The interview process had four main components: a phone interview, a face to face interview with an internal recruiter, an assessment centre, and final interviews. The phone interview was very relaxed, it was mainly just going through my CV and general questions about why I wanted to work in recruitment. The assessment centre consisted of four sections: an introduction of yourself and the selling of one of Hays' USPs (selected at random), a business development call (with regular objections), the writing of a job advertisement, and selling in a potential candidate. This was then followed by a tour of the office. The final interview was with the managers of specific sectors (decided by the people assessing you at the assessment centre). The process was professional throughout. Both the internal recruiters, Lauren Wise and Anne-Marie Kalas, were great throughout each stage and everyone who worked there seemed friendly and willing to help. My general feedback was that I was not professional enough, which was perhaps due to me trying to show too much personality in the final interviews rather than demonstrating how capable I actually am. The one thing I didn't like was that I wasn't told the actual role I'd be doing until during the final interview. After the assessment centre you're given the sector but not the actual desk you'd be managing. Although I feel like I showed enthusiasm towards both sectors and the respective desks, further research on the specific role would have been invaluable. Overall, I was pleased with my experience and am naturally disappointed that I was not offered the job.

1st stage: 1:1 with Talent Acquisition - teams or in person. Includes a role play scenario - phone call to business/potential client. 2nd stage: Group interview - made up of three tasks. 1st - 60 second pitch on a random statement e.g. cats are better than dogs. 2nd - mock phone call to client, random scenario given. 3rd - pick a CV, pitch it to client in mock face to face meeting. 3rd stage: 1 on 1 interview.