Assessment Day Tips

We want to help you be as well prepared as possible when attending our assessment days. We don’t really get to see the real you if we spring major surprises on you on the day. We’d never think of doing that to our current employees, so why should we for you.

Before being invited to an assessment day, you will also be asked to complete a time-limited online numeracy test. This tests the key skill of comfort with numbers at speed – in meetings with our clients you will often need to juggle numbers quickly and accurately. The test consists of a number of scenarios where you need to analyse some data and interpret the numbers quickly. It is a standard test used by employers across the banking and finance industries, with the scoring reflecting the number of scenarios answered correctly in the set time period. It is very unlikely that you will get through all of the questions, but the more you manage to do, the higher your score.

Our assessment days are intense, but they are designed to give you lots of opportunity to share with us your aspirations, talk about your experiences and show us why you could be a successful Hewitt consultant. There will also be time to hear from a number of people the opportunities that would be available to you and what it is really like to work at Hewitt.

You will be asked to participate in five exercises that will help us to assess your future potential as a consultant at Hewitt. The exercises will cover the main elements that are important for our business and our clients, and in working with your future colleagues.

Numerical test – A different style to the online test that we will ask you to do before we send invitations to the assessment days, to further demonstrate your comfort with numbers at speed. The focus is on financial scenarios that you might encounter in your work at Hewitt. Calculators will be provided, but you are welcome to bring your own if you prefer.

Written test – You will be asked to write a short memo to summarise your interpretation of the sort of information that you might find when advising one of our clients. As well as demonstrating your ability to write clearly and effectively, you will need to be able to analyse information and make a recommendation. (We won’t expect you to know anything about pension schemes, actuarial techniques or investments.) Clear and concise communication is one of the key skills that our clients expect of our consultants. It’s also a valuable skill when working in a team.

Debate – All of the candidates on the assessment day will work in two teams to debate an issue. You will be able to demonstrate your ability to communicate verbally during the debate and your skills at working with others in preparing for the debate.

We will give you the topic and further guidance before the assessment day so that you can carry out your own research. However, there is a slight twist to this exercise as we won’t tell you until the day which side of the debate you will be on, so you’ll need to make sure your preparation is broad. All business consultants face some situations where their own views don’t suit their clients’ particular needs and aims. Ability to communicate any issue rationally and persuasively is a valuable skill.

Task planning exercise – An individual exercise in which you will be asked to plan a task. You will have some time on your own to prepare before discussing your ideas with two of our assessors. They will be looking for an innovative approach to the task and a project plan that will ensure that the task is completed on time and to a high standard. As you’d imagine, our clients expect us to plan our work to meet deadlines we’ve agreed with them.

Interview – No assessment day would be complete without an interview. You will meet with two of our assessors who will use the opportunity to find out more about you as an individual, your experiences and aspirations. Just relax, be yourself and be ready to quiz your assessors about life at Hewitt. Personality is a big factor in building successful relationships with clients. As in life, variety is key because some relationships work better than others.
There will also be plenty of opportunity during the day for you to find out more about us from people who already work with us.

When you arrive you will meet some of our recent graduate recruits who will help to put you at ease. It wasn’t so long ago that they were in your position so they understand how you will be feeling. You will also hear from one of our trainee consultants, who will talk about their work and study experiences so far, and an experienced consultant who will tell you more about our business, our work and some of their client experiences. There will be further opportunity for you to talk informally to more people over lunch and during an office tour.

What else we expect of you at the assessment day:

• Turn up the same way as you would for a day at work, e.g. smart, on time and ready to work with other people! We have a relaxed business smart dress code, but also wear suits for meetings with our clients. Dress for the assessment day in the way that you feel most comfortable, jackets and ties are optional, but being smart does create an impression, and that is important in a consultancy where clients form opinions.

• Be familiar with our business. In the same way as our clients would expect us to know public information about them, we will expect you to be aware of the information about our business on this website. It’s fairly brief, and there’s no trick elements that you have to search for.

• Consider what else you want to know and test our managers on before you decide that we are the right place for your career.

• Be yourself. Don’t try to pretend to be different to the real you. The real you may be just what we are looking for. There are no right answers to many of the exercises, so don’t try to out-think yourself and imagine things not mentioned on this website are being looked for. We are not looking for a single type of person, we are looking for variety and a range of people who can help our clients.
  

• Don’t hide your weaknesses and be ready to talk about them, everyone has weaknesses and awareness of them is important in reducing exposure to them and playing to your individual strengths. (David Beckham couldn’t kick very well with his left foot so he didn’t pretend to be a left winger, he asked to play on the right. Someone else can play on the left.)