Mercer

Hi,
I’ve got an assessment centre coming up with mercer!! Anyone been to it this year? What can i expect? Any advice would be appreciated!!

Thanks

Hi, how did your assessment centre go?

Any tips?

i had a mercer assessment centre this week,

I had to give a 15 minute presentation to members of the HR team, have 2 half hour or so interviews with members of the team i applied to (investment consulting), do a 35 minute verbal reasoning excersize, and do a half hour case study written exercize followed by a 15minute group discussion about it!

so quite a busy day! best tips are to be prepared and be confident!

How did your interview process compare to this - Mercer interview questions??

yeah very similar, first had a telephone interview which lasted about 25 minutes which was very structured....
- Why did i choose my A levels
- Why did i choose my degree
- Why did i choose my uni
- What do i know about mercer
- What do i know about investment consulting
- What do i know about the pensions industry
- What do i know about the professional qualifications i would take if i got a grad job

- Competancy based questions - When have i had an idea thats been met with opposition, When have i worked as a team player etc etc

Then i got invited to an assessment centre which involved

- 15 minute presentation on 'the rationale behind the government and bank of englands intervention in the UK economy in the last 6 months' which i had to prepare before hand, ( and present to someone with 'no prior knowledge')
- 2 half hour interviews with members of the investment consulting team - one on mercer/investment consulting/qualifications etc and one competancy based (theyre not as bad as they sound, its more like a convesation than question and answer interview)
- 35 minute verbal reasoning exercise (hardest part of the day)
- lunch with some people on the grad scheme
- 45 minute case study exercise (you basicly have to weigh up the pros and cons of a number of different things - ours was benefit plans for a company)
- 15 minute group discussion ( discussing the case study and deciding on a recomendation)

it all sounds quite daunting and i was very nervous but theyre really nice and in the phone interview and especially the AC they really want you to do well so its not nearly as bad as it sounds! Just be prepared is my best advice!

hi esuhhu, how did you answer the following question:

What do i know about the professional qualifications i would take if i got a grad job

well, on the mercer website there is a section:

http://uk.mercer.com/referencecontent.htm?idContent=1318260

which talks about the 2 main different routes (and qualifications) that graduates at Mercer take.

I then researched the 2 different routes (Actuary and CFA) by using wikipedia, google etc by looking at the number of exams, curriculum, career path etc

they dont expect you to know everything and they don't expect you to have decided which route you want to take, one of the main things i said/asked at the end of my interviews was that i wasnt sure which route i wanted to take....which had they chosen and why....things like that!

thanks a lot for that! very much appreciated!

have you had your results from your AC yet? what position where you applying for? internship or grad programme?

hope you did well!

yeah i was successful :)
i applied for the investment consulting internship in the london office!

hi everyone,

just had my telephone interview with mercer today. when do they usually let you know you if you are through to the ac?

thanks

Hi,

Do you need to provide 2 examples for each competency? I'm not sure how many graduates would have that much experience to draw from. Also, could anyone provide any details as to what the written exercise is and how to best prepare for it?

Thank you