Computing & IT Interview Questions & Answers

My initial telephone interview was on October 2012, Time: 14:30 (UK time)

Interviewer called me on my number at 14: 30 the day, October 2012 to carry out the interview. The interview lasted up to 60 minutes and was recorded for coaching purposes. This had no influence on the selection process. However, if I had any objections to this, they would not do that.


About my Interview

My interview consisted of three separate sections:

1. Understanding of our business and the role.
2. Competency based questions.
3. General administration questions

Preparing for the Interview

· Specific reasons why I would like to work for Accenture.
· Gain a clear understanding of what Accenture does, sectors and services, clients, and case studies.
· The role of an Software Engineer or Java Software Engineer
· How Accenture uses Technology.


To ensure that you are interviewed in the best possible conditions, I suggest you:

· Go to a meeting room/quiet place, to limit the number of possible distractions e.g. background noise, interruptions, etc.
· If using a mobile phone, ensure you have a strong signal in your chosen location.
· Have a copy of your CV in front of you for reference, and a pad to take notes if necessary.
· Keep track of time.



I passed my initial telephone interview and the second round assessment was then arranged within a month.

Date: November 2012

Time: 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm

This interview lasted approximately 2 hours and consisted of a skills based interview and a HR interview.

The Interview was one hour HR / competency based interview and 1 hour technical interview.

HR Interview went really good but technical interview was difficult.

What is the latest in Technology Sector?

What is the most difficult task you have done most efficiently?

If you have 2 managers and both asked to do tasks at the same time equally important, what would you do?

Detailed description of final year project?

Good knowledge of the Company
Good knowledge of the industry
Commercial awareness, personal branding and an idea of the ethos/values of the company are integral to stand a chance of joining a company like this

I reported to the reception and the interviewer came down. She gave us cup of tea and explained everything in a really pleasant manner.There were 2 of us.While one did HR interview, other was done technical interview. And while we spoke, the interviewer wrote the answers in paper to review later.

Telephone interview is a competency based interview which lasts about 40 min and STARR format answers are expected. The interview is with the HR and it has a feeling of a speaking to a secretary. No emotions just writing down what you are saying so if you are excited to work for the company you have to say it as it will not be deducted from your tone.

First part of the interview is about your excitement towards Atos "Why Atos"
In this question you are expected to show that yo have prepared for the interview and that you know a lot about the company, and also very important how does Atos is different from other companies.


Second question is "Why you?" So what makes you the good candidate for Atos, how you gonna fit within this company. Again show your research reflect the overall values / culture of the organisation and how you have them too.

Third question is "What do you like about the graduate scheme you have chosen?" Here show that you know how the scheme looks like what does it offer and that you know a lot about the position you are going for.

Next part is about the team working. The question is "Tell me about the time when you worked in a team and one of the members was not cooperating as much as team would like him to". STARR format here is very important specially at the end to show WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED? and reflection on WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE NEXT TIME IF YOU HAD THE SAME SITUATION? Show your team working skills here.

Fourth part is about diversity. "Tell me about the time when you changed the way you work" STARR format showing your ability to adapt easily to changing environment or situation. What you have learned and what would you change are very important. If you will not say it yourself, interviewer will ask you these questions anyway. But wouldn't it be good to impress?

Other parts of the interview are about you, if you have been away for longer than 6months in last 5years, do you need visa to work, is any location ok for you to work and things like that.

"Tell me about the time when you changed the way you work"

Prepare good for the interview. You are expected to be prepared for the telephone interview just like it would be a one to one. Remember your STARR format especially Results, Reflection part!

Atos interviews are designed to allow candidates
the opportunity to show evidence of certain key
competencies, some of which are detailed below:-

Team Work ??? assesses candidates??? ability to work
co-operatively with others to achieve a common goal.

Business Motivation and Expectations ??? assesses
candidates??? commitment to a career in their chosen
business area.

Adaptability ??? assesses candidates??? ability to respond
positively to changing environments.

Design a plan for moving a company from building to building. Including builders work needed to be done and machines, servers move.

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.

There were three five minute interviews that consisted of 4 questions each. Interviewers were all friendly but did not prompt you for anything on your answers to the questions.
1 interview was about my interest in the company/IT
1 was about my degree
1 was about my and my qualities e.g. is change always a good thing?

Would I sacrifice the quality of my work in order to meet a deadline

Be confident and friendly. They were all friendly so it's good to be relaxed with that to show your true personality. One guy pointed out a mistake on the presentation given by the centre manager...don't do that as she wasn't impressed.
Take lunch or take money to buy lunch from the station.

There were 13 of us but we weren't competing for a set number of places. 3 interviews, a 1 hour aptitude test, 30 min maths tests and 1 hour Venn diagram test, you were given a booklet on how to answer in the format of these. Lunch was not provided but got an hour to go out and buy something.

Standard online application, aptitude tests and an interview divided into two parts. One was competency based and the other was technical.

