Mercer Interview

Hiya

I've got a Mercer phone interview next week. How was yours? Any tips?
What service line did you apply for?

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.

Just be relaxed and think on your feet. Practice your competencies well and make sure you answer indirect questions properly. My interviewer was very nice which made it a little bit easy.

I've applied for Investment consulting in Leeds. What about you? My AC is on the 11th.

Sounds pretty straight forward, I will have to make sure I know my stuff and do some research. I applied for Human Capital in London.

Thanks for the advice, I did a competency interview with Watson Wyatt a week ago so I'm comfortable with that, I'm just worried about any industry questions that they may ask!

Thanks and good luck with the AC!

By the way

What questions did they ask you about the exams?

They asked what do you know about the qualifications and why do you think you will be successful at qualifying?

I have applied for a job as pensions consultant, i have a telephone interview tomorrow. I was actually unaware that you had to sit exams, i thought that these were only in the actuarial profession (a pensions consultant is not an actuary right?). are these the same as actuarial exams? what qualifications do you recieve? sorry for these basic questions.

Eevryone that joins Mercer has to take some sort of qualifications, whether it is actuarial exams or CFA. If you are applying in Pensions then yes you have to take the actuarial exams and these are 14 exams over a span of 5 years to qualify as an actuary. You will be asked about these in your interview.

As a pensions consultant, would the exams not be PMI (Pensions Management Institution) examinations? Im slightly confused now as I presumed the actuarial exams (which I know a fair bit about) were only if you applied for Actuarial Consulting or Investment Consulting. Are you thinking that I have applied to the pensions sector of Actuarial Consulting?

Also, I am unsure as to how to go about answering the question regarding my understanding of Mercer and the service line I have applied for (pensions consulting). Do you have any tips?

Cheers for your time

Right...I get which one you have applied for. I know that every service line in Mercer requires some sort of exams. In your case then it would be the PMI if you have researched that bit.
Understanding of Mercer would require you to tell them your knowledge of what the company does as in the services they provide. And you would probably be asked what you think you would be doing in your first year as a pensions consultant which you can find out if you read some grad profiles.

Has anyone heard back from Mercer regarding the application stage?

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

ummmmm.

I haven't even heard anything about my application yet. I submitted it ages ago.

I had my interview nearly 2 weeks ago, and they haven't contacted me yet, which is probably a bad sign, but then again, they're probably extremely busy at the moment (I wonder if they at least send you an e-mail if you've been unsuccessful).

Yes, they sent me an e-mail more than two weeks after the interview to tell I have not been successful.So, don't worry...you'll find out soon the outcome.

Thanks, Irina. I think I'll just have wait for the e-mail and then ask my interviewer for feedback. Which role did you apply for?

I applied for the Actuarial graduate prog., but did not have time to prepare properly as they didn't give me much time and it was my first ever telephone interview. A delay is not necessarily a bad thing and I think they will call you if you are successful or send an e-mail if not. Good luck!

Thanks, irina and oftheshore.

Oftheshore, would you mind to let me know when you receive the outcome? Good luck!

Irina, did they provide you with feedback when they informed you of the outcome?

Thanks, Milkshake, I will let you know as soon as I find out. I applied for a position in Human Capital, by the way.

Nope, no feedback...

Hi there can anyone tell me the cmopetency questions u were asked on the phone?? That would be GREEEEAAAATTTT :P thx!

Hi,

How many questions did they ask in total?

6?

How long was your phone interview?

25?

If so, you spent about 4 mins per question, and do you feel your answer is too long?

god...i think i totally bombed the interview...it did not go well for me...i was so anxious and nervous all of a sudden..but the interviewer seemed very sweet nontheless...she asked about preuni and uni education/motivation, then asked about mercers clients which i was not prepared to answer...then she went on with qualifications..and then what mercer does in general...then competency based questions...sigh...good luck to you all !

Hi,

"she went on with qualifications"
What was the question:

"competency based questions"
what were the questions?

Hi,

I have a phone interview on thursday for an actuarial intern place. Does anyone have any tips on the kind of questions asked?

Thanks

In late December I had an assessment centre with Mercer at their Windsor office, therefore I will tell you the experience I had and the questions I was asked.

• After about a six week wait from applying for the investment consultancy and I got a phone call to say that I would have a phone interview with them in a few days time. The phone interview went well and there were not unexpected questions, all they asked about was why my uni, why my course, why Mercer and what qualification route I wanted to go down.

