Help~IBM 2nd Round Selection Day

Hi Freelancer,

Sorry to see looks like you didn't get too much help from other peoples' experiences. I have applied for an IT Consultant role and have a final round assessment day next week and was wondering whether you might be able to shed some light and share your experience. From the email i received it says there will be an interview (guessing competency based), a group exercise and a 3-part communications exercise (preparation, presentation and written exercise), was this the same as your selection day?

Any info and guidance would be a great help. Thanks.

Actually, just realised you probably haven't had it yet - oops. Guess we're in the same boat. When and where exactly is yours? Mine's on Friday 22nd in North Harbour, Portsmouth.

@ Vish

We are going to the same assessment centre. I am glad that we are not competing for the same position. :P

Hi Vish,

If you don't mind can you please explain how your 1st round selection day was.

What sort of activities did you have to do? what sort of interview questions were asked and what were the tasks of the group exercises....were you able to work out what sort of qualities they are looking for in this stage of the application?

and finally, what type of questions were asked in the 2nd ipato test.

I hope i'm not asking you too much here...but I would really really appriciate your feedback on this as I'm due to have me 1st assesment day soon.

A BIG Thanx in advance!!!!

Hi Vish,

Thanx a million for a descriptive response...seems like you've covered the whole day in a nut shell! How long was it before you heard from IBM that you had passed the first stage?
I do hope you breez through the 2nd stage too....hopefully can describe what you were faced with on the 2nd assessment day :)

A bit more about the confirmatory IPATO test; did data matrix also come up in this? and were the other questions just on number sequences and percentages? Ohhh....were you allowed to use calculators? and how long were you given to complete this test?

Best of Luck!!!

Hi Vish...

Have you heard back from IBM in regards to your 2nd round interview? How did it all go?

If you dont mind me asking once again, can you tell me what sort of tasks they asked you to do and what type of questions were asked at the interview?
How long did it last?
Did they mention how many grads their taking on?
Did you feel that the competition for places is tough...which is why they may be asking you really tough questions?
As you've chosen the IT consultancy scheme...did they ask any related questions? Questions on programming know how??

Once again...Thanx in advance mate!!

Hey bob,

When's you selection day?

Good news, I managed to get through the 2nd round, now there's a business matching interview which i didn't know about.

I feel slightly guilty giving too much info about the assessment centre as they explicitly told us not to discuss it - but happy to give you a rough overview.

Again, you'll be split in two groups so bear in mind the order of events i describe may be reversed for you.

1st task: communications exercise
You're given a brief about your company's services and some info on your client's needs. The scenario is, your colleague was going to give a presentation but he/she has been called away and left you with the notes to complete the presentation and deliver it to the client. You have 20 mins to read through and prep.

You then deliver it to an assessor, 1-on-1 in role play mode - lasts 10 mins with question and answer.

You then have 20 mins to respond to an email from the client - this is a written task.

2nd task: group exercise
Very much the same sort of thing as the selection day, 40mins long to work through a problem - no assessor involvement

3rd task: 1-on-1 interview with a Personal Development Manager 45mins - quite relaxed and thankfully no competency style questions, mainly talking about what you wrote on your application and your style and personality and motivations. This isn't a grilling, so just build a rapport and think about what competencies IBM look for ie. team player, adaptable, etc.

And thats it. Mine was from 8.30-12. So pretty intense, with few breaks.

No technical questions about programming or anything like that, just why I wanted to go into IT.
Everyone at the assessment centre came across as a decent candidate but they gave no indication as to how many places they had, just that there were enough jobs for everyone if everyone performed well.

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

Hi Bob,

Here goes...

The day began with a presentation from an IBM Personal Development Manager telling us how wonderful IBM is, how they're structured and what their main services and selling points are. While you're listening, make some notes because it will help to regurgitate some points if you're successful and put through to the next stage. Also think of some interesting questions to ask as I'm sure it will help the presenter remember you positively and set you apart from the other candidates early on. The presenter tends to be an assessor in at least one of your group exercises on the day. He mentioned this twice I think as a hint when prompting if anyone had any questions.

Group will then split in two - we had two groups of four.