The interview was held at the Cheltenham office (expenses covered). Before I got invited I was asked to bring along a credit check report which is basically needed to perform a background check if you get selected, kind of escalating the process really.

What would you like your job to not include?

Make sure you ask questions and show that you are interested. Do your research beforehand and be prepared.

On the day, I had two interviews with two different people. The first interview was around competency based questions (interpersonal skills, core skills, transferrable skills etc.) This was easy and was based around example on my CV. The technical interview was slightly harder, they asked me questions around networking and drilled down my understanding on networking concepts. Although it was hard, it went pretty well. I was able to answer most of the questions as they were logical.

The initial telephone interview lasted 30 minutes and consisted of general questions about myself and why i wanted to work for the company. This was with a member of the graduate recruitment team.

The assessment centre interview was conducted on a one on one basis and included several different topics of questions. The topics ranged from management styles to how I would/have handle a variety of situations. The interview lasted roughly 45-50 minutes. This interview was with a member of the hiring department.

Describe a time where you solved a problem creatively and the steps that were involved with this.

- I found this questions quite difficult to answer as I have not had much experience in the I.T industry, which made it difficult to think of an answer that was relevant.

Mainly to be yourself as this is what they want to see the most, how you would handle things. Be confident in your answers and don't be afraid to take a minute to think about what you want to say before you start to answer the questions. Also the assessment center and interview are not scary, so don't worry about how it is going to go. It is a very friendly atmosphere/people and the interviewer i had was quite informal with his interview style (which i preferred)as it allows you to relax a little more.

The assessment center consisted firstly of group work. We were split into 2 groups and given a 35 minute group task to complete. It was a challenging task as at random intervals they would introduce new problems which you had to factor into your answer. There was then a short break after this in which time we were able to talk to staff from HP and members of staff that were currently on the graduate scheme that we were there applying for. The next stage was one half of the group did a presentation on a random subject that you were provided with on the day. You had 10 minutes to prepare for a 5 minute presentation of just your own words no slide show was necessary. The other half of the group were then taken individually for their interviews. Once you had completed both the presentation and interview we were given feedback and information on what the next steps were and that was the end of the assessment center. We were then notified within 2 weeks whether we were successful or not.

My initial telephone conversation was a brief chat to talk to me about the role. It was Zurich who contacted me.

In the official interview, I was asked various competency based questions and expected to respond in the STAR format. This is Situation, Target, Action and Result. After this I was asked what I'd expect of such a role and then further more to discus my 2/5/and 10year career aspirations. Make sure to keep these as relevant to the role as possible.

Talk about a time when your suggestion to management did not work out.

A second one was talk to us about a time where you failed and why you think this was the result?

Answer both of these as quickly as possible making sure to move onto how you resolved the issues and talk more about what you learnt from the mistakes and anything you would do differently next time. Make sure to finish the question on a positive whilst still answering.

Definitely research the role as much as possible. Show why you would want to work at this company. Although I was contacted and I passed all the required exams and interviews I was not selected at the assessment centre stage. I was given very detailed feedback on my performance and was informed I did not show enough enthusiasm for the role itself. Although I may have fit the role and been suitable I failed to get across my actually desire and drive to work at Zurich.

Revise for the numerical assessments. They are not hard but without adequate practise/ preparation YOU MAY FAIL. Take time to get used to completing these. remember 80% of IT candidates fail numerical reasoning tests by Zurich (stats from the HR themselves). REVISE REVISE PRACTISE!!

Take a close look at Zurich Values. Integrity, Long term sustainability, Customer Centricity etc...

If a company contacts you, It is usually double edged. This can be bad because a lot of other candidates have proven through persistence, that they really want the role. So make sure you demonstrate to the prospective company the real desire and intent to become part of their team. Otherwise, unfortunately much like myself, you will just be seen as 'down for the day' or maybe - 'unlikely to stick around for more than your contract'. Remember you are an investment and a potential asset to a company. They want to know you will stay with them.

The assessment was started off with an initial interview, going through my CV and asking me more about why I wanted the role.

To be absolutely honest I was not clued up on the role itself and was not abel to give the best answers. Most definitely research the company and the role you are pursuing. It definitely shows at this stage. Be confident in your responses and try to stay as relaxed as possible.

We were then split into a group activity where we were given 10mins to study a case study relevant to the company and come up with possible solutions through an organised presentation. Ensure you are heard here and if you are usually quiet try to make it seen that you are having active input.

The third step was a presentation on a case study. Here you really need to study up on the Zurich values and understand what they mean to the business. The presentation should incorporate all of those and make them relevant to the case study. make sure to use SWOT analysis. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Finally an 'informal' speed dating style interview with multiple employees. Make sure you keep this concise and relevant. although it is not 'assessed', it most definitely is. So be alert and give educated responses.

The interview took place on the same day as the assessment centre at the company HQ in Addlestone near London - It was a work strengths based interview, which focused on softer aspects of work skills; I was asked to give examples of when I had worked as part of a team, when I had led a group or had to make decisions for people. I was also asked about times I had had to creatively solve problems and how I went about creating solutions. Another thing I was asked about was my work experience and what challenges I had faced.

