National Audit Office: Application - Offer

Hi Guys,

Anyone here gone for a UBS second round interview with the Structured Credit Derivatives team/ any position with UBS within the IB side?

 I have one coming up next week, would like to know what the pattern would be like? First round was basic qns like bond lifetime, IRS, CDS, some competency, abt the company, etc.. This would be with the Senior Mgt, probably with guys having 10+exp, Im sure it would be a lot technical, but any idea anyone otherwise?

Hi Freelancer,
I have my first stage with NAO tomorrow so wondered if you could let me know what competency questions you were asked at the interview?
I know they ask the standard why aca, why nao, why audit etc, just need the competency ones they are likely to ask...
Would really appreciate if you could get back to me asap!
Thanks a lot, KLT

Hi klt

They were standard questions, if you have had other competency interviews, you will be fine. If I recall correctly, I was asked 3 competency questions. One was about organising an event, one was when I had to analyse information and one was persuading someone. I think there were other questions, it is up to the interviewer to choose.

I hope this helps and good luck with the 1st stage.

Thanks freelancer, your reply and post above are really useful, especially as there's not a lot of info on NAO on here atm!

Cheers xx

oh and congratulations on the job offer! Did you end up taking it? and did you apply for London or Newcastle?

Thanks Klt

I applied for the London office, I am in the process of deciding which offer to take. I just worry about getting kicked out by NAO if I fail one exam.

Hi Freelancer....

I have my AC in a day....I found you post very helpful. Can you plz shed some light on what sort of competency based questions they will ask....i know its usual. just wanted to know the titles if u remember....if not its ok.

also can u plz tell me for the case study what type of questions come up....especially the numerical one.

i will appreciate ur help a lot.

i really want to get into NAO. i have worked really hard to get upto this stage. i really want to be absolutely spot on....on the day.

thanks so much.

PJS

Hi PJS

In terms of the specific competency questions, I can only remember a few. Here's how they go;

-a time when you had to make a decision very quickly
-a time when you got negative feedback
-a time when you had to motivate someone
-a time when you had to organise something

I am afraid those are the ones that I can remember. Just to point out, they didn't had a set of questions they needed to ask. My interviewer simply asked the questions that she wanted and scribbled notes onto a pad. So it is possible that you get completely different questions.

The numerical questions were easy but somehow took quite long for me to complete. Maybe it was because there were quite a lot of simple calculations and it wasn't my own calculator. In terms of the other written answers, at first sight, the questions seemed to be asking very similar things. But don't worry, most of the other candidates in my group felt that way. Just get stuck in and answer them and I am sure you will be fine.

I hope you have prepped for your presentation. You could get asked some really doggy questions as I certainly did. All my questions actually came from the candidate as he was so interested in the topic of my presentation that he asked 3 questions. One of them was so long it almost took him a minute to get it all out and even the assessors said that was a tough question. So try to know quite extensively about you presentation topic.

Hope my experience will help you on the day.

Best of luck and let me know how you got on.
Scott

hey thanks so much....yes i have slogged hard....and researched my presentation thoroughly.....i just hope any weird questions dont come up. wat wud u suggest i shud say if i cant answer them? i have done like 5 days of non stop research so the worry is i mite not be able to remember some stuff i have researched......

i hope to see u in september..... :)

thanks a lot once again.

which other places have u applied to?

you are welcome PJS. Don't worry about the presentation if you have researched thoroughly. I only spent about 2 days preparing for the presentation. If you are worried, then you can write the some notes and hold them during your presentation. If they ask you questions that you can't remember then you can always refer yo your notes. If you really can't answer them then just say you honestly don't know, but if you have to make an educated guess it will be.........

If you don't mind me asking, which presentation topic did you get?

I have applied to too many places :P
but I have got another offer from Fujitsu and assessment centre with AkzoNobel as well as Co-Op.

hey freelancer....i dont mind disclosing it to you. But i guess it will be unfair to future candidates. can i email it to you on your personal id? would you mind dropping me your personal id? I am not sure how can i message you privately through this forum.

thanks.

Good luck with your assessment centres. I can see you are going to do extremely well.

Hi guys, i've just been told i'm through to the group selection stage, very chuffed about that!

