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GES (government economic service) placement year interview?

Does anyone here have a interview coming up for ges 1yr placement for 2016?. I have mine on the 27th, HMRC department.

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I had mine last Wednesday at the Treasury :smile:
Reply 2
Avatar for compgeek
compgeek
I have an interview at the Treasury tomorrow. What kind of stuff did you have to do?
Original post by compgeek
I have an interview at the Treasury tomorrow. What kind of stuff did you have to do?


15 mins numeracy test (pretty straightforward)
25 mins written exercise
30 min interview - few competency questions then a load of micro/macro ones

The people interviewing me were really nice, it's not one of those where they deliberately stress you out to see how you are under pressure.

They didn't ask me outright which role I would like, they asked something like - which areas of economics are you particularly interested in/are there any pieces of coursework that you liked doing - to try and see which ones would suit me best.

What uni are you at and which roles do you like the look of?
What did the numerical testing questions specifically compromise of? ☺️
Original post by 123jacksmith
What did the numerical testing questions specifically compromise of? ☺️


Graphs, percentages, that sort of thing. Have you looked at the sample questions?
I have an interview (BIS) coming up in the next 3 weeks, but I still don't know at which date as it hasn't been confirmed yet. This is my number 1 target placement, so I'm hoping I find out soon so I can set a schedule to practice these questions/answers etc. Really hoping it's not next week as I've been spending this week prepping for a BoE assessment day, next week I will be prepping for an economics consultancy interview...
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 7
Avatar for Pouter10
Pouter10
1
Original post by dancingeconomist
15 mins numeracy test (pretty straightforward)
25 mins written exercise
30 min interview - few competency questions then a load of micro/macro ones

The people interviewing me were really nice, it's not one of those where they deliberately stress you out to see how you are under pressure.

They didn't ask me outright which role I would like, they asked something like - which areas of economics are you particularly interested in/are there any pieces of coursework that you liked doing - to try and see which ones would suit me best.

What uni are you at and which roles do you like the look of?


What did the written task consist of? What type of numerical testing examples did they include?
Confirmed BIS for the 30th... Preparation begins now. Well, tomorrow... now-ish.
Original post by Pouter10
What did the written task consist of? What type of numerical testing examples did they include?


For the written one had to read two media articles then write a case for or against a certain policy response. Worth keeping up to date with the news because then you might find you've actually read the articles. Not sure how many people have to do this though, someone I know went for the foreign office and she didn't have it, had a longer interview with an extra person instead.

Not much more I can say about the numerical test really, just have a look at the examples on the website
Original post by Pro Crastination
Confirmed BIS for the 30th... Preparation begins now. Well, tomorrow... now-ish.


Good luck :smile:
Original post by dancingeconomist
For the written one had to read two media articles then write a case for or against a certain policy response. Worth keeping up to date with the news because then you might find you've actually read the articles. Not sure how many people have to do this though, someone I know went for the foreign office and she didn't have it, had a longer interview with an extra person instead.

Not much more I can say about the numerical test really, just have a look at the examples on the website


Thanks. Overall how did you feel the day went?
Original post by dancingeconomist
Good luck :smile:


Thank you :smile:
Original post by Pouter10
Thanks. Overall how did you feel the day went?


Pretty well I think, fingers crossed :smile:
Reply 14
Avatar for Danpotts
Danpotts
Does anyone have advice regarding macro and micro questions? Do they ask definitions, questions needing qualitative answers, current events?

Any help would be great thanks
Original post by dancingeconomist
Pretty well I think, fingers crossed :smile:


Thats great ☺, hope it works out well for you. What types of macro/micro and competency questions did they ask?. Im really nervous as its my first ever interview, got mine on Friday. HMRC
Original post by Pro Crastination
Confirmed BIS for the 30th... Preparation begins now. Well, tomorrow... now-ish.


How you preparing, what macro/micro questions you revising?.
Original post by Syrianprince
How you preparing, what macro/micro questions you revising?.


I was thinking of going over my notes from first year and possibly reviewing my A Level Economics syllabus as, to be fair, it is pretty comprehensive in terms of a basic non-mathematical overview of the subject. I'm also going to work through their practice questions on their website. Plus I was thinking of doing a little more reading into the department (BIS) to find a few examples of things I'd like to get involved in. Then finally, I'll put together some questions for the end of the interview (usually I do half about economics/economic research and half about the career experience at the firm/department).
Original post by Pro Crastination
I was thinking of going over my notes from first year and possibly reviewing my A Level Economics syllabus as, to be fair, it is pretty comprehensive in terms of a basic non-mathematical overview of the subject. I'm also going to work through their practice questions on their website. Plus I was thinking of doing a little more reading into the department (BIS) to find a few examples of things I'd like to get involved in. Then finally, I'll put together some questions for the end of the interview (usually I do half about economics/economic research and half about the career experience at the firm/department).


I heard they will test your A level knowledge only e.g fiscal, automatic stabilisers, public goods etc. What practice questions?, the numerical reasoning test?
Original post by Syrianprince
I heard they will test your A level knowledge only e.g fiscal, automatic stabilisers, public goods etc. What practice questions?, the numerical reasoning test?


Yep, I've heard that the Civil Service is very good for practice questions.

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