Smith & Williamson online tests

Smith & williamsons tests were way easier thn KPMG's! Both math and verbal. Dun worry much about them. you'll do good!

Yeh - KPMG's test have a reputation for being the toughest. Saying that, make sure you keep practising beofre the S&W test!

really, thats really helpful cos i have to do the smith and williamson test in a few days as well as the kpmg test. Does anyone know which test provider they both use? psl or shl. many thanks guys.

Hi Friction.

I did the S&W tests. They were much easier than KPMG ones. I think they use the psl test systems.
Hope all goes well ur tests.

thanks for letting me know sakina. hope all goes well with urs as well. Im goin to get it done latest by friday. dont think i have a dealine for them. What type of questions did u get. Were they mainly graphs or currencies? hehe.lol. any help will be great lol. gud luck

Friction.
I got a lot of graphs but not too many currency questions. I found the S&W questions much easier to interpret. The verbal test was also much easier for me.
I passed my tests so now on to the next stage.
Best of luck to you.

I recently passed the S&W tests... i found them very reasonable....Beware, if you get through to the assessment centre, you will need to re-do them on paper. I have no idea whether the paper tests will be harder or not...will let you know if i get through to the AC.

The tests were very similar to those done at Grant Thornton & RBS i think.

HI katherynfielden

I have my phone interview for S&W tomorrow. I'll let you know how that goes.

Thats brilliant... it would be good to know what questions you were asked etc!

lol thats true, would be good to know what questions you were asked. I have finally done their tests and they are reasonable, definitely compared to the kpmg ones i did. Good luck with the phone interview. Hope I get through.

Ps. Has anyone had a telephone interview with zurich? any help will be really appreciated. cheers guys

Oh....which position have you applied to? and where? I have applied to do Private Client Tax. London

I have applied for Corporate Tax in Bristol. Apparently, they only recruit 1 graduate for this position. Can you believe that?
Oh, well cross your fingers please, cause I really want to get in.

All crossed! They are recruiting 3 people for Private Client in London. I went to the Company Presentation evening and it was really informative! See if you can go to one too.

I went to the Company presentation last week. It was really nice to meet the people. They were all so welcoming. Made me want to work there even more now LOL.
Thanks for the support. Do you know when is your phone interview?

Yea, my phone interview is 1st Dec...so got a bit of time yet...

I agree, everyone was sooo nice, I cant wait for the interview (sad I know) coz i really want the job....oh, a lil tip they are really hot on communication apparently...and i was also told to read up on the Pre-Budget report...its happening next Monday. I think you will have had your interview by then, but know what is likely to be said and what effect this might have on S&W

Thanks so much for that tip. One of the partners at the presentation mentioned the Pre-Budget Report. HE said he might ask questions on that with its impact on tax.
Yeah, I also had to wait about 2 weeks before this interview tomorrow. I want to do it so I can hopefully move on to the next stage. "fingers crossed" LOL
Do you mean that they want lots of examples of the communication skill competency?

Yea i think they do want lots of evidence of good communication skills. They said that because Tax Advisory is dealing with customers and businesses good communication skills were very important. Good luck and let me know how it goes!

Hi,

I had an S&W phone interview last week (only just seen this thread) so thought I'd tell you what I was asked. Basically, from what I remember, they go through your application, checking your subjects and results for GCSE's and A-levels. Then they get to your uni, check your grade there (I've already graduated dunno what they ask if you haven't) then they ask why your course and why your uni. Then it gets to what you've applied for and why e.g. why auditing (thats what I chose), what do you know about the ACA. After that i was asked why S&W and what I knew about S&W. I was also asked what I'm going to be doing over the next year. Also I think I was asked about my previous jobs etc and the skills I had learnt from them. Then you get to ask them a few questions. All in all it takes about 20mins. I think it was pretty straight forward, I don't actually remember them asking any competency questions (though I have done a few phone interviews so they're all becoming a bit of a hash into one another). I've not actually heard if I was successful or not yet so i don't know if its as straight forward as I thought.

Hope that helps, good luck!!

Thanks so much Hardy87. It is really nice to hear from someone that recently went through the phone interview. I also graduated this summer past.
What type of questions did you ask the interviewer? I can't think of what to ask?

I just asked the usual - what is the social life like at S&W? I am also pretty crap to think of what to ask to be honest. I just asked about any 5-a-side football teams, social events. standard questions but if you ask a follow up question based on what they say it shows you are listening and are interested. If you have ateam sport/hobby just ask if they do it at S&W and then a follow up based on that. Remember that they work in HR so I don't know how much they will know about questions specific to the area your applying to.

edit: You could ask what S&W is doing to combat the effects of the banking crisis (try and avoid 'credit crunch') whether they're still recruiting and training as much or whether they're just going to 'ride out the storm'

told you I was rubbish at coming up with questions!!

Thanks Hardy87

I had my phone interview today. They asked me pretty much the same questions that you had. they asked me about latest relevant things affecting business and issues especially affecting small businesses.
My questions to them were about career progression and how are graduated performance appraised. Pretty boring stuff, i know but that is all I could think of at the time.
I think the interview well. I can't wait now for them to get back to me.

Hi Sakina18,

How did your telephone interview go, Did you get invited to the AC? I got my telephone interview tomorrow.

Hi katherynfielden

I got through to the assessment day. So happy with that fact. They haven't told me the day of the AC. Its been a week now that they have notified of getting through to the AC.
Best of luck with the phone interview tomorrow. Its not that difficult, so I think you will be fine.

Thanks, i will post on here with how it goes....anymore tips...?

The questions that they asked me & Hardy87 seem to be the standard. So if u prepare answers for those types of questions then you will be fine.
Wishing you luck, however I think you will just do fine.

Hello, I am going to be taking the test with Smith and Williamson on Monday, I was wondering what the time constraints of the test are? I am really slow...

hey guys, how long does it take for Smith and Williamson to get back to you on whether you have been successful on their online test? i did mine on tuesday and still not heard anything! cheers!!

I am practising from PSL ,SHL and efinancial careers. Is that enough for my Smith and Williamson tests??

hey stevie

did mine today and got an email telling me that it is under consideration but will take two weeks to be processed.given ive never passed a psychometric test before im not sure what the email is insinuating

hey, Im not sure what that means, whether you have passed it or not. but i got an email saying that my application has been put on hold due to mass applications. i dont know whether that means i passed the tests or not. i would have presumed that if you failed the test, they would more or less tell you straight away. In any case you should just move on to other apps and wait for them to get back to you. :s

hey

yep got the same email ud think given there are all those tests you do online which calculate your score automatically they would have something similar in place.given that got a friend who hasnt heard back from pwc in over 3 weeks

Hi Everyone,

Was wondering whether you guys could shed some light on this. I recently completed my online tests for Smith and Williamson, and still havent heard from it. Its been almost a week and as other firms usually get back to me within days...wondered what this means. My friend also sat the test but he was notified of his results within 2 days. However he didnt pass. When I check my application online, it says, I have completed the online tests.

Could someone help and let me know what this all means?

Hi everyone have a telephone interview this week and was wondering if anyone could help me with regards to the local and global issues affecting businesses that are small and large as well as any interesting news with regards to S&W- seems to be limited information out there on them. Much appreciated!