I applied online. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at RM (Milton, Oxfordshire, South East England, England) in Sep 2014
Interview
First part of the process was quite quick. Within 7 days of applying I had a telephone interview with HR. Quite an easy process, going through my CV and previous positions with a few competency based questions - i.e. give me an example when.... The telephone interview was quite scripted and providing you know your CV inside & out and have researched the company and how your experience relates to the job description then you shouldn't have any issues.
A couple of days later I was invited to complete the 2nd stage of the interview - This consisted of 2 online tests, numerical and verbal reasoning. These were actually quite difficult but you are given plenty of opportunity to take practice tests prior to the actual one. I would advise that you practice, practice and finally practice some more..... The verbal reasoning one can throw you off track - the question consists of a paragraph of text followed by several multiple choice answers based on the content of the text. You must remember to base your answer purely on the content of the text rather than any prior knowledge of the subject that you have- sometimes it feels like you are choosing the wrong answer based on knowledge/experience but the answer is correct based on the text.
About a week passed, then I was invited to an in person interview (apparently if you do not pass the online tests you don't get an interview). Unfortunately I then had to wait nearly 2 weeks for my actual interview.
The face to face interview was split into 2 parts. Upon arrival I was given a piece of paper with some basic information relating to the dept, some facts and figures and then several questions relating to the position I had applied for. I was then given 30 minutes to come up with a presentation that I had to then give to the line manager and a member of HR. There isn't really any prior preparation that you can do for this as you have no idea what the subject will be. I found this part of the interview relatively easy.
Once you have given your presentation you can expect 15-20 mins of questions relating to your content.
The second part of the interview moves into a somewhat archaic competency based interview lasting around 60 minutes when the line manager and HR take it in turns to work through their preset list of questions - make sure you research competency based interview questions and have a few examples of each to hand.
Questions will be along the lines of 'Give me an example when...' , 'Tell me about a time when...' , 'Describe a time when....'
Luckily, these types of interviews are quite easy to prepare for - just make sure your examples cover the following:
Situation - Explain the background of the situation
Task - What did you have to achieve
Action - What did you do to resolve the situation (remember to say 'I' rather than 'We')
Result - What was the outcome and what did you learn from it
I believe that using this scripted technique rather than a more informal open discussion means that RM is probably turning away some good talent.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
None of the questions were particularity difficult or unexpected - just research competency based interviews and the traditional interview questions.