IBM First Round interview?

Hi Zidanee,
I have just gone through the graduate finance scheme at IBM and will be starting in next month or so. I believe that most of the IT roles are in the south bank office but the others are in Portsmouth. Regarding the interview process, it may be slightly different to finance but i believe that it will be as you have said. The group exercise is one of those e tray logic style exercises. For me there was a case study but as you say it may not be needed for IT roles. Is this first assement day as i had two then final interview with senior management before being offered position.

Cheers!

How long was the whole recruitment process? I have applied in September and the last communication from IBM was in December - still waiting for them to confirm the date and time of the first round interviews. I guess they are really busy..

I applied in June, had first assesment centre at the end of july. Second 18th of november due to several delays on their part and then final interview on 12th December. Was offered job on 15th December. Should start 23rd Feb. It does seem to take a long time between assesment centres but as you said they are very busy.

Good to know, thanks!

Hey all, I just got my 1st round interview date, it's scheduled for the beginning of the January 2010. The problem is I cannot make it on that date unless I rebook my flights back to England (that's expensive). In the email IBM sent me they say that positions are filled on the 1st-come-1st-served basis, meaning that I can try to reschedule the interview for the latter date, but if there will be no free vacancies then I am out of the recruitment process. I am not sure whether I should risk it and try to reschedule, or should I rebook my flights and pay the extra few hundred £s.. Has anyone tried rescheduling the interview? Is it worth to risk it?

Thanks for any advice!

Hi, I am waiting for an interview since last December, so I wouldn't risk it if I were you.. BTW, which position is the interview for?

The interview is supposed to be for the IT Consultant position. I decided not to risk rescheduling it and accepted the date they suggested. Now I am waiting for the confirmation email from IBM - it's been a few days now and i am getting a bit worried, I need to book my flights, accomodation etc. Has anyone any experience with awaiting the confirmation email for the first round interview? How long can it take ? Also, can IBM cancel my interview once they've invited me for it?

Thanks!

Hello PeetyP.

I am applying for an IBM role, for the competency questions no word limit is stated but my reponses don't fit into the cv template they provided. Does this mean there is no word limit? Should I just send the form in anyway?
Any assistance provided would be extremely helpful.
Cheers

hi velvetpigeon..

you have to try and fit your words into the space provided, dont go over the word limit.

this information is on the website... check it out.

anyone applied for ibm business specialist (graduate role)

Hi,
I've got my Assessment Centre day next Tuesday (12th January) for IT consultancy. Can anyone give me a break down of exactly what to expect? The email and info from IBM is a bit vague (deliberately I am sure). Will I have a one-on-one interview on that day for IT consultancy? What will the group work entail? A quick example would be great. Any help is appreciated.

Thank you!

did u do some online tests. hw were they

Hi!

@nevynev
Was yours Assesment Center for 12 January rescheduled and relocated to 26th of January, London Southbank? What to expect: as far as I know there will be two group exercises and a shorter version of the IPATO test. Not neccessarily any one-to-one interview since you will have two 1-1 interviews on the second round selection day.

@fradoo
The only online test I did wa IPATO, it was alright - there'a a lot of information about it on the web.

Hi,

@PeetyP - yes mine was postponed till then, will you be on that? Is your opinion purely based on the standard emails they send out?

@fradoo - yes there's enough info out there. For the each section there are practice pages first on which you can spend as much time as you like.

I just got rejected due to not being eligible to work in the UK. Even though I was born in Manchester have never lived in any other country and both my parents are British Citizens....oh and Im British aswell! lol

Its like they looked at my name (which is of asian origin) and decided I was a foreigner! how rediculous!

@nevynev: If nothing unexpected happens I will be on it as well. My opinion is based on what I found on the internet - the e-mails they send are to vague to guess what can we expect.

