Morgan Stanley Operations Assessment Centre

Hi,

Which office you interviewing for? as MS do different things for each office.

I was wondering if you could tell me how long MS took to get back to you after you completed the online tests?

Well, this goes back to my previous posting. I didn't do online tests. They asked me to go to their offices and do them instead (weird, i know!).

The assessment centre is for the operations graduate programme in London and i also had to go to the office to do the tests. They got back to me after around 5 days.

hello i applied to operations in london as well but i was invited to an telephone interview instead of a test, did u get invited to 1st round interview? or u jus went into AC after the test in their office? thx

i had a telephone interview aswell, if you pass the this then you get invited to the testing session. If you pass the tests you then get invited to the final assessment centre. No face-to-face first interview, just on the phone.

hello 1town, when did u have the phone interview? and how long dif u hear bak from them after phone interview?

thx

had the phone interview around 3 weeks ago and heard back after around 5 days.

I have the assessment centre for MS Operations division coming up this week.I would really appreciate if someone knows about pattern for the interview questions.

Thanks

hey alive, did u have a telephone interview before as well? can i know how long did u hear back from them and when was ur phone interview? thxxxx

hey! yes i had a phone interview as well,lasted about 40 minutes.I gave my interview on Friday and got a positive reply on Monday i.e. after 2 days.My phone interview was about 2 weeks back.Hope this helps :)

Hi All,

You should have received some sort of document about what competencies they look for, when you got your AC invite. I did the one in Glasgow for Ops and my differed a bit in how they approached it compared to what's been said earlier in this thread about the London office.

From my experience, most of the questions were quite generic: Why investment banking? why MS?,example of a time you showed leadership? etc... I did however get suprised when they asked for examples of 1) a time when i made a mistake/did something wrong 2) When i hadn't achieved my intended goal - i wasn't prepared for that so just wing'd it!

One more tip is to show your enthusiasm when you get the chance to speak to some of the senior analysts. If you don't know about Financial markets, read up a bit about them and try and convey why Ops appeals.

Thanks for sharing this.I really appreciate that.One more thing how was the group discussion? Have you heard back from MS?

thank you

Group discussion was like any other....You've got the regular 'can't shut up' candidates who make it difficult to get a word in edgeways and others who are more mindful...

How did you perform overall? I would appreciate if you could throw some light on your interview as a whole.

Thank you

and yes, how long was the group discussion for?

thanks whatthediddly. Can you remember any other questions you had? What commercial awareness questions were you asked if any?

Thanks

In terms of commercial awareness, make sure you have read something related to financial markets recently and be prepared to discuss this during your interview (and try and relate to why it was interesting).

I've got to stress that each office recruits independently of one another so there's the likelihood of group exercises and interview questions being different. Nevertheless, they'll be based around the same types of competencies; it just depends on how they want to find out the answers from you...

Can i ask, how long has it taken from your initial applications to AC invite? Did you do office based testing or online and how long did it take to hear if you progressed? Last but least, do you know whether your forthcoming AC is the first, second, third, etc?

Well i applied to the london office around 6 weeks ago, i had a phone interview followed by office testing, they took around 5 days to let me know i had reached the assessment centre after this. Finally, i think the forthcoming AC is the first one.

I applied to London office as well around 1 month back,had phone interview 2 weeks back,and then was invited for online test. I was initially asked to give the tests at their office but later said that I can give it online.Heard after 3 days that I have been invited for the AC.

has anyone heard back about the assessment centre yesterday (Wednesday)?

I applied for MS operations on 22/09, and the tests were done on 26/09. BUT..... There is no further response from HR. It seems that MS operations is a strange department, coz it sets different processes for different applicants.

Hi guys,

I applied for 2 roles (Ops and Finance ) _ grad roles at MS and was invited to do online tests. They said in the email that there may be numerical, verbal, logical and numerical check tests, depending on what programme I applied. I really want to know which online tests I would have to do for each of these divisions and really need to prepare for them. I can't see which one I would have to do before I click on the link to do the actual tests. Could anyone please kindly let me know?

Also, if there is more than one test. Do you have to pass the 1st test before being processed to the second test?

Thank you very much in advance.

Hi Autumn,

I applied for two roles in Ops.. one starting feb and the other starting july. I got the same email.

For Ops... I had to do a numerical reasoning test first.. then I had to do a checking test. The checking test as explained above is to check to see if the digits/ characters are alike or different. You have two minutes to answer 32 questions. I really enjoyed it, it's lots of fun.

The numerical reasoning.. was 20 questions in 20 mins.. I found it difficult but I'm hoping I did well enough to be invited to a AC.

I can't help you with the Finance tests as I don't know.. but I think it's numerical reasoning.. and verbal reasoning.. don't quote me on this though.

Good luck!

Hey philsophygrad, u heard back from MS since u took the tests? Been a week for me now, still nothing!!!

Hey philsophygrad, u heard back from MS since u took the tests? Been a week for me now, still nothing!!!

Hello, I only took them this weekend so no. But don't worry it's normal for them to not get back to you straight away. Take advantage of the time you have before the AC and prepare.

Good luck :) x

Thank you very much Philosophigrad for your reply. Btw, are you not having a telephone interview or 1st interview b4 the AC?