Just for those who are yet to go through 1st stage, here's my take on the day (although very similar to freelancer):
There were six of us there for the first stage and we completed the maths test (30 questions to complete in 1 hr). The standard of test is just like the revision pack they send you so as long as you're swotted up on that you'll be fine. We were then collected by our interviewers for our competency interview. I had mine with an Audit Principal who had gone through the same graduate programme. The interview was fairly informal and he didn't seem to have a list of questions ready, just asked what he felt like really. The questions I remember are; Describe a time when you had to persuade someone of an idea, a time I had to motivate someone. Sorry, can't seem to remember a lot of others but they were all standard competency ones so just make sure you read other parts of wikijob about those types of questions. Oh he also asked me where i looked for information for the interview, and asked what VFM reports I had looked at. The interview for me lasted about 45 minutes, and we spent another 15 minutes on answering my questions I had about the scheme. All in all I thought I had done 'okay' and was quite surprised I was through to the next round!

I have my assessment centre next week so will let you know more details about that afterwards. PJS please could you provide details about your group selection after you have completed it? That would be really helpful.

Thanks,
KLT

Thanks for that PJS. I hope I will do well, but I am sure you will too. You seems to be always well prepared and hardworking. I think that's the way to be successful. All the bast matey.

Hi Guys,

I've also got my Group Selection coming up and am a little nervous :-S
Could anyone give me an insight into what questions they asked regarding the VFM reports and/or the economy?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi sr3456

They didn't ask me about any VFM reports specifically, but I was asked how I prepared for the day and brought up VFM reports then. I think its a good idea to just have a look at the ones that interest you and be able to talk about it. My interviewer and I just spoke about the reports I had looked into, didn't ask me any specific questions, I just explained why I found it interesting. I don't think they expect you to have read a lot or any in detail.

Another question they asked was what are the biggest challenges for NAO? Here I think you can bring in the economy and how you think the current situation is affecting NAO and how they can tackle it etc.

One piece of advice I would give is don't mention anything you dont feel comfortable talking about - there's no point saying one thing and not being able to elaborate. IF they ask you more probing questions around the subject you just look like a fool if you cant give an answer...

So, when is your group selection? I hope i've replied in time!

Hi klt/ freelancer.

Thanks for all the info you've posted so far.

Just to clarify, is the maths test REALLY the same standard as the revision guide they send, like you've mentioned?! Just seems to me that an hour is more than enough to answer the type of Q's they suggest, e.g. expanding brackets takes about 6 seconds to do. Or are there quite a few long-worded Q's with simple calculations? A little more insight would be much appreciated as I tend to panic in numerical tests and fudge them up completely!

Cheers x

The test will be as similar to the revision guide as you would get. It really is that simple. It took me about 30 minutes to finish it which meant I had enough time to do it again to make everything was spot on. So yeah, nothing to worry about. Good luck.

Hi klt,

Thank you so much for your reply!

My group selection is actually tomorrow so you replied just in time hehe.

I'm mainly worried about the interview and presentation. I've been thinking to general questions they could ask and my possible responses.

I hope your group selection went well (and was successful!)

Thanks again.

The maths test is most like the one at the end of the revision booklet... If you can do all of those, you will be fine. Another point to bear in mind - they give you a very basic calculator. This threw me off guard as I had been revising using a scientific calculator and using all the shortcuts... so massive tip would be to learn how you do your powers manually!

sr3456, I was the same, very nervous about interview and presentation. In the end it was nothing to worry about - when I did my presentation each person (2 judges and 1 candidate) was allowed to ask one question - and none of them were very hard... in fact, after speaking to some other candidates a lot of them were asked fairly general questions such as where did you find the research for presentation... the questions I was asked were more specific to my presentation, but nothing too specific, more just to see that you know the subject well or have your own opinions about it. Just for personal interest, what topic are you presenting on?

The interview was quite like the first, except with a director. They are really nice, but I would say it is a bit harder than the first round one in that she had a booklet of possible questions and wrote down your responses on a pre-printed booklet, so more nerve-wracking deffo! It is also purely competency questions, so have a few examples ready!

Lastly thank you, my selection went well, I've just sent off my acceptance to their offer! I hope yours goes well too and hopefully will see you in September!

xxx

thanks for all the tips and congrats on your offers! xx

I recently received an offer from NAO, so I wanted to detail my experience of the AC

The day started out with the case study. This is not a business case study, but just an issue where you are required to understand the facts, and utilise the figures where necessary. I can't remember the exact questions, but there was one where you had to perform a few calculations, and come to a conclusion. There were other questions, which asked you to think about how you would develop other lines of enquiry to get a more accurate result. It seemed as though they really wanted to draw upon your creativity/thinking outside the box, so bear this in mind.

