SCA Go Graduate Program
Interview process
I was received by two women who did say their names, but not their function.
One mainly asked the questions and the other took notes, although the other also had some clarifying questions. We had a small chat at the beginning and soon we moved on to discuss my CV.
What they wanted me to do was to describe my education. Since I'm not from the UK I couldn't talk about A levels or anything, so I basically started at the age of 4 explaining what I had done. They would ask me things about what modules I liked in high school, and why.
Because I have done lots of internships and projects, they wondered if I had any gap years and when I said no, they wondered how I combined it all. They were also interested in my Bachelor dissertation, what topic it was on and what the company did with my advice.
They asked me what I look for in a company, and where I would see myself in 5, 10 and 20 years from now. They also wanted to know what brands I favour and why and which I dislike. The same was asked about people/ leaders.
They asked me what kind of job I'm looking for and why I like marketing. They also wanted to know how I feel about moving to other countries.
The phone interview lasted for about 20 minutes and the face to face for about an hour.
Bot interviews so far were really nice, everyone was very kind to me and made me feel very comfortable.
One mainly asked the questions and the other took notes, although the other also had some clarifying questions. We had a small chat at the beginning and soon we moved on to discuss my CV.
What they wanted me to do was to describe my education. Since I'm not from the UK I couldn't talk about A levels or anything, so I basically started at the age of 4 explaining what I had done. They would ask me things about what modules I liked in high school, and why.
Because I have done lots of internships and projects, they wondered if I had any gap years and when I said no, they wondered how I combined it all. They were also interested in my Bachelor dissertation, what topic it was on and what the company did with my advice.
They asked me what I look for in a company, and where I would see myself in 5, 10 and 20 years from now. They also wanted to know what brands I favour and why and which I dislike. The same was asked about people/ leaders.
They asked me what kind of job I'm looking for and why I like marketing. They also wanted to know how I feel about moving to other countries.
The phone interview lasted for about 20 minutes and the face to face for about an hour.
Bot interviews so far were really nice, everyone was very kind to me and made me feel very comfortable.
Most difficult question
I think this depends on how much you know yourself and your wishes and if you want to please the recruiter by giving perfect answers.
For me personally I though the questions about where do you see yourself in 5, 10 and 20 years. Can you say you see yourself in another profession? I want to do a PhD. in the future, which means I will possibly need to quit my Job. But I chose to tell them that I aspire a academic career and that I for now would like to experience how it is to work for a big company. I believe honesty in these questions is most important. If you want to make an impression anyway ;)
For me personally I though the questions about where do you see yourself in 5, 10 and 20 years. Can you say you see yourself in another profession? I want to do a PhD. in the future, which means I will possibly need to quit my Job. But I chose to tell them that I aspire a academic career and that I for now would like to experience how it is to work for a big company. I believe honesty in these questions is most important. If you want to make an impression anyway ;)
Interview tips
Practical advise is to not over prepare. I even went unprepared! Before I practiced questions and things I wanted to say, only to sound like a robot during my interview! Now I was completely relaxed, not stressing about what I was SUPPOSED to say, but really having a conversation rather than answering questions perfectly. I felt like I was more in the moment, paying more attention to what the women were saying and also enjoying it more, making me smile and look like a nice and confident candidate. They asked me what I knew about the company though, couldn't really answer that one, but I just turned it around and said thats why I'm here, to learn more about you.
Experiences at the assessment centre
No Tasks.
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