Mars

I applied. Got rejected straight away though.

I applied and went to first round interview. Rally nice people and place and interview was the usual competency Qs. Lot of people there for very few places though. There were 30 people there on the morning I was and they were doing morning and afternoon interviews and assessment for a week and a half. If you have any questions just ask.

Do you know how many people they interviewed first round? Where did you have your interview?

hey, how did you find the fast track card test? i struggled with the tax and timezone parts. You have any tips on how you did it? i have another one coming up :S

needless to say i didn't get through depite my interview going really well.

Thanks!

I had problems with the application form.... it couldnt NEXT!!!! any ideas anyone.... please

Had the same problem for months now Arnez, the form won't let me go to the next screen. Tried contacting HR numerous times, no help there either.

Hi Reg. I'm not sure if you are having the same problem that I had. I remember a question that seemed to have no word limit whilst the rest were limited to 1000 characters. The form would not go to the next screen unless this seemingly limitless box was within 1000 characters.

Hope this helps but like i say yours could be a totally different problem!!

Bodle,

That's one of the problems I had - couldn't even find the box in question.

Did you manage to bypass it?

iv been having the same problem and its so annoying considering iv spent time filling in the form!!!!1 i thought it was a problem with my pc and was going to try my brothers next week

iv emailed hr through their website agess ago and no response!!

may just hv to forget bout it.

I think it is one of the first questions about why you think you are suitable to the job. I thought there was no limit so i must have wrote 300 words then i had to scrimp it down to 1000 characters!! Whenever i wanted to get to the next page it would simply say 'null' field, or something like that and wouldn't tell you specifically.

Yeah Reg i bypassed it but it took alot of trial and error to get everything under 1000 characters. It isn't the easiest of application form to be sure.

THANK YOU DOBLE..thats what the problem was, the one without a word limit did in fact have one..how stupid are they!!!

Anywya iv submitted it!

Damn, that's more competition.................

LOL!! Dont worry from what iv heard im almost certain to be rejected, as i dont meet the ucas requirements and ppl who do were still auto rejected! The only reason i submitted it is cos i had answered the q's agess ago so have nothing to lose.

I'm sure you'll be okay, let us know what happens. I applied afew a weeks ago and they are remaining silent at their end.....i don't know what that means!!

thnz Bodle135,

I have finally moved to the next section of the application.

Has anyone attended a first round interview with Mars?
If so, what does the aptitude test consist of? Also any pointers on the interview would be greatly appreciated.. Thanks..

..

Hi ot3,

I went to the first round interview and test back in November (I think). The aptitude test was just the SHL Fast Track test. See Comment #3 in this thread for a good detailed overview of what is involved. It is quite a bit different from your usual numerical/verbal tests, and as such it will take a bit of time during the test to get into the swing of it.
I have done the same test twice now, and the second time was obviously much much easier! As I knew what to expect and how best (for me) to organise the cards on the desk in front of me.

For the interview, it was pretty standard stuff nearly all competency based, and "Why mars?"/"Why X programme?" etc. Also had questions trying to understand how I think and make decisions, so have a think beforehand as to how you go about making decisions and examples of big decisions.

good luck and post on here about your experiences.
hope that helps,
ucayman.

I have an interview too - for European Finance. Does anyone know how many places they will have filled after the first wave?

ot3, what division have you applied for?

Nellz.. I applied for sales, got my interview on March 3rd in Slough, how about you??

Not too sure about the number of places unfortunately.

Mines also in slough but on the 4th.

Alrite lads, i hv got one on 3rd for Management Development Programme. Please if any of you have been for same role, i would welcome a feedback.

ALL d best of luck guys

How did your interviews go? Have you heard yet?

It went alrite.... jus as UCAYMAN explained. I hvnt heard from them. Have u?

I haven't heard yet either. The impression I got was that they were very specific in the type of people they were looking for, so we'll see what happens.

I hope I get through as they seem like a fantastic company to work for :)

Hi All,

What stages are everyone currently at? I've been in invited to an assessment centre, and I was wondering if anyone in this forum has attended one of these with Mars before? I would really appreciate any information, and of course happy to answer any questions.

Cheers and good luck :)

P.S.

ot3, how did your interview go, have you heard?

Hey Mos....

what day is your assessment as mine is 30th & 31st March in slough.....

Hi Arnez,

Mine's on 24th March. Is yours the MMDP?

