Online Application
I applied on the Capgemini website, and I entered my personal details and was prompted to upload a CV and a cover letter (Cover letter was not mandatory and therefore I didn’t upload). I was in a unique position because I applied for 2 graduate roles on the website as I wasn’t sure which one to go for and I received an email from on the HR recruiters who let me know that I could apply for 1 role at a time. The team were super supportive and offered a Teams call where they would briefly describe what each role would entail. I was super lucky because after looking at my CV and speaking to me they knew straight away that the non-technical role would be better.
How to respond for success
In my final year of university, I spent a lot of time in the Employability office where I would frequently get my CV checked. I also received help from Daniel at Access UK who taught me how to tailor my CV to the Company and what they are looking for. With his help I was able to create a technology template CV and Finance template CV and I looked at the keywords that Capgemini had in the job description, highlight them, and try to find a way to incorporate that into my CV with examples.
I believe my internship/placement year in technology really helped my application to stand out because I quite a good understanding of how it worked and was able to articulate that further on in the recruitment process. Also, I believe the structure of my CV really made it easy to follow, everything was straight to the point and I only put elements that I thought would support on the CV.
Expect a 7 day wait before advancing to the next stage.
Video Interview
Now you will undertake a video interview. There were roughly 7-10 questions, and this approximately took around 20 minutes in total. As I did not know what questions would appear, I prepared by looking on websites such as Glassdoor and The Student Room to see what common questions would appear normally appear at the video interview stage.
Example
Questions such as What motivates you? Why Capgemini? Can you tell me about a time when you worked in a team? Why Consulting?
How to respond for success
I made sure to have clear examples using the STAR method and then linked this back to one of Capgemini’s core 7 values. Where I was also applying for a technology role, I made sure to keep up to date with some technological articles that really interested me so that I knew what was happening in that market area.
Expect a 14 day wait before advancing to the next stage.
Assessment Centre
The final stage is the assessment centre. This was my first time completing an assessment centre online and I was super nervous. The day consisted of 3 sections, the first being a welcome introduction session with our assessors giving us a presentation on Capgemini, the second section was the group interview, and the last section was a 1:1 interview. (While one group was having their 1:1 interview the other half of the group had very relaxing informal session with a few of the Capgemini graduates just to ask questions and learn more about their roles).
I prepared for them by researching the core values of Capgemini and linking it with some examples from both part-time work and university. I also made sure to ask as many questions as possible in my 1:1 interview and to engage as much as possible. For the group exercise, make sure you are being inclusive of everyone in the team, for example, if you can see that there is an individual who is being quiet or hasn’t said their opinion – be the person to catch this up and invite them to share. I would also recommend in the group exercise for someone to immediately volunteer to be a timekeeper. This way you can keep everyone in line with the requirements as you find that the time will speed away. After your group presentation session, the assessors who will be watching will ask you questions on how you think it went. I would advise to discuss what you believe went well and then something that you/the team could have improved on.
Example
1:1 interview example questions:
- Why did you choose to apply to Capgemini?
- Can you tell me a time when you worked in a team? What was the result?
- Why did you choose Consulting?
- Can you tell me a time when you worked in a difficult team, how did you handle it?
- What was the result?
- Can you tell me a time when showed leadership skills?
Questions I recommend you ask the interviewer after completion of the interview:
- What has been your favourite project you have worked on so far?
- What do you expect to see from me in the first 30, 60 and 90 days
- What is your most favourite and least favourite part of working at Capgemini?
- Is there anything you wish you did when joining?
How to respond for success
To make my answers stand out, I spoke about my placement year, part-time work, being a course representative at university and I made sure I had a few examples and the results for each of those different elements. The advice I would give to students at this stage is to have fun most importantly! You have made it to the final round, try to relax and let your genuine personality shine through. Also make sure you prepare and practice some of your answers but do not over practice so it sounds rehearsed (possibly have a few key word bullet points for each question that can help you to remember your main points). Smile (nobody wants to interview anyone that doesn’t smile). Dress smartly and comfortable.The HR team will have a call with your prior and answer any questions/queries you may have.
