Computing & IT Interview Questions & Answers

My initial interview stages were the typical online assessment stage, after which I was invited by email to attend an assessment center.

The most difficult question I recall was being asked what you would do if another manager came and asked you to quickly do some work for them.

The answer was ofcourse ask *your* manager.

Be confident, there are many "right" answers. And be yourself - there's no point getting a job if you don't think it will suit you.

At the assessment center (when I managed to find the right building!) I met the other potential candidates, as well as several heads of department. As a group we were then briefed on the company in general, before starting our exercises. These ranged from group exercises such as "order these items if you were stranded at sea" testing how we worked as a group, to individual exercises such as presenting a business case to move a company to one of three potential sites. After the exercises (and lunch) we were taken for one-on-one interviews.

I had an initial telephone interview with one of the graduate recruiters, which took about 5-10 mins. They asked me basic questions like what I knew about the company, why I wanted to work there, she also asked me about my experience on my CV.
At the assessment centre we had three 5-minute interviews on a rotational basis. The first one was quite competency based where they asked questions like describe a time you've had to solve a problem at work and what would you do to build a relationship with someone at work. The second interview asked me questions about my background and my CV so questions like why I picked my degree and my dissertation topic and if I could change my degree what would I do instead. The third interviewer asked me questions like why I wanted to work for the company, describe my best day at work, what success meant to me and a time I had used IT for a solution.

The most difficult question asked was why I wanted to work for the company because I don't come from an IT background, but I just gave an answer about the opportunities the role would bring.

Make sure research the company, and show passion, enthusiasm and willingness to learn because they accept people from all backgrounds so their just looking for people with that extra spark.
Also, brush up on your mathematical skills if you haven't used maths since GCSE because they say the numerical test is GCSE level, however I found it quite hard and I did Economics at degree level. Also, do some research about IT because there are few basic IT questions like what is HTTP, SQL, and some coding stuff aswell.

There was a group of about 21 of us, at the start of the day we each had to stand up and introduce ourselves to the group, we were then taken into a room where we watched a video about the company and then a woman came to talk about the company and asked us if we had any questions and we were given a chance to read a sample contract. After that were split into two groups where one group would have the interviews first and then the tests later then we joined together to do a venn diagram test together.

Describe a situation where you had to show responsibility.

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.

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 interview was held with two senior executives who asked me many competency questions and tried to get a gist of my technical skills and techncial experience. It was a 15 minutes interview and was focused on extracting the problem solving skills, communication skills, confidence, leadership, team working skills which will be required for any role at GE on a regular basis due to the nature of the teams.

Tell me about a project that failed and how did you go about making it a successful project in the end?

Don't worry if you don't do well on one part of the assessment center, concentrate on what is left and give your best. I believe its based on the marking system, so it will all add up and you will still have a good chance if you do well on the rest.

The assessment centre that I went to was from 8:30 to 2:30 (including lunch) and I think we started at 9. It consisted of 8 potential ITLP's and we were split in 2 groups of 4 each. We then went through the following (The order may vary):
1: Presentation about GE and life as an ITLP. (30 minutes approx.)
2: Interview (15 minutes)- As explained above.
3: Group Exercise (30 minutes)- This is where four of the people were sent to solve a problem and come up with a solution (there is no right or wrong answer). The team then had present the proposed solution in 5 minutes to the senior executive team who will negotiate on why you chose this to be the solution and not the others. So they were looking for skills such as persuasion, negotiation and decision making and ability to cope with pressure.
4: Presentation (10 minutes each) - My greatest achievement.

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.

Asked basic questions about education, and interest in applying for this position

1. Online Application very wordy,
2. Online test (IPAT)
3. Online test for English comprehension
4. Phone interview
5. Assessment center ??? lots of tasks

What salary are you looking for?
What are your weeknesses?

No tricks in the Interview, just a chat over your application form. Maybe be prepared for 'What value would -you- bring to the organization?

The final assessment center started with a software engineering test that was mainly decision mathematics. You then have various tasks and teamwork activities to complete. This includes a presentation about yourself, a group logic puzzle, a reading task, where you have a large amount of information to read and are then questioned about what you have read, a group interview where you are asked about a fictional scenario and what you would do about it. For the group exercise, we were split into two in the morning and business presentation and one-to-one interview was in the afternoon for me. The one on one interview is where they ask about your application form, why IBM, what your long term goals are.

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.