Rolls Royce International Ltd Interview Questions & Answers

After submitting my application online I immediately received an email acknowledging receipt of my application and advising me of the steps that would follow. A few days later I received another email inviting me to complete two online psychometric tests (numerical and inductive reasoning) and I was given 7 days to complete them. The website used for the tests was very well laid out and provided very clear instructions, as well as providing several practice tests. Once I had completed the psychometric tests I received an email telling me that I had passed and that my application had been passed on to senior management for consideration.

After this I did not hear anything for about a month, and then I had an email asking me to attend an assessment centre in Filton in a weeks time. Rolls Royce covered all of my travel costs and put me up in a four star hotel and spa the night before the assessment centre.

There was a competency interview involving a 5 minute presentation and standard questions about my CV and different skills. After that there was a skills interview which focussed on my engineering knowledge. It was a mixture of questions from different areas of engineering, and as long as you have a decent grasp of the operating principle of a gas turbine and revise your first year notes you shouldn't have a problem.

- What would you bring to Rolls Royce?

- The turbine entry temperatures in modern engines are often above the melting point of temperature sensors. How would you go about measuring the temperature in these regions.

- I was given a component of a jet engine and asked to identify what it was, the material it was made from, how it was manufactured and what the various features of it did.

- Make sure you know the operating principle of a gas turbine engine
- Revise your lecture notes
- Make sure you know the latest facts and figures of Rolls Royce
- Do not mention Rolls Royce cars in the interview! (Rolls Royce cars are part of BMW nowadays).

The assessment centre itself was well organised and had a friendly atmosphere with about 12 other candidates also attending. There was another numerical test to verify the results from the online tests,

Finally there was a group task which was to build as high a tower as possible with paper and plastic cups. All the groups failed to build anything that withstood any sort of load, but it was quite a relaxed atmosphere and they were more interested in seeing how well you work with other people.

The most important message I got from the assessment centre was that the interviewers aren't there to intimidate you or catch you out, and that the skills interview is the most important part of the day. One interview hinted that if you do badly in the skills interview then you're unlikely to get the job.

Within 24 hours of the assessment centre I received a call from HR telling me that I had been successful and had got the internship. From this point the contracts were sent out very quickly and security checks were commenced.

There were two interviews at the assessment centre, one consisting of a presentation about yourself and then situational questions, the other was a technical knowledge interview. In the first you essentially had to describe who you are, why you want to work for the company and how you think you would be good at the company. In the second you were asked to describe various things as if to a member of the general public not knowledgeable in the field and also to explain how various things worked from technical diagrams.

Primarily about the technical side as I wasn't very experienced with technical diagrams.

I would ensure that you are knowledgeable about the internals of turbine engines and the general direction that the company is moving in. I would also look into recent developments as well as old ones such as the use of cooling within the turbine blades. I would recommend taking any opportunities that you get to have practice interviews, although they won't realistically put you under the pressure that you'd feel in the real interview, you can find out how you come across and if you need to do anything differently.

Firstly another test similar to those done on-line in the application process was given, a group exercise was also done, as well as a written managerial test.

My experience did not involve an interview other than the ones during the Assessment Center.
After the initial screening I was given a week to complete 2 online assessments; 1 numerical and 1 abstract reasoning.

Explain how an aerospace product is safe.

Note: the assessors asked me to answer as if the question was being asked by a couple of 15 year old teenagers sitting in McDonald's, enjoying their milkshake.

Be prepared for your Assessment Center interviews and presentation; you have adequate time at your disposal.

Prepare typical Competency Interview Questions.
Regarding the Technical Interview: Research the company's Website about their technology and methods of production, this will hopefully get your thinking started.

After a long wait I was invited to an Assessment Center, which involved a Presentation, a Competency Interview, a Group Task, a validating Numerical Test and a Technical Interview.
We were split into two Groups and we were handed separate schedules covering the day. For my Group:
1)9:00 - Numerical Test first thing in the Morning; time allowed around 25mins for 30 questions.
2)10:30 - 10-minute presentation, which we had time to prepare before the Assessment (almost 10 days). Topic was about ourselves.
3)11:00 - Competence Interview. Standard Procedure but personalized to each candidate at that time.We were asked questions coming from a scenario booklet. i.e. Tell us a time when you were really stressed, how did you cope, how did you plan, etc.
4)12:30 - Lunch break. The opportunity to mix with the assessors and chat was given to us.
5)13:30 - Group Task. The task was to build a Tower, able to withstand the weight of a water bottle. It was required to reach at least a height of 1m.Materials available; A4 paper, A3 Carton Paper, Scissors, Sticky Tape, Pencils, String and Plastic Cups.
6)14:30 - Final Task: Technical Interview. The interview was personalized and adjusted to the level of knowledge and experience each one of us had. Questions started out easy but progressively became difficult reaching a point, from which onwards we could not answer. This is done for them to see how you react and think to something you have not seen before.