How the selection process works
When choosing people for the Engineering Graduate Programme we use a mix of CV and application review, ability and personality testing, phone and face-to-face interviews, and a handful of tasks and discussions on assessment days. It's a robust process that allows us to look at people in many different circumstances.
The selection process
"It's invigorating and inspiring."
2nd May - 1st July
Applications are open. The process consists of applying online, attaching a CV and transcript, and answering a few questions about your experiences.
Early to mid July
A 10 minute mini phone interview. People who have had their application accepted will be called to discuss their application further.
First week of August
Assessment day. Successful candidates will be invited to our assessment days being held in Wellington and Auckland. These involve an interview and a couple of different activities. The purpose of these events is to give you as much information about Chorus as possible, as well as for us to find out about you. You'll get to meet current grads on the programme too.
Early August
Ability and personality assessments. If you're still a potential candidate, you'll be asked to complete some online assessments at home.
Mid August
Second round interviews. If you've made it this far, you'll be invited for interviews with our technical team.
Early September
Third round interviews and reference checking. Those of you who make it through to this stage will be invited for an interview with Chorus's CEO. Contracts will then be offered to the people who have been selected.
Preparing for your interview
Before your interview you should find out all you can about Chorus. See our website, search online and browse newspaper reports and other media. This will help you decide whether Chorus is the place for you.
The best way to prepare for interview questions focusing on behaviour is to practise. Think about the specific situations you have been in that show:
- Drive - being ambitious, resilient, challenging yourself
- Learning agility - being curious, critical, open-minded
- Interpersonal effectiveness - in communications, relationships, teams
- Self-awareness and management - knowing your strengths and weaknesses, being open to feedback and development
- Flexibility - being adaptable and open to new ideas and experiences
- Customer focus - putting the customer first in decisions
- Conceptual thinking - thinking outside the square to solve problems
- Initiative and innovation - generating and implementing new ideas
Interview tips
"The atmosphere here at Telecom is absolutely awesome."
The interview should be a good experience for everyone involved and a chance for us to get to know each other better. Interviews are mainly based around your past behaviour and competency. We'll ask about experiences you've had in the past to see how you might handle a similar scenario in the future.
We might ask you to "Tell us about an important decision you have made." Your response will tell us how you'll handle important decisions on the job. Be specific with your answers, and talk through a particular task or project you have worked on or a situation you've have been in. A good response will be structured like this:
- Provide context - a brief outline of the specific situation you were involved in or the task you were working on
- Tell us what you did - this is the most important bit. What actions did you personally undertake?
- Describe the impact of your actions - briefly describe how things worked out because of what you did
This is called the STAR technique - (S/T) Situation or Task, (A) Action and (R) Result.
On the day
We want you to feel relaxed - the best way to do this is to be prepared, arrive on time and, most importantly, be yourself! What we're most interested in is you.
