Mercer AC!!

Hi Dublin, hope you are doing well, have you been successful with your Mercer AC?

I have got a phone interview coming up and if I succeed the next step is AC.

I know the AC consists of interview, presentation, case study, group discussion and verbal test.
Is that true that there will be no numerical test? How should I prepare for all the assessments now?
Any Advice would be more than appreciated!!

Best Wishes,
Kenneth

hi,
today I just did telephone interview and interviewer told me that there would be no numerical test...When did you guys get outcomes after telephone interview?? and wot 's the next process after telepone interview? thanks a lot

hey everyone,
i see everyone's having telephone interviews and AC already, may i ask which position did you apply to dublin, cky and yumikoyoy?
and one more question, when you filled in the application form, what did you write in the part about the industry Mercer operates in? i have completed all the other questions but am stuck on that one.

Would appreciate any advice!

Hi everyone,

I have a phone interview in a couple of days. Please could you tell me what kind of questions did they ask? Anything that surprised you? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

hey cool_zero. In that question I wrote about the sectors mercer operates in like HR consultind, retirement consulting and investment consulting. Write what these sectors involve and what kind of clients Mercer has in these sectors. Just read their website thoroughly and that should give you the answer. This question just wants to test your awareness of the company.

I have just had my telephone interview with Mercer. It was quite relaxed and the interviewer was very nice.

I was asked questions about my education and the skills I gained through it. Then I was asked about what I knew about the Pensions market. After that she asked me about Mercer and my service line and the actuarial exams followed by 3 competency questions. I was offered the AC on the phone. Just be yourself and try and adapt your competencies to indirect questions.

My indirect questions were:

Tell me about a time when your views were met with opposition.
Tell me about a time when you performed beyond expectations.
Tell me about a time when you helped a team member.

All the best to everyone out there.

Have a phone interview lined up for Mercer as well, thanks for all the input, ll let know the outcomes. In the meantime, if there is any more advice and experience regarding their phone interview it'll be highly appreciated. Desperate for a proper job at the moment.

Had my AC last week. It was quite relaxed actually.

I started with the presentation. My topic was " Explain the rationale behind the government intervention in the economy in the last 6 months." I had 4 days to prepare the presentation. I had to present to only 1 person. He asked me a couple of questions about it.

How did you research the material for the presenation?
Did you practice the presentation on anybody?
Do you think the government took the right decisions?

Then I had 2 separate interviews with senior consultants. One was centered around my educational background and work experience and the other talked why mercer? and about the qualifications i will be doing and general questions about the practice area.

Then we had a 35 minute case study excercise which was an individual task where each of us had to write down an individual recommendation. This was followed by a group discussion of the case study where we had 15 minutes to reach a consensus.

After this we ahd a 40-minute lunch break during which we were shown around the office by 2 graduates that started this year.

Following that we had a verbal reasoning test for 35 minutes. It wasn't the standard yes, no, cannot say. It was more multiple choice and comprehension based. A paragraph of info provided and then 3-5 questions on it such as:

Which of the following words replaces this word in line 5?
Which 2 sentences best summarise the para?
Which sentence describes this group?

things like that...which I found quite hard and time-consuming and was the least enjoyable part of the day.

The day started at 10 and finished at 2:30 pm. Hoping to hear from them soon.

Hi Surbhimehra, first of all congrats for making it so far!

It seems to be a very tough AC, I have just been invited to attend an AC, and quite frankly, I am a bit nervous after reading this post. Just out of curiosity, how long did your interviews last? And also, how long does the presentation have to last?

Hope you make it through! Best of luck!

Regards

Harshil

Hi Harshil,

Each interview lasted 40 minutes and the presentation was for 15 minutes. The only thing I did not like was the verbal reasoning test because in the email she said it would be the standard yes no cannot say but it turned out quite different. So just be prepared for that. Which office did you apply for? and when is your AC?

Best of luck :)

Hello Surbhimehra

My AC is on the 9th of January for the Windsor office, still a long way away! What about you, where did you apply? Did they not ask you any competency questions in the interviews? And what was the case study about, might be the same one, lol! I normally do really bad on ACs, hope this one is going to be different.

Regards
Harshil

Unfortunately I have not got the job...but best of luck to all of you!

Hi Surbhimehra

Sorry to hear that, I am sure you ll get another job! Did they give you any feedback?

Best of luck with the other apps.

