Towers Perrin Assessment Day

I too would appreciate any info! Are you going to AC this week audit2008? Do you know what the two interviews will be? I read somewhere (possibly on here) that one will be problem solving
interview? I have no experience of this, can you prepare or is it just to see how you think logically?

Edit: How many questions can I possibly ask in one post?! :)

Hi, could some one please provide any further information on problem solving interview, writting exercise or discussion exercise??? (what kind of topics to expect, whats the format...) Many thanks.

Hey grad2010...I suppose you've already had your screening interview at Towers Perrin. Do you recall what questions they asked? Many thanks!

Has anyone attended the assessment day with TP yet?

@oftheshore - have you been invited??? If so, for which programme? and when did you have your telephone interview? and face-to-face?

Hi,

Anyone want to share some advice on the screeing interview for the actuarial grad programme?

Thanks.

Anyone went to a HR interview with Towers Perrin for the Actuarial programme? What are the competencies they ask for? I would really appreciate some help...

Thanks.

anyone had the face-to-face HR interview with Towers Perrin??? I have mine this week.... any help would be appreciated.

Which programme did you apply for?

Global Consulting Group - Analyst

Then you would study for either the Actuarial qualification or the CFA, right?

Well, apparently there's no one here to give us some hints as to what competencies are being asked for :(

Good luck!

i would go for CFA since I dont care much for the Actuarial qualification.

I guess, not too many people in this forum applied there!!!

Goodluck to you too!!

@IBD_Haunter & Irina

Had my telephone interview before 3 days. Haven't yet heard back..... how many days did it take for them to come back to you after the telephone interview?

Good luck to both of you for your face to face interviews. Would appreciate if you can post your experience of the face to face interview.

Hi!
They let me know on the same day of the phone interview although they said it might take about a week. So, don't worry, they will soon get back to you.

for me, it took exactly 1 week to hear back!

@Sammi

The telephone interview was basically an oral walkthrough of the CV plus some motivation questions like why this particular role, why towers perrin etc. There were no competency questions. It is with a HR and completely relaxed.
good luck!

@IBD_Haunter

Hi, did you have your HR interview? How did it go? What competencies are they looking for? Would you mind sharing your experience?

Thanks.

Hi all,

I've got an HR iv on Wednesday with Emma Wood, having applied for organisational surveys & insights. But having spoken to someone who joined as a grad, she said the HR iv is quite generic with questions focusing on why TP, why the service line and what skills you can bring to the firm covering off your cv experience. She said, they like to see lots of team-working evidence and an ability to be pro-active with some good networking skills. Evidence of working hard and long hours is also beneficial. The culture seems to be very open and collaborative with lots of Partner involvement where employees are treated more as individuals rather than numbers. She was quite well placed to make this judgment as she'd left PwC as an auditor to join TP's grad scheme.

Quick tip that some might find helpful, or even already make use of, Linked in is a great networking site where you can search employees of a company then just call up switchboard of the company and ask to speak to that person. If say, you want some help answering long application questions about what's so good about x company versus the big 4, just call someone and ask! Helps set you apart with some insider info sometimes, www.linkedin.com

By the way, how did your iv go IBD_Haunter? Mind sharing your experiences?

Thanks.

Hey All!

Wondering if anyone has been invited to the Assessment Day? Had my HR interview but they're taking really long to get back to me whether I got through to the next round..

Thanks

Hi graduate2010!

Can you please share your experience with the HR interview? I'll be having mine next week; so, any advice will be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Hey, I would also like to know what the HR interview is like. I've still got to book mine yet but not sure when because I don't know if the trains will be running then due to the weather!!

Hi,

I can definitely tell you what I remember.. It was mainly competency based questions and they were mainly team work and skills based e.g. Tell me about a time that you had a conflict and how did you solve it? Or the time you took the initiative to complete a task? She even asked me about my internship experience and "explain the project you worked on in basic, non-technical language".. There were around 12 questions..

They were standard competency questions, nothing too different.. I guess as long as you give a good example for each situation, you would be okay..

Thanks graduate 2010!

Do they ask questions on the motivation for the profession in this interview as well? What about commercial awareness?

Hey all!
I had mine HR interview before christmas and they came back to me within a week. The questions were more or less the same as graduate 2010 explained. You need to specify every competency you want to show with a specific example and they also asked quite a lot about what you know about the role you are applying for and your motivation for the role.
I didn't get any questions about comercial awareness.

However anyone who knows anything about the assessment day?? I'm going the 21th of Jan and it would be great with some tips. Never been to an assessment day before... what about the written test and the problem solving inteview? Anyone who has heard anything about what that could be?

Would really appreciate some help!
Take care!!

Hey,
hope your center went well. Any tips on how the group exercise and problem solving interview went? Am lookng for a grad role in Exec rem in TP UK
Cheers
HH

Hi everyone,

I have a HR competency interview coming up for actuarial analyst with Towers Perrin. Could you guys please post any questions that you remember from your interviews. Any help would be much appreciated.

How was the AC? I am going to Hiscox AC next week. I wold be really grateful if you could share some experience with me. Thanks!

I am going to their AC next week...looking for more information as well...

gr2010,

Had my HR iv back in December, and it was for Organisational Surveys not Actuary, but some of the questions I recall:

Obvious ones: why do you want to work for Towers Watson (then Towers Perrin)? What do you understand about the service line?

Competencies: Give me an example of when you have improved a process/ solved a problem; an example of when you have gone above and beyond to deliver results; a time when you developed a relationship; an example working in a successful team.

Some other questions which didn't come up but someone said they had: Explain me a complicated topic; an example where you convinced/ influenced someone; when you have dealt with clients.

sifary2001,

Actuary AC may be different but here's my experience. Started with a presentation from the business, then went into the written exercise. 50mins long, in-tray exercise and lots of paper!

Then the group exercises - two tasks each 20 or so mins long. Just discussing issues and reaching unanimous conclusions.

Lunch.

Tour round the offices.

Interview. This is again competency based and some competencies I was quizzed on were: organisation; persistance; problem solving; and commercial awareness. Then there was a problem solving section about 15mins where you're given a problem like 'how many clocks are there in the uk' or 'how long would it take to walk the length of the uk', and so you have to do some logical reasoning and calculations. The interviewer should guide you as well.

And that was it. Hope this helps.

Best of luck.

(For advice, tips and more on landing a grad scheme in consulting, check out http://consultinggrad.wordpress.com/ )

In the Ac, there is generally a group exercise with a task-I suppose they look at whether all candidates are contributing/allowing others to do so.
2 interviews- one to probe interest and competencies like problem solving, relationship management etc
the other would consist of some basic estimation or analysis where the interviewer guides you quite a bit

Hi

I have the Hixcox AC coming up next week and I was wondering if you could give me any advice. Particularly for the interview. I have applied for underwriting and I've been told that it is both a competency and technical interview. Do you have any advice for me or remember what questions you were asked?