Ladies/GentsI've read a lot through this forum and found it helpful in many aspects so far. So, I decided to share my experience so far.I've been contacted by a recruiter back in January regarding a position in OTS (operational transaction services, IT), it took around 2 months till I got my first phone interview with a director, he was very nice to talk to, started with a quick view on E&Y, then OTS, then i introduced myself. After that he went through my experience and how is it relevant to the role I'm applying to. To be honest at the point, after the call, I didn't know how did it go, but a week later I received a call from the recruiter confirming that I'm invited to the next stage which is an assessment center.The next stage took around 2 months again to arrange due to team travels or my work outside London. Then finally, i received the invitation 2 weeks ago to the the assessment center in London Bridge.The building is nice, comfortable with loads of yellowish walls at the reception and all reception staff have something yellow in their clothes, hopefully I wont have to wear yellow tie while working there. I arrived 15 min before the interview appointment finding that the HR already asked about me, when she got informed that I'm waiting downstairs she came down to escort me to the room where I will do my case study.The day was divided as follows (1 hour case study preparation, 45 min Q&A, 1 hour interview).- 1 hour case study preparation: Make sure you had a good breakfast and a good night sleep, the 1 hour is definitely not enough, it is an M&A case study and you have to analyze it and respond to a number of questions from 3 points of view (Seller, Buyer, and PE)- 45 min Q&A: I was blessed by a 2 interviewers instead of 1 (a director and Assistant Director) so i got grilled in the Q&A by both of them, but they were helpful at some points, we ended up exceeding the time allocated for the Q&A slot by 15 min or a bit more. Make sure you have a rational behind every answer/recommendation you propose. Don't say things just for the sake to show that you have knowledge of the industry specially if you were like me has no prior experience with M&A space, when you say I don't know they will happily illustrate any term or situation.- 1 hour interview: The director left the room after the Q&A session, and I got interviewed by the Assistant director who went through almost every single line in my resume, that interview also took 20 min more than allocated. Be honest, and be likable, may be these 2 wont mix but do your best.Overall the interview took 1 hour more than expected. Also as the previous phone interview I don't know what I've done, still waiting for a response regarding the results of my interview. Wish me good luck.Best of luck to you.