Task 1:
You're given a brief about a company you're a senior person in. Your first task is to appoint a new manager. You have a list of candidates with their skills and qualifications listed and you essentially have to first figure out what skills are mandatory and beneficial for the role and then who the best candidate is based on that criteria. In addition, there will be five or so sheets of paper each with slightly different information on them that give you clues on what skills are needed, what universities are good, what qualifications are necessary etc. Try and work through this as discursively as possible as its tempting to just puzzle things through on your own. With the time constraints, try and establish some direction as a team and some kind of systematic process as early as possible.

Task 2:
IBM has just delivered a piece of work to a client, it's been a big impressive project. An IBM manager who doubles up as an assessor role plays this to begin with and tells you he wants a big event to be planned to celebrate this. In front of you, you have tables and sheets with lists of venues, food prices, entertainment details etc. and a budget. You have ten minutes to put some ideas together. Then the manager steps in and says hi guys what have you got. You tell him, and he'll throw a spanner in the works and say actually he doesn't like one thing or another and will want the event to have a theme as well - something classy. He might throw in that he'd like to have an award ceremony to commend certain people so incorporate that, and also that he would like to have provisions allowing for spouses and partners to attend. This is just to see how you adapt to change i guess. This is also your opportunity to ask the manager questions that will help you in planning and deciding. Think of some intelligent things to ask. Then you have about eight minutes to finish off a proposal and present it as a group in the final five minutes. Very time pressured, keep it simple and don't get too bogged down with figuring out costs in detail as this can slow things down, just make sure you're roughly within budget which is quite easy as you're given a lot to work with.

confirmatory IPATO test: 12 questions, 4 from each type, normally the hardest ones from the online test. Just to see if there are any huge irregularities with your online score.

And that's it. More info than you probably need, and some of the tips are obviously my thoughts so hope that helps - take what you can from it.

Best of luck!

It took about a week to hear back from IBM. The IPATO had about 4 data matrix questions, 4 number sequence and 4 maths problems. The 1st 2/3 data matrix qs were doable but unless you draw out the table and puzzle over it it really fries your brain. My advice would be to draw out a grid as soon as you can on a rough sheet of paper - be cheeky and maybe even scribble it out before the test starts so you can quickly fill in the values. The number sequences were fairly easy and again just about identifying a holistic pattern rather than any complex nth term stuff. The maths problems had some percentage increase and decrease qs and some numerical problems eg. how many tiles needed to cover the area of a bathroom if it takes 4 tiles for 1m squared and the bathroom measures 10m by 5m etc. Again not too taxing. As I said, the questions will probably feel familiar as they're taken from the online test you've already done.

You have 15 mins to complete.
You lose 1/4 of a mark for a wrong answer in the numeracy and number sequence but the data matrix is NOT negatively marked.
You get a calculator but you can take your own if you have one you're more comfortable with.

Don't worry too much about this stage as it is really to identify any glaring discrepancies with your online test.

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

Hey Vik,

Sorry mate I aint been in touch recently, really busy with work and my internets been down for the past two weeks!

I havent heard from IBM in regards to my first round selection day, even though I had passed the IPATO test about a month ago now!
Dont know if they've already found enough candidates for this years in take or not.
I've mailed them a number of times but have had no response :(

How are things getting on with you??

bob,

have you not had confirmation for a selection day yet then?

I'm not sure what the situation is with hiring numbers.

I'd try calling to push them and check what's going on.

Here are some numbers:

07768 715045 - chap called Tom Hann from grad recruitment

07827 956180 - Holly Parmenter - grad recruitment officer
023 92 561423

+ 44 (0) 870 542 6426 - General enquiries - ask to speak to grad recruitment

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

Hi Vish,

Thank you for all the important info you have provided us so far. I would like to ask you to give further details about the presentation exercise, if possible, as I am really crap at that. How does it all occur? Do the other candidates watch as you present? Does each of the candidates in a team present his/her part one-by-one? Is it a common presentation, for the whole team, where each candidate only presents a small part....

Thank you in advance. Sorry for all the questions, but I have mine in a week and I'm looking for some info.

HoTzU

Hotzu,

You get the brief (a small pack of info) about the company you come from, it's services, and the company you're going to be presenting to, plus notes for the presentation. You have 20 mins to read through it, fill out any gaps in the presentation notes by reading all the info and run over it in your mind.

If you have a decent short-term memory you should be fine. You just read the brief, split the presentation up into 5 or so sections and just regurgitate the info.

