male narrator: this ordinary [ooffice is a gateway to another world... one of financial independence and life-changing opportunity. - so are you nervous? - yeah. narrator: because in this room... - hi. - hi. - how are you? i'm nadia. - robin. narrator: real job interviews are about to unfold. - yes, we have our first candidate here. narrator: with 20 cameras capturing every second. - let's do this. narrator: see the tricks... - are you good with names? - absolutely. - what were our names? - oh, no! narrator: the triumphs... - you passed that test. narrator: the blunders. - would i go back into public accounting again?

no. - but you're applying for a job that's a cpa firm. - i didn't--i--well-- narrator: and the breakthroughs. - let's drop the mic and walk the hell out of this room, okay? narrator: as candidates come face to face with actual employers. interviewing today, fort lauderdale accounting firm xendoo is looking for a bookkeeper who is a whiz with numbers. - the successful candidate will be accurate, detail-driven, and all about the client. narrator: each of these applicants is hoping they'll be the one to get the call. now all that stands between them and the job of their dreams... - 1,600. - 800. narrator: is themselves. - fantastic. - oh! narrator: xendoo is a provider of accounting services for small businesses. - thanks so much. - you're so welcome. - thank you. - appreciate it. narrator: today, they're seeking a bookkeeper. the salary: $35,000 to $45,000 per year. the location: south florida.

- we've got five, though, right? - we've got five. narrator: conducting the interview is lillian roberts, who launched the company last year. - small business owners-- they're the backbone of our company, and those are the people that we're servicing. we're growing to thousands of clients; we're nationwide. the job entails accounting, bookkeeping, and they have a lot of client communication. narrator: assisting her will be cofounder steve gelley. - this position is critical. first and foremost, they have to be detail-oriented. - i've interviewed probably 700 people over my career. our interviews are tough. i wouldn't want to be interviewed by us. narrator: 120 candidates applied for the position. based on the strength of their resumes, lillian and steve selected five for interview. the successful candidate will be someone highly organized, extremely detail-oriented, with excellent math skills. this interview is their one and only chance to impress. - sign in for an interview? - yeah. - yes, please. hi. how are you? - hi there. how are you? - i work as a staff accountant. the current company i'm at is a big company

bought out by a bigger company, and they are moving their accounting services overseas, so our whole department has end dates. it can be tough, but you take the punches as they come. - right here with "detail- oriented with the ability to multitask with great follow-up." look how it's off a half a space. there's some typos. there's spacing issues. - hi. - hi. how you doing? - good. in the past month and a half, i've been on eight interviews. you have to go in with a positive attitude, and it is frustrating when you don't hear back from a company when they tell you that they will call you back, but you just have to keep on plugging, because in reality, you have to pay your bills. - on her, i'm noticing a couple of things that's not great. all of her work experience is very short-termed. it just seems like she bounced around a lot. - i like to learn by teaching. for my interview, i told my husband to sit down.

i want to teach you. he said, "i'm not interested." i said, "i don't care. just listen to me. i just want to teach you so i can brush up my fundamentals." - right, so, richard, right? - yes, ma'am. - go ahead and head on back. - hi. how are you? - hi there. - great, thank you. how are you today? - wonderful. - hi. - hey. how are you? - good morning. - how are you today? - good. - okay. - hey. - hi there. - how are you all doing? - pleasure to meet you. - bill. - absolutely. - how you doing? steve. - nice to meet you, steve. - nice to meet you. thanks for coming in. - so before we get into the meat of it, you gave me, like, a half handshake. - really? - did you realize that?

yeah. here. let's shake--shake my hand again. - he gave me a strong one. - there you go. he gave you a strong one? he gave me kind of a half handshake, and i didn't realize if it was any reason. - yeah. - my dad always taught me, you know, look them in the eyes and shake a firm hand, and with a lady, you're more gentle. - wow. tell us a little bit about yourself. - i have done mba, master in business administration in finance and marketing. i came to u.s. 6 1/2 years ago. my husband--he was working here, so i moved. - and do you like it here? - initially, i was a little bored, because i did not have my work visa. - right. - but now i have it, so i'm enjoying it. i have a little daughter. i have work, i have home, so i enjoy my life. - everything's great. - everything is going great. - what do you know about us as a company? - i did some research. i went online and found that you're not too far from my home. your company is a startup company. i even drove by, you know, the location. - great that you did the research.

