i'm applying for jobs and the deadlines are on the 31st. very last minute. am really hating the why do you want to work for us question. partly because i hate to waste time researching a firm and not being offered an interview. i tend to research once i've been offered an interview. however, am loving this new form of productive procrastinatng. questions i dread include:

Q. 1) introduce yourself to A & Co.

my name is J. am a PhD student at the university of x. erm... am 24, nah, not right. erm, i like horses... no really.

Q. 2) what attracts you to a career in the city.

the money. lol. the social life. not much else.

Q. 3) why are you specifically interested in this company.

they pay a great salary and i have a clue about what the do.

Q. 4) Give us details about your extra curricular activities.

can't remember the last time i had a life away from my thesis.

Somebody help me! looks like am gonna take a week and do the actual research!!

re taxes, a lot of the companies am applying for are offering a starting salary of 30k in london and 20k outside london. in the second year, this rises to over 35k in london and in the third year to 70k. my problem is, as far as i know, when you earn 33k and below, you are taxed, 22% and then 40% when you start earning over 33k. is that true? coz if it is, its no point taking a 35k job in london to be left with 20k after tax and spend half of it on the rent.

No, that would be a bit sill since you would then earn more NET if you earned £39,000 gross than if you earned £41,000.

You have your basic tax free allowance (around £5,000, can't remember the exact figure off the top of my head).

Anything between your £5,000ish and your £40,000ish is taxed at 22%.

Anything over your £40,000 is taxed at 40%.

So in other words, if you earned £50,000 then:

£5K is untaxed
£35K tax at 22%
£10K tax at 40%

Hope that clarifies a little.

wow, thanks! knew i had got my figures wrong somewhere. thanks fatbob.

Hi Jojo,

would you earn 70 K in your third year? I am impressed. What does one have to do for that? What type of job would that be? Sorry for being so curious.

I suppose it is expensive to live in London, hence the difference in wages.

The cost of living is much higher and you can live very poorly on £20K.
You can buy books on interviews, I actually got one at a charity shop. There are some guides online, and some agencies help too.

In most questions you have to steer them round to how you fit the job specification e.g. introduce yourself: say how your experience fits the job, how you could be of benefit to the company.
It might be worth finding someone who has been through similar interviews, or approaching the careers service. prospects does careers advice too.
If you build up some answers you can probably just adapt for each specific job. If 70K is at stake, maybe a few hours is worth it?

the higher income in london is called a london allowance because they now you cannot live on a "normal" wage in the city or you have to pay for the commute. In my case I got the normal wage which was taxed plus this allowance; however, they listed it in the job advert as a higher wage. Might be the case with you as well.
Q4) I would be honest and say: I am afraid I was mainly concentrating on my PhD in the last six month BUT I would like to pick up pole dancing again which I was doing for 10 years previously. You demonstrate that work and sucess is more important to you than your hobbies but that you do have other intrests.

... continued
Q3) I don't think there is anything wrong with saying: because I understand what you are doing - just phrase it differently: e.g. the job would follow on my current research I am very intrested in.
Q2) a bit tricky but why not say: the job (it is challenging, intresting, good for my career) and I like the variety of activities available.
Q1) This one I have no idea, just be honest. Perhaps you ask somebody who knows you really well what they think are your strong points, one socially, one professional e.g. I am hard working but fun pole dancer who is devoted to her career.
Sorry for the spelling and grammer, there is no coffee yet and this blocks my brain.
Good luck

sorry guys. i was away. am taking two weeks off from my work. they end today. tomorrow, i'll be meeting my supervisor. i'll be back here answering your posts later today. thanks once again.

i hope all goes well tomorrow!

rick - jobs in the legal sector in london pay on average 70k post qulification and at least 50k, usually 60k outside london. am applying for solicitor jobs.

do you know other well paying jobs. this time next year i will be applying for jobs in auditting firms as a consultant. keeping my options open. those should pay about the same or more.

my back up is teaching.... and research jobs - which i absolutely loathe at the moment.

thanks cc and oz for the advice. will take it into account. am definitely spending some decent time on those applications. trying to make sure i sell myself well enough to get an interview.

meanwhile my supervisor meeting went well. i can move on to the next chapter, but i have minor revisions to do to my current chapter.

oh, other well paying jobs include those people with MBAs do. on average they earn about 122K. am still trying to figure out which jobs these are.

all the best everyone.