You have all your materials during the actual presentation, which will be in a separate room with just you and the IBM assessor, who will act as the company representative. So don't worry about memorising all of it, you have all the info in front of you. Will last 10 mins.

He or she may or may not ask you questions. You too can break it up by turning it into a kind of consulting session if you see that the assessor contributes during your presentation. Just be responsive to their reactions but aim to cover all the main points.

And act like you are actually meeting a client. Role-play.

When i did it, we were just sitting down opposite each other, so it didn't feel like one of those pressurized formal presentation exercises.

Btw, it's not a group exercise - this is an individual exercise.

Hope that answers your questions. Best of luck!

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

Hi vish,

My ibm first round selection day is on the 2nd of March. Very nervous about it. Wanted to know how competitive it is?
Where did you have your selection day? I have been called to hursley winchester. Very diffucult to reach there using public transport.
I am applying for summer placement. Are there no one on one interviews on the first selection day?

Thanks
Snigdha

Hi Snigdha,

I went to Portsmouth, so don't know about winchester, sorry. Also, since I was going for the perm grad scheme I don't know for sure whether the process will be the same for you, but I'm fairly certain there won't be any one-to-one interviews at the selection day. Just two group exercises and a confirmatory IPATO test. Interviews will be at the next round.

It's not competitive at all. Completely about team work and some team problem solving as well, which you can't really prepare for.

I've written a blog with some tips on teamwork exercises and the kinds of things you might find yourself doing. Hope it helps and best of luck!

check out: http://consultinggrad.wordpress.com/

Hey Vish,

Heard any news from IBM about your place?

I'm really hopping you've got the place!

My first round selection day is coming up very soon....and am getting really nervous about it all!

Any last min hints you can give me?

Thanks once again for the continued support!!

Hey bob,

had the final iv feb 26th. Found out yesterday they've decided to offer me a place starting July! So great news!

Also have an offer from PwC, so doing lots of thinking and in a very fortunate place!

For the selection day, all i can say is be relaxed and concentrate on working well in a team. That means, use people's names to build an initial rapport (very simple but effective), speak up, contribute, let others speak, ask questions, keep track of time, get the group to attack the problems systematically. Be confident even when you're just listening.

I've got a post that you might find more comprehensive: http://consultinggrad.wordpress.com/groupexercises/

Best of luck!

Vish take the PwC job.

IBM are a terrible company to work for at the moment.

Why do you think IBM are a terrible company to work for? I have friends within IBM who would disagree with you.

I have worked for IBM so I think I am entitled to my opinion.

Do you want a list?

Top of that list would probably be how they attempt to force their employees into redudancies and rob them of their pensions.

I have worked for IBM so I think I am entitled to my opinion.

Do you want a list?

Top of that list would probably be how they attempt to force their employees into redudancies and rob them of their pensions.

I have worked for IBM so I think I am entitled to my opinion.

Do you want a list?

Top of that list would probably be how they attempt to force their employees into redudancies and rob them of their pensions.

I wasn't saying you weren't entitled to your opinion. Actually quite the contrary, I would love to hear about your experiences as I am close to being offered a role.

I would like to know about your experiences, if you don't mind telling me.

Thanks,
Toryas

Which scheme did u apply for Toryas. Im still waiting for my FRI> Passed ipato test in January

IT Consultant.

Hi,

I'm applying for strategic consulting with IBM and have already got through the tests and the first round selection day and was told that they would be in touch shortly.... that was about 8 weeks ago. I've contacted them since and they said the same thing about being in touch 'shortly'. Is anyone else experiencing them dragging their feet with the application process??

Cheers

any news on the graduate schemes guys. Has anyone been in touch with ibm or any assessment lined up soon

I had my business matching interview on the 15th April. Waiting to hear back now.

I have an AC now scheduled for 27th April. Any tips would be much appreciated!? It's for strategic consulting, which mysteriously seems to have vanished from the list of grad schemes on the IBM website. ‘Business Strategy Consultant’, which is a different scheme, is instead there twice. A shade worrying but also annoying as I haven’t looked at the actual role for ages and it would definitely help with my interview prep to see the job description!

Hey
I have the same AC tomorrow. What are you doing to prepare? Getting to Waterloo in the morning is going to be a nightmare.

