RBS doubles annual loss in 2011, fourth since bailout

A few weeks ago RBS announced their losses for the year 2011. I thought it would be quite an interesting read for anyone preparing for an interview/assessment centre. Whilst many of the facts, figures and statistics given in the article are reasonably negative, there are however some potential positives you could bring up in your interview/assessment centre. For example, you could mention how RBS has been selling off it's non core assets to revive it's profitability, and that the balance sheet has been reduced by more than £700bn from the peak of the crises.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17128477

I hope you find the article useful!

Assessment Centre

The Assessment Centre for the RBS Summer Internship in CIB is quite a straight forward task. I will try and provide you with as much information as possible and advise where possible.

The Assessment Aentre consists of three parts; a group exercise, a competency based interview and finally an individual presentation.

You are advised to be at the offices at about 9.30. We ended up sitting around for about 45 minutes which didn't particularly settle the nerves, but was quite good meeting everyone before we started the group exercise together.

Group exercise: At the Assessment Centre I attended, there were 10 of us, and we were split into one group of six and one group of four. My group was focused on dealing with a telecommunications company; we were each individually given a potential cost cutting solution to improve performance at the firm. The task was focused on primarily discussing the potential benefits and disadvantage of each proposal, and to try and persuade the rest of the group to take up your initiative. It's not the be all and end all if your proposal isn't chosen, as long as you show that you can work well in a team and can propose a reasoned argument you should do well. I got in contact with someone else from the same assessment centre, his proposal wasn't chosen but still got the job.

We were then given a little coffee break to settle the nerves and relax a little bit. Half the group was then taken for the competency interviews and the other half go off to do their individual presentation.

Competency Interview: The competency interview lasts approximately one hour and is with one of the employers in the CIB department. My interviewer was honestly one of the most friendly people I've ever met; she was a manager in the corporate coverage division and had been with the firm for several years. The interview itself inevitably started with the standard questions; why RBS, why CIB etc. We had a general chat about my experiences and my background. The interview was honestly more of a conversation more than anything. The competency questions are slightly more challenging than the phone interview; the most challenging part is maintaining focus on the questions. The interviewer outlines a situation, and then asks you three to four questions after each one. If you would like the interviewer to repeat the question, I'm sure they'd be more than happy to. An example of one of the questions related to a conflict between two of your senior managers, and how you would approach the issue. If you attack each questions individually and answer each one in detail you'll be fine.

After this, we were treated to an informal lunch for about 30 minutes with small sandwiches and croissants and what not. Following on from this was the individual presentation.

Individual Presentation: There is pretty much nothing you can do in terms of preparation for this part of the assessment centre. You are given 75 minutes to read through between 16-20 pages of information about a DIY gardening company. The fictional firm were acquired by the RBS Group, and your task is to conduct a 10 minute presentation to your manager informing them of the successes of the firm, the risks it poses to the RBS Group and finally any further questions you would ask the management of the fictional firm. You're provided with a flip chart which you are STRONGLY advised to use. You are left alone in the room without any of the HR staff, which means you have to organise your time as efficiently as possible. This is the same for the presentation itself, you have to try and stick to your 10 minute slot as much as possible. This is then followed by about 20 minutes of questions by your manager. The main aim of the exercise is to place you in a similar environment to one you would experience on a daily basis; so you have to keep in mind that you're an RBS employer and you're informing your senior on a personal level. Relate everything you say back to the RBS group and you'll be fine; try and absorb as much information as possible and use statistics where possible.

This is meant to obviously be the most challenging part of the application process, but if you show that you're confident and a team player in the group exercise, know your stuff for the competency interview and finally highlight strong presentational and organisational skills for the presentation will put you in a very good position. You will be informed in three days of the outcome of your assessment centre.