!

I expect the OP knows that a charity will have an annual surplus or deficit rather than profit or loss.

So the terminology used by Devongardener was incorrect.  The reality of the statement still valid.  If they are not creating a surplus they will go bust.

Terminology is quite important in finance! And in this case showed a lack of understanding of the sector the job was in, so quite legitimately was viewed as negative.

Also, whether they go bust depends on a) the size of the deficit compared to the assets (if it would take 1000 years to run out of money is it really a problem) and b) whether they always have a deficit or if deficits and surpluses tend to balance each other out.

As far as the OP's question goes, the exercise could be to take some information and prepare some draft accounts, or prepare a budget for a mini-project, or analyse expenditure to see if a budget is on track. If you know your way around a finance office you should be able to do it. It's likely to be a way of weeding out candidates who don't have the experience/knowledge that are needed.