I shall be going for a credit control vacancy interview in the next few days. Although I have been to a fair few similar interviews before, can someone be kind enough to tell me what type of questions can be asked at the interview?
I particularly want to know what is meant debtor days & average debtor days. Also, what can I say when asked about the total values of the ledgers that I have been responsible in the past. I do know individual accounts and how much they owed in a particular month etc
Finally, do you think I should look up the prospective employer's company on the Companies House website to get some facts and figures for the interview?
I'm sure that you realise that credit control roles divide down into traditional credit control and call centre type roles. The latter is easier to land and gives you the experience necessary to pick up the former.
You may get a lot of questions about your use of Excel (including Pivot tables) or they may want to know of any prior knowledge of whatever system that they are using (SAP FICO is pretty common but could be any number of things including SAGE).
If you don't know something don't be afraid to say so but try to show commonality to other packages that you have used or situations where you have picked up systems knowledge very quickly.
I think that you will find the main skills that are being looked for at interview will be confidence, politeness and tenaciousness. Don't forget that you will end up spending a fair chunk of your life on the phone so it's important that you come accross to others in the way that the company wants.
Mostly this will be a friendly and personable manner that is able to illicit a good return from clients for the company. It's a common misconception that people working in credit control need to have an agressive telephone manner. Escalation of proceedings should always be considered as a last step rather than a first.
Always remember that it may be the company that you are representing that is in the wrong and not the client.
In the event of dispute be prepared to take a debt right back to inception. Where a client states that they have paid then be prepare to search for a payment of the amount stated which may have been misposted to another account in which case you may be chasing the wrong debtor.
They may ask you what "Dunning" is. Basically it means that someone is in the collections process so it's everything after initial "gentle" reminder letters have been sent out.
Back to your specific questions.
Debtor days is one of the standard ratios on the efficiency side. Rather than writing it out again here refer to my posting at :
Look at the posting from 10:39. You're really more interested in the efficiency side of things.
It's good that your thinking about all of these things in advance and should score brownie points at the interview.
Good luck with the interview Manjinder.
Talk soon,
Shaun.
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Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Closing questions include asking them about the next step in the process and timelines of their decision process.
The important thing is to leave your future colleagues and line manager with the confidence that you will be the best person to manage their customer ledger and recover aged debt effectively.
