Aon Hewitt Actuarial Consultant Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Jun 2011 in Farnborough, Hampshire, South East England, England (United Kingdom) (took a day)

I applied for the 2011 intake of actuarial consultants, on the graduate scheme.

The company initially took a while to respond to my application. I applied in April 2011 and after successfully passing numerical and verbal reasoning psychometric tests, I had to e-mail written responses to some personality profiling/motivation questions. It wasn't until June that I was invited to the assessment day, which was held at the Farnborough office.

The assessment day was however excellent. Friendly assessors and contact with graduates who had recently joined, as well as more senior and experienced employees. The work culture seemed open and everyone is supposedly approachable, even the partners and senior associates. However I have been to virtually no interviews where the company didn't claim that this is the case! Office is fine, noting special and situated on the outskirts of Farnborough, which is a small sleepy place - not an amazing location. Probably good place to live if have family however.

The assessment day itself consisted of three activities:

1) A 3-minute pitch, where you basically sell yourself and explain why you should be offered the job. Presented to two assessors, one from HR and one associate. Followed by questions from both.

2) An interview, approximately 45-60 minutes, again given by two assessors, one from HR and an associate. Some competency questions, as well as motivation and business awareness/acumen questions. Also a bit of a "how many bubbles" question at the end - mine was "how many ties are being worn right now in the UK".

3) A formal debate (English parliamentary style) lasting approx 50 minutes. Preceding this was a 20 minute preparation process, with the other members of your debate team (there were three to a team). The debate and prep were both observed by a large panel of associates and HR people, who formed the floor for the debate (and thus voted for the winner).

And truly astounding lunch.

My advice - prep well and research for the debate. Look carefully at both sides as you only get assigned a team once you're at the office. Also, take your time in the 3-minute pitch. I don't think I came across that well as I was rushing to try and get everything out.