The group exercise was next. Each candidate has their own unique information, and you are required to bring this to the table in order to get to a collective outcome. Let everyone speak, perhaps try to take the time as it always helps to structure discussion. Try to take the key objectives away from the brief, and see how these map across to your own unique piece of information. Then communicate it in these terms to the group as this helps to persuade others (they're assessing your persuasive skills among many).

The next task was the interview. This was by far the toughest interview I have ever faced. Questions such as why accountancy, why NAO, risks to NAO, how can the government reduce costs? How has the banking crises shaped society? If you could produce a VFM report, what would your title be? There were some other tough questions that I can't remember. If you don't know the answer to anything, then try to at least attempt to logically deduce an answer and display this in your answer.

The final part of the day was the presentation for me. Nothing too challenging, just practice your presentation before hand you should be ok. The questions afterwards aren't too bad either, and if you don't know the answer again try to logically deduce an answer, but don't be afraid to state that you'll get back to them with a more accurate answer afterwards if needed.

o

Hi guys,

Got my interview with NAO on Monday and feel abit apprehensive what are the ,main things i should do from know until monday. all advice will be appreciated.

Cheers

The first interview for me was purely compentency-based. There was no preamble, why NAO, why audit or anything like that. Just five or six competency-based questions and a brief informal chat afterwards.

So brush up on your competency interview skills. Remember: STAR (situation, task, action, result). Keep your examples succinct and focused with that format. Research the company thoroughly, including browsing VFM reports on the NAO website, so you will seem interested in it, and swot up on current affairs, so you can at least sound intelligent.

According to the NAO's statistics, around half of applicants get through this stage. Just concentrate and you should be fine. Good luck.

Hi mis,

I got my first stage interview with NAO tomorrow as well...pretty tensed about it as this is going to be my first ever competency interview...hope to see you there...
Thanks to all you guys for your valuable suggestions...

Hi potbelly,

How was your interview what competency questions did they ask you. and yeah how did you find the maths test.

mis

Hi potbelly,

How was your interview what competency questions did they ask you. and yeah how did you find the maths test.

mis

Do the practice paper they sent you. If you make sure you understand those, it is impossible to fail the maths test.

Hi Mis

Maths test was ok. I think I'll agree with Fluffy Strawberry regarding this. The practice booklet was very much standard for the test. But yes for competency I got a few unusual questions. They had the questions printed on a paper. There were some usual ones like motivating, convincing, why accountancy etc.
But a few were like a time of giving a complicated set of instructions, best ever presentation, a difficult situation/person faced etc.
How was your maths test and what kinda questions did you face? Do you have any idea as to when the result is likely to come out.

Potbelly

Hey I had my first assessment for the NAO recently and have found out I have got through to the next and final stage. Thought I should add my experiences even though I think the NAO is nearly at the end of its recruitment process. Like most people have said the Maths Paper is pretty easy if you manage to go through all of the practice material they send to you (although this is quite time consuming). With the Maths Paper id also advice that you practice with a basic calculator and understand the difference between compound and simple interest.

The competency interview isn’t too bad if you have done a bit of preparation. Got asked the obvious questions (why accountancy/audit?, why public sector?, why NAO?). As well as some competency questions such as: name a time you had to persuaded someone, a time you dealt with some negative feedback, and a time where you worked to a deadline. Definitely worth mentioning a VFM report at some point during the interview as this seemed to go down well in my one.

I agree with the VFM reports

I got asked some tough questions. something along the lines of how will public companies handle their financial management?

Hi

I have applied for the AAT Fast Track Scheme with the NAO. I have a preliminary interview on Friday.

Should i expect the same as is written in above posts?

Could anyone give me links to VFM reports please?

Could someone elaborate on the AAT scheme /ACA qualification and what it entails?

This is a first for me getting into accountancy so would appreciate some information on this scheme.

Thanks

Samee
Newcastle

Got through to the group assessment.

Have now had my assessment day and been offered the graduate scheme by the NAO but with a September 2011 start date. Here is my take on the assessment day:

The day started with a written exercise. This was an article you had to read (mine was regarding the prison service) as well as some figures and tables related to the topic. You then had to answer four questions in one hour. There was one basic maths question and three questions where you had to write a few paragraphs for your answer.

