Vault's Top 10 Blogs of 2012

From The Monitor Group and Dewey & LeBoeuf bankrupcies to a simple act of ingenuity at Krispy Kreme donuts, 2012 has been a big year in career news.

Revisit some of your favorite stories and advice blogs with our list of Vault's Top Read blogs of the year, 2012:

1. 6 Trickiest Interview Questions and How to Nail Them

Guesstimates and brainteasers are two types of interview questions commonly asked by Wall Street firms, consulting firms, and tech firms. They're also the types of questions that can make or break an interview. Which means you better know how to prepare for them as well as how to nail them. Read More

2. 21 Interview Questions the Big 4 Ask

This year, Vault also asked respondents to provide us with actual interview questions that hiring managers asked during interviews. And below are a few handfuls of questions that Big 4 accounting firms—Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and KPMG—asked candidates during the internship or full-time interview process. And so, if you're planning to interview with one of the four largest accounting firms in the world, you better have answers prepared for these 21. Read More

3. 19 Hardest Interview Questions On Wall Street

…many of the interview questions we were told currently being asked on Wall Street include: Why investment banking? Why our firm? Why should we hire you?...

But we also received many questions that are a little out of the ordinary, that take a little more pondering, and that focus on business ethics (which I don't remember hearing about in years' past).

And so what follows are, from the pool of interview questions we received from the thousands of professionals who took our Banking Survey, the 19 most difficult currently being asked by the largest banks on Wall Street (all questions come from insiders at one of the following four banks: Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, or Credit Suisse). Read More

4. 4 Hiring Requirements You Have No Control Over

At Vault, we spend a lot of time telling you which factors of a job search are in your control: cover letters, resumes, networking, first impressions (firm handshakes, everybody!)

That may lead you to believe that when you don't get the job, you must have done something wrong.

And it's a possibility. But there's also a chance that some silly stuff is going on with employers that has nothing to do with you.

The truth is, it's a buyers' market. And with huge pools of candidates to choose from--and a huge risk aversion--employers are really dragging their heels with hiring. Thus, they're also getting a nit picky with their hiring criteria.

Unfortunately, there's not much you can do about misinformed, unfair, or just plain ridiculous requirements--but you can take heart knowing it's not always you. Sometimes, it's them. Read More

5. Is Law School a Mistake?

Last week, The Wall Street Journal published some chilling statistics about how recent law grads are faring. According to the WSJ, only 55% of the class of 2011 had full-time, long-term jobs that required a law degree nine months after graduation. And only 8% of those graduates held full-time, long-term jobs at firms with more than 250 attorneys.

In response to the WSJ article, J. Maureen Henderson at Forbescame out with a piece entitled—spoiler alert—“Why Attending Law School Is the Worst Career Decision You'll Ever Make.” Henderson argues that “law school is no longer a sure bet when it comes to employment security and financial prosperity.”

And she’s right. A J.D. is certainly not a one-way ticket to a life of luxury. But does that mean you should toss out your LSAT books?

…Here are the three most important questions to ask yourself before attending law school: Read More

6. 5 Ways to Improve a Bad Day in 15 Minutes or Less

Maybe you're just having a case of the Mondays a la Office Space, or you're having a full scale meltdown. Either way, you can turn it around. Just stop, breathe, and read this. We'll get you through it. Read More

7. Deloitte, PwC or E&Y: Which is Most Prestigious?

Each year, Vault's annual Accounting Survey asks thousands of accountants to rate their peer firms in terms of prestige. In a few weeks, we'll reveal which firm ranked No. 1 this year. This means we'll soon know the answer to these questions:

Will PricewaterhouseCoopers (which ranked No. 1 the past three years) retain its title? Will Deloitte, which ranked as the most prestigious four years ago, return to the top? Or will Ernst & Young, KPMG,Grant Thornton, or another (smaller) firm rank as the most prestigious accounting firm in North America? Read More

8. Bite Off More Than You Can Chew: A Lesson from Krispy Kreme

Jia Jiang, who writes a blog called "100 Days of Rejection Therapy," had a simple mission: make an outlandish request at Krispy Kreme, and get better at hearing the word "no."

Only trouble was, the woman behind the counter didn't say no.

While this is a tremendous story about customer service in and of itself, there are subtler lessons to be learned here about taking on challenging situations, projects, and problems at work--and the rewards that can follow. Read More

9. Monitor Bankruptcy: What the Employees Knew

The Monitor Group's recent bankruptcy announcement took many in the business community by surprise. That's not unusual, given that the firm—like many in the consulting industry—was privately held and therefore not under any obligation to release financial reports. But what about the people inside the firm?

How much did the consultants—business experts all—know or suspect about the state of the firm's finances? That's a question that we at Vault are almost uniquely qualified to answer. Prior to its demise, Monitor Group was one of the firms that distributed our annual consulting survey to its employees. Read More

10. 5 Tips For Finding a Job You’ll Love

According to the Labor Department, the number of Americans seeking new unemployment benefits dropped to its lowest level since April 2008 last week. The week-long dip—a decline of 50,000 initial claims—is the largest in more than six years.

If you're job-hunting, this improvment in the market may signal a shift in mentality: that it's time to set your sights a little higher, from "any job" to "a job I actually want to do." Read More

--Vault Editors