Regards

Harshil

hey guys, i had an assessment centre earlier this week in london and very happy to say i got the internship!

harshil - in the interviews with senior consultants they do ask you competancy based questions, but....in mine they tended to ask for examples from things i'd put in my CV or said in my telephone interview....

e.g i think they asked......you said that you play alot of basketball, has there ever been a time when you have had to take the role of a leader in the team? etc etc

As for the case study, it was about a company who was reviewing there benefits package, so there was a load of information about what they currently offered (e.g bonuses, holiday, health insurance, pension scheme etc)

then it had a bunch of criteria that the company wanted to meet with a new scheme, and a ranking of what employees thought was the most important (bonus!)

then there was 4 different suggested packages and you had to analyse the good and bad points of each one and pick you choice!
then as a group you have 15 minutes to discuss and recomend one! to be honest it doesnt really matter which one you pick, as long as you have justification and can talk about why in the group discussion!

Hi Guys

I just recieved the presentation topics for my assessment day with Mercer. The topics are:
What factors have offset the predicted UK recession?

Explain the rationale behind the government and Bank of England’s' interventions in the economy over the last 6 months.

For the ones who have already finished their assessment days, can you please advice how to go about the researching these topics. If anyone can provide some pointers, I would really appreciate it.

Kind Regards

Harshil

just search the bbc website. all the info is on there. i used the second topic.

yeah i did the second one too and i think most people who where there had done the said....

you should be able to find loads of information on the bbc website, as well as by googling for things.
robert pestons blog on the bbc website is quite useful.

Also, i think the most important thing is that you make the presentation very simple.... you do your presentation too 2 members of the HR team, so you dont need to much detail, theyre much more concerned with how you present than the actual reason.

I tried to make it as simple as possible by using an analogy where the economy was a patient and different interventions where medicine (it sounds stupid but for someone with no prior knowledge it was useful) and i think they quite liked it. You shouldnt have too much writing on your slides but things like graphs help quite alot! also i asked them a couple of questions to try and 'check for understanding' like 'has the value of your house fallen' and tried to link the rationale back to those at the end!!!

keep it really basic and make sure you understand anything you talk about because they will ask you questions!

Did they ask you any commercial awareness questions in the interview?

hi guys i have a phone interview coming up for internship. i have applied for investment consultancy. i am not sure abt the qualification i wud be doing. wen i received the phone call, the lady said i shud know abt pension fund industry. is that supposed to be known by all?
cud u tell me wat qualification i wud be doing?

AC on april 20th in Windsor office. I tend to get nervous when talking in front of people, has anyone got any tips?

hi everyone,

just had my telephone interview with mercer today. when do they usually let you know you if you are through to the ac?

thanks

Hi every one!

Please can someone tell me about the telephone interview with mercer!

Thanks!

hi all!

has anyone had an assessment centre with mercer more recently? i have been told that i won't find out until the day what the topic of the presentation is (argh!), does anyone have any idea what the topic might be? thanks

Hi bettyedw89,

How did your assessment centre go? I have mine next week and would appreciate any advice you could give? I have also been told I won't find out until the day what the topic for the presentation is... What was your topic and was there any choice? Thanks

Hey guys,
Great information over here. I have my assessment very soon and I was wondering about the questions they would ask about the practice area in the interview part? does anyone know any examples, thanks

hey,
I have an assessment center in the London office on 21st April. Ive applied for the Actaurial trainee intern position.
What kind of questions did they ask about commercial awareness in the interview?

I have also been told in the email that I will have to do a presentation, but no prep is neede. Does anyone know what kind if topic this could be on?

also how did your AC's go bettyedw89, sef91 and hadij?

thanks :)

Hey,

I also applied for Actuarial trainee and was successful. The presentation is nothing to worry about. Even though I am not used to doing that kind of thing I managed ok and you are given loads of info about it on the day and plenty of time to prepare as long as you plan your day well as you are given lots of tasks and told to complete them by the end of the day in any order you like. In the actual interview I was just asked how much I knew about the industry and I spoke about several topics I had researched, some of which I had used in my telephone interview. I was not asked specifically about anything industry related in the interview although knowledge about the pensions industry is also tested in the other tasks during the day so make sure you research well! The whole day was pretty relaxed and although it was tough it was definately a good experience. I found out the next morning I had been successful.

Good luck!

ah ok thats calmed my nerves a bit!
I was worrying that they'd give u a topic to do a presentation in and have like 45 mins to prepare, because I know thats what they do for the Lloyds tsb AC that one of my friends went too!
It's good they give you the whole day to complete topics in the order you like! :)

Thanks for replying so quickly sef91!
I guess u just need to plan out your tasks at the beginning of the day.
What office will u be working in?

fingers crossed mine goes as well as yours did!

Hi Becky..could you please tell me how the AC was at Mercer..
what did you guys have to do..and what was the topic...Thanks

Hi sobotka...how was ur AC...could you please tell me in detail as its my first ever AC and Im depending on Mercer - Thanks

Hi everyone...

Its my first AC... and Im depending on Mercer.. could you'll please tell me what topics they're focussing

Kindly give details about the Interviews - I beleive they have 2; competency and another one?? what were they like...?

