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BAE Systems' graduate schemes have different entry requirements:
Graduate development framework – the company's main entry-level scheme.
Business roles:
Engineering roles:
Finance leader development programme – fast-track finance management scheme.
Sigma leadership programme – fast-track management scheme.
Business roles:
Engineering roles:
BAE Systems doesn't provide an exhaustive list of the core competencies which it looks for in candidates. However, it lists several qualities which potential employees will be expected to demonstrate:
Graduates in particular are also expected to demonstrate the ability to continuously improve (and seek new and more effective ways of doing things) and to work collaboratively.
As well as these basic requirements, the different graduate schemes also have their own individual criteria.
Finance leader development programme
Sigma leadership programme
BAE Systems advises candidates to submit their application as early as possible due to high levels of competition – it received around 6,000 applications for its graduate programmes in 2010.
The first stage of applying for any of the BAE graduate programmes is an online application form. The candidate may then be asked to complete online psychometric tests, followed by an interview. The final step is an assessment centre; this lasts two days for applicants to the Sigma leadership programme, and one day for applicants to the other schemes.
Apparently it can be several weeks after completing the application form and psychometric tests before candidates are invited to an assessment, so patience may be needed.
Before filling out the online application form, candidates are asked to select an area of interest and career stream from various drop-down menus. Each career stream has a number of subsections from which to choose; for example, selecting engineering – electrical or electronic gives the choice of platform solutions or submarine solutions.
The online application form has ten sections which can be completed in any order. They can be saved and returned to at a later date for completion or re-editing. Although there is no time limit for filling out the form, it does have an automatic time-out function after 30 minutes, so should be saved regularly before completion.
Sections included are:
The longest part of the form is the personal achievement section, which deserves careful consideration before completion. It’s worth writing down the questions and working on them over time before submitting the form. Each question has a 250-word limit.
Applications for the graduate development framework, the financial leadership development programme, and industrial placements include the following questions:
Q: ‘Please outline a change or solution you came up with and implemented. Please explain why you felt this change/solution was beneficial.’
Tip: The question probes your ability to pinpoint a desired outcome, plot the stages required to reach it, identify any barriers to overcome, and practical, personal or people-related issues that need tackling along the way. It can also reveal whether you’ve been innovative and thought creatively.
Q: ’How did you involve and work with others to ensure success?’
Tip: The recruiter is asking about your team-working or management abilities, so focus on any people skills you’ve used in the past: communication skills, delegation/assigning roles, empathy, team-building, leadership, persuasion. Be honest: do you want to take the reins in a group or observe and make appropriate, helpful suggestions?
Q: ‘Looking back, what did your approach to the situation reveal about your strengths and development needs? What would you do differently if faced with the same situation again?’
Tip: The clue is in the question: what did your approach to the situation reveal about your strengths and development needs? What did you learn from the situation, and how have you adapted your behaviour as a result?
Q: ‘Please explain why you would like to work for BAE Systems, the reasons for your career choice and how your skills/abilities make you suitable.’
Tip: This can seem an unexpectedly difficult question to answer! There is a lot of scope for personal choice in answering this, so just be honest and try to illustrate your enthusiasm for the role.
There is also a separate box for adding further details not covered by the questions, ie any information about yourself or your experience that you feel is relevant.
The application form is fairly helpful in this section, as it prompts candidates to consider particular issues when answering. However, the questions are more detailed than those of the other form, and include hypothetical situations relevant to the post.
Q: Sigma members are expected to embrace challenging objectives and maintain focus on delivery under pressure. Describe a time when you have led others to successfully achieve a challenging goal. Focus on these issues in your answer:
Q: Sigma members must have the drive to identify and implement change. Please describe a time when you identified the need for change and drove that change through. Focus on the following questions in your answer:
Q: You lead a team with a variety of experience and expertise, working on a large product re-design project and struggling to meet imminent deadlines. You propose bringing in a team of specialists from a partner organisation to work with you on the project. Some team members believe this is unnecessary as the team has the required knowledge internally. How would you deal with this situation and build an effective relationship with the partner organisation?
Tip: We’re not going to spoon feed you the answer; it’s far better that you think about things yourself. However, every word of the question is there for a reason so think about each. Let’s just say that there may be facts and beliefs on all sides that need acknowledging, and making rapid change requires a spot of analysis, action, planning and communicating in all of its forms. And when you get a question such as this you’ll need to provide some detail about all of these.
Graduate roles
Note: Applications for the business stream of the Sigma leadership programme are now closed.
Industrial placements
BAE Systems’ recruitment process differs depending on the scheme applied to. Applicants to the Sigma leadership programme can expect a telephone interview before any face-to-face interview, while applicants to other schemes typically go straight to face-to-face interviews once their initial application is successful.
Phone interviews for the Sigma leadership programme are conducted by BAE’s recruitment partner, Discovery Graduates. The interview will tend to focus mainly on the information included on the application form, with questions designed to gather more detail about candidates’ past experiences and ability to meet the role requirements.
Previous interviews have included questions about customer service, team working and the candidate’s reasons for applying, such as ‘Describe a time when you led a team and motivated others’ and ‘Why did you choose this programme?’.
Face-to-face interviews are conducted as part of a longer assessment day. Like the phone interview, these are generally composed of competency-based questions for which candidates are expected to draw from previous experience. BAE interviewers are trained to record detailed descriptions of candidate behaviour during interviews, so candidates should bear this in mind. Depending on the scheme that they’ve applied for, some candidates may also face technical questions; these will relate to the scheme’s area of specialism (such as engineering, for example).
Some previous questions have included:
BAE Systems’ US site lists some typical interview questions and ways to approach them, which may be helpful for preparation. Be warned: they are fairly generic questions and UK employers may take a different approach. Examples include:
The majority of applicants will be required to complete online psychometric tests after submitting their application, regardless of which scheme they have applied for. These are standard verbal and numerical reasoning tests, which can be practiced online.
If successful in the earlier recruitment stages, applicants to the graduate development framework or finance leader development programme will be invited to attend a one-day assessment centre, which starts with a company presentation the evening beforehand. Applicants to the Sigma leadership programme will be invited to a two-day assessment.
BAE Systems holds its assessment centres at different times of year, depending on the number and quality of candidates; some assessments may be as early as November, while others have reportedly been held as late as June. Assessments are held at a number of different locations across the UK, and are reportedly attended by up to 24 candidates at a time.
Current graduate employees will also attend assessment days in order to chat with candidates and answer their questions.
While the company itself remains reluctant to give away details about assessment days, reports suggest that they tend to include a number of themed activities, each lasting around an hour.
According to prior applicants, activities may include:
Some candidates have also reported that assessments involve role-play activities in which they must deal with a typical situation that may arise in their day-to-day work (eg. dealing with clients or difficult colleagues).
BAE Systems runs assessment centre workshops at universities around the UK, such as Bournemouth. These give students an opportunity to try out activities like group exercises, presentations and interviews, and to get feedback on their performance before they attempt the real thing.
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