My anticipation was that the interview would be fairly technical, however the focus was entirely on softer skills. Most of the questioning seemed to focus on getting me to talk about communication skills, group work, solutions-oriented thinking and professionalism (for example, I was asked about conflict resolution and if I'd ever had personal issues with someone in a professional environment; if so how I'd dealt with the situation etc).

The interview was about 40 minutes in duration and was quite tailored to the application I had filled out, in that my responses to the application had informed and flavored the interview they set out for me. It was a one-on-one session and fairly relaxed as these things go.

The format of the interview was quite traditional and favored the interviewee (me) in leading the discussion - the questions essentially served as prompts for me to try and bring up the things I felt were relevant and gave me a fair degree of freedom to direct the discussion.

Other topics included what had attracted me to the role, why did I think I would be well suited to the placement etc. We also discussed what sort of things I had been working on while at university and what my career plans were. There was also the standard questions section to conclude.

The questions were quite tailored to the responses to my application, so they weren't too bad. The hard thing was trying not to return to the same examples if I was asked a similar question to one I had already answered.

Firstly I'd advise candidates not to stress too much - I think I went to this assessment centre too stressed. I was anticipating a heavy focus on technical ability and as such spent the previous two nights revising pointers, memory management and design patterns. On the day, the focus was much more on group work, communication and softer work skills. As with anything like this, just make sure you're polite, well-presented and engaged. Try to be inclusive and come across well in the group tasks; it can be easy to accidentally come across as trying to dominate the group discussion aspects of the assessment, which is something you should aim to avoid.

I would advise just turning up well rested and positive. Remember to bring pens etc, but I wouldn't bother taking a notepad or the like - I went expecting to take notes but didn't really need to at all. Also if you're travelling a long way, I'd recommend staying somewhere the night before. They reimburse up to £100 of travel expense, so it's definitely worth doing to make sure you're fresh and ready on the day.

The format of the interview and the day in general was very favorable, as the candidates were given a deal of opportunity to show our ability and individuality. Approach it more as a way to find out more information about the position and whether you think it would be right for you.

At the assessment centre we were asked first to participate in a group task: We were given a scenario in which we were recently employed graduates at a hypothetical company which was trying to expand it's consumer base; we were presented with a variety of promotional ideas and materials and asked to evaluate them and provide a list of pros and cons for each.

There was also an hour long written assessment based on this same hypothetical company. This was a solo task, which again had the candidate review material for this imaginary company in order to create a list of issues, ranked by severity. The task also had the candidate pick the 3 most important issues, defend the picking of them and suggest means by which the issues could be solved.

My initial telephone interview was conducted by a graduate recruiter and last no more than 30 minutes. The recruiter was really friendly and down to Earth who made me feel relaxed prior to the start of the interview.
The questions consisted of "What is it that attracts you to the scheme?", "Why do you want to work for this company?" and the typical "Describe a time when you worked in a team during a difficult period".

Upon completion of the telephone interview I was invited to an assessment day which required me to prepare a presentation out of a few chosen topics which was emailed over and had to be submitted prior to the day. The assessment day consisted of several aspects these being: One-to-One interview, presentation, analytical tests and a group task.

The most difficult question faced during the day were the questions asked following the presentation. The graduate members listening in were trying to make sure you knew what you were talking about incase you simply copied and pasted some information into your slides. The interviewer was very friendly so you should not worry about any difficult questions during that likewise with the group work. Just be yourself and take a moment to think of your response before giving your final answer, there is no pressure so stay calm.

Based on my assessment day, just be yourself! everyone was level headed and would be able to spot if you're trying too hard.
I'd recommend preparing yourself for the telephone interview by writing your potential answers to the questions I've listed above, but don't worry about the telephone interview or assessment day as everyone was friendly and made you feel at ease.
Best of luck.

Before the day started, we were told that we wouldn't be competing against each other which made everyone feel at ease. Every single member of staff who was around that day made us feel very welcome.
We first began the day by having analytical tests, mostly multiple choice questions which lasted approximately 30 minutes after this we were then taken one by one (at various times) to conduct our presentation to a group of 5 recent graduate scheme members. For those who were not doing their presentations were given the opportunity to talk to recent graduate members who were able to tell us about the potential work if we got the job. The actual presentation last about 15 minutes followed by a few questions aimed to make sure you know what you're talking about.
The actual interview lasted 45 minutes and felt more like a friendly conversation talking about your past and interests; The interviewer and I spent approximately 15 minutes talking about music so it's nothing to dread.
Finally, for the group work, we were split into several groups of 4 and were given 1 hour to analyse a task a decide upon one final solution out of a list of 3 and then present the final solution along with our reasoning; This was conducted in front of a group of senior members who are looking mainly for your team working skills in addition to your problem solving skills.
When the day was over we were told that we'd be informed within 3 weeks of the outcome and were thanked for participating.

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.