Consists of 3 rounds. Only made it to the second round.
First round - online assessment.
Second round - group case study and presentation.
Third round - panel interview.
The second and third round are held on the same day, aka "super day".
DBS had the weirdest recruitment process. Applicants open early and close around March 2023. However, the "super day" is only held in May 2023 and employment begins around June/July 2023. From the time between receiving the invitation to DBS' super day and the actual super day, I received multiple emails from the HR team, asking me to confirm if I could attend the session... Even though I had already completed a Microsoft form to indicate that I could go...as requested by the HR team.
For the second round / group case study, here are some things to take note:
- Location was at Changi Business Park, but actual work location will be at CBD.
- Dress code is smart casual, even though they don't tell you this.
- Around 70-90 candidates will be present for this round.
- Each table had around 5-6 candidates with 1 DBS invigilator to facilitate the table discussion.
- Session was kickstarted with scavenger hunt just to boost the mood. No real benefit / reason for this I guess.
- Case study and presentation only lasts for about 1h 10mins.
- After this, you will be given a lunch break (food is provided by DBS).
- After lunch break, one current DBS Management Associates will come and talk to your group and you can ask any question.
- At around 1pm+ on that day, you will receive your results (of whether you proceed to the panel interview) by email.
- If you are unsuccessful, you will be made to leave the room and the building immediately.
For the case study and group presentation, the question posed was, "As a consultant, your task is to develop strategic approaches using AI / machine learning to drive the operations productivity and efficiency, with the customer's experience in mind."
The question might be challenging (depending on your background and expertise). Your presentation, however, do not have to be very bombastic. I recall some groups immediately standing up to discuss using the whiteboard (if they happened to sit near them). For other groups, they sat down and discussed calmly the entire time.
The recommended mode of discussion would probably be to stand up and actually write something to show that you're working and also, to get the ideas flowing. Each group presents at the same time as all the other groups, because only the DBS facilitator at your table will be listening in to your presentation.
The room was really noisy with so many people speaking at the same time. The DBS facilitator was really nice, friendly, not too strict, and easy-going. Not many questions were asked for my group and I think we were let off easy.
Eventually, results were released (not on time though, per what the HR told us). People who were emailed first got through to the panel interview. If your email is delayed - unfortunately, you are not progressing. It would be interesting to perform your own analysis of guessing who would move forward and comparing it to the actual result.
My conclusion is that the presentation bit probably doesn't matter much because there were people who could not even be heard but got to the third round. DBS is probably set on people with data skills since the company is skewed more towards tech.
The best part of the recruitment process though was the other candidates, because they were all genuinely nice people and at least DBS got that right.
