HAT interview?

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I have a phone interview coming up with HAT, from what i gather, they've changed their recruitment process.

i think it goes a little something like this

application
online tests
telephone interview
Face-to-face interview.
Interview with firm

im guessing the telephone interview is something general, probly questions like, tell me about urself, why accounting, why ACA what do u know about accounting.
The face-to-face interview i think is a compentency one. im unsure about what competencies these may be.

If someones gone through the new process, please fill me in!

my telephone interview is on TUESDAY!

Any help is much appreciated.

Many thanks.

HI
I have a telephone interview next week with HAT and was just wondering how you got on ??

what questions did they ask etc etc

thanks for any help and advice

Thanks for your help

hi... could anyone be kind enough to tell me what the latest process of HAT is... when do they actually test you and stuff? or is it now just interviewed based?

Hi
so far i have completed 2 online tests - numeracy and verbal- then its the telephone interview - they just asked about me and my qualifications etc etc - and now its a first round interview at the London Office - has anyone been for an interview and know what questions they are likely to ask ??

Thanks for any help

Hi, I have just been invited to sit the online maths test and was wondering what the tests were like as they do not provide any practice questions!
Does anyone have any suggestions where I can do some practice questions?
Many Thanks

Hey guys, I have been put through to the telephone interview stage, only just passed the tests! Any advice concerning it? I have read all about HAT, the ACA and the CPD courses that they offer, so should have that part covered.
And I have written up about why I did my subject (degree level and a-level), and why I want to do the ACA. Also, if I do get through this stage, how long do people generally wait for their face-to-face interview?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated right now
Many Thanks

hey mate, how was the first round interview at the london office? and what sort of questions came up?

Hi, this is a great thread but it would be even better if there was some more stuff on the face-to-face interviews. Please could someone post something about it? Cosmo456 or ricksta since I assume both of you got to the interview stage. I know it's a few months ago but something is better than nothing. Thanks

any1 applying for the january 2011 start (ACA) and has already had the telephone interview or face-2-face interview?just wondering what sort questions they ask...

I had a fast track to the face-to-face interview.

I was asked about why I wanted to do accountancy, why not my degree, what I know about the ACA scheme, and competency questions:

Team
Oral communication
and another I can't remember at the moment.

I buggered up the verbal aptitude test though as I didn't realise where the questions were (all verbal and reasoning tests previous have had a passage of text then a question, but here you just get one passage of text and 10 questions afterwards). I counted the pages and it just happened to be 10 pages so I thought there was a fault with my browser, which cost me 5 minutes (I understandably panicked).

The definitions they ask for in the verbal test are rather stupid, as you will learn all the financial and accountancy terminology during the ACA scheme, but oh well.

Anyway. good luck and I hope you guys have a better stab at it.

I had my telephone interview. The questions were obviously directed towards me as someone who has already graduated so just think about how the questions might be different in your personal case:

 - You graduated in 2009, what sort of things have you been doing since then?
 - What job do you do currently? What does that entail?
 - Why accountancy?
 - What sort of firms have you applied to?
 - Tell me about the extracurricular activity that has had the most impact on you?

Good luck!

Hi I did have a face to face interview - the questions were mainly about what I had done at college and some competencies - I had already looked this up and had some answers ready - there was only one person interviewing me and I felt it all went quite well - she told me about the vacancies they had etc - however I then got an email saying they had upped the grades needed so they could not take my application further although I could e-mail again if my A level results were higher than predicted - I have since started an AAT place at another company and quite a few of the people at college had also applied to HAT and got no further than the face to face interviews. I found my job via the AAT website if thats of any help.

Hey

Has anyone had the telephone interview with HAT group yet? I have mine tomorrow and would appreciate any help such as kind of questions asked?

Hi..

I've got my face-to-face interview in February. I'm applying for an AAT Trainee position. They said it would be a competency based interview. What competencies will they ask about? Also for anyone that's had theirs, how long did their interview last for?

