Computing & IT Interview Questions & Answers

The first stage was a one to one telephone interview which lasted an 40 minutes. It was a normal consulting telephone interview in the format:

- Motivations. (Why do you want to work at Accenture/be a consultant..)
- competency questions (describe a time you worked well in a team...)
- case study (just a short one. They read the case twice and you have to name 3 problems and give a solution and the whole thing doesn't take longer than ten minutes)

After this was the assessment centre so they make you jump through a lot fewer hoops than some of the graduate schemes.

They really grill you about your project plan and add complications in the one to one interview at assessment centre.

- Learn a lot about the company
- Be one of the main speakers in the group exercise
- Be able to talk about what you did right and wrong
- Be able to talk about what you did right and wrong
- Learn about the industry

There were 5 people in my assessment centre. We were first given a presentation by a senior member of staff about his career. Then we were presented with a video which described a case study. We had to as a team find the best solution in each of four different categories and it had to come under budget. It shouldn't be too hard to find a solution to this. The hr people ask you some questions at the end. My feedback said that I didn't defend my opinions enough during the exercise so if you disagree with someone do say something but just don't let it turn into an argument.

We were next given a project planning exercise based on the solution youve cone up with and you have to list risks and dependencies. You then have a one on one interview which is mainly focussed on defending your project plan and then they go on to ask about your knowledge of Accenture. They also ask you about how you performed on the exercise, it's important to go into a bit of detail here and I think they want to know that you're aware of your strengths and weaknesses.

The first step I took was to apply online, after that I got an email asking me if I would to attend an assessment centre at the HQ in Leeds. I booked the assessment day online using the link that the Asda Graduate team provided. There were no personality questionnaires or online tests during the process, just apply online and invited to assessment centre also know as Asda Reality.

The day comprised of the following (which I will discuss in more detail later on):
· Group discussions - these can involve the whole candidate group or smaller sub-groups who must work together to meet an Asda challenge
· One-to-one meetings - You will work with another candidate to come up with some solutions to a range of issues
· Interview - You will spend some time with an Asda manager to explore your application in greater depth

IMPORTANT (the attachment below is what was provided to me before the day. Pre-work)
http://adeel718.com/docs/Graduate%20Reality%20Pre%20Work.pdf

The penny-wise scenario is important and the exercises carried out on the day was based on this scenario.

Group Exercise 1 - A handful of pennies was provided to us, there were many challenges and as a group we had to figure out a strategy on how the challenges could be met, i.e. work as a group but complete as many challenges as possible within 5 mins, or work individually but have more time to complete as many challenges in 15 mins, or work in a sub-group with time limit of 10 mins. After the strategy was decided (as a team), the team decided to work as a group, the list of challenges was given to us from which we could complete as many challenges in which ever order. 1st challenge, line up the pennies in 1 row with 8 pennies, now stack the pennies so that they are in groups of two's (you can only move the pennies in one direction). 2nd challenge, you have a total of £1.20 with 2 coins, one of them is not a £1 coin, what are the 2 coins?. 3rd challenge, create a rectangle with the pennies (4x5 rows) now create a square by only removing 6 of the pennies.

The other exercises were related to team decision making and showing that you are a leader, a quick example if that every team member is given a different option or decision Asda can make based on a Scenario that is given to you at the assessment centre, You have to pick out the advantages and disadvantages of each option on how this could impact Asda etc and discuss the findings with the rest of the team. The scenario I had was on how Asda could meets its challenge of bringing more to the community, more jobs, less waste etc. The option I had was giving more money to diary farmers who produce the milk. Some other member had the option of setting up a web-cam so that shoppers can see live chicks in farms, which would in return create IT jobs (maintaining the web cams) etc.

The last exercise was again based on your leaderships skills, each member was given a scenario and a range of options/ actions that I could take depending on what I seemed best fit for the business and its customers. The scenario I had was on the Grants that Asda gives to individual charities, The amount of applicants for the grants has fallen over the past few years and it is my duty to increase the number of charities that apply for the grant, the options are: advertise the grant to increase awareness, create a web-site, decrease the value of the grant, increase the value of the grant. Since you are the project manager it is your decision on what option should be taken.

Lastly the interview. The type of questions that were asked at the interview were things like, 'how did you find about this role?' , 'how did you find the activities and how well do you think you have done?'. More questions about the skills that I have and what I can bring to Asda, things like 'Tell me about a time when you had to make a difficult decision?'' and 'Tell me about a time when you had to handle the costs of something?', 'Tell me about a time when you had to remain confident'.

The interview lasted around 45 mins and we were given a tour around Asda House.

Tips:
Remain confident, and show the assessors that you are prepared and are driven to becoming a leader, they want to see your leadership skills and how you can make an impact to the business. Please remember to consider the customers when making decisions or answering questions.