• After about a weeks wait I was invited to an assessment centre at their Windsor office, where there was initially only three candidates.

• Before hand I was given a topic that I had to do a presentation, I did this to the HR employee but it was a lot easier than I thought, the lady just asked me to explain my presentation on a laptop with her, I even had to sit down. Then she asked me a few questions on how I had researched my presentation and why I choose to do this topic.

• Then I had two different interviews, with each interview have two assessors, both of these interviews were pretty similar but no questions were repeated. The only question I had difficulty with was please give us three strengths and three weaknesses you have?

• During my interview, the other candidates would have an interview or give the presentation, so it went round in a circle. Then a further two candidates came in, which meant there were five people. This was quite weird because it slightly changed the dynamics of the group.

• At this point we then had the standard lunch with the graduates, where you get to know the possible people you will be working with but you the assessors where in there as well so you can’t fully relax.

• Then we had to do some English and maths tests, they said that they were SHL however these were not the normal ones as the English test did not have the normal text and the answer questions on it, but it was more fill in the gaps of a sentence and show two words that our similar.

• Finally we had to do a case study, in which we were given a description of a firm and the three benefits schemes, we then had to answer various questions on the information given. This was the toughest case study that I have done because there were about twelve pages of information and only about forty minutes to do it in. I think they want you to digest the right information quickly. We finally had a group discussion on which of the three benefit schemes was best to choose for the firm.

• Then the three initial candidates said there goodbyes and went home, but the two candidates who came later, had to have their interviews and presentations

Hi,

I have an assessment centre coming up. I was just wondering do you know where I can practice these verbal tests that are with gaps and similar words etc.?

Also I thought there was no maths just a verbal test?

Thanks

Dear all,

Please could anyone let me know which questions were they asked for their telephonic interview with mercer.

Thanks, It would be of great help!

I had my phone interview with Mercer today. Thanks to everyone who posted potential questions. It helped me feel more confident before the interview.
Questions I was asked included a couple of the above plus the following competency based questions:

Describe a time when you explained something complex to someone who had no knowledge.

Describe when you worked with data and provided a useful recommendation.

My interviewer seemed very chilled even before the interview begun and it the entire interview lasted about 25 minutes.

Hope it helps, and all the best to everyone!

Hi FE10MD,

I actually just received a call from Mercer to arrange a telephone interview with them next week.

Did they only ask two competency based questions? this is the part that I am most scared of... can you please give me more details about the interview?

What position did you apply for? Mine is Reward Analyst in London.

Thank you very much and I look forward to hearing from you.

Hi, I had my interview about 2 weeks ago. I applied for a position as a Retirement Analyst.

The questions asked were:

Why did I choose my A Levels?
What modules did I most/least enjoy at uni?
What do you know about Mercer?
What do you know about your service line?
What do you know about the actuarial exams?
What does your role entail?
What is going on in the industry?
Tell me about a time when you worked in a team to change an established process.
Tell me about a time when you had to prepare and interpret complex data to make a recommendation.
Tell me about a time when you had to communicate results to someone who did not have the technical knowledge.

I think I did well on the first set of questions but I struggled on the last two which I think you had to do well on if you were to pass the interview.
I think part of the reason was that the interviewer had a bit of an attitude and was not nice at all. She kind of hurried me through my answers and did not offer me the time to ask her any questions. I really did not expect that and it kind of threw me off and I felt like telling her something about it. I know now I should not have let her get to me and just focus on answering the questions. I did not pass the telephone interview which I expected but I know for my next interview what to expect and I learned from the experience. Good luck and try not to be too nervous. Just take your time and answer the questions.

Hi guys,

Thank you all for sending all the important information about your phone interviews and your experiences.
Please keep sharing your experiences and questions that are not mentioned in the previous posts.

Thanks ....

Hi guys,

I just had a telephone interview with Mercer today. It lasted for 20 minutes, the questions asked were:

why did i choose my degrees?
what module i enjoyed the most?
what other companies I have applied for?
What do you know about Mercer?
What do you know about the role?
what challenges the clients face?
tell me a time when you need to explain something complex to someone who had no knowledge.

Surprisingly I was only asked one competency based question, also nothing about the qualifications I will study for.

there was absolutely no chemistry or interaction between me and the interviewer, it felt like his job was just asking questions and record my answers. So it is very important not to let it affect you and focus on your answers and attitude.

