At CGI, we want all candidates who engage with us to be set up for success. As the interview is perhaps the most critical stage of the hiring process, we’ve recently reviewed our entire interviewing process to make sure there’s no chance of bias influencing any lines of questioning.
We want all candidates to have the same opportunity to answer the same questions for a role. Sometimes interviewers can be dazzled by great interview skills and forget what really matters. As such, we’ve overhauled our question set to target real skills and experiences, and to hone in on what you can learn at CGI.
We’re also keen to continue fine-tuning the process, so we give all our candidates the opportunity to provide feedback via our satisfaction survey after the interview. We took the time to sit down with several of our new starters to discuss their tips on acing your CGI interview like they did.
Sheena Shrivastava, Senior Security Consultant
What did you do to prepare for the interview with CGI?
I researched all of CGI’s recent major highlights, including awards, recognition, clients, or revenue and focused on the job. This helped me have a good idea of what to talk about for the particular role.
What’s your winning tip for preparing for interviews?
Make it sound like a conversation! It’s okay to put some humour in while conversing; it works as an ice breaker between both interviewee and recruiter.
What’s been your favourite question and answer in an interview?
During the interview I was asked “What is one interesting piece of feedback which a client has given you about your work”. To this, I replied “They said I am a very lazy person”. The interviewers stared at me with total shock! Suspense was building up, and I went on to clarify: “Yes, they said I am a very lazy person because I find the shortest and most efficient way in completing a task. According to them I don’t want to stretch over hours, so I find the smartest way to finish it before time.”
As I said, sometimes a little humour helps!
Sibu Viswanath, Security Architect
What did you do to prepare for the interview with CGI?
It was definitely important to do a quick refresh of the items listed in the job description and make sure I could relate my experiences to the items.
What’s been your favourite question and answer in an interview?
They asked me about my interests and long term goals which suggested to me the hiring was not for an immediate requirement, but rather a long term one. This gave me a lot of confidence in the role and made me feel empowered from the start.
Jesica Ruiz, Project Administrator
What did you do to prepare for the interview with CGI?
First, I identified who the interviewers might be (I looked for them on LinkedIn). Then I researched the structure of the team I’d be potentially joining, and found out who the manager was.
It was also important to learn about CGI as a whole by going to the website and understanding the company’s core business and corporate values.
Probably most importantly, I had a copy of the job description at hand, and I identified the key responsibilities of the role. This really helped me talk about my skills with experience and relate to them with confidence.
What do you recommend interviewees to do during the interview?
Show up early (or if online, make sure everything works perfectly), make a good impression with your first greeting and ask questions! Some questions that I like to ask the interviewer include:
- Is this role new? If not, how has it evolved?
- Is there scope for career progression?
- What does a typical day look like?
- Who are the key stakeholders?
- What are the main challenges and opportunities the business faces?
- What training opportunities are available?
- From your perspective, what is it like to work here?
- What is the next step?
Looking for your next role? Explore career opportunities at CGI! Head to our careers page for our latest job openings.
