I applied online. I interviewed at Leonardo (Luton, South West England, England) in Jan 2024
Interview
Abysmal communication/response times and ridiculous interview questions.
After sending my CV, I was sent an invitation to screening the day after, which was just answering 2-3 generic interview questions (why you want to work here etc.) to a ChatBot.
5 days later, I was sent an invite to a video interview (using Phenom, quite a buggy platform) which contained 5 questions in total, 4 of which being "Tell me about a time when" questions. Keep in mind, this is an opportunity for a placement role for students, there are only so many experiences you can answer with before struggling to find what to say/repeating yourself.
After completing the video interview, I was sent an email saying they would be "in touch soon"... I didn't recieve a single email until 2 months saying "It is taking a little longer than we had hoped to review all applications and confirm the next step". I sent them an email enquiring about this 2 weeks prior to them sending me this (to which I receieved no response). I had figured by then that I was not accepted and wasn't expecting an email, but ANOTHER 2 months later, they have the audacity to send an email to say I wasn't accepted, as if I hadn't figured it out in the space of 4 MONTHS of completing the initial video interview.
"Tell us about a time a teacher or supervisor gave you feedback for improvement. Please describe the situation, how you used the feedback and the outcome”
"Please describe a time you set goals for a project that were hard to achieve and the steps you took to reach those goals. Describe the situation, what actions you took, and the result"
"Tell us about a time you spent a month or more preparing for a presentation, research project or difficult task. Please describe the situation, how you prepared for it and the outcome".
“Describe a specific job, project, or task where it was extremely important for you to follow a set of rules and regulations. Please describe the situation, your actions, and the outcome”
Firstly let us apologise for your experience. We try our best to review any application swiftly and provide feedback in a reasonable time. This has not happened this year for many people who have applied for our Early Careers roles and is not something we are happy with. We made some significant changes in terms of process and systems this year which also coincidence with a 3x increase in the number of applications so despite the very best efforts of everyone involved it fell well short of our usual high standards. This is not an excuse but I hope it explains why you had that experience. It was not a reflection of your application specifically and something we are already taking steps to address for the future.