CA Final is one of the most gruesome exams you would've faced in your life. 4 months of studying 10 hours a day might have taken a toll on your life, health & dreams. But the worst is yet to come. Placements!!. I know you deserve some rest. Take a break for a week or two. Binge watch your favorite series. Sleep like a Buffalo. Travel to the best destinations. Catch up with all your friends. Spend some family time. But then get ready after a week. All your life you've worked hard to work in that dream company or see that bank balance in your account. You are this close to achieving it. Don't get complacent now. The 4 months between appearing for the exams & appearing for your dream companies is going have a lot of impact (maybe more than what has happened in the last 20 years of your life) if you work productively. I secured the best of marks anyone can dream of. Appeared for Interviews in dream companies like Marico, ABG & BCG. One thing was common with the results there. Rejection. I completely wasted these 4 months. Ended up with a less than average placement in a unheard of PSU. Made a bad career decision to join there. Working there, I implemented the learning. Improved myself every single day. And cleared the interviews of IIM Calcutta. Following are some of my learnings that might help you. (Don't see this as an exhaustive list. The internet is littered with articles on how to approach these 4 months. Explore & learn.)
1) Make a calculated guess on what are your chances of clearing the exams. CA Results can be quite unpredictable. If you're more than 50% sure that you're going clear it, start working for the interviews. Otherwise, start working for the next attempt. Don't wait for your results.
Try to complete your Advance ITT before the results & GMCS just after the results are announced. This way you won't be busy doing your ITT & GMCS while interviews are going on. If you're a Semi-Qualified, you may also join a CA Firm to gain exposures on the area you were not able to gain experience during Articleships. 2) Life ka Sapna Kya hai - Spend a week in getting clarity about what you want to do further in your life.
Be it staring your own Practice
Working for a Big 4
Working in a MNC
Breaking into a Finance Role (read Investment Banking)
Starting up something (be it a coaching class or any other venture)
Higher Studies (MBA, UPSC, Law, etc.)
Getting into Family Business
Everything you do after this shall revolve around this future goal. (Read this up, to gain more clarity on the various Courses you can pursue for Higher Studies.) If you feel that you might secure a Rank, you will require a hell lot of preparations for the Interviews & Group Discussions. You'll be competing with the best of brains in solving case studies, winning Group activities, shinning in Group discussions & appearing for Interviews.
3) Experiment - Try out different things, that you always wanted to try out. It can be anything that either you enjoy doing or that can help you add any skills.
Start Investing. Track the share market.
Join a NGO (Eg. - CRY, Teach for India, Robin Hood Army etc)
Join Toastmasters (It is the BEST way to improve your public speaking. Takes just 2 hours in a week)
Build a Website & offer your services (Eg - Create a website to File IT Returns)
Start a YouTube Channel
Start writing a Blog (I am doing just that :P)
Fall in love. Get into a Relationship.
Go for that Trek or Solo Trip you always wanted to
Learn a New Language (Use Duolingo)
Read 1 Novel in a week (Also try AudioBooks.
Also learn basic skills of MS Excel, MS Power-point, Negotiating with Clients, Social Media Marketing etc.
4) Work on a good One-Page Resume. Your resume summarizes 20 years of your life.
Make sure you have a One-Page resume with RELEVANT Details. People have this habit of writing mundane stuff or essays in their resume. Remember that the recruiter isn't going to look at your resume for more than 60 Secs.
Make sure you make a professional Resume highlighting all the achievements of your life.
You might have worked on a lot of clients during your articleships. Highlight the work according to the Job Profile you're aiming for. If you want to get into Taxation, highlight only the projects you had done that was remotely related to Taxation.
Don't make that mistake of simply copying a "Objective paragraph" from the Resume of your friend. Either chuck the Objectives or write something relevant.
Introspect about yourself & your achievements. Most students who are good at Academics, don't have a good enough achievement to add to their resume. You can simply mention - "Secured Top 10 Position throughout the School Life".
Your CS or CFA degree is useless unless you present it properly before the interviewer. If you're appearing for a Finance job, try to highlight your CFA Course in your resume prominently.
5) Create a Profile (Brand yourself.) There are a lot of job recruitment websites out there. Upload your details right now.
Along with this create a Professional LinkedIn Profile with all your achievements & CV Attached. You never know where some recruiter might solicit you.
6) Work on Group Discussion Skills. Most of us have average or poor communication skills. Chartered Accountant aren't expected to be a Good Presenter. But most companies use Group Discussions to weed out the crowd. So you don't really have an option but to be good at those GDs.
Join a Interview Training Institute, if possible. If you're really bad at your communication skills, take the services of an Individual Trainer. It's worth it.
Practise GDs with your friends, and ask them to judge you. Use modern day tools like skype & whatsapp to conduct Mock GDs
Join a Toastmaster Club to improve your communication skills
Use tools available online, to get a knowledge about the topics you can expect in a Group Discussion
If you're not fluent in your English, there are a lot of materials available online to work on that. Join an English Learning Institute is required. If you're willing to work on it it won't take more than 3 months. Every company out there wants to hire the best of the lot
"Almost all companies in Campus Interviews conduct a Group Discussion. And they reject more than 50% of the candidates out there. Companies like Marico & BPCL ask Case studies in this round. Olam International conducts 2 Group Discussions!"
For CA Rankers who would be appearing for Case Study Interviews, practice mock cases before hand. Read this book - Case In Point.
7) Work on Interview Skills. Most Job Interviews of Chartered Accountant are focused on Technical Questions. You won't really be judged on the HR Questions.
Gain knowledge about the work & clients you handled in during your articleships
Be thorough with Technical stuff like Taxation & Law. Revise the books again
Gain DETAILED clarity on GST & IFRS. Do a online course if possible. You'll surely be asked questions on this in your interviews
Be thorough with the Question - "Tell me about yourself?" This is probably the only HR Question you'll come across. Also note down briefly your replies to other questions like, Your Strength, Weakness, Accomplishments, Future aspirations
8) Network
One dark truth no-one is going to tell you is that most of the Off-Campus Jobs are in reach of people who have contacts or references working there. If you miss out on the Best jobs in the Campus Interviews, your best bets are your Seniors & Contacts. Most hiring in Big-4 are done through Reference. Try to catch up with that Partner of your firm right now. And call all your seniors working in various companies right now. Don't wait for the results to be out. Don't be ashamed to ask for references and job referrals. Companies like ICICI or Ambuja Cement call people through reference. You won't even get to know about it when they complete their recruitment.
Remember - In the real world, you're going to compete with the Greatest.
Once, your CA Results are out. The very next day you'll find your phone ringing for Job Interviews from companies. (Goldman Sacs will be the first company to call you ). You won't really have a time to think then. Work on it now.
Now that you've read this far, I have a personal message for you. I don’t get much time to write, but I strongly feel it's my duty to share the knowledge I have been lucky to gain. I don't think I have worked hard to gain such insights, I have just been lucky to be in the right place at right time. The same goes for you as well, if you know people who'll benefit from reading this you need to share this with them.
In case of any Queries. Connect with me on Quora.