The process took 3 months. I interviewed at The HEINEKEN Company (London, England) in Dec 2020
Interview
Started off with submission of CV, where you need to do some psychometric tests and a video interview to submit your application.
Received a call to attend the local assessment center (AC). Consists of 3 parts. This AC is entirely individual, i.e. no need to work with others.
Part 1 is a 45-min interview where they ask situational and behavioural questions, and learn about your motivations.
Part 2 is a 60-min individual presentation, where I was given 40 min to read through a very long extract and devise a proposal for an event. (It is ficticious and unrelated to Heineken). Most people, including myself, couldn't finish it, but I guess they are testing your ability to synthesize and present information under time constraints.
Part 3 is a 20-min reflection where we had to write a simple essay answering questions relating to our experience.
Received an email 2 days later, inviting me to attend the regional AC. This was a lot simpler and less stressful.
Part 1 was simple ice-breaking where we introduced ourselves etc.
Part 2 was a group exercise. We had 15 min to review the exact same case in the local AC, before working together in a group to come up with the exact same proposal. It was much simpler than the local AC because we had many people thinking and contributing at the same time. There were ~15 assessors present throughout, from everywhere within the region.
Received an offer via phone call 2 days later.
I interviewed at The HEINEKEN Company (Johannesburg)
Interview
The HR person came across as a bit rude and apprehensive, which made the interaction feel tense. The questions they asked were mostly general — things like 'Tell us about yourself,' 'How do you handle changes in your schedule?', and a mix of behavioral and skill-based questions. Nothing too unexpected, but the tone made it a bit uncomfortable.
I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at The HEINEKEN Company (Madrid) in Jan 2025
Interview
I applied online in January. Was screened within a week by the same recruiter, twice, with the exact same questions. Once over the phone and the second time over a video call.
The second stage is a group business case done online. We received a brief via email and had one hour to develop a business case, then had to present it to a group of third party and Heineken recruiters, as well as other candidates.
After that we were given some time to combine all of our ideas into one group submission while being observed. We presented the group business case and then had some questions as a group.
I passed the group assessment and had an interview with the hiring manager the same day. The interview was conversational and the hiring manager was interested in understanding my experience and career goals. I felt that the job description did not accurately depict the expectations of the hiring manager, but they were fair nonetheless. The hiring manager put effort into understanding if my career goals aligned with their vision for the role.
In Spain, the "graduate program" is a university internship agreement that's signed with an online asynchronous masters program that's not homologated or certified, but paid for by the company. The salary is therefore intern-level, and you are expected to work full time.
Overall, the third party firm handling recruitment was unorganised. The recruitment process was unnecessarily bloated. The "graduate program" was deceptive as it's really just a university internship agreement. The attitude of the hiring manager was the only saving grace.
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
Do you agree with the outcome of the group business case? Why?
Pulsifi online assessment was alright. Had a few sections on mathematics, pattern recognition, work values. They would generate a report for you at the end. Overall nice experience, would recommend trying.