I had mine last week and at the end of the interview they told me I had passed.

Interview lasted around 15minutes (my responses were unusually short as I tried being "succinct" this time, compared to other interviews).

From what I could tell, competencies were important as well as business awareness.

Guys & Gals,

I worked as an actuarial trainee at Mercer for 18 months before moving on to investment banking. My main tip regarding interviews (mine were of course a couple of years ago) is that your answers don't have to be too spectacular. For example, when I joined as a graduate, I based most of my teamwork / leadership / communication answers on my Sunday job on the checkouts at B&Q! (DIY store).
Plus all you'll be doing for the first couple of years in the job (actually pretty much forever) is typing numbers into simple spreadsheets (no you don't have to write the spreadsheet yourself), hitting the 'calculate' button, and then typing the answer into a standard letter and putting it in the post box. Or if your lucky you'll have some manual calcs to do, where you just copy a previous implementation and change a number here or there. And the exams aren't much hassle if you use your study day wisely and do past papers! So Chill!

Wow, sounds a bit mundane. Was the move into IB easy?

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your Mercer related comments - they're really helpful. I've got a reward analyst assessment centre coming up in London and I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on the assessment centre for this role and any useful preparation tips?

Also has anyone done this role before and how did you find the work? Darklord- have you heard anything about the reward analyst type work??

I'm having my phone interview with Mercer Investment Consulting on Wednesday. In terms of the Professional Qualifications what type of questions do they ask (i.e.: how long does it take to complete or etc).

just really confused about what they will ask for the professional qualification .

The only thing they asked me was which one I wanted to do and how long it would take to complete it.

Make sure you know when the exams dates are and some of the topics they cover and you should be fine. Good luck!

Just finished my Mercer telephone interview finished it in 17 minutes and the guy called me 20 minutes late....

Questions asked:
- A-Levels and your education
- What do you know about Mercer?
- What does your role entail? (Investment Analyst)
- What is going on in the industry?
- What do you know about the professional exam route (CFA)

one competency based:
- Tell me about a time when you had to communicate to someone who did not have the technical knowledge.

overall interview went ok but I had no chemistry with the guy who called he was just moaning and mopping all the time and I could swear to god he yawned once......

the questions in my interview have all been mentioned somewhere previously, except for one:

what two types on pensions do we offer?

only got it half right. don't think i'll be joining mercer in the autumn!

I think this is old tactic...i just want to say thnks for sharing it.

http://www.samplecoverletter.org

how long did people have to wait after the telephone interview to know your results??

I got my rejection two days after the interview.

Rejected

I'm not sure if I would want to work for Mercer if they had accepted me after some of the responses I gave!!

Anyone been to the Mercer assessment centre this year? would be great if someone could give an overview of the tasks especially about the presentation.

Hi all,

Thank you for all the information about questions and all the tips. I've got an interview coming up in the next few days for investment consulting.

What sort of answers can you give for 'worked with data to provide useful recommendations' and 'communicate results to someone without technical knowledge' ? I know that both of these are very important for investment analysts, and they are definitely both skills I have, but I can't think of an example from my life off the top of my head - any suggestions? (I'm not planning to 'steal your answers', just for some inspiration which might help me think of my own example).

Congratulations to everybody who has got to the next stage

Bubu

Had a phone interview with mercer over a month ago. Yet to get a response. Anyone in a similar position?
Any idea of dates for ACs?

Hey guys, I just finished my telephone interview with Mercer. Here's the questions they asked me.

Qualifications

What made you choose your A-levels?
What has been your favourite module at university so far?
What has been your least favourite module at university so far?

About Mercer

What do Mercer do (as a whole not just for your specific line)?
What do you think you would be involved in as a graduate? (In my answer I also talked about the CFA exam, if I hadn't I would have probably been asked what qualifications I intended to gain as a graduate.)
Who are Mercer's competitors?

I was also asked:

Where else are you applying to/have you applied to? How far along are you in these applications?

Competency question

Tell me about a time that you had to explain something complex to someone who had no knowledge.

My interviewer then closed the interview and said I would hear back about the assessment centre in around a week's time.

Hi,
Has anyone been to an assessment centre this year and been told the presentation topic wouldn't be given until the day? An advice on this and the day in general would be much appreciated. Thanks

hey guys
thanks for all the info
I've been trying to look, but can't find a client list for Mercer
can anyone point me in the right direction?
thanks