Mercedes-Benz Interview Questions & Answers

The whole process ran very smoothly with regular contact from Mercedes-Benz to check how everything was going. I felt that there was quite a strong personal touch throughout. Having applied to quite a few different schemes, that's NOT always the case!

I had a telephone interview which included my motivations for working for Mercedes-Benz UK. I was also asked about how customer-focussed I was, and asked for examples of when I've delivered excellent customer service. It was clear to me just how much emphasis Mercedes-Benz put on their customers from the questions asked! This was conducted at a Dealership which gave me a chance to see how the business operates at the practical level.

I was also interviewed as part of the Assessment Centre by a member of the HR team, this was conducted at Mercedes-Benz world, the UK Mercedes Brand centre and museum which was awesome! This interview was more geared towards my career path and previous extra-curricular and work experience.

Also at the assessment centre I was asked to prepare a presentation based on some data provided to me. The time-frames were tight so that's what made this particularly difficult.

Thoroughly research the company values and structure of their operations in the UK. Mercedes-Benz in the UK is actually 3 companies who all work together under one umbrella! There is such variety on offer in the graduate programme too so be yourself and be honest about what you want to get from the scheme.

The assessment centre ran very smoothly. It was conducted at Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey (which I urge you to check out if you're applying!). We had time to mingle as applicants before it started which helped to ease nerves. There was a group presentation, an individual presentation and an individual interview. I found the assessors very professional and personable.

The process began with an online application with competency questions and motivations for the role and working for Mercedes-Benz.

Secondly, candidates completed online numeracy tests.

The third stage was a first round of interviews at a MB site, lasting for half a day. These were conducted by an external recruitment company and focussed on competencies. It was a very guided interview, essentially ensuring your interests and experiences could tick boxes on the interviewer's record sheet.

The next stage was an assessment centre, again held at a MB site.

Afterwards, there was a phone interview with the CAReer team at the MB headquarters in Stuttgart. Again, this interview focussed on competencies and motivations for the role and also included some questions in German for candidates who had indicated German language skills on their application.

Successful candidates were then due to be sent a further set of online tests before final selections were made, however I withdrew from the process before reaching this stage.

*Please note that the 2013 process was highly unsatisfactory, extending over a period of 8 months*.
I submitted my original application at the end of January and received no further correspondence from MB until mid-June when the online tests were sent. The interviews and assessment centre took place in July and further phone interviews and testing were in August (NB. the assessment centre was supposed to be the final stage - MB added additional stages at the last minute). The role was due to begin at the start of September, leaving candidates with little more than a fortnight to make arrangements. Nobody was able to answer my questions about the progress of my application and the reasons for the unacceptable delays. The staff running the hotline number provided on the website do not seem to have real knowledge of the scheme (I was given the impression that they were reading from a script to answer candidates queries and struggled to help me when I deviated from a question they expected).

The role play element of the assessment centre was most challenging, particularly weighing up the protection of company profits against providing outstanding customer service.

Do not set your heart on the MB Graduate Scheme as they can very quickly change their requirements (e.g. one of the other schemes was cancelled last year and they also changed their minds about the overall number of graduates they would take on (4 instead of 6)) and be sure to make contingency plans in case you are unsuccessful. The process was dragged out right up until a couple of weeks before the anticipated start date, therefore unsuccessful candidates could very easily be left without plans at a very late stage in proceedings.

This was an extremely demanding day involving a presentation about the company and the scheme, Q&A sessions with the previous year's graduates, a group exercise, an individual interview, a presentation and a role play (about customer service).

The website about the graduate scheme stated that the assessment centre was the fourth and final stage of the application process, however, candidates were informed at the conclusion of the assessment centre that Mercedes-Benz had in fact extended the process this year, with an additional phone interview and further online tests.

The initial stage was the written application, was relatively straight forward. Just included basic competencies such as reasons for applying and what the Mercedes brand name meant to you. For this particular role they didn't require a numerical or verbal reasoning test however, for the longer graduate roles they do. They let me know i had passed 2 weeks after applying, and allowed me to book a slot on the system for a telephone interview, (no surprise telephone interviews) As i was in Australia considering flying home to England for the interview they fast tracked my telephone interview result and let me know the following day that I had passed and sent me an email describing how i could book a slot to attend the assessment center online detailing what would be included and the type of competencies they look for (team player, passion for the brand and role, decision maker and shows leadership)

After this initial stage was the telephone interview, this lasted 25 minutes and only included 4 competency questions, the lady on the phone was really nice and even offered to call me in Australia for the interview which is where i was at the time. The questions were just basic competency questions,

Telephone: -
Why Merc and Why role
Time you worked in a team
Time that you've had to work under pressure
Time that you made a suggestion

They probe you to use the STAR Technique

Do your research in to why you want the role and company

They came and picked me up from the train station, there was 8 people in my interview one person failed to turn up. there was three parts, role play, group exercise and one on one interview. The interviewers are really nice and bring you unlimited copious amounts of water to stop your throat from drying up. The first exercise was the group interview (3 including me in the group)with 2 people accessing, was basically read a 4 page document in 30 minutes and discuss for another 30 minutes why you should put forward two staff working under you forward for a management position. You had their backgrounds/CV's/ Statistical performance indicators/ line manager reviews.

The second part was the competency interview. Again why mercedes and role, name a time you worked in a team, what kind of teams do you like? (i thought was an interesting question) who are mercedes competitors, do you think the market is competitive

lasted around 30 miniutes


The final stage was the role play, a 5 page easy to read document specific to the role applied for (loads of pictures and tables), i was to have a meeting with a sales executive from a dealership who had some questions to ask me. The document included a page on the performance of mercedes in recent years,a lot of random information on their breakdown cover and rental policy.

The role play was a bit strange as it wasn't clear cut as to what i thought the interviewer wanted. The role play only last 15minutes. She asked me questions which weren't in the document to see how i'd act under pressure and initially told me to hurry up as she had to leave in 15 minutes.

After that you fill out a feedback form and they send you on your way or drop you off to the train station.

My technical interview was with 2 senior engineers. They asked me questions relating to engines. Since it was a design based role. I was asked basic questions relating to engine design and operations. I was asked to design some engine components on a sheet of paper. The questions were simple at the start. After that the questions were not difficult but tricky. They asked simple questions in a difficult way. I was asked specifically about basic engine operations and the physics behind it.

The questions are not difficult because when you apply you sort of know what type of questions you will be getting. There was not much competency questions. Everything was technical.
The difficulty is when you answer and they dig deeper and ask more about the basics. So revise all the basic things about the role and what you will be doing. Its not that difficult if you know about F1 Engines and some specific industry related questions.

Stay calm and believe in yourself and your abilities. Research basic things about the role and don't expect questions. They make simple things complicated in the way they ask questions. So stay calm and don't be get disappointed if you get something wrong during the interview.
Stay focused and never look nervous even if you don't know something. Its all about your confidence and approach. Good luck.

There was a group task organized inside a small room. We were a group of 6 students. We were given the task of solving a problem. The situation was finding the best possible solution to take out a explosive devise from the center of a circle.
There were some conditions which made the task difficult. After the group task there was a small break and then we went for our individual technical interviews with senior engineers. We were also given a tour of the awesome factory and offices.