No... mine is Engineering (specialist scheme). U r lucky as mine is two days.

All the best with the assessment, and please leave feedback.

Hi Mos..

How did it go? What kinda questions/ exercises did you do.

Please i would like a feedback as mine is next wk.

Hope u get through!!!

have any1 been to the assesment day?

Please i would like a feedback on the events of the day, as mine is coming up next week.

arnez,

assessment was a day and a half long. its consisted of two individual exercises.

first one= analyse an information pack and present to the assessors you're conclusions of the information

second one= present about your greatest achievement.

so they want to see communication skills, timekeeping skills, organisation skills, ability to assimilate and evaluate information.

any more qu's just ask!

mos

Thnx mn....

Wt about the one-on-one interviews? what sort of questions did they ask....

unfortunately i can't help you there...i wasn't called back for a second interview...

the way it worked is that everyone does the two assessments, and then mars asked a select few to be recalled for an interview. and then of those that made it to interview, mars decide who they would like to offer a job to. i don't know if this format will apply to your scheme however.

they would be a great company to work for, so good luck!

Hi

I have an upcomming assesment center for the mars graduate program, has anyone been to the 2day assesment center? looking for some information about what the day conssits of and what we have to do.........

Id appriciate any help

Thanks

think you've probably already had yours now! But it's a really good day - I know it sounds cliche ..but BE YOURSELF! They're looking for someone who's really enthusiastic about Mars and who really fits the culture there by the sounds of it! I had my assessment centre last week - waiting to hear the outcome but the day basically includes a case study, group exercise, unprepared presentation and interview. The interview is more of a feedback session - so be prepared to reflect on how you feel the other activities have gone and what you would do differently..etc!

Hope it goes well ...Good Luck!

Nadiya

Hey

Thanks for the feedback, my AC is on thurs! what area did you apply for? Iv jus spoke to HR and I have an analytical exercise, presentation and interview....

do you have any advice with regards to the presentation & case study?
what were they based on, how long was prep time, etc?

Good luck with your result!

Hi,

I've just started the Mars application form today (and see that I have 7 days to finish it) but I'm stuck at the very beginning - trying to enter the name of the university....the drop-down menu keeps saying 'no institution found' and doesn't let me move on.

Is this a bug that other people have encountered?

And I can't find any contact details for the HR dept!

Any help appreciated,
Cheers

It's very hard to find the contact details for Mars - does anyone have an email address or a phone number to help other people?

Thank you so much in advance!

hi everyone,
Did a quick hunt through my correspondence from the 2009 recruitment cycle. Their graduate recruitment seems to have been outsourced. (the details I have from an A/C invite, correct as at Nov'08)
0845 217 0208
mars@workresourcing.com

good luck in your job hunting everyone,
Ucayman.

Cheers ucayman, I found another number on the prospects.ac.uk site:
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Graduate_jobs/Mars_Incorporated/p!edcaefX?id=19354&action=showemployerdetails&2waynocompress=1&from=D
01753 514 999

I finally managed to get back to the screen to manually enter my uni but then I skipped ahead a couple of screen and now can't find the back button to go back! Really aggravating....tried to send email from main Mars website but I don't think it even sent...sigh..

oh my! thank goodness for this forum, i have been searching for the mars graduate number for ages....

also, how long does the recruitment process last? i applied first week of december, I have not heard back at all!

So Mars tells me that it filled all of its positions on the Science & engineering grad scheme at the start of December.....then why did it leave the job posting online and make me waste (a lot) of my time filling out the application??

Quite angry about that, poor show by the company. Still, in these difficult job-seeking times they can get away with that...in a better job market it would be bad for their reputation.

is anyone else applying for the finance programme? i got an email saying they'll look at my application on 12th feb

I applied the last minute for European Finance role (14th feb deadline) and got an email today explaining that I have been passed through to the online test stage.

Their application form online was a bit of a mess. I didn't even put any grades down for my A levels / GCSEs lol.

@gumbo

Heard anything regarding your application?

i didnt get through to the next round

so fuckin annoying

Hi,

Got an email sayin im through to the online testing stage.......any tips on the numerical test??

I applied for the European Finance Programme. Any one else applied for the same programme???

Unlucky gumbo. Pretty sure they just randomly pass X number people through and remaining applicants are rejected.

@ everex

I also applied for the European Finance Programme; not too sure what their online test will be like. Just hoping it isn't too hard.