Thanks :)

this thread is a bit dry with interview experience so i thought id share......i had my face to face just the other day..n i got asked a lot more competency questions than people have written here. She asked me about the ACCA qualification which lead onto why accountancy. Then she jumped into the competencies..Oral communication, written skills, a time where iv had to use my initiative, a time where iv changed a process at work, time where iv had to deal with a difficult customer, time where iv dealt with sensitive information/confidentiality and a question on commercial awareness..ie tell me about a recent business news story. Interview questions lasted about 45 mins and she will let you know if you've passed in the interview (she did for me)..but the way she made it sound was that because i was applying for the ACCA, my questions were a little harder. whether that means that my answers had to be better or whether it meant that i was asked more questions, i dont know. but be prepared for all competencies. hope this helps

Thank you so much kkwjo761!
My interview is tomorrow and this is such a massive help. I better go and look into some recent business news stories now... I will let you all know tomorrow how it went.

Ok I had my interview a few hours ago. I had one interviewer who was lovely. My situation is different in that I didnt apply to HAT originally but to a firm and then the firm asked HAT to go through the recruitment process with me so at the end she told me that she will pass on her notes to the firm itself and they will decide if they will interview me.
She spent a lot of time in the beginning trying to understand me and my background since I am not the usual graduate who turns up at HAT. I am 27 and have worked in accounts for a few years already but I never went to university. After understanding me she asked me a few competencies but no way near the amount that kkwjo761 was asked. That could be because she spent so much time trying to understand my background. I was asked about oral communication, written skills, something i've changed at work, team work and commercial awareness. She also asked me why chartered accountancy (I am AAT qualified and in middle of ACCA) and where I see myself in say 5 years time. The one question I was dreading - about using initiative - she didn't ask :)
I hope this helps anyone else who is going through it all.
Once again, thanks so much to kkwjo761 for helping me prepare very well for the answers!

Does anyone know what they will ask for the AAT face to face interview? is it as much as they asked for ACCA and ACA?

Has anyone had any final interviews with HAT firms? What did they ask?

Hey, Can anyone give feedback on what companies are looking for or asking in the last round interview? Anyone had a job offer yet?

They all ask different things.

But they always (well mine did) ask...

Why this firm?
Why a smaller firm?
Why do you want to be an accountant?

They also ask you what questions you have about the firm. You will need at least 5 intelligent ones, I think.

Then you get to talk to a current trainee and can ask other questions.

They all do their own thing really.

Thanks squeaky!

Where have you been put forward to? I am still waiting to hear what firms I will get put towards!

Do you get put to more than one firm or is that your only opportunity?

Thanks for the help!!

I got put forward to Lewis Golden, Shelley Stock Hutter and Everetts.

They were all really nice to me and seemed like fantastic places to work, much better than the big four.

I think people usually get put forward to two firms.

Thanks for all the help. I have my telephone interview on Tuesday. The question that really stumps me is: What do HAT do?

Seriously, what do they do? I believe they represent a whole host of small to medium sized accounting firms primarily in and around London, but what else do they do?

thanks again Squeaky

Have you heard back from any of the firms yet? How long does it take for firm to get back to you or are you not sure?

Hopefully I will be recommended to one soon - fingers crossed anyway!

Lucky getting put to three hey!!

I had three interviews. The first two did not offer me a job. They told me within a week. I knew I hadn't performed very well, I was insanely nervous and kept saying the wrong thing!

I still haven't heard back from the last one though, I don't think I was too bad so fingers crossed.

HAT is a training consortium. As well as recruiting trainees, they run practical courses for us, eg in book keeping (in addition to the ACA training from Kaplan).

HAT trainees come together for the ACA courses run by Kaplan (arguably the best training provider). Essentially, joining a HAT firm means that you can get all the benefits of working for a smaller firm but don't miss out on the great training offered by the big four.

They also provide technical, compliance and update services to member firms (see website).

Aww Good Luck.

I guess the waiting game isn't too fun! What do you think your chances are? Do they let you know how many people you are up against?

I just got invited to a second interview with Everetts. They couldn't decide between me and one other candidate so I am going back down to London. I think they interviewed about five other candidates.

Oh wow. You must be really pleased. What does the second interview entail then? I really hope I hear if I get an interview soon!

