Computing & IT Interview Questions & Answers

To apply to the HR Assistant role I had to submit my CV and Covering letter to the HR department. After this I was contacted to attend an assessment center. The assessment center started at 9am and finished at 4pm however candidates were sent home at lunch time if there were not successful. The day started with an ice breaker which consisted of a shield exercise where you had to answer the following questions about yourself. Your biggest achievement, your role model, your career ambition and a quote you live your life by. After the ice breaker we took part in a group exercise for 45 minutes surrounding health initiatives for the company. The final activity of the day was a "About Me" presentation which we had to prepare for the day. This was presented to four of the HR department. After lunch three successful candidates were asked to go through to the interview stage. There were two interviews, one focusing on competency questions and one on your personality.

After the "About Me" presentation the panel asked questions about the company and why you wanted to work for Computacenter so it is key to research the company before the assessment day.

The interviews were relaxed and the interviewers were friendly. The question were focused on previous work experience but they understood if you did not have any previous experience within HR. I would advise others to be yourself and enjoy the day.

There were 8 people attending the assessment day and three candidates stayed after lunch through to the next stage. I enjoyed the whole day as it was well organised and the atmosphere was relaxed.

An email was sent to all the university students to apply for Bank of England through Sanctuary Search (a recruiting company). I applied through them, this entailed filling the online application form, I found it quite long and time-consuming but you have to do it. After my CV and the application form were accepted, the recruiting company sent me a link to the tests. I did my tests and after about a week, I was invited for the assessment centre. Until this point, all the communication was with the recruiter but on my interview day I got to talk to one of the employees who were also the senior manager in the team that I was joining.

What are the main issues facing the UK economy?

For the interview, think ahead of examples of when you had to use your organisational and/or analytical skills. Choose good real-life examples to demonstrate each of the skills that you claim you have. In terms of preparation, read all the publications that come onto the company's website and keep up-to-date with regulation changes, new bills, etc. Follow the markets (in particular debt and foreign exchange markets) and tailor your answers according to the job market and job needs.

The assessment centre consisted of two parts.
-Group exercise: It was really easy, just giving you some details of a project, each one of us was given a separate part of it and then we all had to agree on a decision together. Timing: 30min total.
-Interview: was also very easy, some standard competency based questions, about teamwork and communication mostly, and then some IT question from a person from that department, nothing too technical, mostly general questions about IT, your own opinions etc. Also make sure you know what bank does, they asked me questions related to banking industry and my comments on it, to which I had absolutely no answer. Lack of research. Timing: about 1hr.

My phone interview was with an outsourced company based overseas. They were very friendly and asked basic competency questions, details about me, my motivations..etc. They heavily emphasised the use of the STAR technique for answering their questions. It was nothing technical.
Just be friendly and confident.

To be honest they were all run of the mill, so it was pretty easy to prepare for. I guess the hardest for me personally (due to only having one example) was to describe a time when I have worked in a team with a member not pulling their weight, how I approached this situation, and what was the outcome?

Be prepared, read up about the company.
Make sure you have commercial awareness of the industry.
Get your personal brand on point - make out that your values match those of the company.
And be nice!

There was an individual presentation based on some literature you are given for 45 mins beforehand. You prepare your presentation using power point, and present only to one interviewer. There was also a group task where you are watched by three assessors. In the group task you are given a project and have to devise a plan for that project within around 20 minutes. Then finally there were speed dating styled one on one interviews with competency and technical questions.

This was the telephone interview which was split into three parts; technology questions, competency questions and then logistics.
So for the technology questions I was asked about what I knew about Capgemini and why I wanted to work there, company values, there clients or 'alliances' and what were the latest developments or like current trends in IT and I would affect businesses.
Then for the competency questions I was asked about communication skills and a time I delivered good service. I was also asked about a time I worked successfully as part of a team. And then I was asked about when something didn't go as planned and what I did.
For logistics, I was just asked about being able to work in Worthing where that stream is based and how I found out about the role.

The most difficult question was about the current trends and developments in IT and how they affected business. Although I had done my research the way the question was worded (I can't remeber exactly,) really threw me off.

Just do as much research as you can on the IT industry, and the company and what they do. Also, because it is a telphone interview you can just write all your knoweledge on a word document and just read it when asked. But good research and knowledge of the IT industry is most important.

have not heard back as to whether I am going to be invited to the assessment centre. Wish me luck! x

This was a telephone interview, and it lasted about 45 minutes. I was given a call on my phone to let me know that they will call me on Skype. Then the person went through my personal details and started the interview process. It began with competency questions followed by questions on the knowledge required for the job role.

Competency questions such as, "Tell me a recent technology that can be beneficial to our company, "seemed as if these were the key questions they assessed me on. I was also asked some pure software engineering questions which i think were asked because they wanted to see whether i will be a nice fit for the role. I wasn't expecting these sort of questions as the email said there will be core competency questions to see if I am eligible for the final assessment centre.

How did you use latest technology recently and how could that technology help BT in improving their business?

Ensure that you know about what is required from the role you are applying for. E.g. Being a software engineer what are the core responsibilities and what is the knowledge you would need to have.