Thanks a ton..!

Hello - bettyedw89, sef91 and hadij

Could you guys please share your experiences in as much detail as possible about your AC - (competency interview questions specially...)

Any help would me much appreciated..

Thanks a ton -
PT

Hi guys any info about the investment consultancy case study would be really useful - first AC EVER!!

Thanks!

Hey guys I found this website very useful, so would like to add my experience of Mercer's FSG/Investment Consulting 1st round AC.

Telephone interview, more or less the same as what everyone else has mentioned. HOT TIP: Make sure you have answers to the following 3 competency questions prepared:

-Give an example of a time where you used numerical data to make a recommendation
-Give an example of a time where you explained a technical concept in a non-technical manner
-A time where you can up with a new idea for a group to use.

Ok now with regards to the AC, day is pretty intense, but chilled out at the same time. I think they recently changed the format, where they have taken out interviews and added in a business line task; so if you pass the AC then you get to have interviews at a later date.

The day usually goes as follows:

1) Case study 2) Group discussion based on case study 3) Written tasks given, along with time for individual presentation 4) Lunch at around midday 5) after lunch individual presentations 6) Hand in written tasks at around 3.20 7) Verbal Reasoning test. 8) Go home and have one of the best nights of sleep you will ever have!

Now in more detail:

1) & 2) A company wants you to analyse 3 new benefit schemes, based on the fact that their revenue is not great; and they want to create a culture that rewards individual performance.

    -The key thing to note is that you will all be given booklets with data on the proposed 3 new plans; but you will be given unique data in your own booklet which contains current data on the company. So one person might get the current benefit scheme, another will get employee performance data or earnings report.
   - This is on purpose, to force you to work as a team to come up with a suggestion, and provide each other with data. You are also challenged to write down what data you will need from the other participants to be able to make a decision.
   -Half way through the exercise, the instructor will give you data on the proposed costs for the bonus schemes.
   -At the end of the case study, you will need to figure out as a group the right scheme to implement, and then figure out who will present the argument to the assessor.

3) The 3 written tasks are as follows:
A) Reply to an e-mail complaint: where a client is very unhappy with the service provided by a colleague; it is your job to draft a response as your colleague is not available.
B) A peer review document : this is where you need to reed through a document and correct grammatical and spelling errors; you also need to check the document for consistency.
C) An investment consulting case study: This is probably the task most people find tough. You are asked the following :

   - Comment on the asset allocation within a pension scheme. I think the allocation is something like x% bonds y% uk equities and z% foreign equities; you are asked to comment on whether the asset allocation is suitable given the current economic climate.
    - You are given some information on the % of company employees within x years of retirement age, and then asked to suggest ways the company can lower their exposure.
    - Finally you are given a large table outlining asset allocation within a defined contribution scheme. It states how asset allocation is modified as employees approach retirement age. It has various assets such as :Cash, Inflation linked bonds, UK equities, UK bonds, Growth Funds, Developed Nation equities. The allocation changes as employees get within 5 years of retirement age. You are asked to comment on the suitability of the scheme and what changes you might suggest.

4) Lunch :D, time for a quick breather.
5) Individual presentation times are usually after lunch. In the presentation try to really get across the points for why you selected the plan; also think of any changes you might make, and really try to defend your plan. HOT TIP: Fgure out why you want to keep a pension scheme defined contribution or benefit, and whether you want to keep it like that in perpetuity.
6) Make sure you leave enough time for the written tasks. Dont spend too long preparing for the presentation, it should be pretty straightforward; given the time you spent at the start on the case study and group discussion. The e-mail task is pretty straight-forward, as is the peer review; the investment consulting task is by far the hardest for most people. and takes the most time; so plan accordingly.
7)Verbal Reasoning:
WOW, that is all I can say. It is a non-standard test, and pretty damn fucking tough after such an intense day. I really dont know how you can prepare for this test...it really tests your vocabulary and how well you can relate passages to sentences. My advice would be to find online verbal reasoning tests that are synonym and critical reasoning based. Examples of questions in this test are:
1) Which word best replaces xxxx on line 5. Then you have to choose one of 5 words.
2) Which two sentences best summarise the passage?
3) Who is the xxxx of the yyyy ?
4) From the passage would you say xxxx are/is yyyy ?

I think for this test...you either have the ability to score well or you don't...I think it is pretty damn impossible to prepare for without spending 50-100 hours vastly improving your vocabulary and practising verbal reasoning. I do suggest doing some preparation...but focus mostly on improving your knowledge of synonyms is my advice.

Don't know if I have been progressed to the interview stage yet, but good luck guys!

Hi guys

has anyone been booked in for an ac in february for an investment analyst position at mercers windsor or b'ham office?

cheers