Next was the group assessment. You are all sat around a table and are given individual information and have to reach a decision. For my one we were all given C.V.’s of candidates and had to decide which one to put forward for a possible job opportunity. My advice here would be to keep an eye on time and suggest going around the group explaining the advantages/disadvantages of each candidate. We decided not to go with my candidate so I don’t think it’s essential to try and sell your individual candidate.

After this someone from the NAO explains a bit about the graduate scheme and you have lunch with some of the current trainees. After lunch I gave my presentation. Here practice is key and make sure your presentation doesn’t go over 10mins as they do stop you. I’d advise making your presentation about 9 and a half minutes long and end on a conclusion summarising your main points.

Finally the day ended with an interview. Here were the questions I was asked:

Name a time you had to make a decision quickly?
Name a time when you took your time to make a decision?
An example where you received negative feedback?
An example where you had to analyse data/information?
An occasion where you learnt a new skill?
Why the NAO?
Why audit?
Current issues facing the NAO?
Have you read any VFM reports?

Hope this post helps some people in their quest to finding a grad scheme, feel free to ask any questions.

Congratulations i wish you all the success in the future.

How was the interview? Because in regards to the question of problems faced by the NAO what can you say? I am supposing the current recession and more transparency needed. Also more pressure and workforce needed as more agencies/depts want to get VFM so more workload to tackle. Am i on the right lines ?

Would appreciate some tips. I have the assessment tommorrow.

My presentation is looking it may be about 12mins. Is that ok? I have gone into some detail in regards to my topic. But i felt i have to do this to grapple the task.

With regards to problems facing the NAO, the biggest problem is obviously the goverment's harsh fiscal tightening to reduce the deficit. This will mean a reduction in the size of the public sector, the NAO's client. I made a positive out of this and said that if anything the NAO's status would improve as much more scrutiny will be placed on public expenditure and, as the government's spending watchdog, they will have a key role in improving efficiency.

In the presentation, they WILL stop you at 10 mintues. You will not be allowed to continue. Mine was 9:30, but I must've rambled coz I went over and they stopped me mid-sentence. (Managed to fit in my conclusion during the questioning.)

Thanks fluffy.

Normally when the real presentation takes place you normally talk faster so im sure to get it within 10mins. I am doing it on PowerPoint.

I also mentioned how with all the budget cuts this will make the job of auditing public sector organizations a lot harder as well. This is because their spending patterns (which might have been the same for years) will be forced to change.

Good Luck.

It seems like things have changed slightly this year. Presentation topics aren't being handed out in advance so we will probably have to put something together based on an information pack on the day.

@ M.F

Have you already got a reply from NAO regarding your application?!!!

But they said they'd get back to us within 4 weeks of the deadline (i.e. end of March)?!!!

tl;dr: phone them

Here is my experience of HR, who when you actually meet them are really quite fabulous people:

Nov - send off application

Beginning of Dec - pass online tests, then receive e-mail asking for clarification of app details

Beginning of Jan - phone them coz I have heard nothing, learn HR guy I spoke to before resigned and didn't bother to have anyone follow up my app

End of Jan - phone them again coz I still haven't heard anything, learn they wanted to offer me an interview, but I declined, so they cancelled my app (lies, all lies!)

Feb - keep bugging them till they give me an interview

Mar-Apr - do about a billion interviews/maths tests/written exercises/case studies/group exercises/jumping through hoops

End of Apr - get offered job

May-Sep - NAO stay in touch, but don't send out contracts, so with nothing better to do bug them

Sep - induction at NAO, get contract, all is forgiven

Six months later, happy if slightly bored (hey it's accountancy...)

Ignore - wrong topic

@ coupe19

Yeah, I've been offered a place. I sent my original application off before Christmas, had the 1st round interview mid-January, and then had the group selection mid-February. They're already more than halfway through the recruitment process so I think I must have just got in there early.

Hi to all.

Firstly, I'd like to say a massive thanks to Freelancer for the original post, I found the information very helpful and I am sure it contributed to my receiving an offer from the NAO, which I have accepted.

I'd like to add a couple of points to bring the thread up to date for the 2011 intake as there are some subtle differences to the application/assessment process.

