By Brent Pritchard

If I were interviewing nowadays, in addition to my go-to interview question I would ask, “What is the best book you’ve read lately?” Why? Because someone who doesn’t truly care about learning and growing professionally is, well personally, someone I don’t want on my team.

Here’s an excerpt from my book Would Your Boomerang Return? What Birds, Hurdlers, and Boomerangs Can Teach Us About the Time Value of Money (2023):

I mean it when I tell my students that I wouldn’t hire a finance professional who doesn’t understand the Time Value of Money like the back of their hand. Trent Farley, who is one of my favorite people and the only person I’ve ever worked with who could finish my sentences—we were that much on the same wavelength—can attest that my go-to interview question is, “How do you describe the Time Value of Money in your own words?”

This question predated the publication of this book but like this book gets to the heart of the matter: whether a professional is qualified for a position in finance. Now prospective employers and prospective clients have a tool to gauge an aspiring or current finance professional’s understanding of this all-important topic. My go-to interview question has been replaced with the “Pop (Open the Back Cover) Quiz.” What’s more expensive, testing one’s comprehension and ability to apply the Mathematics of Finance in service of customers or members by using this book in the vetting process or potentially making the wrong hiring decision?

In fact, we might be onto something. And just like that, I hand the baton on. Who will pick it up? I’m guessing a reader, since it’s been said that “leaders are readers.”

Want a resume builder? I’ll give you one! Consider establishing the Business Book Association student organization at your business college (or at the national level, provided this idea or the trademark isn’t taken already) to help aspiring finance professionals further promote their Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree.

Back in the day, I was like many college finance students who didn’t make time to read (for myself). Whether this was a result of being so over traditional textbooks that were oh so boring is a conversation for a different day. But know that there was a day (not long after I accepted a position in industry) when I realized that real finance professionals are serious readers.

There’s no reason why aspiring finance professionals should wait to become readers (again), especially if that is going to potentially help them get an edge up on the competition. And yet, this appears to be the way it is. This doesn’t make it right! Prepping for an interview starts well before one even knows they have an interview scheduled.

What are you doing today to position yourself for your (future) dream job? (I hope I get the opportunity to come by your chapter of the Business Book Association someday!)

Brent Pritchard is an author and college finance lecturer with over two decades of industry experience and cofounder of Boxholm Press, LLC, a family-owned-and-operated publishing company providing educational content, products, and services. He pioneers an innovative and approachable new way of learning and teaching the Time Value of Money as well as thought leadership in other business topics. His most recent book is Would Your Boomerang Return? You can contact him on his website here.