From a Chartered Accountant Intern at a Small Firm to an Industrial Trainee at IIFL – Treasury

Today I have a great article by Devansh Kakkad a Chartered Accountant student at The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).

He is sharing about Industrial Training – How he applied for Industrial Training, Why he Applied, and all his learnings.

Devansh is a CA Final student and Industrial trainee at IIFL (India Infoline Finance Limited-NBFC) in their Treasury department, in Mumbai, India.

Note: When one pursues Chartered Accountancy from ICAI there is a mandatory internship of 3 years. 2 years of the total 3-year period internship has to be in a traditional Chartered Accountant Firm and the last 1 year could be (optional) from a Corporate. This 1 year in a corporate organization is known as Industrial Training.

MY JOURNEY

I am basically from Rajkot, India, and born and brought up there.

I came to Mumbai to do my CA internship. I did the first 2 years of my CA internship at a very small Chartered Accountant Firm in Mumbai.

In my last year, I decided on going for Industrial Training.

I cleared the CA – CPT (1^st level CA exam from ICAI) on my 1^st attempt. I cleared the CA – IPCC exam (2^nd level CA Exam from ICAI which consists of 2 groups – Group 1 and Group 2) on my 3rd attempt.

So it is a COMPLETE MYTH that only those who clear IPCC on their 1^st attempt can apply for Industrial Training.

Anyone can apply for Industrial Training.

Having done my articleship from a small Chartered Accounting firm, getting IIFL for my Industrial Training was a BIG THING.

I had never seen such an amazing workplace earlier except for in movies.

It also made me believe that – Even Interns from small firms can get amazing opportunities as Industrial Trainees.

I have completed 6 months of Industrial Training so far and my experience has been REALLY GOOD.

Fortunately, I have amazing colleagues and kind and understanding seniors who guide me in every step.

WHEN DID I START APPLYING FOR INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

• My 1^st preference for industrial training was Nomura. But when I applied there, there was no vacancy at that time.
• However, after joining IIFL, I got a call from Nomura.
• So I feel that every student must start applying 1.5 – 2 months before joining anywhere else.
• Example: I wanted to start my IT from 1^st May 2018, so I started applying on 1^st April 2018 but ideally I needed to start applying from 10-15 March 2018.
• Luckily IIFL is amazing and I am blessed to be a part of it.

HOW MANY COMPANIES DID I APPLY TO FOR INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

• I sent my resume to every possible company that I could reach through various websites.
• The selection process is not very long; it depends on the organization’s needs. For me, it took almost 8-9 days starting from sending my resume and getting an offer letter from IIFL.
• Normally they conduct interviews based on departmental needs, and we can apply to those areas where we are interested.
• I also got a call from Morgan Stanley (did you attend the interview) and the lady on the other side told me it will take 1 month for all the background checks, tests, and interviews so yes depends on the company’s policy.
• I did not attend any rounds of the interview at Morgan Stanley as the process was around 1-1.5 months and working hours were almost 10-11 hour days plus my office was far from my hostel.
• Also, CA’s Final study leave was only 65 days at Morgan Stanley which was too little for me.
• So I politely declined the opportunity as it did not meet my goals.

INTERVIEW TIPS WHEN APPLYING TO IIFL FOR INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

• My interview at IIFL was awesome as I prepared really well for it. This is what I exactly did.
• Prepared Yourself for the Interview
• I read my resume and identified potential questions that could be asked during the interview.
• I then prepared my answers accordingly to those potential questions.
• So I took the time to practice answering interview questions that could be asked during the interview. This strategy will help give you a chance to prepare and practice answers, and will also help calm your nerves because you won’t be scrambling for an answer while you’re in the interview hot seat.
• I also reviewed common job interview questions and answers and thought about how I could respond to those questions.
• Before you go on a job interview, it’s important to find out as much as you can about not only the role you applying for but also the company.

Company Research:

• This is a critical part of interview preparation.
• It will help you prepare to answer interview questions about the company and to ask the interviewer questions about the company.
• You will also be able to find out whether the company and the company culture are a good fit for you.
• I personally went through the entire company’s website as well as Wikipedia, Bloomberg, Moneycontrol, LinkedIn, YouTube, and every possible information available on the internet about IIFL.
• The most important is to remember – The names of Key the Management Personnel of the organization, the latest news of the organization, and the last financials of the company.
• I was even asked about the current share price of the company.
• I also brushed up my knowledge of what I learned during my articleship.
• So I did my research really well and impressed the interviewer with that.
• I told them about how the founders met each other, and how they decided to start this company (these details were available online).
• So yes I did a lot of reading on IIFL. Doing this shows the interviewers that you really are keen on joining the organization.

RESUME TIPS

• Keep your resume simple. Nobody is going to read a long story on your CV.
• Keep it simple and make sure you do not exaggerate much about yourself.
• Have a nice cover letter as well.

INTERVIEW ROUNDS

When I interviewed at IIFL for the role there were 2 rou­­nds of the interview – Telephonic and Personal Interview.

So basically I got a call from the HR at IIFL informing me that I have been shortlisted.

Then they asked me a few basic questions like – Tell me about yourself, tell me about your Articleship experience, etc. This was hardly around 4-5 mins.

Basically what they asked me during the interview are as follows:

• Why Industrial Training and not articleship.
• Why do you want to apply for Treasury
• Why is this company and not any other company
• Give us a little background about our organization
• Your Learnings from the articleship following and a few technical questions based on my articleship

I also had a Telephonic interview with DMI Finance where they asked me a few technical stuff about Tax Audits as I had mentioned the same in my resume.

He also asked me how Tax audits are conducted and how you Start a Tax Audit.

So in short the questions were all based on what I mentioned on my resume.

REMUNERATION DURING INDUSTRIAL TRAINING

• Normally an MNC gives INR 20 to 30K per month.
• Some organizations like Goldman Sachs give INR 50K per month, and P&G gives INR 50-55K per month. (These are all rough estimates as per my research. So pls do your own research before going ahead)
• But remember one thing the more you get paid the more you need to devote your time to the office.

TO CONCLUDE…

• Even if you have cleared IPCC in multiple attempts – YOU CAN APPLY FOR INDUSTRIAL TRAINING.
• If you are from a small Chartered Accounting Firm it will be really helpful if you apply for Industrial Training.
• Start applying for Industrial Training at least 2 months before joining.