I'm still waiting for an email inviting me to attend the First Round interview.
Was given the "you have passed the IPATO test" email at the end of December and been waiting ever since. I applied to Finance btw.

just for the email from IBM today confirmin the day of the 1st selection day (finance) based in Pompy.. (missions, i thought it would be in london given thats where your most likely to be working and thats where I live) annoying but first com first serve basis so thought i would go for it!

Any one have any specific information for the Finance selection day?

Thanks in Advance!!

1st Round selection day is nothing too difficult. The 2 group exercises are simply to see how well you work in groups. When I went for mine, we were split into 2 groups. My group simply went and tackle the tasks whilst I heard the other group had a lot of disagreement. Try to go along with what other group members suggests unless their suggestion is obviously wrong. Otherwise you won't have enough time to reach an answer in the time given. As for the IPATO tests, it is a short one, but it seemed like they have picked harder questions. Don't really need to worry about the score, they are only trying to compare the 2 IPATO test results to ensure that you did the tests yourself.

Good luck everyone who is attending the 1st round selection day

congrats on the email invite! I'm still waiting for mine if it ever comes. That seems strange since the finance role is based in London (so it reads on the website), don't know why first round is in portsmouth. Did you get a choice of days to attend, or were you just told to go to one?

Only info I've found is on the website

Thanks, I am sure you will get an email from them soon.

Did you apply for the financial management consultant position?

I think the selection days are done at the Portsmouth office because it is the UK head office.

They will invite you to attend the selection day on a given date. They advise you to take that date as it is done on a first come first serve basis. However, if you really can't make it, I am sure they can rearrange.

Cool. Yeah hopefully I'll get mine soon!

Yeah, I applied for the Financial management consultant too.
I've heard that IBM (from other posts) work on a first come first served basis too. Though there taking on 500 graduates roughly this year, so chances are slightly higher! (I hope!)

@ Freelancer, thanks a lot for your help and info much appreciated seems pretty straight forward tho I dont see why they cant just do a phone interview and then a proper asses cent. instead of a selection day and asses. cent; ah well, so be it! thanks once again...

I wanted to apply for the management consultant but never got the email or the opp. to apply so I went for the Grad Management Accountant instead, figure I could move on to the consulting after finishing the AC/CA am hoping I will get the choice to do ACA given i wanted a qualification.

@Knowslian as Freelancer said you get given a day and the email reads something along the lines of... Please note that all our jobs are offered on a first-come-first-served basis, so please make every effort to attend on the above date. However, if you are unable to attend, please e-mail us and we will reschedule you to the next selection day, if there are spaces available. The if spaces are available put me off and thought I would make the mission to Pompy!

I had assessment cents. with all the banks last year and one by one they all started to cancel the days, and wanted me to reapply from scratch! so this time round I thougth I would just go it, not worth the risk even if they are taking on 500 i presume thats throughout the company and not just in Finance and usually numbers vary, they will probably take on more tech bods seeing as thats probably the biggest revenue stream...

Hi

@ Freelancer, thanks a lot for your help and sharing your experiences.

Could you please explain the details of:-

The 2 group exercises on 1st Round selection day.

What kind of tasks they assign to the groups and does it involve some presentation or Group discussion or Group activities ?

Do you recommend any technical points or soft skills which needs to be considered while participating in those 2 group activities.

Wish you best of luck for your next stage of Assessment centre.

@ Wise_Guy

The 2 group exercises are as follows:

1) This is a logical/ analytical group exercise. Basically, look at the information provided and take a logical approach to tackle the task then your group should be able to reach a decision.

2) This is a general discussion exercise where the team together must reach a decision and present it to the IBM staff. This task is harder in my opinion as it is a discussion and so it is harder to monitor progress. So make sure the team don't dwell on a point or a particular issue for too long and keep an eye on the time.

There is no technical points as far as I am aware. In terms of soft skills, I think it's all about communication skills. As I said before, strong disagreements are definitely a no go.

When is your 1st round selection day?

Good luck.

