Initial phone interview with talent acquisition team - this consisted of standard fact-finding (confirming several CV details, salary expectations) and then some further questioning (for example, why choose Rolls-Royce? What is your opinion on finance shared-service functions?). Invited to a half-day assessment centre that consisted of four main sections: 1) 1 hour interview with 2-3 senior managers, a mixture of competency-based questioning, CV review and and Q&A on the roles available. 2) 10 minute pre-prepared presentation to discuss a particular topic ("the importance of teamwork") 3) 10 minute 'dragons den' style pitch based on unseen information. There is a 30 minute preparation time beforehand as there are several key requirements that need to be covered (for example, financial projections, product-launch/ go-to-market/ distribution) 4) 20 minute numerical competency test - this was the least stressful element and comprised mostly basic algebraic questions. In all there were around 10-12 assessors and additional HR representatives running the assessment day; all were friendly and welcoming while allowing plenty of two-way Q&A opportunities. The various assessment styles allowed for a demonstration of skills in different scenarios. While the assessment centre process was a positive experience the overall recruitment process was extremely protracted and at times the lack of communication or updates became extremely frustrating (hence the neutral opinion on the overall experience). For example there was nearly a 3 month gap between the phone interview and the assessment day, during which time the roles were withdrawn without explanation and my application declared as unsuccessful. Following the assessment centre the hiring decision was announced by a generic e-mail roughly a fortnight later than we had been told to expect it. Finally the feedback only became available a further 3 weeks after the outcome. The feedback, however, was sufficiently detailed and constructive to be of practical future use. In summary the interactions I had with the company were of a high quality but as a candidate experience it was unnecessarily long, lasting 4 months end-to-end. No offer on this occasion but application details were to be retained for future opportunities.