Prepare for Hiscox Assessment Centre, Watson-Glaser Test, and Interview

This PrepPack™ combines Pearson Watson Glaser-style tests, SHL-style verbal, numerical and deductive tests, drills and guides.

The Hiscox application process is long, with quite a few stages. The theme running through the entire recruitment process is the desire to find the best candidates at every level from graduate to experienced, who can work within their very unusual insurance product base. The packs arm you with the tools needed to let your skills stand out. Get a head start on your hiring process with these PrepPacks™.

The online application form is your first opportunity to impress the recruitment team. The application form will ask you three questions about yourself, designed to draw out information about you, your relationships with the people and the environment around you. You also have to upload your CV and a cover letter, which is an opportunity for you to tell the company anything you think is important to your application, but is not included on the application form. Always remember that it is important that the information you provide on your CV matches that on the online application form. 

You will be asked to complete a psychometric test - either before or after the telephone interview, provided your application has passed the stage before. This test will be a Watson-Glaser critical thinking test. Provided by Pearson, the test examines you on five key areas of critical thinking ability and decision making. In the Watson-Glaser test, you need to demonstrate your abilities in drawing inferences, recognising assumptions, deductive reasoning, logical interpretation and argument evaluation. This test is often referred to as the Hiscox verbal reasoning test. 

As with anything new, it is important to revise before sitting the actual test. Access the Watson-Glaser practice pack to prepare for the actual test.

This assessment evaluates your personality and asks you questions related to how you relate to certain work-related occurrences. So keep in mind: You should present your professional attributes and the person you are in your personal life. To understand how to impress your recruiters in your personality test, practise with our personality test preparation packs.

If the recruiters like your application form, they will put you forward for a telephone interview. The aim of this interview is to determine whether you have the personal and professional skills required for the job. The interview is built as a skills-based interview, but it is possible that a more technical question would be included in the interview. As this interview is a telephone interview, you can prepare answers to some of the commonly asked questions and keep them nearby, for when you should be asked them. Learn how to answer competency questions effectively in interview conditions with the PrepPack™.

Some of the interview questions that have come up in Hiscox interviews include:

• Tell me a time when you have negotiated successfully.
• Why do you want to work for this company?
• Where do you see yourself in five years time?
• What factors would you consider when insuring this building?
• How much profit did the company make last year?
• Why should we hire you?
• How do your skills match the position of an underwriter?
• Tell me about a time you led a team.
• Describe a work problem you have encountered and how you handled it.
• Describe a time when you have had to deliver a difficult message to a group.
• Describe a time when you came up with a creative solution to a problem.

The Hiscox assessment centre is a whole day event which will test you continuously. It includes the following assessments:

You will be given a brief and asked to complete a task relating to it. You then present your findings to a member of the recruitment team. An example of a case study exercise given is a brief on a chain of cinemas. The candidate is asked to give specialist advice to just one branch and prepare it into a presentation. There is a lot of information to process, in order to come up with recommendations. You will be asked questions about your presentation. It is important to make a good impression at this stage, as the case study is an example of the type of work they do.  

At a group of up to eight people, you will be given 45 minutes to work on an exercise. This exercise could relate to the brief used in the case study; for example, organise a charity event at the cinema to raise its’ profile. The most important element of the group exercise is not coming to a conclusion, but how you interact with the team, give over your ideas, how you listen to others, lead others and draw out their ideas. Getting the balance in a group exercise can be tricky, but the group exercise preparation included in the PrepPack™ can help you learn how to do this. 

This interview is a mixture of CV based questions, asking you about yourself and previous experience, as well as other technical questions, that will test your knowledge of underwriting and your ability to work out more complex insurance packages. An example of such a technical question is: Underwrite a cargo ship going from Southampton to New York. This interview will be a face to face interview, with a very different feel to the earlier telephone interview.

See how this pack can help you prepare for your assessment centre exercises and interview.

The interview will be with senior managers, who will ask you questions about more strategic business issues and your own ambitions for your career. Each interview is different, so do not forget to prepare once again for this interview. You should also be prepared to complete Hiscox tests.

You may also be requested to sit a vocational test. This could be a role play to test the skills that you need for the job. A past example of a test was a sales tests, whereby you are required to identify a client’s needs for a particular item and sell him the item that best fits those requirements. Taking part in a role play requires acting, something that takes many people out of their comfort zone. The PrepPack™ provides advice on role plays.

The Hiscox graduate recruitment consists of an online application, a Skype interview and, finally, an assessment centre. This pack offers practice material for all stages of the hiring process so you can successfully receive a graduate placement.

As part of the Hiscox Summer Internship, you will contribute to your team's project and will receive training in presentations, Microsoft Excel and an understanding of how a leading insurance company functions.

The programme invites current students to participate, offering them valuable experience between their studies. Make sure your grades qualify you and that your CV presents your interest in the position.

Hiscox is an international specialist insurer, employing over 1,800 employees worldwide. They do not offer big insurance schemes; instead, they insure the rare and unusual. For example, some of the items they currently insure include a Picasso painting, a ship which sails through the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, a classic car collection and pretty much anything. The skills and abilities to find an insurance solution for the unusual is something that they are looking for throughout the application process and is reflected in the questions you will be asked at each stage.

The application process for jobs with Hiscox is long and with a number of different stages; each stage is designed to test you in a new way. Whether you are applying for an experienced job, an eight-week internship, or a two-year graduate scheme, your application process will include a similar set of stages.

The graduate scheme and internship recruitment process with Hiscox includes an online application form, psychometric tests, a telephone interview, an assessment centre and a final interview.

Experienced hire applicants will experience a three-stage recruitment process, with a first interview, psychometric testing and final interview. Prepare for your Hiscox recruitment process with this PrepPack™.