Describe a time when you had to manage the costs of something, for example when you were given the responsibility to manage costs.

Be confident. Show you leadership side and make sure you remember the customers when making decisions.

There were 5 people in the team and occasionally we were split in to one group of 2 and one group of three during the exercises but then had to come back together as a team to discuss our ideas etc. During the exercises we sometimes had to write down our ideas on paper or the flip-board.

The assessors were very friendly. Over all the day lasted approximately 5 hours.

I had a phone interview with someone from recruitment which was just a really relaxed chat about my motivation for applying for the job and my knowledge of the company. It only lasted about 15 minutes and I asked loads of questions at the end. I thought that the interview went really well but got rejected a couple of days later.

I asked for feedback without much hope because people don't normally feedback after the first round but was called by the same person who interviewed me and she went through every single question and told me how I could improve. This was so helpful. The main point I took from the feedback is that they are looking for people who are really involved in the technology community, so if you have a blog or go to Girl Geek tea parties or even post on twitter about technology a lot I think this will help, otherwise I think there is a very small chance of getting past the first stage.

No difficult questions.

Really research ThoughtWorks and have specific examples of why you want to work for them.

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My assessment centre comprised of series of events. Out of which one to one interview was first. In that first I was asked general question like why I want to go for this role and was also asked to give a presentation on me. The interviewer was very friendly and made me feel comfortable. After that we had a group activity followed by one on one technical interview.

The most difficult question for me in that interview was that I was given a diagram and have to draw connections between the different components shown in it. It was difficult because I have not seen anything like that so I didn't had much knowledge about that.

Just going through the website will help a lot. Try to interact and make connection to people you meet there. And keep practising the aptitude test question and try to build accuracy in lesser time. The practice question given on there website to practice are important as they have lots of facts and figure. And generally these are the same figures from which they ask question. So practising from them would be beneficial and can get you extra score.

The assessment centre was very nice. There were 16 candidates that day including me. The environment and people were very lovely and helpful.

My first interview was a one on one at the offices in Guildford with someone who had started on the graduated scheme just over a year ago. He asked me about nearly everything on my CV and it was more of a chat than an interview. I think the aim was to see if I would fit into the culture. At the end he gave me a maths problem to do which wasn't hard if you have done a lot of maths.

I found out the result of that interview in 2 days and was invited back for the following round the next week. This was an interview with 2 people from cyber security, one of whom was on the graduate scheme and one was quite senior. I had to prepare a presentation on a complex problem so I chose a final year university project. They asked a few questions about it and then asked questions about why I wanted the role. They moved on to really to probe me about what I knew about Cyber Security. I felt a bit like they were purposely asking me questions that I wouldn't know the answer to in order to test my reaction.

What are the security risks involved ion BYOD?
How would you explain to a customer that they needed to increase their level of cyber security?

I got the impression from the job description that they would train people up but they are definitely looking for people who are already passionate and knowledgable about cyber security.

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There is no telephone interview and the only interview you can expect to face is at the assessment day. The interview is usually one on one, although on some occasions a senior manager may have come to visit and decided to sit in on your interview. This was the case for me, however, they are merely there to observe and wont ask questions. The interview lasted for about 45 mins and the interview spent a good time trying to get to know me on a personal basis, my motivations in life as well as the odd question about JLR. This was pretty informal and relaxed. The rest of the interview was competency based.

Why would you be a good asset for Jaguar Land Rover?

Research the company and the current automotive sector. Practices psychometric testing extensively.

The organisation was very professional providing the candidates with refreshments through out the day. Every candidate will have a personal time table handed to them, which details what they will be doing for the day and when. My first task was a group exercise and this was completed with 5 other candidates. The exercise had a lot of information, however, this was all pretty straight forward. My task was to make a case and back it up and for the whole group to come to a unified decision. Secondly, was the role play exercise. I had to deal with an angry senior manager and solve their problems. Then it was the psychometric testing. This was very hard and consisted of a numerical, verbal and logical testing, lasting for a total of 1.5 hours (30 mins each test). Finally, was the telephone interview.

My telephone interview lasted for approximately 25-30 mins. Initially, capgemini went through some HR material regarding my application for security reasons. They then went on to ask whether I could meet the rigours of IT consultancy, as there is a need for a huge amount of flexibility. After, I was quizzed about my CV and academical background. What followed next was standard competency based questions in relation to the organisations values, which can be found on the website. My questions were based around team-working and problem solving.

Give me a time when you have changed a process and what outcome did this have?

Go through the companies values on their website and this should give you a good indication of the competency based questions that are likely to come up. Make sure you give a professional presentation of the case study.

