After CV screening, next step is to do an IQ and logic test. Test has both pattern recognition tasks as well as numerical part where you play with numbers. After successfully completing this and results are satisfactory, next thing is to be invited in an assessment center with a very small number of other candidates.
The treatment we got at the assessment center was great. There were twice as many people from the bank to interview us and guide us through the process, than there were candidates. We were told to be considered very special candidates since extremely low number of applicants proceeded to that stage (they said they received ~5000 applications per position on average). At this stage, they told us they could employ all of us that made it to that stage, some of us or neither one of us.
In the assessment center, first thing we did was a programming test. It lasted 1h and tasks were in structured programming areas, while you could choose your preferred programming language. Next, after the test we had an individual interview with both the hiring manager and an IT colleague which assisted the process. These guys were great, new literally my whole CV by heart, asking a lot of questions about my background, where I see myself, what I have worked on etc. Most importantly, they asked a lot of questions about structured programming principles in C or Java and also a lot of things about the code I previously wrote in the coding task. They definitely simulated pressure, asking 2 coding questions per second, so be prepared not to cry! I advice next candidates to refresh their memories on structured programming 101 from 1 semester at an engineering university. This interview took over 1 hour.
Next you go home and expect a call within a week, to hear weather you proceed to the next stage. In this stage you get an extensive and super-tricky personality test which you take for ~3 hours, After doing that, you expect an invitation to the next stage for a final interview.
The final interview was conducted by a hiring manager and a senior hr partner. This is all about your personality and the test you did. I gotta say it was quite overwhelming, so it requires one to have an extensive understanding of their character.
After all that, in a week time you get a call about the final decision. I received a simple thank you and information that they decided not to take me even though I was an extraordinary candidate. That is a rather disappointing statement since I got NO FEEDBACK AT ALL, and considering that I invested DAYS for this application process (writing a letter, CV, filling the forms in their recruiting system for hours, traveling 2 times to Copenhagen for more than 2 hours).
My impression is that I failed to interpret the personality test in a good way, since that was the stage I was dropped at.
Good luck to all that decide to apply for the position. Danske Bank is a great company and I believe people are happy there. They only made a huge mistake for not hiring me :)
