Application Guide
Tips for your application
From applicant to ALTEN employee
You will need to submit an impressive application and successfully pass three job interviews before you will be able to start in your dream job at ALTEN.
You can apply online in response to vacancies advertised on our job board while we also welcome unsolicited applications. If we find your application to be persuasive and suitable, we will invite you to take part in an initial interview.
The first interview will help us discover more about you and your personal and specialist skills. We will also tell you more about us as an employer.
Assuming expectations on both sides are met, we will invite you to a second interview with a different interviewer. To ensure that we reach an unbiased and objective decision about you, the information about you will again be reviewed and various potential projects on which you could work will be outlined.
Would you be happy to work as part of our team? This is the main aspect that will be discussed in the third interview. You will need to explain your motivation in applying for a job with us and how you see your career developing over the next few years. It is important that you give a convincing performance because at this point we will be making the final decision on whether to employ you or not.
An informative online application
We prefer it if applications are submitted using our online job application form. Please make sure that attachments do not exceed a maximum size of 4 MB. To ensure you provide all the documentation we require, you will need to supply:
- A cover letter
- Your CV
- Your qualification certificates
- Any letters of recommendation you may hold
Your cover letter
Make sure you make concrete reference to the job vacancy that interests you in the subject line. If you are sending an unsolicited application you should also make reference to this in the subject line. Please address your cover letter to the contact person specified in the job vacancy ad. This will ensure that we will be able to entrust your application directly to the relevant human resources manager. There is more than one job vacancy that interests you? Please only submit an application for one of these vacancies (you can make reference to the other vacancies that interest you elsewhere in your cover letter). Provide a summary of your professional activities and experience to date so that we can see what skills you already have. Also supply a short (no more than one A4 page in length) but enlightening description of yourself that will awaken our interest in meeting you.
You should answer the following questions in your cover letter:
- Why are you applying for a job at ALTEN?
- Why are you applying for this particular job and what qualifies you to work in this post?
- How will ALTEN benefit if we decide to employ you?
- What else do we need to know that might influence our decision (your availability, salary expectations, etc.)?
Your CV
Your CV should be in tabular form and should provide a clearly structured overview of your education and previous professional activities. Start with the latest aspect that is significant and work back to the very earliest stage of your CV. Make certain that you include any activities that are relevant to the requirements of the job for which you are applying. Also provide descriptions in keyword form of your practical experience (projects, research papers, internships). Any form of practical experience can be important if you are just starting out on your career and can prove to be of benefit to you in the application process.
Your qualifications
Our tip for career starters – any form of professional experience can be relevant to your application. References from organisations for which you have worked (even while you were still a student) or where you completed an internship can tell us a lot about your personality. Supplement your application with certificates that show your job-relevant practical experience and your latest/foremost qualification.
Initial telephone contact
As a rule, the first telephone contact with you in order to arrange the introductory interview or to go through the details of your application with you will be made by one of our human resources managers. Please note that we may contact you in response to your application or also as part of our active search for suitable job candidates. If we happen to contact you at a time that is inconvenient for you, please don’t hesitate to tell us so; we will arrange to contact you again at a more suitable time. Bear in mind that we could ask you at any time about your language skills.
Questions we might put you during an interview
Think about how to respond to questions about why you think you are the suitable person for the vacant post, about your strengths and about what aspects of your CV qualify you for the job. Don’t forget that you will also need to be able to reply to questions about your weaknesses, your salary expectations and to other questions that will not be particularly easy to answer. Gaps in your CV are not necessarily a problem if you can explain why they are there. Be prepared to demonstrate your language skills at any time.
Your technical profile
If you are applying for the post of a consultant at ALTEN, you will need to bring with you to the initial interview a technical profile that demonstrates your professional background, your skills and know how. This profile will be required in addition to your CV and will be used to promote you in-house as a consultant and to introduce you to clients.
Telephone interview and face-to-face introductory interview
The introductory interview may be conducted over the telephone or in a face-to-face situation with you. If we invite you to take part in a telephone interview, make sure that you set enough time aside for the interview and that you prepare appropriately for it. Take the phone to a quiet place where you will not be disturbed and can listen attentively to what is being asked. Keep something to write with and your application documents to hand so that you can enlarge on your professional background. And also think about what you would like to ask us.
Who will be interviewing you?
We employ a three-phase applicant assessment process and select candidates on the basis of a multiple-eye principle. The three interviews will be conducted by different business managers so that we have sufficient information on your personality and skills to make a decision on the basis of objective criteria. The first person to contact you will be a human resources manager. Location will also determine who will contact you.
What is particularly important to us?
It is important to us that your skills and personality are such that we can see that you will be a suitable member of the ALTEN team. We value a friendly disposition, polite manner and clear responses to our questions. These factors are of particular relevance during a telephone interview because we will not be in face-to-face contact with you in the same room. If you respond to our questions on your professional background fluently and can explain cogently why you are the right person for the post, you will already be well on your way to your dream job.
What sort of questions do we ask during interviews?
- Could you briefly introduce yourself and give us more information on the various aspects listed in your CV?
- In what sort of sector would you like to work?
- What know how and skills have you obtained at university/through your previous professional employment?
- How good is your English?
- How flexible are you; would you be willing to relocate?
- What are your expectations with regard to salary?
- What aspects of your CV would you like to highlight?
- What’s your motivation?
- What are you looking for in your dream job?
- Why have you decided to apply for this particular post?
- Why would you like to work for ALTEN?
- What are your professional goals?