Ive not done a huge amount really I dont think you can prepare for the group/communication exercises so I've just gone over the generic interview questions and adapted them for IBM. What about you?
I'm not quite sure why they are starting it so early. Surely no staff memebers want to be there for an 8am start!

I agree you cant prpare for the group stuff, and personally, I cant really prepare for an interview, I don't think it seems natural if you do. But yes the early start is not great. Whoever has their interview first may face a grumpy interviewer. Where are you coming from in the morning?

They ask you lots of IBM related questions in the interview so I really would prepare.

If you don't mind me asking, what sort of IBM related questions did they ask in the interview?

I honestly can't remember it was over a year ago. My placement was at ibm and even I found them difficult. So just be prepared and read the graduate brochure.

As for everything else the group exercise is good and challenging but there is no way you will figure it out so if the group doesn't get all the answers don't worry.

The presentation is literally the most ridiculous thing I have ever experienced in my life. They want you to try and sell a dog jumper. Firstly, dogs are vile and secondly I'm not a sales person so this brought me down. I had great scores for everything else and a dog jumper ruined my chances.

Hope everything went well for you guys yesterday. How many people attended?

Hello, I have a xtreme blue-AC (Technical role) scheduled on 6th may @ Hursley..It would be a great help for me if anyone can shed me some light on the process...Thanks in advance

Take this in the least offensive way possible, but if you're not able to present information given to you, regardless of topic, you're not fit for the job. Tough if you don't like dogs, what happens if you have to present a topic you don't agree with that could be a million pound deal for the company? You're going to fall flat on your face.

They are looking at your ability to present, not your sales techniques and passion for dogs.

When I did the 2nd round AC, I thought the presentation was brilliant, it allowed those of us who were good at presenting to stand out above the rest.

@Toryas : Thank you so much for your input.
I have been given a topic to pre-prepare..So, will I have one more spontaneous presentation?
The process is 1 Group work - 1 Presentation and 1 Interview? Whether there will be any technical question in the interview?
Sorry for more questions...I am really worried as my AC in just 2 days period..If you have any idea, please help me.. Thanks in advance

-namez

There was nothing technical in my 2nd AC. Just 1 group, 1 presentation and 1 interview. Just be yourself and do your best, they can see right through bullshit.

Good luck!

Hey guys,

I took part in the assessment center and 2nd round selection at the end of February in Portsmouth. My problem is that I have not been reimbursed for my travel expenses so far, even though 8 weeks have passed, as stated in the reimbursement form. I remember a woman named Angela Thomas (I think) deals with these sort of stuff. I tried mailing the uk_graduates address and their facebook group, but nobody is answering me. Does anyone have Angela's email address or is anyone else in a similar situation?

Thanks a lot
Vlad

Oh grow up my post was a light hearted post. Don't be so miserable and rude to other posters.

That post was for Toryas

Hey guys,

I applied for a "12 month business placement" with IBM, did the ipato test and passed (i dont really know how xD), so i was invited to the assessment centre on May 10 at the London South Bank site. I was wondering if any of you guys have applied for the same role cos most of what ive been reading so far had to do with software development or engineering.
Anyways if anyone else applied for the same position and has already attended the assessment centre, do you have any information as to how the assessment centre will be? from what ive gathered its slightly different for each role so it would be great to get some insider infos!

cheers guys!

Valentin

Hello, I had my first round selection day at IBM recently. They rejected me shortly afterwards. Apparently I did not meet all of the "requirements" they were looking for in the group exercises. I haven't found anything on their website regarding the group exercise "requirements". I am a little surprised. I personally have no idea what I could have possibly done wrong, as I thought I had performed sufficiently. And regardless, I heard that the selection day is not competitive at all, so that it's not necessary to be the best performer in the group to pass. Does anyone here who participated at an IBM first round selection day know what they might be talking about? Thanks.

I think there must be a level of competition in the first stage selection as there will only be a limited number of jobs and, therefore, placements at the second selection day(s). You may have performed well, but just been pipped by someone else who made it to the second selection day.
Best of luck in the future.

Hi everyone, I have an Assessment centre coming up soon for IBM graduate scheme (already passed the first round selection day).

Any tips or advise would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks!

I also have a final assessment centre coming up. Does anyone know what the written exercise includes?

Thanks,
ITgrad

Just got the email saying I've got through!! Just the business matching interview to go now!!