Telecommunications Interview Questions & Answers

The face to face interview consisted of a range of behavioural competency questions; with proper preparation they are very easy as long as you have past experience to relate to them. Look up behavioural competency questions; I found 100 on google, completed them, and was able to fully answer each interview question with multiple examples.

Conflict management; they are always difficult but as long as you show you were able to remain objective in your experience of dealing with conflict you will be fine. Top tip; dont slate other people or past employers as a future employer could easilly become a past employer in future.

Be prepared, as in all interviews. Look up sector specific interview types, questions, and even the interviewer if you have a name prior to meeting. Research the company, their values and acomplishments and prepare at least 2 questions to ask at the end. They are a big company so all of this is information is very easy to find; fail to do so at your peril!

Online centre; psychometric and personality type testing. Have your favourite calculator handy for numerical questions, unless you're Steven Hawkins you will need it! Brush up on mathmatical formulas on percentages and fractions to improve response times. The rest is pretty straight forward.

My interview was via Skype, although the connection failed and we had to continue via phone. We had an initial chat through my CV where the interviewer highlighted my A-level choice and my achievements in sport. After this I was asked about BT specifically, their competition, why I chose to work for BT and, importantly, my passion for BT. This then continued to more technical questions surrounding the role, for example 'what is the importance of well-written code?'. And finally, i was asked one competency question, which was: 'When have I made an improvement to an existing process or task?' - This is the same as the question on the application form.

Who are BT's competition? (This is a basic research question that I had neglected in my company research)

When have I made an improvement to an existing process or task? (I had already spoken about one of my process improvements earlier in the interview and thus had to think, on the spot, of something else I had done)

Research, research, research. I thought I had looked into the company well enough but I missed out a key part of research... competitors! Look no only at BT, but also their external environment and the trends in technology.

Finally, the competency questions are the same as those asked in the application form... re-use that example (if, like me, you didnt use it up earlier in the interview!).

I didn't make it to the assessment centre. I was told I scored highly on my interview, but the two questions above let me down.

My telephone interview lasted for approximately 25-30 mins. Initially, Vodafone went through some HR material regarding my application for security reasons. They then went on to ask whether I could meet the rigorous 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.

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.

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.

Vodafone gave a brief interview of themselves and the program upon the arrival of all the candidates. What followed next for me was a face to face interview with a senior member of Vodafone. 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.

My interview was in a room with around 15 other candidates. We had a series of group tasks to perform; we split into groups of two or three in order to perform the tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible. We also had an individual task at the end in which we had to present ourselves and why we would be a suitable candidate for the role in front of the other candidates.

'What would you say to an alumni in order to better engage them and encourage them to donate money to the university?'

It is difficult to stand out in a group interview, so when you are asked the same question as someone else, answer with enthusiasm and originality. The issue with trying to do this however is that you will often feel on the spot because the interview is not just between you and an employer(s) but you are in a room with others looking on at you and your answers. This might influence how you respond, for example in my case, due to the amount of people in the room who were not potential employers, I downplayed myself in an attempt to not come across as too arrogant. However the entire point of an interview is to highlight your skills and attributes which may be useful to the company, so holding back in an attempt to seem more humble can be detrimental if done too much.

We were asked to perform three tasks: the first was to drop an egg on to the floor and make sure it did not break. In order to protect the egg from breaking we were given two balloons, some sellotape and some string. Our second task was a simulated call to an 'alumni' whereby one person pretended to be the alumni, and the other pretended to be the telephoner engaging the alumni for donations. Our final task was an individual presentation to the rest of the group describing why you thought you were best suited to the job.

My interview was part of an assessment centre which involved a group exercise and solo presentation. The interview itself was with a technology manager, namely systems networking.

Prior to the interview, we were all given a short situational judgement test which would be material for the interview. The interview was around 40 minutes long and involved questions based on my answers to the test, and general competency questions such as "how do you react to change".

Overall it was a fun experience as everyone was very nice and understanding that the candidates were nervous.

On a project, how have you handled conflicting tasks?

The process was focused around EE's values, so make sure you know the company's values and are prepared to give examples of times you used them too.

Other that that, I guess keeping a level head and an eye on the time for your activities

5 of us in total were given a big booklet of information and given 15 minutes to read through it and then had 20 minutes to use the right information to come up with new strategies to increase their market share.

After a break I had 15 minutes to prepare a presentation based on our conclusions. I then had 10 minutes to give the presentation followed by 15 minutes of questions.

After applying via a fast track I was sent an email invitation to a video interview. The instructions were simple and easy to follow. The questions however were not as I expected. They were not competencey based but more out of the box, personality based questions. The video interview took around 20 minute to complete and time was given to prepare answers. Following this I was invited to an assessment centre with a choice of dates available. The assessment day was split into three sections ; individual interview, presentation and group exercise. The day itself was very well organised with plenty of chance to ask questions and also have a site tour. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and felt like I was given a good opportunity to make a positive and natural impression. I was contacted within 72hrs with an offer, which was great as no one wants to wait very long especially when you are eager. It's fair to say I wanted the job even more after attending the assessment Centre.

If you were on a dessert island what 3 items would you take with you?

Sounds obvious; but be yourself. A cliché maybe but it's all about showing how the real you can make a positive impact. Do your research and turn up positive!
Have a real think about what you want to achieve and how you will do it.
Interact with other interviewees they are potential colleagues plus you will work with them in the group exercise. Ask lots of questions, there are no silly ones.

One to one interview - personality/competencey
10 minute presentation - given a fact sheet and scenario and 30 mins to prepare.
Group exercise - 10 minutes individual preparation and 10 minutes group discussion / idea presentation