The usual stages
- Online application: CV, sometimes a cover letter or short questions (“Why this company?”)
- Online tests: see below
- Video interview: recorded answers to on-screen questions, usually a minute or two each
- Assessment centre or final interview: group exercise, technical interview, presentation, competency interview
Not every company uses every stage, especially smaller ones.
Online tests
| Test | What it checks | How to prepare |
|---|---|---|
| Numerical reasoning | Reading tables and charts, percentages, ratios | Practise timed; most tests allow a calculator |
| Verbal reasoning | True / false / cannot say from a passage | Answer only from the text, not what you know |
| Logical / diagrammatic | Patterns in shapes | Practice sets; they get faster with familiarity |
| Situational judgement | Choosing the best action in workplace scenarios | Read the company’s values first |
| Game-based | Attention, risk-taking, memory | Can’t really be revised; just be rested |
Free practice tests are available from many test providers and careers services.
Answering competency questions: STAR
“Tell me about a time when you…” questions want a real story:
| Situation | Brief context: where, when |
| Task | What you had to do |
| Action | What you did (say “I”, not “we”), and why |
| Result | What happened, with numbers if possible, and what you learned |
Prepare 6–8 stories that you can bend to fit common themes: teamwork, leadership, a problem you solved, a mistake, a deadline, persuading someone, something technical you’re proud of. University labs, group projects, part-time jobs, societies and personal builds all count.
Technical interviews
For engineering roles, expect to be asked to explain something from your course or your own projects. Be ready to talk through one project in depth: what it does, why you designed it that way, what went wrong, and what you’d change. Diagrams on a whiteboard or paper help.
Assessment centres
- Group exercise: they’re watching how you work with others, not just whether you “win”. Bring quieter people in, keep time, summarise.
- Presentation: short and structured. Answer the question asked.
- Questions for them: have two genuine ones ready.
Check yourself
1. Turn "we built a robot for a module" into a STAR answer outline.
S: first-year group project to build a line-following robot · T: I was responsible for the motor control · A: I chose the motor driver, wrote the PWM code and tested it against the speed requirement, and changed the gearing when it was too slow · R: it hit the target speed and we came third out of twelve; I learned to test early.