[Anonymous]

I would not have believed this could happen if I hadn’t been there myself. Wow! That’s the only thing I can say.

This guy shows up at my office at 4:30pm on Friday, April 11th looking for a job. I introduced myself and then when I told him that he would have to come back at another time because we were swamped, he asked to speak to the “man in charge about setting up an appointment on Tuesday”. I played along thinking this has got to be a practical joke. I go tell my partner that someone wants to see him about a job and he laughed about the “man in charge” comment. He tells me to “let him stew for a few minutes”. So I did. While waiting on the “man in charge” this guy proceeds to tell me that he can do my job in 1/2 the time because he got 91% in Advanced Accounting so the CPA exam is going to be a “piece of cake” and shouldn’t take more than a “month to pass”. My license is hanging on the wall, literally right behind my head. My name is on the freaking building! And he never put two and two together. Finally, “the man in charge” comes out to my desk and introduces himself and then proceeds to introduce me as his partner and tells the guy that “She makes all of the hiring decisions” and points to me. This guy went from the deepest shade of red I have ever seen on a human being to white as a sheet in about 30 seconds. It took him that long to figure out that I was a CPA. I just smiled and said “Good luck with your job search.” When he walked out of the office, I looked at my partner and asked “Did that just happen?” WOW!

[Monkey Wrench]

well, that's a once in a lifetime story right there!

[Monkey Wrench]

well, that's a once in a lifetime story right there!

[MrsBunny]

oh Wow! Should I also assume this guy has no job experience and haven't even started CPA exam process yet.

BEC - 80 (10/27/2010)
REG - 82 (11/30/2010)
FAR - 75 (04/01/2011)
AUD - 82 (05/27/2011)
CA Ethic - 90 (12/15/2013) * I am such a procrastinator
CPA Licensed

[MrsBunny]

oh Wow! Should I also assume this guy has no job experience and haven't even started CPA exam process yet.

BEC - 80 (10/27/2010)
REG - 82 (11/30/2010)
FAR - 75 (04/01/2011)
AUD - 82 (05/27/2011)
CA Ethic - 90 (12/15/2013) * I am such a procrastinator
CPA Licensed

[Guti]

You could have given him a date for a future interview. We all make mistakes and underestimate certain individuals just by the way they look.

FAR-84
AUD-
REG-
BEC-

[Guti]

You could have given him a date for a future interview. We all make mistakes and underestimate certain individuals just by the way they look.

FAR-84
AUD-
REG-
BEC-

[Anonymous]

@14MMonk, you have a point. Substance over form.

Was that man you?

[Anonymous]

@14MMonk, you have a point. Substance over form.

Was that man you?

[Anonymous]

Nice….insert foot in mouth…oh and by the way it wasn't me 😉

[Anonymous]

Nice….insert foot in mouth…oh and by the way it wasn't me 😉

[funtiks]

just curious, what would be the proper way to ask for an interview walking into a firm?

FAR - 76*, 73, 85
BEC - 69, 72, 78*, 80
AUD - 72, 71, 90
REG - 71, 74, 85

AFTER 3 YEARS I'M DONE!!!

[funtiks]

just curious, what would be the proper way to ask for an interview walking into a firm?

FAR - 76*, 73, 85
BEC - 69, 72, 78*, 80
AUD - 72, 71, 90
REG - 71, 74, 85

AFTER 3 YEARS I'M DONE!!!

[Anonymous]

It's times like those that really make you laugh and realize there are just truly ignorant people in the world. Hopefully he will learn from this mistake and read a book or two about how to ask for a job. My favorite interview was when someone said they weren't challenged at their last job so they spent most of their day on Facebook. Really? That's not a reflection on the company they worked for. That's a reflection on themselves and the fact that they couldn't find any way to be useful to the company they worked for once they completed their assigned tasks.

[Anonymous]

It's times like those that really make you laugh and realize there are just truly ignorant people in the world. Hopefully he will learn from this mistake and read a book or two about how to ask for a job. My favorite interview was when someone said they weren't challenged at their last job so they spent most of their day on Facebook. Really? That's not a reflection on the company they worked for. That's a reflection on themselves and the fact that they couldn't find any way to be useful to the company they worked for once they completed their assigned tasks.

[Anonymous]

The whole story is ridiculous, but I think the funniest part that he probably still doesn't realize is that he was demanding an interview on April 15th, which (presuming you do taxes?) is about the worst possible day to ask for one! Shows he knows nothing about the business…let alone anything about political correctness, winning friends, etc. Awesome story Kricket. 🙂

@funtiks Personally when I went cold-calling, I would give them a copy of my resume and cover letter and briefly introduce myself saying something along the lines of “Hi, I've recently graduated with a degree in accounting and wanted to give you a copy of my resume in case you had any open positions.” (Note that it's 8am on a Saturday, so my phrasing may not be the best right now. 😉 ) From there, my goal was friendly conversation if there was an opening…but I think that pushing for an interview (regardless of whether it's April 15th) or pushing to see the manager (regardless of gender) doesn't come across well. Politeness and friendliness goes way further. I got 2 interviews out of my cold calls – one I spoke only to the secretary, who said when I handed it to her “Oh! We're needing an accountant, I'll pass this right on to him…”, and the other the owner/manager happened to be in the front office talking to the other guy, and they'd forgotten to unlock the door after lunch, so the owner/manager ended up being the one to come to the door and unlock it, so I got to talk directly with him. Being able to speak directly with a “big shot” is always helpful, but if you have to be rude to get there, then it's not worth it. You never know whose opinion will matter when the hiring decision is made – it could be that the secretary is married to the owner, so being pushy and rude to get to talk to the owner could be relayed by someone who has more say-so than the owner themselves! (I mean, think about it – if you met with a job candidate, and then talked to your spouse in the front office and they said that this person was rude and annoying, would you hire them? Probably not! Same with a non-spouse receptionist whose opinion you trusted and valued.) I'm sure that you wouldn't have approached it like this guy, just trying to draw contrasts from this story to illustrate what worked well for me.

[Author]

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