I applied to QA Consulting through meeting them at my University's graduate fair (where they were very welcoming and gave me a lot of information about the company). About a week later I was called up by a very friendly person/recruiter who asked me when I'd be okay having a telephone interview - at which point I said that later on in the day would be fine (I wanted some time to mentally prepare but in retrospect this was a bit unnecessary). I was asked a series of standard questions and then what followed was quite an open-ended discussion about my experiences throughout university and various side-projects I've worked on; normally this is something that would probably have thrown me off (having done several telephone interviews throughout the course of the job seeking process) however it felt more like a casual conversation and I was put at ease. I'd say the telephone interview lasted around 45 minutes though this was in large part due to me going on various side-tangents. At the end of the telephone interview I was asked when I would be free to go to the assessment centre and it was agreed next month made more sense (there was one available for the following day too). On the day of the interview I actually cracked my phone screen rendering it inoperable and then got my purse stolen and emailed QA from the nearest NatWest branch in Manchester that I might be a bit delayed. They were incredibly understanding about this and also concerned that I was okay. I turned up about half an hour late and entered a room. Everyone at the assessment day was very pleasant and the exercises we were doing acted as very good ice breakers to get to know others undergoing the same application process. The time frame we were given was quite stressful though admittedly; you're expected to do a lot of tasks in a small period of time. I then was taken out half way through the day for an interview. This followed a vaguely similar structure to the telephone interview but was more technically probing. We also had a discussion about my assessment scores from the assessment we took prior to beginning the days exercises (this involved a logical/critical thinking aptitude test and a test that asked you about Java). We then had to give a presentation as a group presenting our work, and then received a lot of feedback afterwards about our performance. This was obviously slightly nerve-wracking but nothing unbearable. The following day I got a call in the afternoon where I was made an offer that I then went onto accept. Given that I still hadn't graduated I was offered to start in May (though the assessment day it self was in February). Throughout the following months before starting my recruiter would regularly call me up to check in and see how I was doing in terms of University progress and also asking if I had any questions about the company, etc. etc. which was really appreciated. As I got closer to starting I was also briefed on various things such as moving in, the role, what I need to take with me on the day, etc. etc. over the phone. Again, this was appreciated.

I was called by QA Consulting after they saw my CV on a graduate jobs website, with an opportunity to become an IT consultant after a period of 12 weeks (unpaid) training and a 2 year commitment to the company. I was clearly told from the offset that if I left the company before the two years were up I would be charged some £12,000 to compensate for the cost of training. I passed the online test and phone interview and attended the assessment day in person. The assessment day itself was pretty good - a presentation followed by a test in Python and then group exercises in the afternoon. For Python I was pointed towards a comprehensive online course in the language as preparation but all that was needed was a very basic understanding of data types, variables, if statements, and while loops. Candidates were welcome to go above and beyond if they had the applicable knowledge of Python, but because this opportunity will be a lot of people's first experience with Python or programming in general, just the basics of those four topics are fine. Like a lot of people I saw the negative reviews the company gets on this site and so went in skeptical, particularly after my recruiter told me in the phone interview that only approximately a third of graduate consultants stay with QA Consulting once the two years are up. I brought these reviews up in the interview, as well as asked what terms result in people being dropped from the company and landed with a £12,000 training bill, and my interviewer told me that he was not comfortable with providing a solid, on-the-record answer. In my interviewer's defense his job was not related to what's in the contract and whether someone is kept on, however I gather the company are quite aware of the negative reviews on this site and still provided an interviewer who could not address them. Overall, I came away from the day without enough trust in the company based on these reviews. I doubt that they are nearly as bad as some people on this site say, as everyone at every stage of the process was very friendly and accommodating and their high-end clients speak for themselves, but when it's £12,000 on the line it wasn't a risk I was willing to take.