In a word: avoid.
In a way, Mazars perfectly encapsulate everything that is wrong with a graduate recruitment process.
I began with the standard online tests, all well explained, a nice smooth process. Upon passing these I was invited to choose a slot for a phone interview, and it was at this stage that the process met the first, oft repeated gripe: I had only 24 hours to prepare for, and somehow schedule this, around a full time job. Perhaps a final year student would find this more doable, but I made the best of it and was invited to an assessment centre.
The centre itself is a much nicer affair than at some other companies but this is where any faint praise will end. A family member had imparted on me the wisdom to ‘judge them after the event, not during it’, and I couldn’t find this to be more appropriate.
The recruiter, whom I shan’t name and shame here, spent much of the day making all the right noises. We were welcome to contact him at any time to receive feedback on our performance; at minimum we would receive an email summarising how we had done; we would all be informed by the end of Tuesday (centre on a Friday) of the outcome.
By the following Friday, not one of us had heard anything (we had all got on well and were in contact- probably the one big plus of the day). An email to the recruiter went unanswered, and finally by the following Monday the online system had been updated to show ‘unsuccessful’. Based on this, I emailed the recruiter again, requesting feedback as promised, and when this was ignored for another week I emailed the generic careers address asking for the same. ‘We’re busy, but will get back to you shortly’ was the reply. Given that this was 6 months ago at the time of writing, I think it’s safe to conclude that I won’t be getting that feedback.
This riles me for a number of reasons. It’s a well documented gripe of Graduate recruitment processes that feedback isn’t given. Why, then, if Mazars are not going to bother providing it, make such a song and dance of it on the day? Why write corporate spiel on the website claiming that people are the greatest asset, it’s what sets them apart, if you’re going to treat potential employees with a complete lack of respect?
Throughout the process, I was hopeful that Mazars really would prove to be a little different from some others I could name, but sadly, they were just as bad and failed in all the same areas. Based on my experience, I would recommend avoiding them.