I didn't get through to the assessment stage, but I was told if I did get through the telephone interview I would have been given a call to attend the assessment centre at the London office

Once I was successful in the application I was invited to book my interview date online, this was all very professional and convenient, I chose my slot.

The first round of interviews consisted of a Problem Solving based test, Goldman Sachs (GS) were more interested in how you attempted to solve the problem, rather than the right answer. We had 30 minutes to complete the test. The only negative is that we weren't given a clock in the room! There were three questions.

The second stage was to discuss our test results with a member of the technology team, we had thirty minutes to explain all our answers, and in my case, attempt to answer question three out loud - as I didn't have time in the test!

After that interview we had another 30 minute interview, this was basic competencies such as "Why Goldman Sachs", "Tell me a time when you've.."

I was told we would receive a response within 24 hours.

72 hours later, I had not received a response, I phoned head office and asked them to put me through to the Graduate Recruitment Officer (I quoted her name, but hidden on here for obvious reasons), and I asked her directly.

Whether it was this ballsy attitude that got me to the final round stages, I'll never know.

The final round interview consisted of one competency based interview, one technical interview, in my case it was about time complexity.

Technical interview on time-complexity and some programming based questions.

Do your homework on the company, this is one of the toughest selection processes for any graduate job due to the extreme competition. You are also being judged from the moment you walk into the building, be yourself and don't be nervous.

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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.

Numerical questions were very much competitive and the time was very limited. So I could not get much time to finish all the questions.

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.

The video interview experience was very good. Vodafone provided video link to use on different platform so that students can use on their choices. There was a practice question that is directly related to later interview questions. You can practice as many as you can so that you can perfect your pitch. This practice will ensure you are doing everything correct. Things like fixing front camera to its best, smiling, sound level after replaying recorded video.
Before video interview, ensure you have researched the company from your application perspective. This brings huge knowledge before doing interview.

"What do you think about new innovation that has to be brought using technologies?" This is not accurate question. Anyway, you can talk about missing technologies around your surrounding. Let say if there is no secure Wifi public connection then what would you do to make sure your information are protected from unauthorised access? Thus is a task you do by yourself and there is possibilities of of doing innovative way.

Use STAR technique while answering video interview questions. This technique will cover Situation, Task, Action and Result. Always be loud and clear. Bring pragmatic approach. And know their culture and values.

I am still waiting for video interview resul.

My initial telephone interview was with a member of the recruitment team and lasted around 10 minutes. We had a short discussion about the company, my CV and my application. At the end, I was invited to a graduate assessment day.
During the assessment day there were two one-on-one interviews: an HR interview and a technical interview. The HR interview featured every question you might expect to hear in a typical personal interview, the most difficult of which are noted below. The technical interview did not feature so many questions, but instead was more a discussion of the work that would be involved within the role for the successful candidate.

Describe a time when you resolved an issue with a difficult customer/team member. What happened?
Describe a time when plans had to be changed. What happened?
Where do you see yourself in five years time?
What is your biggest flaw?

Prepare for all the typical 'awkward' interview questions you would expect during the HR interview. Have answers prepared that present your ability to solve problems, work in a team and organise yourself.

We were split into groups of 3 and given 30 minutes to prepare a 15 minute presentation detailing our survival plan should we be lost at sea, given a list of items salvaged from our own shipwreck. Questions asked by the interviewers appeared to be aimed specifically at knocking us off-balance, presumably in an attempt to see how we would deal with difficult customers and rapidly changing circumstance.
In an individual writing task, we each were asked to perform three tests: A comparison of a draft document to a company standard document, noting any significant errors. Then I had to determine a number of possible errors that might occur as a result of software faults in a bank and the outcomes of those errors. Then I had to draft an email to a superior detailing those possible errors and steps to be taken to test for them. The three writing tasks took one hour.
A buffet lunch was provided a little over half way through the assessment day, during which we were shown a presentation about the company.

The day started with a presentation from an academy head, basic info about the company, their clients and opportunities available. We then took a 20 minute Java test and 20 minute Logical test, they weren't too bad. Logical one was complete the pattern activities for example and the Java was basic keywords associated it.

After this we were given a topic, in our case, boxing. We were given little booklets with areas that we needed to cover as a group. This meant splitting the workload and working as team. This was the majority of the day and to be honest as it sounds more difficult than it is! As long as your confident enough to speak to people and just give ideas and participate you will find it ok! It's pretty fun to be honest.

The tasks involved were: business plan, create website, make a TV advert etc. We then had to present to two members of the QA team, and as long as your confident and speak well, it's not too much stress. During the group activities they take you out for 1-1 interview, basic questions about your future ambitions, uni experiences, likes and dislikes, then some Java questions, like explain what void means, inheritance etc! That's the end of the day then!

Explain the 4 major principles of Object Orientated Programming and give an example of one of them?

Brush up on your Java understanding and the meaning of keywords! If your not a comfortable speaker, try practicing that, it can be a big part of the interview and we were given the impression it was a big factor in their choosing of who to employ.

It was supposed to be in their academy , but they were so busy they moved us to a hotel literally across the street! Meant we missed out on the chance to talk to people currently on the training and job, no big deal though.