1. Unless your group is randomly re-tested, as can happen with most of the firms, there is no numeracy test at the group selection stage. There was no mention of a retest policy, but obviously cheating would be ill-advised! The numerical reasoning test that you do online at the same time as you submit your application form is therefore all there is in terms of psychometric testing

2. As M.F. has noted above, there is no preparation material sent to you in advance, all preparation takes place within the allotted time of each task at group selection.

With those clarifications made, I'd like to offer some general tips based on my experience of the process as a whole.

With the application form, make sure your answers to the competency based questions respond to each of the sub-headings provided in the question. It may seem annoyingly specific, but these actually do you a big favour as they show you how to provide a well structured and developed answer to this type of question.

Take the time to think about which experiences from your working, extra-curricular and academic life COULD POTENTIALLY be relevant to a competency question. Think of as many examples as you can - they do not all have to be 'outstanding' - they do not expect their applicants to have conquered the Matterhorn with a team of disabled climbers, or to be running their own multi-million pound turnover business! ;-) If you have a good quantity of suitable down to earth examples that illustrate your professional competence you should have no trouble answering competency questions. This is a very worthwhile exercise as there is a large number of these at the first round interview and then more during the interview at group selection.

Have a good working knowledge of what the job will be like. You will be quizzed on this in the interview (for instance, you may be asked 'what can you tell me about the ACA?') but more importantly, the tasks at group selection are very much audit themed, so an general appreciation and understanding of the objectives and methods of financial audit will help you enormously when it comes to performing these tasks. Also, do some background research into the NAO itself, its role, recent work etc. This can all be done through their website and does not need to be intensive - it will just help you to answer intelligently if & when you're asked to tell your interviewer what you know about the NAO.

Lastly, use good 'exam' technique for the tasks at group selection - manage your time very carefully to ensure that you get through the background information & planning for each task in time to complete your write-up. You will harm your chances of success if you don't finish, so be realistic about what you can achieve in the time allowed.

I appreciate this is all a bit late in the day new applicants this year with the deadline just a couple of weeks away, but hopefully it will still be helpful to last-minute applicants for 2011 and for those applying in 2012.

Good luck!! :-)

@grad20vt
Hi

Congratulations on the job offer and thanks for all the info.

Do you remember any of the questions that you were asked in the preliminary interview?

Hi coupe19,

Thanks! I can't remember all the questions I was asked. but they included:

Can you tell me about a time when you had to learn something completely new?

Can you tell me about a time when you achieved a good result as a team?

Can you tell me about a time when you made a mistake and what action you took to rectify it?

Can you tell me about a time when you had to report regularly to your manager?

There were more that I can't remember right now, but that should give you a decent idea.

I was asked at the end who I though the key partners & stakeholders of the NAO were. My interviewer seemed to be impressed when I said British Taxpayers (the NAO's work ensures reliability of public accounting & value for money in public spending, therefore taxpayers are key beneficiaries of/stakeholders in the NAO). My interviewer also asked me some questions on the ACA and on who the NAO is accountable to. Tip = read the background/history section of the NAO's main website, it will give you plenty to go on.

In the Director interview at group selection I was asked competency questions relating to teamwork again but also 'can you tell me of a time when you delivered good client service?' I also had a fairly lengthy discussion with him on the topics of 1. increased university tuition fees and 2. private sector involvement in the NHS. You will need to have an interest and an opinion in such matters to do well in this competency (referred to as 'understanding the bigger picture').

I can't stress enough how helpful it was for me to brainstorm my experiences & note down as many 'work competency relevant' ones as I could. You can't predict all the questions that will come up, but if you prepare plenty of viable examples you will never find yourself tongue-tied. I used to find competency questions really daunting but having prepared I was able to feel confident and at ease no matter what question came up. If you're working at the moment, or are involved with a society or other extra-curricular activity at university, make a mental note of each relevant experience as it happens - fairly mundane things often make fine examples but its easy to forget them if you don't see them as significant at the time.

Best of luck!

@grad20vt

Thanks very much.

Regards

Hi grad20vt,

Firstly, a big congratulations on the job offer!

Thanks for all information you have provided. I was just wondering if you can tell me a bit more about the assessment centre please?

Case study- what kind of scenario did they give you?
Presentation- were you given an assigned topic? what are the sorts of topic you had? did you have to present it on powerpoint?
Group Exc- what sort of debate did you have?

Thank you in advance..! Will appreciate any sort of advice.