- are you husband and wife, by the way? - no. no, no. - no. - okay. - in what order do these three areas drive you: praise, financial, and accomplishment? it's sort of a trick question to begin with, but it also reveals a lot about somebody. - okay. - what we're really looking for with that is we want somebody to say "accomplishment," "financial," and then "praise." you know what? get your praise at home. - accomplishment, financial, praise. - good. - i've been very fortunate with my finances, so it's gonna be accomplishment, praise, and finance. - very nice. if they say "financial" first, you know, it makes me wonder why in the world--even if you think financial, don't say that on an interview. - financial, praise, accomplishment. - thank you. - hi. good morning. - hi. good morning. - how are you? - good.

i'm here for an interview. - yeah. just go ahead and sign in. - i was the first female helicopter mechanic in the army. i was in a company of all guys, went to school with all guys. it was fabulous. - we're actually going for a helicopter license in the next few months. - awesome! there is nothing--absolutely nothing in the world-- that will compare to the helicopter. as a female mechanic in the army, you have to know your numbers--center of gravity, the rotation on the blades. - what do you feel is one of your greatest strengths? - i'm a very good learner. - i'm loyal. - i would say it's my drive and my personality. - what would be your greatest weakness? - i second-guess myself. i'm a little unsure sometimes. - i really used to be very shy. it kind of went into anxiety, so i sometimes do certain things to counteract it. - what do you mean? - what do i do because of--well, those are little things i try not to let people know about,

so--sometimes i'll push my toes into my shoes if i'm nervous. - mm-hmm. - not saying i'm doing that now, but... - are you? - no. i'm not. - can you explain the difference between desktop versus cloud? - no. - what would your pets say about you if we asked for a reference? - i don't have a pet. - can you draw us a four -bedroom, two-bathroom house? - it's the hardest thing i've ever done in an interview before. - would you like some water? what was the longest job you had? - um, seven years. - and what happened at that job? - i left the accounting company. [laughs] - would you go back? - would i go back into public accounting again? no. - but you're applying for a job that's a cpa firm. - i didn't--i--well--somewhat.

you're-- - we do tax returns. we're a technology company, but we're in the cpa space. it's there. it shows you in the offerings. - oh, i guess it just slipped my mind, but, i mean, i'm not--you know, i wasn't in that realm of thought right now. i know how to do all of that... - but it's not what your ideal space is. - no. - i think we're good. - well, we thank you for your time. we'll be in touch. - i look forward to it. [sighs] i think i screwed up a little. i forgot they were a cpa firm. [sighs] just blanked out of my head. - going down.

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narrator: accounting firm for its newest bookkeeper. - i'm here for the interview. - great. - i started working since i was very young, and i was always saving money. my mom was gone. now that i'm older, i'm looking to buy a new car, but i have money saved up, so it's always been good. - it seems that you just graduated, right? - yes, in may 4th, actually. - may 4th. congratulations. who's counting, right? may 4th. tell us a little bit about yourself. - i'm colombian. i've been here living for about 13 years with my mom. she is a single mom, so we've always been trying to help each other out.

i've been working, babysitting. i love kids since i was 12, but as i got older, i decided to take the finance path. - all right. so a little bit of math. - okay. - here we go. - not hard math, please. - okay. - my hair is behind my ears. i'm ready to go. - you are. is that for good luck? - i'm hoping. - if a bus conductor issues 50 tickets in 30 minutes, how many tickets can he issue in eight hours? - 800. - perfect. - there would be 100 tickets in an hour, so 800. - um... [quirky music] ♪ 1,600. - okay. 800. - all right. - it's 800. - i should have had that one. i'm good with math. - i saw, you were heading right down the path. - [stammering] 800. got it. - yeah. - what percentage of 80 is 100? - what percentage... - what percentage of 80 is 100?

okay. - 20? - 80 percent? - 125%. - fantastic. - i think that's how it should be. 125--125? - perfect, all right. - a lot of things that we discussed today showed detail. - so if we were to come to your house and we looked in your closet, what would we see? - [laughs] - that tells so much about somebody. details are everything to me, especially when it comes to money. we need to see a really organized closet. - the t-shirts, you would see the blouses. - i put my pants through a hanger. i fold them by the seams to where they have the crease here. - nice. - on top, you have all my boots for winter clothes. - and you hang those up, and then my shorts i just fold and put them on top of each other. - dresses on one side and work clothes on the other side. - okay. great. - it depends when you're coming.

monday it'll be good, but by thursday or friday, it won't be that good. - okay. - but with my daughter, sometimes during the week, it becomes difficult, so it's like, not be exactly in the place where it should be. then on saturday, i make it a point that i keep it. - okay. are you quick to anger? - anger? i get upset easily. i mean, not that easily, but yeah, i get upset, so it's only for a very short period of time, but i do get upset. - what makes you angry? - i work monday through friday, and the other girl, she works on weekends, but one day we were both working together, and she was a little rude to me, so i just stepped out. i cooled off. then i came back, and then i tried to explain her, because she was acting rude, so that's difficult to take for me... - so when you say you had to cool off, what do you mean by "cool off"? - i just wanted to talk rudely. - smack her? - no, no, no, no, no.

- fantastic. - steve, you all right? - yeah. i'm good. - ruchi, it's been an absolute pleasure to spend the time with you. - i don't know what's gonna be the result, but i'm gonna say i did very well. - awesome. - good. - well, thank you so much. - bye bye. - great. thank you. - bye bye. - i can see that angry side in her. - it came out. - right. - "i like being a little bit fiery and feisty." - it could be at the expense of clients, and i think that's an area that we never, ever risk. - i think i could have done a little better, but yeah, it was well, it was good. - going down.

narrator: is looking for a meticulous bookkeeper. they've narrowed the search to the final three candidates. - so let's do this. that is a sample profit and loss statement. that's for a retail store. look over it. tell me if anything jumps out at you that's abnormal--something that the business owner might want to know. we purposely put mistakes on these profit and loss statements. these mistakes should jump right out at them. if the candidate can't identify this, then they're definitely not the right fit for us. - take your time. - i don't like being put on the spot. [tense music] - you know, he went up with his revenue, but his profit went down. - i would want to know why their bank charges are increasing and why their profit went down so much.

