This topic goes to Nigerians and Africans in the UK currently working in office position such as consultancy, banking, insurance and so on. Any advice on how to go about the AC and telephone interview. Aced all the online test so far but not really going past the AC, now I have IBM coming up next week and ATOS sometimes after that. Can anyone offer advice of how to go about it based on personal experience as an African. I read wikijobs already but would still need some more info. Thanks

I think this topic will probably get more response from the career section.

There are lots of info on-line about telephone interviews and assessment centres. Examples are:

http://www.jobtestprep.co.uk/pwc.aspx
http://assessmentcenter.co.uk/PriceWaterHouseCoopers-assessment-centre-preparation-with-assessmentcentre.htm
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=489558
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1095932
http://www.lboro.ac.uk/service/careers/downloads/resources/handouts/2010-telephone-interview-pwc.pdf


What part of the assessment centre do you think you're having problem with? With regards to the telephone interview, it is more difficult than the face to face because, you only need you voice to project your confidence (even when you're talking absolute bollocks) and know how. You don't have the luxury of eye contact and body language. Your interviewer also wants to check that you can speak clearly.

It is important to come across as confident and knowledgeable in telephone and face to face interviews and answering the questions you are asked. Getting invited for ac and interviews means that someone has look at your cv and thinks that you might be able to do the job. Convincing yourself that you are the best candidate for the job and being able to defend your cv while sounding convincing helps.

If you know what kind of interview and ac you'll be having, doing mock tests and interviews with honest feedbacks from your friends and family will help. I have done this with telephone interviews with a close relation in another room in the past with very helpful feedbacks.

There is no disadvantage with being a Nigerian or an African interviewing for professional roles in the UK so far you're qualified for the role you're interviewing for. Just remember that there is a recession and more people are chasing fewer roles and the recruiter wants the best candidate. In addition, you might need to interview for several roles until you get a job offer for one.

Thanks for the reply. I passed the etray for deloitte and went for interview, everything went perfect, only to get response after few days that i didnt pass it and i was kindda surprise cos the guy even said see you soon at the end and all hopes are high, anyway im preparing for two others as mentioned earlier and i hope one of them will go through now. regarding the AC i dont really have any experience with it and the only one i've been to is with deloitte and actually the first one i applied to lol. anyway if it doesnt work i guess i will just go for masters and hope the market will be friendlier by next year
thanks for the links, i will go through each of them thorougly, i have atos phone interview on monday though so fingers crossed

Sorry about the Deloitte. Since you gave it your best shot, it just wasn't your job. You keep working on your interview skills and keep applying until you get an offer. Going for masters (unless it is in Engineering or Science or you already have work experience) without work experience will make you fall into the trap of lots of paper qualification and little experience and this will make it even harder to find work in the UK you finish. Internships, Graduate Development programs and temporary roles are perfect ways to get your foot in the door in your target companies and have less onerous interview processes. Check the career pages of each of the FTSE companies. You'll always find these kind of opportunities advertised.

Thanks a lot, i guess i should save my tuition fee and try something more productive. I never really considered temporal roles so I will check it out if nothing works out now though i feel something will work out this time thanks for the tips once again