Congratulations Students!! For clearing CA Intermediate. You have successfully cleared the first level of Chartered Accountancy course. Now, the next move is 3 years Articleship training, here the actual journey begins. You are required to complete three years of practical training under a practicing Chartered Accountant.

Articleship is referred to as a Golden Period among the CA Students. Here the candidates get introduce with the real world challenges. They deal with the clients, do the audit on behalf of their principal, handle the case laws, assist the principal or senior in front of the Income Tax Officers etc.

Although selection in these firms is not easy. You have to work hard for getting shortlisted, build an impressive resume, prepare yourself for the GD’s, face to face interview etc. In today’s article, we are going to share with you some of such advice which will help you in CA Internship at Big Corporates.

So, without wasting your time here we go…

Stay Update With the Recent News –

Develop into your habit to read at least two business newspapers daily. It is very obvious that you should be updated with the recent news or amendments in the laws, provisions. You could attend the workshops conducted by ICAI or join some professional clubs. Regularly visit the ICAI website as the CA institute issues all the relevant amendments on its website along with their notification. ICAI website can be taken as the primary source to remain updated.
You can also visit SEBI/RBI/Incometaxindia or other governing bodies websites as they play a major role in keeping you updated.

In the present time, every student has a smartphone, hence you can also take the help of some news apps. The common apps being used by CA Students are Moneycontrol, Economic Times, TOI, Bloomberg etc.

Invest Time on your Resume –

A resume is the first thing which will help you in getting shortlisted in the corporate sector. Copying the objective para from your friend’s CV won’t help you in getting articleship in these firms. You have to invest a sufficient time over your resume and make it attractive and formal as well. This is the best way to impress an interviewer without speaking a single word.

You might be aware that interviewers always keep your resume in there hand during your interview. They ask a number of questions from the area of interest you given there like if you noted that you like Taxation, they will ask you multiple questions from the Direct or Indirect Tax Laws. So, make sure that you are not writing anything unnecessarily.

You can take the help of your senior or even google for an impressive resume.

Prepare Yourself for the Technical Questions –

Undoubtedly, you have to be ready for the technical round. An interviewer can ask any questions he thinks you must be aware of. The question may be from your syllabus, or it might be a trending topic for say express your opinion over the implementation of GST or IFRS in our country.

Often students leave the books after the exams, you are not expected to do the same mistake. Revise your books again before appearing in an interview and especially tax, law, audit and accounts. The interviewer is not expecting you to forget the laws were included in your Intermediate syllabus.

Prepare Yourself for the Group Discussions –

You might be aware that most of the big corporates conduct group discussions to select cream candidates from the crowd. Around 80% of the students are rejected through GD’s. Even the rankers also get out from this round. Only the candidates who have impressive communication skills, fluent English, command over the topic and most importantly, a good presenter can clear this round. In this round, you have to prove that you are better than other candidates. You have to give the company a reason, that you will be an asset to them and not a liability.

If your communication skills are poor, start working over it now. If you are not a good presenter, start taking GD’s at your home with your siblings or friends through WhatsApp, skype etc. Join some toastmaster club or take the help of an individual trainer. Do whatever you can do in these two months.

Build Network –

After the CA IPCC/Intermediate exams, students usually rush to complete four weeks ITT and OT (a mandatory training before the commencement of articleship). In both of the above programmes, you will be going to meet a number of candidates and top faculties. Built a good relationship at these places. Most of the Big 4 hiring is done through references. Hence, your references must be strong enough which can forward your CV to the hiring team.

Don’t be hesitate in asking for a reference because the real-world competition is cut-throat. If you don’t grab this opportunity, others will grab it. So, be attentive and build a strong network.

HR Round –

HR’s are not Chartered Accountant so here you don’t need to give technical answers. They test your general sense to deal with difficult situations, they test your confidence, they test your attitude, they ask personal questions like what your parents do, Do you have siblings, what are they doing, If they are Engineer, why you haven’t opted engineering etc. Here your all answers will be straightforward.

They observe your style, your appearance, your sitting posture, your personality and of course your fitting for the Job. They also ask you some tricky questions like Why do you want to join our company? What matters you “Stipend or Company”? We have candidates sitting outside who scored marks better than you then why we select you? What are your weaknesses? etc.

You need to carefully answer all these questions. No ifs, no buts, simple straight answers. They should not feel that you get trap into their tricky questions. Instead, you should try to leave an impression that you can easily handle these situations.

Start Some Experiments –

Result get announce after 2½ months of CA Intermediate Examination. In this time, you can create your brand, try some experiments like start your youtube channel, or start writing blogs. These things are actually helpful in creating your good impression in front of the interviewer.

It is not mandatory that you have to write over the Chartered Accountancy course only, or you need to explain the technical provisions of law and taxation. The youtube channel or blogs can relate to anything, whatever you are interested. If you have a deep interest in cricket, football, you can write about them. Just try something new and better than others.

These are some advice which can help you in getting an Internship at Big Corporates. Apart from all the above, remember you should be confident while carrying yourself in front of the interviewer, any nervousness can leave a bad impression. At last, the interviewer may ask you to put questions if any you have. You can ask questions which is worthy, any idiotic question can ruin all your efforts. Hope you like this article so share it with maximum friends and leave your suggestions in the comment section given below.

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