I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at WTW (London, England) in Nov 2013
Interview
After submitting my online application, was contacted within a week for a phone interview. Phone interview consisted of basic fit questions, with no technical questions asked. Lasted about half an hour. Received an email about a week later inviting me to final round interviews at the London office.
Final round was an assessment centre. It started with a senior employee talking to us about the firm and telling us more about Investment Consulting. This was followed by a written exercise based on Towers Watson research papers we had been asked to read prior to the interview, and a fit interview with a manager/senior employee. There was also a group exercise where we were supposed to rank the most important inventions in human history.
Lastly, there was a 10-minute presentation on our recommendations for a pension fund regarding it increasing or decreasing its exposure to emerging market debt and equities. Got asked a range of questions by my interviewer about the presentation, ranging from "What is QE" to more difficult questions about the various asset classes.
Overall the assessment centre wasn't extremely difficult- the presentation was the most challenging aspect. My biggest complaint was the lack of constructive feedback provided by HR, a view which almost all of the other candidates at the assessment centre shared. HR went on for minutes about how my "presentation delivery could have had more impact" though I excelled in all other areas, which struck me as a rather contrived reason. Constructive feedback would have let us understand why we didn't get an offer and helped me in other interviews, so I wish they would have put in a lot more effort on that.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why should a pension fund increase its exposure to emerging market (hard currency) debt?
You first must submit resume, then HireView, then Interview day with two 30min interviews, each with 2 people interviewing you, then final round 45min interview with a more senior employee.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe how you would allocate assets in a Pension’s portfolio (give % weights and explain)
It was done on Hireview where i answered 8 back to back recorded questions that asked me about my experienced and how it aligned with the work of WTW. I ended up describing my experiences
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Describe a difficult situation and how I dealt with it
Hirevue interview, followed by virtual with 2 separate 30 min interviews with 2 interviewers. Questions asked were mainly focused on behavioral/ situational questions. Did not get a follow up after that.