Online Application
This will take around 30 minutes to complete. It requires you to fill out your personal details, education history and any work experience you have.
How to respond for success
BAE does not accept CV’s, so it is important to include all relevant skills, hobbies, experience and achievements in the application form. Harry made sure to mention the applicable skills he developed from working as a barman/waiter for a year. Things such as Teamwork, great customer service and time management are things hiring managers to look out for. He also made sure he got across his love of finance and focused on the strong accounting grades he’d achieved in his first-year modules.
Expect an immediate reply before progressing to the next stage.
Online Tests
You will be faced with 3 types of an online assessments. A numerical, verbal and situational strength test. The whole process took around an hour, each test lasting 20 minutes. You can do this test in your own time within a week's deadline period.
Example task
For the numerical reasoning test, a lot of the questions focused on percentage increase and decrease, reading tables and extracting values. For the verbal reasoning, there was a common theme of explaining how you would act if a particular workplace issue took place.
How to respond for success
Make sure to watch out for trick questions, BAE are testing your numerical ability and attention to detail. In addition, answer all questions honestly, don’t get caught up trying to think of the response they want to hear. They want to know if you’d be a good fit, given your personality and method of approaching various scenarios.
Expect a 1-month wait before progressing to the next stage.
Video Interview
The video interview must be completed within 7 days of receiving the invitation. (Make sure to keep an eye on your junk folder). You will watch a short introductory video explaining the details of how the interview is conducted before being asked questions from a pre-recorded clip. There are 5 to 6 of these pre-recorded questions asked. For each question, you have 30 seconds to prepare an answer and 2 minutes max to answer.
Example task
These questions tend to focus around BAE’s core values, and scenarios you may face on an average day in your applied role. Such questions can include: “What do you do in your spare time?” and “Tell me about a time you faced a setback and how did you overcome it?”
How to respond for success
Make sure you dress appropriately, preferably business casual. Harry wore a plain white shirt, not tie or jacket. It may also be helpful to have a pen and paper at the ready to jot down some key words to refer back to your answers if you find yourself getting off track. It is vital you keep as much eye contact with the camera as possible because the assessor will know if you are looking elsewhere.
Expect a 1-month wait before progressing to the next stage.
Final Interview
This stage usually takes around 2-3 hours to complete. You will be given a short 15-minute introduction to the programme by existing placement students. You will then break off into rooms for individual strength-based interviews. These aren’t your usual interviews. They are ‘quick fire’, meaning the assessor will go through a number of competency-based questions and expect a brief answer. It is important to keep answers short and sweet, but ensure specifics. Finally, you will each give a solo presentation to 1 interviewer. You will be given 15 minutes to prepare for this, and 10 minutes to present.
Example task
This stage isn’t necessarily finance related, BAE wants to see how you analyse a question and present an answer in a structured way, under a time constraint.
How to respond for success
It is important to ask questions and look interested when the current placement students introduce the programme. Assessors will undoubtedly ask these placement year interns, if any candidates stood out. During the strength based interview, be prepared for all types of questions. They may seem unrelated, but BAE wants to see how you react! For example, a question along the lines of ‘What other companies have you applied for?’ - Could confuse a number of candidates.
Expect a 1-week wait before receiving your offer
Video Interview
The video interview must be completed within 7 days of receiving the invitation. (Make sure to keep an eye on your junk folder). You will watch a short introductory video explaining the details of how the interview is conducted before being asked questions from a pre-recorded clip. There are 5 to 6 of these pre-recorded questions asked. For each question, you have 30 seconds to prepare an answer and 2 minutes max to answer.
Example task
These questions tend to focus around BAE’s core values, and scenarios you may face on an average day in your applied role. Such questions can include: “What do you do in your spare time?” and “Tell me about a time you faced a setback and how did you overcome it?”
How to respond for success
Make sure you dress appropriately, preferably business casual. Harry wore a plain white shirt, not tie or jacket. It may also be helpful to have a pen and paper at the ready to jot down some key words to refer back to your answers if you find yourself getting off track. It is vital you keep as much eye contact with the camera as possible because the assessor will know if you are looking elsewhere.
Expect a 1-month wait before progressing to the next stage.
Final Interview
This stage usually takes around 2-3 hours to complete. You will be given a short 15-minute introduction to the programme by existing placement students. You will then break off into rooms for individual strength-based interviews. These aren’t your usual interviews. They are ‘quick fire’, meaning the assessor will go through a number of competency-based questions and expect a brief answer. It is important to keep answers short and sweet, but ensure specifics. Finally, you will each give a solo presentation to 1 interviewer. You will be given 15 minutes to prepare for this, and 10 minutes to present.
Example task
This stage isn’t necessarily finance related, BAE wants to see how you analyse a question and present an answer in a structured way, under a time constraint.
How to respond for success
It is important to ask questions and look interested when the current placement students introduce the programme. Assessors will undoubtedly ask these placement year interns, if any candidates stood out. During the strength based interview, be prepared for all types of questions. They may seem unrelated, but BAE wants to see how you react! For example, a question along the lines of ‘What other companies have you applied for?’ - Could confuse a number of candidates.
