2nd Interview at Swiss Re

Visas, Permits, Passports and Naturalization
1
Hi all,

My first post in English Forum. I am an ETH student in Zürich and I have a 2nd round interview for an internship at Swiss Re with the same two first interviewers along with someone much more senior.

Does anyone know what this might be like? More technical/competency based or soft skill/fit-based? Just want to be as prepared as possible to ace it. The HR department is de-centralized, the main department being in Slovakia I believe, so they weren't able to give me any real helpful information over the phone when I got the callback

Any information would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

2
Prepare for a mix of both technical and soft skill and then you can't go wrong. I think it depends on who is interviewing you at the time as to how they will decide to do it. HR may ask you standard questions, but your future manager may try and throw you a curve ball or two.

Just prepare for as many eventualities as you can and be confident. Good luck.

3
I guess it depends on the job you are applying for. My experience: 1st int. - local HR - introduction, assessment of general analytical skills / understanding of the field (the latter in writing with no notice); 2nd - local person in charge of the field - much more skill oriented, both tech. and soft skills; 3rd - again with HR - feedback. All was coordinated by the ladies in Eastern Europe. Swiss Re have amazing benefits and perks (2nd int.).

4
@Aleydis - wow, sounds intense. I really hope there's no 3rd interview to be honest. Not really sure what more I could tell them, unless they wanted to have me write tests all day. Fingers crossed!

5
Completely agree with this. A good tip that I got during a CV and interview techniques seminar when I was unemployed was to always try to answer questions on three levels: technical skills, soft skills, and environmental factors. In the seminar, these levels or "flavours" were referred to as red, blue and green respectively. Different interviewers will react more strongly on different levels, so by covering all three you stand a better chance of striking a positive note with everyone on the panel.

So for example, think about the question: "Why do you really want to work for us?", and try to come up with an answer that includes elements of all three colours.

I definitely recognize this behaviour in myself: as an interviewer, I react positively to people with strong soft skills and tend to be less reactive to the harder stuff; so I always try to choose co-interviewers who are more focussed on the technical competencies so that we get a balance.

6
Re curve ball. There was this Men in Black moment when the 1st interviewer handed me printing paper to write down my answer on. I take it this was to test if I carry a notepad. It would not surprise me if they had my handwriting analyzed. some interesting stuff here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...ked-write.html

Apologies for digressing.

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The interview starts as soon as you enter the door of Swiss Re: dress appropriately, keep your head up, smile, be polite, offer a firm handshake and remember eye contact. Write down names - preferably know them before hand and the titles. This is something HR must tell you and it shows interest.

Questions depends on the function. Will you work in a team, do you have deadlines, do you work with people remotely, is it technical or people oriented etc.

Be prepared for things like Where are you in 5 years, are you a social person, how will you approach a certain problem, how do you prioritize your tasks, what do you know about Swiss Re etc. There are millions of directions an interview can go.

The cool thing is that you can influence it with your answers and your own questions - remember that most likely the person you are meeting is not doing this everyday either (again depending on function).

One very important thing is to back up very thing up you say with examples. Talk is cheap and if you can not back your statements up with examples from your studies, work life or private life, they are not worth a lot. Just think hard about it before you go and write some stories down (10 are ok, 20 enough, 50 great - will cover all bases)

And prepare questions. Preferably a lot. And try to know as much about the company as you can dig up. Read the annual report, google management, find recent news about them.

And you must be able to answer the question: 'tell me about yourself' in 2 minutes minutes in a clear and concise way. Read your CV thoroughly and tell the story so it makes sense in relation to the position.

And finally prepare a 30 sec exit statement for when they ask if you would like to add anything else. Don't say no to that question - this is where you nail it.

Good luck - interviewing is not easy to begin with and only experience will make you more relaxed, so don't freak out about it. And remember to be yourself!

8

So, how did the interview go?

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Yes, do all this and then if you are lucky, become another mindless corporate drone toiling on pointless projects with no real meaning or benefit except to those at the top of a very long ladder.

Or make a real difference somewhere. Good luck!

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the most important thing - remember YOU are also interviewing THEM, if the manager is asking you real dickish questions then ask yourself (and him if you have the balls) do you REALLY want to work for this guy??

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Wow, of all the vague, vacuous and throwaway posts I have seen, that surely has to be a classic. So, oh wise krlock3... what do you specifically suggest that people do in order to "avoid becoming a corporate drone" and especially to "make a difference"?

Laughable, especialy considering that you could loosely apply the "corporate drone" accusation to around 80-90% of companies on the market.

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Don't take it too seriously Richdog, I'm not wise - it's a bit tongue in cheek. The guy tells him to have 50 stories prepared and he must do this and must conform to that, but then to "be yourself". Most of the time in interviews, we try to project some level of something that we are not really.

There will then inevitably be a dissonance between the person in interview and the person actually on the job. Perhaps it was not clear but I was trying in my vague way to highlight that.

I would agree with your 80-90% figure. I know that I've certainly been one. It's how it is. Nothing wrong with it. If I knew how to avoid it, I would!