@ Dax

To an extent I agree with your point because Portsmouth is a long way away for me. I am based in Manchester and Cosham is one of the most remote rail stations I have ever visited.

However, I believe that IBM don't bother with the telephone interview because telephone interviews are usually for competencies and the IBM CV covered pretty much all the necessary qualities. So it may well have been pointless in doing a telephone interview. Besides, I am no good with telephone interview, so I am glad they don't do it :P

Finally, even the 1st round selection day is expected to last 3.5 hours and the 2nd round is expected to last 4 hours. I think that's why they split it into two.

By the way, you want to do ACA or was it a typo?

Hi

@ Freelancer, thanks a lot for your help and explaination.

I have cleared my test and waiting for IBM staff to send me an invitation for the 1st round selection day, I have tried to contact them, but they said, they have cancelled all activities of selection and assessment days due to bad weather............

Let's see how things proceeds...................

@ freelancer

Damn, Telephone interviews are the best for me lol! ah well!!

Ah fair enough, I suppose that makes sense.. at least it isn't two full days of assess. I have read that they usually interview the successful people of the 1st round day after the tests and send the rest home? can anyone confirm?

Wanted to do my ACA but IBM support CIMA/ACCA it will be something I will bring up should be i successful! lol

@ Dax

I didn't have an interview during the 1st round. However, I have been invited for the 2nd round. So I think there won't be one because I sent them an email asking about it and they said, "If you are successful at the assessment centre then you will be required to attend a matching interview for any roles that you are put forward for.
These will take place at a later date."

I seriously doubt IBM will support you towards the ACA qualification unless you have already completed some/ most of the examinations. Because I wanted to do ACCA and I asked companies whether they would support it given that they only said they would support CIMA. Their responses were unless I was already far into the qualification, otherwise they are very reluctant to support a different qualification.

How come you want ACA? My understanding is that ACA is a qualification for people in practice. People in business usually study CIMA.

Oh right excellent, fingers crossed that I make to that stage to, the IPATO should be ok.. i suppose teamwork is dependent on who you get in your team, touch wood I get a decent enough team.

I think with all these companies they are open to any qualification (role related of course) as long as you can put forward your reasons/views as to why it is that particular one you want to study and not one of the other ones, if it is one they offer then odds are the training etc. wont be as good (internal), Mentoring may not be as good and various other points. for example when I got offered jobs in industy like you said they were adament I pursued CIMA however I made it clear that I wanted to do ACCA (they wouldnt support ACA), and they ranted raved but agreed to me following ACCA saying you may have less time off and a smaller "study group". I only did this roles i was happy to turn down!! tho!! so i wouldnt suggest saying unless you let me do my ACCA I wont join if you really want the job then sometime you have to stick with what they are willing to offer, but no harm in asking the question!

I think all are as good as each other depending on what area you want to work in, like you said CIMA is industry focused, ACCA more practice foucused but has now also become increasingly popular in industry. For me ACA is the most prestigious out of them all, opens the most doors and is by far the most recognised financial qualification out there. I am currently doing my CTA with a view to have that done July which is the tax equivalent of the ACA but have been told by numerous people that the ACA is still the most coverted qualification.

suppose it just comes down to personal pref. at the end of the day ACA and ACCA arent all that diff.

@Wise_Guy

Well that's a relief, thought I was the only one waiting for an invite! Won't be long I hope...

Hi all,

@nevynev and anyone whose IT Consultancy selection day was rescheduled to 26th of January to London, have you recieved a confirmation email from ibm (graduate_assesment in this case?). I got the email about date and venue change, I replied to graduate_assesment to confirm my attendance (that was over two weeks ago) and I still have not heard back from them. I dont know if I should attend it even if I wont receive this email ( I received the confirmation for the 13.01 IT Consultancy selection day, not sure if it counts for the rescheduled one). The selection day is just 5 days away and I dont know if I should book the accomodation, travel and start other arrangements!! That's just so unprofessional from IBM.

