Online application - numerical psychometric/situational - video interview (strengths based) - assessment centre
I used glassdoor to prepare and found it really useful! The video interview is extremely strengths based, you have 30 seconds to prepare between each question and then 1min30 to answer - which goes extremely fast! I didn't actually make it past the video interview, but then was asked back to the assessment day after being rejected.
The assessment day is very relaxed I found. You have plenty of breaks in between and I think they are trying to see how you interact with the other candidates and the graduates that come in to speak to you as well. The one-to-one interview is with somebody in the area that you applied for; mine was a really lovely lady who made me feel extremely at ease. You have 50 minutes for this interview and I was only in mine for about 15/20 minutes, so don't be shocked if you've answered everything really quickly! I would say really do focus your answers around the 3 core values especially keeping it simple and really engage with the interviewer and ask relevant and up to date questions. It will be extremely obvious if you don't have a genuine interest in the banking industry and haven't done some solid research and know about current regulations etc. The group exercise felt very apprenticey! I'm not sure if that was just the characters in my group, but either way... Make sure that you are adding value to the debate and STICK TO THE TIME CONSTRAINTS. I felt that my voice wasn't being heard enough so then I volunteered to take over as scribe and I think this is where I got some ticks, you get to summarise the ideas and really lead the discussion so I would say do that too! The written exercise - so you get 20 minutes to answer 6 situational judgement questions, it's very similar to the online situational that you will have already done. I went through it and wrote in bullet points and then after I had something written down for each response I went back and added detail and explanation.
You also have to do a 5 minute pitch to one person (mine was the head of commercial banking) about a good/service/initiative that would help Lloyds be the best bank for customers. I did one about a twitter feed that provided bursts of market data for SMEs. I also took my laptop and had my slides up as I spoke. If you do do a slideshow, make sure that you keep it simple. I had 3 points on each slide, and my interviewer commented on that they were nice and simple.
Overall, honestly do just be yourself! Be honest with your responses as well, you're not expected to know everything about the banking industry just that you have a commercial awareness and a genuine interest.
I was told on the assessment day that I would find out within 7 working days and I found out in 9. You get a phone call either way and mine was at just gone 3 in the afternoon.
