Difficulty Rating

60%

Interview experience

Positive

100%

Neutral

0%

Negative

0%

  • Graduate - Government Consultant

    Difficulty Rating

    60%

    Interview process

    Assessment day involved 60 minute Competency based interview. And a group exercise. The interviews format is based on the competency based questions, to the best of my knowledge;

    -Customer focus
    -Resilience
    -Team Work

    These questions then lead onto why you chose to apply for the role. They expect you to make use of the allocated learning materials. Which will be attached with the email invitation to assessment day. And it won't hurt you to know what CGI is currently doing, in my case it was the 'appeal of working on the Galileo Satellite project.' Again the applicant is the driver of conversation in this part of this assessment. This process also involves questions based around your report.

    As a tip make sure you show a degree of professionalism when answering questions. One of the questions I was asked was, What drives you? I answered - Perfection, being the best in whatever I pursue. This is drived by my personal moto 'Consistant Motivation.'....and so on. This left the interviewer pleasantly pleased with the level confidence I was showing. So expect to elaborate on answers in an articulate manner.

    Most difficult question

    The most difficult question I was asked was;

    Why choose to work for CGI?

    They want to establish the reason why you chose CGI over their competitors IBM, Fujitsu, HP.
    I answered by declaring my love for a consultancy role but also wanting to work for a global company with a turnover of x amount of £'s and wanting to work on special projects like Galileo Satellite, etc. Also elaborate on what you can bring to the company and how your personal development can be benefited by working for CGI.

    Make sure you know what the competitors are doing and how you think CGI can grow and what technologies they should be pursuing.

    They presume that you have made use of their learning material which they made available online (tips section for application process) in which they will test you on. which is a basis of another question;

    How did you find the materials made available to you and the information on the website?

    The other questions were fairly easy and followed the basic competency based questions format.

    Interview tips

    Make sure you make use of the learning materials provided by CGI and the information provided in the graduate scheme section of their website. This will give good preparation for the one-on-one interview and some help with the written part of the interview.

    The written report will undoubtedly play a role in being offered a job so do not treat it as an afterthought. Alot of the roles offered by CGI involve project management and administration duties so formal report writing style is a must with (Harvard) references. And they make this clear in their 'guidance' section of their website on the interview process.

    Be well versed on answers to competency based questions. The biggest advantage I gave myself was introducing myself to the group to help break down that 'barrier' before the whole assessment process started on assessment day.

    If you are well prepared then you should be ok.

    Experiences at the assessment centre

    The group exercise, this exercise is based reading a problem statement and working as a team to draw up an answer. The particular problem was that you are evacuated from a sinking ship and you are only allowed to take X amount of items on a rubber a dingy. These items are used to survive on a nearby island until help arrives. This is a timed exercise and tests your teamwork, communication and listening skills.

    Make sure you use the room, for example white board and make sure you actively participate and also listen to others.

    Interview steps

    Interviews:

    • Phone
    • 1:1
    • Group / Panel
    • Senior Management
    • Video

    Tests:

    • Numerical
    • Personality
    • Verbal reasoning
    • Psychometric

    Other:

    • Assessment centre
    • Group exercise
    • Background check
    • Presentation
    • Competency based questions

    Rating the interview

    How would you rate the pre-attendance information?

    pre-attendance information:

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    interview organisation:

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    overall impression of the organisation:

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    selection process:

    Did the interview reflect the overall values / culture of the organisation?

    overall values / culture:

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    would recommend company to a friend:

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