Prepare for the Telstra Recruitment Process, Tests & Interview

JobTestPrep's PrepPack™ includes a variety of SHL-style consisting of verbal and numerical along with Matrigma-style questionnaires, management and graduate SJT's. Lastly, we have a bonus of video tutorials and study guides to further excel your rate of success!

Telstra, the Australian telecommunications company, recruits a range of levels for both the popular graduate programme, as well as an experienced hire recruitment scheme. They offer variety in their business areas, with six strands to the Telstra graduate programme: engineering, business and commerce, marketing, IT, HR and finance.

Competition is high for each place, so preparation is key to progressing your application. The following article reviews the recruitment process for Telstra’s graduate scheme but other positions may follow a similar recruitment path. You will be notified what the next stage involves each time your application is progressed.

The application form is your first opportunity to impress the recruitment team as they read your application thoroughly. You need to ensure that your form sells you well. The application form asks questions about you, such as your experience, your education and personal details, as well as a set of questions specific to the role you are applying to. You are also required to attach your resume and cover letter.

In order to ensure your application form is taken forward, complete every question and plan your answers to the specific questions while carefully giving a good account of yourself within the word limit. Wherever possible your answers should demonstrate how you meet the criteria for the position you are applying to. 

If you are applying for the graduate programme in Australia you should prepare for aptitude tests provided by Cut-e. Follow the link to start practising with Cut-e-style tests and study guides.

The next stage for the graduate programme is the online cognitive ability test. Applicants for other positions may be invited to take the test at a later stage in the process. The online cognitive ability test is provided by Revelian and it measures your verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning. 

Unlike many other tests, which will require you to sit three separate tests, you are tested on all subjects together. This test contains 51 questions to be answered in 20 minutes. In order to progress to the next stage, you are benchmarked against a sample of other cohorts. The three types of question rotate throughout the test and there is no particular sequence to them.

These questions examine your verbal skills and are more of a check to see if your vocabulary is up to scratch. These questions are based on your rudimentary language skills. As an example, you are given two words and asked to determine if they are similar or opposite to each other.

The numerical questions are based on the four basic numerical functions (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). The questions are quite varied with some looking like Sudoku puzzles and others being presented in a sentence. You get five different answer options to choose from for each question.

The situational judgment test presents you with different types of scenarios and conflicts, mostly work-related. Out of multiple options, you are asked to select the most appropriate solution, in your opinion, to each case. Through these questions, the testers are looking for your way of making decisions and how you manage with situations. Learn more about the SJT.

The Matrigma exam measures your non-verbal skills, by displaying a series shapes, requesting you to find the next image in series. The goal of the exam is to measure your lateral thinking or fluid intelligence. The test allows your manager to view your ability of identifying patterns, logical rules and information found. Through this, your capasity of solving problems will be revealed. Looking for more information on the subject? Find out here more about Matrigma.

Successful applicants take part in a phone interview following the cognitive ability and personality tests. For some, it may be more of a conversation verifying your application form and asking one or two simple behavioural interview questions.

For others, the phone interview may be longer than that. You are usually told to clear 20 minutes for the call. Keep a copy of your CV in front of you and any notes you feel can help you with your answers. The Telstra phone interview is your opportunity to really sell yourself and your skills as well as ask questions about the programme and your position.

If you performed well during the phone interview, you will be invited to the Telstra assessment centre. The assessment centre typically lasts three and a half hours and you work with a small group of other applicants. The day focuses on some of your interpersonal skills, for example, leadership skills, teamwork, listening and organising. The assessment centre typically contains three tasks, a group activity, an individual case study involving presentation and an interview.

Some advice from Telstra on how to prepare includes:

• Do your research on the company. This involves not just the company, what it does and where it can be seen publically (eg awards, schemes or so on), but the field that you are applying to work in.
• Prepare examples of where you have demonstrated the skills required for the job in the past.
• Prepare examples of significant events and achievements in your life, what they taught you and how you have applied them moving forward.

This is a discussion which requires you to work as part of a team whilst also contributing new and useful points to the argument. In this exercise, you are given a topic relevant to working at Telstra to discuss amongst yourselves.

Assessors are watching you for how you interact with the other members of the team, including neutralising difficult or dominant team members and drawing out members of the group who are not saying enough. You are also assessed on the quality of your contribution. Plan your strategy in advance using our group exercises tips.

For the case study, you are given a packet of information describing a situation relating to your applied position. You need to read through the packet, outline the problem and develop a solution. Once you have come to a solution, you should think of the best way to present it, as the next step is a presentation given to a small panel of assessors. Learn how to manage your time, complete the task and prepare an impressive presentation with our case study practice pack.

The final interview in the graduate programme recruitment is with managers from the area you are applying to and lasts for 45 minutes to an hour. These interviews are behavioural-based, but with technical questions thrown in for some areas. During the interview, give answers that accurately reflect you and your previous experiences. Remember to use only recent examples of your experience, as something that you did more than two years ago is no longer relevant.

Think of and prepare answers in advance, using your own examples and the STAR method to organise your answers (Situation, Task, Action, Result). This ensures that you cover all you need to in the interview. Review some example interview questions below. Be prepared for follow up questions on the answers you have provided and come up with good questions to ask the interviewers.

Some of the questions asked in Telstra interviews in the past include:

• Following on from the previous question - if you had to repeat what you did, how would you go about doing it this time?
• What aspects of your field of study did you enjoy the most? Please elaborate on the reasons why.
• Please describe a situation when a hurdle got in the way of achieving an ambitious goal. How did you use your initiative to tackle it?
• Why should we choose you for the spot? What can you bring to the company?
• Describe a situation of leadership you have experienced.
• Explain how you have demonstrated excellent customer service in your previous experience or jobs.
• Tell me about a conflict you resolved in another role.
• When has a project failed and what did you do about it?

• Given a new technology, how would you go about learning it as quickly as possible in order to provide maximum value for money towards the business?

• How well do you think a certain practice is implemented at the organisation?