7 Essential Tips To Crack Your Risk Management Interview
Risk management profiles are the most sought after in the financial services sector. At the same time, there is plenty of talent out there to compete for these profiles. For a hiring manager or an HR person, finding the right talent for a role is quite a task. Most resumes designed for these profiles look the same in terms of qualifications, academic prowess and ability to work under pressure. In such situations, the interview can become a deal clincher for a potential candidate. Naturally, it is of utmost importance to crack such an interview. Let us look at some super important points that will go a long way for your risk management interviews.
Rate yourself on essential qualities
Every profile has a set of essential qualities. These are like foundation stones. You cannot do without them. Study the essential qualities needed for an excellent risk manager. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being the least) on these skills. Better get few of your friends in the same line of business to rate you. This self-rating and assessment by friends who know you and the job at hand will help in building your confidence. Plus, it helps you understand how you are being perceived. A major part of the interview is perception handling. It goes without saying that you need to buck up and work on the qualities on which you are scoring low.
Brush up your academics
It is a common tendency to lose sight of basic academic principles and focus on peripheral things when it comes to interviews. Yeah, dressing right, having an open body language and all that jazz is important. These things add value if and only if your academics are in place. Ensure you have brushed up on all your basic academic knowledge that goes into risk management profile interviews. In this particular context, it is the knowledge of finance. You need to be really strong with all the principles of finance that play into managing risk management roles.
These two points really are all about you being the best at the risk management role you are aspiring to build a career in. These two apply to your favorite role across any company. The next part of this article is all about how you prepare for a specific company.
Learn all you can about the company
You apply to a particular company for a risk management role because you want to start, build and add to your career. If none of these are reasons for you, then you should seriously reconsider your application. Well, if one or more of these are reasons, then you sure should learn all you can about the company you are applying to. Right from information like financial services the company offers, portfolios the company deals with, the clientele the company serves and so on. Are you wondering what will you do with all this information? Well, a couple of things are :
- You can plot your long term career graph if you get to work in this company
- You can get an understanding of the leadership in the company
- You can get to know the kind and the depth of work you will get involved in
These pointers might sound lofty but the truth is these aspects will help you take a better decision for long term career growth. So spend as much time as you can to learn these aspects before you go for the interview.
Check out your personal network for a contact
There is no better source of information than a personal contact working in the company you are applying to. You will get to know a lot from the grapevine that a formal channel will not disclose. Company culture and employee perks are just the beginning of this bit of information you will know. Your ability to enquire is the only determining factor of how much you can learn from such a source.
These two points help you get an inside out feel of the company you are applying to. The next and probably one of the most important aspects of a risk management interview is the resume itself. Let’s look at a couple of pointers regarding this.
Let your resume be a trailer of you
Your resume should be a reflection of you. Since it cannot completely capture you as a professional, it should act like a trailer that gives out the key storyline. The trailer should be interesting and promising enough for the interviewer. The purpose of the resume is to get you in the chair across the interviewer. To this end, the resume should be honest and relevant. It should have the rights points of interest which you will be able to capture if you do your homework well on the points we discussed so far.
Support everything on the resume with factual instances
The reason you get the interview is that your resume has shown promise. The interviewer is hopeful of finding the right match in you and hence the interview. Grab this opportunity to ensure that the best of you is perceived. One critical thing to do in this regard is to be able to present and support everything on your resume with facts and real life instances. If possible be sure to add in numbers and percentages. After all you are applying for a risk management profile in financial services. Numbers should come easy.
Don’t recite your resume
It is super important not to recite your resume. You are not a parrot! Reciting gives an impression of someone who is desperate. Talk about the things you have done like a person in charge. It builds the confidence of the interviewer in your abilities.
Make note of these important points and ensure that you put your best foot forward in your risk management interviews. Preparation always reduces the risk!