Hey Autumn,

I'm not sure why but some people have submitted their apps and then had a phone interview, then been invited to either take tests online OR come to london to do the tests. If they pass the test on the day they get a first interview, if they pass that they get invited to the AC.

But for others it seems, they submit their apps.. get invited to take online tests.. and then after reviewing scores and application get invited to the AC. No telephone interview or 1st interview just the AC.

The AC is tricky though.. they invite you to take the tests at the beginning of the day.. then calculate your score.. IF your score is high enough then you're allowed to stay for the group exercise, presentation and I think two interviews.. one at least compentency based.

good luck x

hey ltown...interesting to read your post. I feel like they do different things for different candidates. I applied to the position and was immediately sent the tests which I took the next day. It's been a couple of days so I'm wondering what their parameters are for judging who they invite to an AC etc etc and why they use a different process for different applicants. It's weird, I would think it would be uniform for all applicants applying to the same position.

Hi everyone

I'm new to this forum, but really enjoy reading comments and feedback. I applied to Operations at MS last week and was immediately invited to take the online tests. I had a numerical test and a checking test, no verbal. Anyone else gone through this process (I see some people have done a phone interview and THEN online tests)? Odd that it's not uniform. Also, just out of curiousity, I'm wondering what background some of you have??

Does anyone know roughly how fast/slow MS is in getting back to people and what the odds of going through to AC are? I know EY is super-fast in getting back to you, but that's EY.

Thanks guys!! =)

What backgrounds is everyone applying from and has anyone else been invited to take the tests WITHOUT a phone interview? Thanks everyone =)

Hi, Itown

I will have telephone interview for MS operations later this week (probably this Thursday). It will be very appreciated if you could share any interview tips. What kind of competency questions does they ask? Any commericial awareness? Do I need to prepare for the financial news to talk about? Thanks you so much!!

Could anyone who has had an Assessment Centre yet please shed some light on it? Is it true that they first start off with the tests and then the rest of the activities if your scores qualify?

Thanks in advance :-)

Hey jobinbank.

When is your interview? I just had mine a few hours ago. Do let me know when u hear from them after the phone interview? Like when you get invited to assessment centre.

hey zwen

just curious...when you say you had an interview a few hours ago, did you mean a phone interview? I am so confused with this process! I see people posting that they had phone interviews and were then invited to take online tests. I was just invited to take the tests and no I'm waiting to hear back about my application and see if I've progressed. If you look above, Philosophygrad mentioned that the process seems to differ for people. I wonder why that is.

Hi julia,

I did the tests and got the phone interview. I think you can find it in the other posts, some did the tests first and then the phone.

Hope it helps

interesting.... you know, I actually think I'm just not going to think about it since it seems they do different things for different people which probably depends on what's on your cv and the tests. So whatever comes of it does...=)

Julia,

I got an invitation to the tests first as well, and then I had my phone interview this week. The interview was very straightforward and lasted only 25 minutes in my case so I am not sure whether it would be followed by more phone interviews or an invitation to the assessment centre, that is if they care to extend an invitation. My advice would be to practice those tests since they would ask you to do them sooner or later and also practice some competency-based questions for the interview.

Best of luck!

Hey Blue,

Out of curiosity. Did the interviewer tell you when you will hear for the assessment centre? Do let me know if you hear something from them. At least I wont be anticipating for good news if I have been waiting for a long time after the phone interview.

Thanks

They didn't. I was told that they would give their recommendation and HR would get back to me. I will probably send out an e-mail next week or as soon as I become anxious.

I think I am bit unlucky. They asked me a lot of commericial awareness instead of competency questions. Questions like, predict financial market in 2 years time; the impact of the US regulation on financial market..........

Jobinbank,

After you took online tests, did MS send you any message or anything before telephone interview. Or they called you unexpectedly?

I just want to find out the standard case of MS communication after online tests. Because I applied about more than 2 weeks ago for IBD and cant wait for their responses.

MS sent me email regarding telephone interview 10days after I finished online test. They did not call me. I hope this helps.

So it seems pretty standard to do a phone interview and then in-person? I am so confused by their process....feels like everyone experiences something different.

Hey

Anyone have a rough idea what kind of topic we would encounter during assessment centre? Thanks.

I have noticed that lots of you are already having interviews/AC, are these for Feb intake or Summer intake?

hi Philosophygrad...

just wondering if you've heard anything back yet? I think you and I took our tests roughly the same time so we'll both be on the same schedule. Also where did you get the info regarding their process? shouldn't it be application, online test, telephone interview, AC? I am curious as to why they are phoning some people first and then sending the test. I don't know about you, but I was emailed the tests almost immediately. Didn't find them that hard compared to other ones by SHL, but we shall see.

Hey! like you, i got asked to take the tests immediately. haven't heard anything back just yet.. but don't panic because after taking the tests they don't get back to you for a while. Operations is split into various divisions.. and they have their own way of recruiting.. so maybe they are testing for different compentancies for each division hence the different processes.. Just a guess. regarding the info on their process... as I said before I was talking about UBS and I assumed it would be the same for MS.

Don't worry! Think positive. x

Not worried =), trying to think positive...but boy, does time crawl sometimes hehehe. I think they review apps in batches as well which could take some time. Glad someone else got sent the tests straight away though. How do you have so much info on MS and their processes and divisions by the way?