Capgemini gave a brief interview of themselves and the programme upon the arrival of all the candidates. What followed next for me was a face to face interview with a senior member of Capgemini. Again, this was similar to telephone interview, however, before attending the assessment centre you are given a case study in which you are to present to your interviewer. Next i completed a numerical test (SHL). Finally, a group exercise was last on the agenda. I got a group size of 4 people, although the other team had a size of 5. You are given a case study, in which you have to decipher the relevant information and make a decision with your team about an outcome.

Telephone interview that was supposed to last no longer than 10minutes. It was basically a match making interview, seeing how I matched up to the what the company required from their candidates. Key skills, responsibilities and my USP which differentiated me from others. I enjoyed the interview process, I took the time out to carefully detail my previous roles and because I wasn't provided with much information, i had my ipad on the company website as soon as it was made available to me. The interview lasted 30minutes due to the built rapport and objective definitions.

One of the most difficult questions was how I was going to link administration with my chosen goal of being a journalist. I've never been asked such a question before so I was a bit taken aback. What I learnt was, the question wasn't to trip me up but more to convey my balance with seeking employment with said industry. I answered with progression within the company will lead me on a path which will hopefully determine my future, flexibility was needed not a strict attitude,

Always stick to the STAR model -

S ituation
T ask
A ction
R esult

There is no going wrong with this model, it exemplifies the uses of situation type scenarios and how you as an individual dealt with said problem. Employers enjoy examples from your past history.

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The overall interview's first stage was a competency test, 1hr long detailing technical and intricate attributes. Challenging but very thorough, elaboration of your Microsoft package skills, why you were applying for the role and scenario type situations. The second stage of the interview, was a half an hour Skype interview with a company representative, I didn't get this far so I am unable to offer feedback unfortunately.

One of the most difficult questions was explaining software uses; what system tools were for, the advantageous of emulators and disadvantages. I found this particularly hard because if the question was poised to anyone without an expandable n knowledge into software then they wouldn't progress which is a tad unfair because it is primarily focussing on their downfall. I was able to make seen of these questions having that background but I can see where many may struggle and stumble.

Well, everyone knows this already and if they don't they should, if you are going for an interview with a prospective company, take some time out to really research the company, learn some important facts and figures, it shows dedication and enthusiasm which always impresses the interviewer.

Another would be to be completely thorough in your application, screen the responsibilities and duties before applying. Make sure you tick at east 95% of their overall request before clicking the apply now tab.

No assessment centre for this interview, they only had 3 stages of the application process available, which was the initial application, the timed competency questions and the Skype video interview.

There were three interviews, one primary phone interview with a recruiter, a technical phone interview then a 3D CV and personality interview at the assessment day.

None of these were particularly hard, the phone interview was with an engineer so you cant blag your way through this one! The 3D CV was with one of many assessors inside tesco who work in IT.

The technical question provided was the most difficult which asked about why, how and the considerations required for Tesco moving their IT services to the cloud.

If going for a techncial role make sure to find out definites such as languages you may be required to know and accurate details. Also make sure to prepare more for the technical question than the 3D CV.

I recently applied to Tesco's graduate software engineer scheme and was unsuccessful but this is not the focus of my complaint. My complaint is with regard to the recruitment process, how it was handled and the feedback provided.

First, I was scheduled for a phone interview, I rescheduled my work and day around the interview but never received a phone call or email. I left a message for the recruiter and attempted to call her multiple times over the following days to no avail and only received contact back via email the next week (4-5 days after the scheduled date).

Second, after being sucessful in the telephone interviews I was given less than 48 hours notice that I was to attend an assessment day, leaving me no time to prepare anything as I was out for the whole day when I recieved the email and working the day before the assessment day. When I got to the assessment day I found everyone else had at least a week to prepare.

Third, I was told during the phone interviews that I could carry out the programming task in a language of my choosing (C#), when I got to the assessment day I was told to use a different language (Java) that I had never used before and a different editor, so I was immediately at a huge disadvantage to the other participants who had used the language before or were told the language they would be using. This fact was also not reflected in the feedback which stated that I required a lot of help with syntax and the editor, which is to be expected when I am using a different language in a different editor.

Fourth, when I replied to the recruiter, telling her my thoughts on the feedback she provided more verbal feedback which said: "completed the task in java which he had a knowledge of". This is untrue, I have never used Java before the assessment day and having to complete a task in another language and editor no matter the similarities is unfair. Which also makes it seem like some of the feedback provided is false or blanket statements as her verbal feedback stated I had a knowledge when I made it clear to the assessor that I had no knowledge or experience with it at all.

It is fair to say the entire process has been nothing but hassle, wasting my time and providing no helpful feedback to improve myself.