Phone interview,45mins(20mins English,25mins Hungarian)
-Why did you apply for this program?
-What did you study at university (finance-related)?
-What did you gain at your internship?
-Why did you choose that internship?
-How do you see your future career path?
-Which fields and departments do you find the most interesting and why?
-If you would be the regional CFO of GE and you should decide on building a new manufacturing plant in Hungary? Based on what principles would you decide? Which ratios would you use? (ROE, ROI, IRR, NPV, EV)
-Every FMP employee receives gross 380.000 HUF at the start, this is non-negotiable
1on1 interview,45 mins(10mins English,35mins Hungarian)
-Quite easy, it was done by one single interviewer,she was a financial expert with 5-7 years experience from the Hungarian Global Operations team
-She was very friendly and asked almost the same questions as in the phone interview
-There were no tricky questions, only classic ones – she was rather curious about my motivations and future plans, as well as wanted to see my confidence and communications skills
-The whole interview was very informal and I had the opportunity to ask several questions
AC,8hrs
Presentations,2,5hrs
We had to prepare a two pages long presentation in English and send it to the HR office the day before. The first page was about introducing ourselves; the second was about our motivations to join the FMP program. Everyone had 3 minutes to present, then 1 to answer questions.Mostly we used English, but sometimes we could switch to Hungarian during the day.
-We began at 9am, in a group of 11 candidates and about 15-17 recruiters from various departments. There was an equal split in candidate gender, 21 to 26 in age and mainly finance background.
-The foreigner EMEA Director of GE held a great 30 minutes long presentation about the company and the FMP program, we could ask questions and have a little chat with him (like 75% of CFOs at GE, he also took the FMP program).
-Each of us had to present itself in 3 minutes in English and answer questions from the recruiters’ group. Successful appearing presentations were direct, logical, clear, containing humour, describing a clear vision about career in finance, supported by clear reasoning for choosing this career. Past work experiences and internship in finance are very important.
-Ideas: mention leadership, use GE colours and design, use bullet points, have clear goals and be extremely confident – in fact, that is what they are looking for!
-3 important values mentioned by the EMEA Director:Critical thinking,Teamwork,Communication
Group exercise,1hr
-We had to build a tower from LEGO bricks with various size and colour. The goal was to maximize the profit by reaching the most efficient solution, which had 3 factors: height, brick number, time.
-It was quite chaotic. The best what you can do is firstly to understand the task correctly and split up the work (calculations and planning he building part). Be confident, be polite and say if you have an idea. Involve everyone, but don’t be pushy.
-We didn’t reach the planed values, but we carried out the task. Recruiters didn’t give us feedback, only asked: what could be done better?
Lunch,1hr
We could ask other FMPs and the recruiters from various divisions about everything.
Tests and interviews,4hrs
1.Individual case study
-We had 8 minutes to think and 5 to answer a main question and two additional ones in English which were related to the main one. It was a simple, basic “make or buy” type accounting example. The first one was a short calculation (the text included some unnecessary data too).
-Second question: How can be the selected alternative improved? (Manufacturing a product by ourselves or buying it from an external supplier?)
-Give 3 advantages and 3 disadvantages for each decision
2.Finance test
-45 minutes long numerical, logical and very basic accounting test in English. Basic mathematics knowledge needed and can be easily finished on time.
3.Interviews
-3 interviews with 3-5 recruiters, 20 minutes each, 30 minutes rest in between. Included some English, but mainly in Hungarian. They were curious about our motivations, experiences, how we solve problems, what are our career expectations and we could ask a lot of questions. Sometimes the questions were overlapping or exactly the same in the groups. The whole process was very friendly and informal.
-How do you feel yourself?
-What do you think about today so far?
-Did you ever have to carry out boring, repetitive tasks for a long time?
-What do you think about financial audit?
-Why should we choose you?
-What could you do better today?
-In what ways did today’s experience made you uncertain or sure in you?
-How would you improve the LEGO task and make it better?
-If you would receive a project or a complex task, how would you start it?
-What would your friends say about you?