I'm not sure.

I have a telephone interview with HAT on thursday, this thread has been very helpful. Just out of interest what degrees and unis is everyone from. I am from UCL and study maths with economics.

Sounds like you are a great candidate. I am at Durham studying Philosophy, Anthropology and Psychology.

I didn't expect the competition to be so high, Durham is a good uni. I would be very annoyed if they rejected.

I just had my telephone interview (for ACA) with the recruiter, which didnt start well as I gave her the fax number instead of the telephone number.....whoops

Anyways, she asked me why my choice of degree and she saw that I failed a few exams in my second year and asked to me explain why. Then she went over the application questions (as my responses were a bit thin).

She then said she wanted to invite me to a face-to-face interview and was going to email me the details. (Yay) All in all, it took about 10 minutes.

Basically, the interview is a very personal one where she wants to get to know a bit more about you. There are no competencies questions and its just so she can get a better understanding of you.

Hope that helps.

Do you think they look in to your university choice that much? How you feeling squeaky have you got to wait a while for the next interview?

well done Lotak! on to the next stage now!

A little but to be honest its not IB so I don't think they care that much. Why which uni are you at?

I'm at Newcastle so it is all fine. I was just curious to how much it does effect it? Because obvs UCL and Durham are better etc. Hopefully they want some personality as well though!

Just because I go to UCL doesn't mean my personality lacks...

I'm fairly certain they don't really care what University you went to or what you studied. What Anna is looking for is the reasoning behind choosing your course and University and if you considered any alternatives. If you got an interview with her, then it means that you have passed the initial pre-screening test. If they thought that you weren't good enough because you went to a low tier Uni, then you wouldn't have gotten an interview, so clearly anyone that has got an interview has passed all the pre-screening and is potentially good enough.

Also, just to add to the questions she asked me, she also asked what kind of work culture am I looking for. My answer was something to do with why working for a smaller firm is advantageous because everyone knows each other and you can't get lost in the system like you can at a big firm etc.....

Anyways, as I said before, she makes a decision there and then if she wants to invite you to a face-to-face interview and interview dates are almost immediate. The earliest I can do my interview is Tuesday 1st March at 10am.

She didn't make a decision there and then for me... I thought she would too as someone mentioned before, so I thought I had failed that day. But, I received an email the following week saying that I've been recommended to a firm.

zcomputer5 - I didn't mean that I meant my grades aren't out standing and so I am hopeful personality counts for alot also. I know many people at UCL. Sorry for that misunderstanding I meant no harm!!!!

Well done Lokat you will be fine!

treehouse did your interview go well? How scary but you did well so should be really chuffed.

Anyone had some news about getting a training contract yet?

lozza- I am glad to hear that! Don't worry when you get to the interview, grades don't mean much. My grades at outstanding either. I am only just on a first.

I just hope there is enough places for everyone, I don't even have my telephone interview until next week!

Don't be too worried about your grades. When I had the telephone interview, she pointed to the fact that I failed THREE exams in my second year and asked me to explain that. I told her I avereaged just 51% in the second year and had to make up the 9% to get a 2:1 which I did through hard work and determination. Her response was that its what she liked to hear and that's what is expected of HAT accountants.

For you, as long as you maintain your grades, and even if you do drop down to a high 2:1 (say 68%), then it won't be a problem. You wouldn't be the first person to drop from a low first to a 2:1. But I'm sure you won't. Anyway, its about how you respond to it that matters to her.

And don't stress too much on the telephone interview, it really is very basic. They are usually very general, although mine were specific to me because of certain circumstances (my failed exams and the fact my application questions were "bare").

Good luck!

With regards to the face to face interview, what kind of competencies is she looking for? And what kind of "Commercial Awareness" questions does she ask.

I was supposed to have a telephone interview tomorrow however it got cancelled and I am going straight to the face to face interview stage. Has this happened to anyone else?

Commercial awareness questions:
- Tell me about a recent news
- Where from and why do you follow the news

Anyone had any luck regarding Jobs yet? What about you squeaky heard any good news?

Yeah, I got a job today. Yay!