The first stage of the selection process was a telephone interview.
-Was asked what I knew about Sopra Steria.
-Three competency based questions focused around teamwork. You need to give two acceptable answers here to pass (Use STAR technique).
The next stage was an online aptitude test of 40 questions in one hour. I found it useful to have a pen and paper to hand for some of the logic questions.
The final stage was the assessment centre where there were 14 candidates across 4 business areas. This was split into three components:
1.Interview
Two interviewers, one from HR, and the other from the business.
The business manager will pick at your CV and ask about your suitable experience.
The HR manager will play mind games and ask questions such as:
What do you know about the business, competitors, challenges etc?
What are your career goals? (Need to answer using SMART)
Competency based questions (see below).
2.Presentation
Tasked with giving a 5-10 minute presentation + questions on a topic given on the day to two assessors (no one else). You have time to prepare for this while others are being interviewed.
Was asked to present about company I admired.
3.Group Exercises
There were two group exercises.
The first was a discussion based exercise. We were given one-line bios of fictional characters stranded on a desert island and asked which of them should take the limited number of places on the escape boat.
The second was a practical exercise. The task given to us was the "AirLift!" exercise by Northgate (search it up). My group failed this one due to a lack of planning, leadership and communication.
