Graduate Sales Executive
Interview process
The initial phone interview was straight forward and after a brief conversation about my CV i was asked to write a page on why i want to pursue a career in sales and why i felt i was more suitable than the other candidates applying for the role.
Most difficult question
When is a time you have showed determination to achieve a goal?
Interview tips
Know as much as you can about DS Smith, show enthusiasm for the company. Also make sure to take a foot hold in the team exercises, there isn't time to sit back and allow others to take the lead.
Experiences at the assessment centre
The assessment center was by no means a short process. Proceedings began at 8.30 sharp and did not finish till gone 5. There were 12 of us in total, after a short initial briefing on how the day would plan out we were split into two teams of 6. The first team went to do a group exercise, whilst my group went to do our 1 on 1 interviews. There were two interviews, each with two managers of DS Smith. They made you feel relaxed and were easy to talk to, the interview questions were what you would expect, why is it you want to work for us? why have you chosen sales? along with going over the CV and so on. After this there was a team exercise where we were given a task to design a new supermarket store, most probably to see how we communicated, who would take the lead etc. They even provided lunch for us! after lunch there was another team exercise quite similar to the first. The final part of the day was a 6 minute presentation we had to do, we were notified in advance about this and had to do a presentation on a chosen business topic. Overall this was quite an enjoyable day and definitely a good experience.
Interview steps
Interviews:
- Phone
- 1:1
- Group / Panel
- Senior Management
- Video
Tests:
- Numerical
- Personality
- Verbal reasoning
- Psychometric
Other:
- Assessment centre
- Group exercise
- Background check
- Presentation
- Competency based questions