Applied online and received a telephone call from an external graduate recruitment agency. We spoke about my application. Within a week they called again with a surprise short telephone interview. I was then invited to the Assessment Centre. I was told to prepare a short 3 minute presentation as to why I should be hired by Marsh. The assessment centre was around 4 hours long. First, candidates introduced themselves to the recruiters, other candidates, and members of Marsh group. We were asked to give our best achievement in life, and then questioned on why that was such an achievement. Two group assessment activities were completed - one involving assessing and rating the use of a list of items in order to survive a ship wreck, and a second involved conferring between groups to complete a puzzle involving different monetary values. At all times we were examined by both Marsh representatives and members of the recruitment agency.
After a short break, we were asked to prepare for the presentations. We were taken into individual rooms to present to three members of the Marsh group. We then had a short final meeting with all candidates where the recruitment agency and Marsh identified when and how we would be contacted should they wish to interview us further. When this was finished we were free to leave.
I was contacted just after a week from the interview date. I was told that I was just outside of what they were looking for, but I was asked should another candidate drop out or be unable to attend the next stage that it would be ok to still consider me for another interview. The recruitment agency would contact me either way to let me know if they wanted to interview me further or to indicate that they would be taking their original cohort. I agreed to this. At this point I asked for feedback to improve my interview technique for the future, they declined to give me any immediately rather asking me to wait until after they got back in contact with me.
Unfortunately, they didn't ask me to interview further, and when I asked for feedback the person calling me indicated that I needed to speak with another member of staff to get my feedback. I called the recruitment company, and emailed the member of staff directly, but had no response. After around two weeks, the staff member called me and apologised for the lateness of response stating that they were busy sorting out the candidates they had taken on. I felt that was understandable, but refrained commenting that they had three opportunities to get my feedback out of the way prior to that conversation.
Feedback was mixed, but generally helpful. The staff member went over areas of the interview that I did well at, and those that I did not so well at. They indicated that Marsh generally liked me, but felt that I wasn't direct enough in some of the group activities. They also indicated that although I had been correct with many of the aspects of one of the activities that because I didn't push the group to do what I wanted it had counted against me. Finally, they made some interesting comments about my appearance: one member of staff felt my hair was 'messy' and that I should have hair cut. I felt this comment was slightly lacking in tact, and also slightly inappropriate. The member of staff I was speaking to made it clear it was not their opinion, and I felt it was unnecessary for me to ask any further on the matter. Feedback from this lasted around 10 minutes.
Overall, the bad aspects of the experience countered the good. It taught me what to expect from interview days like this, and also what I don't want in potential employers. I am unsure whether some of these aspects are reflections of what Marsh is like as a company, or what the recruitment agency is like. Either way, I am glad that I had the opportunity to be interviewed, even if it was to just brush up on my technique.