Rolls Royce Graduate 2017

OP

Before the day, RR sends an email with the following details (literal copy paste from email): The Assessment Centre is designed to assess both your technical and personal skills. You’ll be briefed on the running order of the day when you first arrive, but it involves the following activities:

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Competency Interview – you’ll be asked to give examples of times you’ve demonstrated some of the competencies that are important to us.

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Application of Knowledge Interview – this exercise allows us to gauge your technical understanding and application of knowledge for the specific business area that invited you to interview.

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Presentation about yourself – we’d like you to prepare a 10-minute presentation about yourself that highlights your skills and abilities. We want you to really sell yourself, so be prepared to: o Convince us why you should join our Development Programme.

1.

Explain why your knowledge, skills and experience make you an ideal fit for Rolls-Royce.

2.

Discuss how you’d add value in your role.

3.

Answer questions about your presentation. (An additional 10 minutes for questions and answers will be scheduled after your presentation). You’ll be presenting to a maximum of 2 assessors and the way you deliver your presentation is up to you. Basic presentation materials will be available in the form of pens and a white board; however, we want you to keep things simple. By all means bring notes or handouts, but overhead projectors or laptop projectors will not be available. Please ensure you have completed all your preparation work for this in advance of the assessment day, as no extra time will be available on the day.

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Group Exercise – we’ll ask you to participate in a group activity that will allow us to observe how you work with others in a team environment.

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Ability Test – you’ll be expected to complete a module that you’ve previously completed online, to validate your scores. You may wish to re-visit the online practise questions at http:\\getstarted.cut-e.com

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We’ll also be assessing your knowledge of our company, so we recommend that you prepare via our website: www.rolls-royce.com

And these are my comments

Competency interview: look online for ALL the competency questions available. I found around 50 and answered them all at home, in preparation. Noted, some of the answers are going to be relatively similar one to another and RR asked me between 5 and 10 questions. But this interview went surprisingly quick, I was the first one out.. to be point were I was really scared I screwed up. Not a great way to start the day, although I kept a positive attitude and move on.

Technical Interview: so the general view I found while preparing was.. you can't prepare. Not exactly true, depends on your character type. As always, be sure to tell the thinking process to the other person as you are thinking about the answer. If you are confident and quite talkative (like me) just behave as normal: say out loud what you are thinking, ask questions (!), put "maybe, could be, probably". Try to find the logical link. ie they asked me about a part located just after combustion, what it was, what material it was. I had no clue. So I started talking about blades, well this doesnt look like a blade, probably a blade holder? material lets see.. well high temperature, high pressure, metal that can sustain these temps.. titanium? my logical thinking was right, but the material was inconel (steel + nickel). So talk! for the other type, introvert, quiet, there is a solution. A friend of mine went a couple of weeks later and he's the introvert type. He researched up and down left and right about fatigue, materials etc (topics will depend on the position). At the start of this interview they'll mention what topic you like at uni and he intelligently mentioned the one he researched. He got asked about these topics. His feedback praised his technical abilities (obvs).

Group exercise: make sure to involve everyone, crack a joke every now and then. Ask for everyone's opinion. Be loud, in a controlled manner. Really liked the activity.

Ability test: same that you took online.

Presentation: you gonna be able to sing it. There's a good article on Forbes about Steve Jobs and his astonishing presentation skills. He wasn't born with them, he practiced for days beforehand. Once you read the script, repeat the presentation for at least an order of magnitude more time that the presentation itself; presentation of 5 minute? repeat it for 50 min. In this case, at least practice for 100 minutes. I didn't mention once during the entire day that I was interested in Aeronautical. Why? partly because it's true, partly because every average Joe is going to say that. Not gonna stand out. When writing my script, I put a big fat question, in capital, at the top: WHY WOULD THEY GET ME INSTEAD OF "INSERT HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL INDIVIDUAL HERE"? You gotta find what makes you stand out. Worked abroad? excellent, blabla quickly adapt to different cultures and ethnicities. I can speak XYZ language, RR worldwide company, excellent.

Regarding order, it was Presentation, Competency, Ability test, Group, Technical for last.
Hope it helps

Reply 3

rogershettie

Original post by SharedKnowledge

Hello everyone!
I applied for (and got accepted) for Manufacturing Graduate Scheme with Rolls Royce. Date of start in the contract is Sept 4th.

If anyone wants some tips regarding online tests / questions / assessment center, leave them here, I'll try and answer all of them!

best of luck

Hi, where are you going to be based? I have been offered the materials lab apprenticeship at Bristol and am trying to find out who/how many are going to be at the same site

Reply 4

OP

Original post by rogershettie

Hi, where are you going to be based? I have been offered the materials lab apprenticeship at Bristol and am trying to find out who/how many are going to be at the same site

I'm not quite sure where I will be based, but most probably it will be Derby. RR has created a Graduate group on LinkedIn also for the purpose that you have mentioned. Best to ask RR to put you in contact with interns / grads / apprentices whom will work in Bristol.

Reply 5

IIIllIIllllI

Hi, how long did it take for them to get back to you? I recently had the assessment center and they haven't got back to me yet.
Thanks

Reply 6

OP

Original post by IIIllIIllllI

Hi, how long did it take for them to get back to you? I recently had the assessment center and they haven't got back to me yet.
Thanks

I did the AC on a Wed and they told me next Tue. For a friend of mine it took a little bit longer.
They'll call you soon, don't worry.

Reply 7

Hello Everyone!

Is there anyone that has completed the online test that can give me some tips or any idea what it is like?

Little bit nervous as the practice questions im getting very mixed scores..

If anyone could help me out that would be great!

Reply 8

rogershettie

The online tests are fine, just take your time to read the question properly and answer with the most logical solution. Just remember that some of the sections are timed. If you do the practices a few times you will start to get the hang of it, a lot of the questions are fairly similar to the practice ones. Good luck

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 9

OP

Original post by leahmillard

Hello Everyone!

Is there anyone that has completed the online test that can give me some tips or any idea what it is like?

Little bit nervous as the practice questions im getting very mixed scores..

If anyone could help me out that would be great!

just practice, practice, practice. not worth spending any money on the pay-to-access test online. they aren't that bad, especially if you are doing a STEM related subject at uni.

Reply 10

thank you everyone for such great reply s and help! Hope everything goes well!☺

OP

np. glad it helped.

test has gone well, received the email saying I was successful! Hopefully good news from here on!

Anyone know the next steps whilst my application is being reviewed!😬

Reply 13

OP

nothing from your side. just wait :smile:

Reply 14

I hate playing this waiting game, makes me too nervous!😂

Reply 15

Hi everyone, I've been invited for an assessment day and was just wondering if anyone has any advice, tips or like recourses for the two interviews you have to prepare for!

I'm not so good on the talking side of things so any help would be much appreciated!

Reply 16

OP

I wrote down all the recommendations I could think of a couple of posts back.
Prepare lots! if you lack that natural confidence, practice, practice, practice and you'll be super confident on the day. good luck.

Reply 17

Original post by SharedKnowledge

I wrote down all the recommendations I could think of a couple of posts back.
Prepare lots! if you lack that natural confidence, practice, practice, practice and you'll be super confident on the day. good luck.

thank you, I appreciate your help!☺

Reply 18

rogershettie

I took a portfolio with me and they thought that it was a very good idea and no one else had one. I included exam certificates, other certificates and awards and photos of things that I had done/made. If you can provide evidence of things like teamwork and helping others rather than just saying that you have done it then it's much better. Also don't forget to do cuecards if you are doing a presentation and get some facts/statistics about the company to write down to take with you. Good luck

Reply 19