- good. - he or she might be giving deals to get more revenue in so they can get their name out more. - perfect. - they're focusing a lot on the sales side, but they're not really budgeting wise when it comes to the expenses. - good. - something is off on it. - can you share with us what is? - it looks like they have the same profit for more revenue, which i'm not gonna say is a red flag, but it'd be maybe something to look into. - right. yeah. - good. - great job. - good. - great job. so let us share with you what it is. - so income did go up. - yeah. - right? from one year to the next. look how much the cost to consult went up here. - oh, that went up there-- - drastically, to the point where they actually made less money. - which could be theft. - yeah. - so what we were looking for with this was,

do you the business as a holistic approach? because as being small business owners-- xendoo is small business owners' accounting firm. they're counting on us to watch their books for them. we'll be in touch. we really appreciate you spending the time with us. - oh, thank you. - thank you. - thank you. - when i was looking at that income statement, i was hesitant. when you're put on the spot like that, it's like somebody watching over your back, you're gonna get nervous. - she looked at it like a traditional... - accountant. - bookkeeping accountant. - right. - where they look-- - looking to see if it adds up. - yep. that's the first--yeah. - you know what? you hit it on the head there, steve. - going down. - why's this job important to you and your family? - it's important for my family to make them proud of whatever i'm accomplishing. my mom was always working hard to maintain a good lifestyle for me,

and that's when i was able to start working. i try to take that weight away from her and try to take it on upon myself. - i guess i just want to look at myself in the mirror and say, "you did something with your life." that's really important to me-- that i'm doing something professional to where, you know, you can't just learn this in a couple days. you know? - i have a lot to give. i'm eager to learn, and i want to eventually become an asset to the company. - very nice. - i think you should hire me because i'm gonna bring the positivity every day. when you stay positive in life, things happen for you, and happiness leads to success, not vice versa. - perfect. - all right. - good? - i think so. - it's been great speaking with you and meeting you. - thank you so much. - okay. and very calm. - yeah. - we appreciate it. - take care. - enjoyed our time with you. we'll talk to you. thank you. really delightful guy, i have to say.

and he's a brain. - yes. - it went well, in my opinion. i feel good. their opinion might be different, but i think it's the same. i'm gonna stay positive like i always try to do. - i feel like i nailed it. i had a great connection with both lillian and steve, so i'm hoping to hear back from them as soon as i can. - lots of positive. - yes. gets it. - yeah. definitely gets it. - wants it. - definitely wants it. we have a very difficult decision ahead of us. good day. - good day.

w?nand xendoo is ready to hireys their new bookkeeper. they have two impressive candidates,

but they can only give the job to one. - i'm hoping to get that call saying that i did get the job and i'm able to start next week. - don't be nervous. - that's easy for you to say. [laughter] - i think i did very well. i feel like the two people that i interviewed with, i definitely want to work with. - all right, steve. what do you think? - i'm confident it's the right decision for us. - let's do it. - hello? - hello. you've reached richard. - hi there. this is lil. - steve's here too. how are you? - we really enjoyed meeting you, and you're just so accomplished for such a young age. - thank you. thank you. - as we told you that day, we were very impressed with you. - thank you so much. - your skillset-- very impressive-- and just your story. i mean, with how you're looking at the future and where you're headed. your core values-- you fit our core values. you align with xendoo. you're a freethinker, which we loved, and so it's been a very, very tough choice to make, and sometimes there's easy calls, and sometimes there's difficult calls.

well, this is an easy call to make. we'd love to offer you the position. - that's awesome. i'm so happy. - yay. yay. well, we are so excited to have you come aboard. you are just a tremendous individual. - i hope i'm a good addition to your team. - we can't wait to get started with you. - thank you so much. - thank you. good night, natalia. - have a good night. - you too. bye bye. - you got it? - i got it! - oh, my god. come here. - i know! [squeals] - i want you to know that you are just a very, very special guy and are gonna go very far in life. unfortunately, we cannot offer the position to you. - okay. - i got to tell you, it was just so close. it was such a hard decision. but we have another position that we feel would fit you great with a friend of mine's company, and we want to set you up for an interview. - really? well, that's very nice of you to think about me like that. thank you very much. - thank you. - thanks a bunch, richard.

- take care. - all right. have a great night. bye bye. - you too. - [sighs] it's hard to do. - yeah, very. - very hard decision. - it was close. - you win some, you lose some. however, this was not a loss. i was delighted to know that they were gonna offer me a position for another interview with a company that they work with, and i was very happy to hear that they thought about me in such high regards. - i'm so proud of you. - this job means pretty much the world to me right now. it's taking a step up. i know i'm gonna learn a lot. i'm gonna be able to grow in this company. oh, i'm so excited. - you go, baby.

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