@PeetyP

Have you tried ringing them up? Would be peace of mind to know that they are expecting you as oposed to just turning up unsure.

Unfortunately they're the employer and as such can do whatever they want, however unfair or professional it may be. Since "we" want the job on offer, and they know that. So we have to put up with their conduct during application stage otherwise it's bye bye job. :(

But Ditto, unprofesional IBM!

I thought about it but I searched through their website and I couldnt find a number to the graduate assessment. Has anyone a phone number I could try calling?

http://www.ibm.com/contact/uk/en/

Got a list of numbers there for you. Try ringing General Enquiries or Head Office; I'm sure someone there will be able to deal with you!

EDIT

Hi Freelancer

I'm new on this form and wanted to know what sort of excises you had to do for the 1st round selection day, and what sort of questions came up on the shorter version of the ipato test, im really bad at maths...but dont know how I passed the online version..lol which is why im abit more worried about the 2nd test.

are there any interviews they carry out in the 1st round selection day??? and if so....what sort of questions did they ask at the interview??

what would you recomend is the best way to prepare for this stage of the recruitment?

btw im applying for the it consultant role.

@ bob123

Basically, there will not be an interview in the 1st selection day.

In terms of the IPATO test, as long as you did it yourself last time then you will be fine. They are only trying to ensure that you did the last yourself.

As for the 2 group exercises, information is as follows:

1) This is a logical/ analytical group exercise. Basically, look at the information provided and take a logical approach to tackle the task then your group should be able to reach a decision.

2) This is a general discussion exercise where the team together must reach a decision and present it to the IBM staff. This task is harder in my opinion as it is a discussion and so it is harder to monitor progress. So make sure the team don't dwell on a point or a particular issue for too long and keep an eye on the time.

There isn't really a lot you can prepare for. I would suggest may be do some numerical tests online if you are not confident.

By the way, which programme did you apply for?

Good luck

@peepty

IBM
Telephone: 00 44 2392 283777

How long was the gap between IPATO and FRI?
Oh and how much warning did you get before the FRI, was it a couple of days or a couple of weeks?

what happened to all u guys. u seem to be quiet these days. did u attend yo assessment with ibm how was it.

I'm still waiting to be invited to the First Round Interview. Recieved the "passed the IPATO test" email early January...

Ditto Knowslian :(

They must be waiting to get enough people to make an FRI, i heard its about 8 which could take quite a while if these statistics are true.

http://www2.le.ac.uk/offices/ssds/sd/careers/applications/application-resources-1/ibm_applications.pdf

Wow, thanks for the pdf, it's very insightful! Where ever did you find that?

I didn't even know that there was a "pre-screen" phase to shift out bad spelling and grammar applicants. That shifts 56% of applicants approximately!!! This might explain some of my other applications being 'mysteriously' rejected. Crazy!

Well I was reading over on the TSR forums that the FRI were delayed becuase of the bad weather (snow). But allegedly they have resumed this month; so still waiting!

Graham

Ah yeh i am on TSR as well. Yeh i just typed in IPATO test pass rate or something into google and found it, i dont even go to leicster uni.

Thanks for the stats. Passing the IPATO test is an achievement on its on considering how competitive these schemes are. Don't give up guys.

do you think we have to wait 8 weeks to go to the assessment centre?

the thing is companies are not desperate like b4 coz they no that they are loads of jobless graduates out there. So i think if u need a job u wait.

I applied for Sainsbury's finance scheme and passed the online test in dec but i am still waiting for assessment centre.

haha, lol.. I applied for IBM grad scheme in sept 08 and I am still waiting for the assessment centre. and you worry about 8 weeks...

Hello,

During the Case Study Group Activity, how is the performance measured. Is it an individual presentation in the end, Or a particular person from the team is made a leader and he presents the idea to the interview panel.

Thanks,
ssharma