I applied through a staffing agency. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at MUFG (London, England) in Mar 2014
Interview
First round telephone interview, second round face to face, then a third round again face to face (I decided to withdraw after second stage - alarm bells ringing and bad gut feel).
Initial telephone interview they called 15 mins late, asked questions about what i knew relating to the job and then allowed me to ask questions. They wanted phone interview to just be 10 minutes (they stated this on the phone) despite being late; i kept them on the phone by asking questions about the role. Not too hard and fairly easy - just basically trying to see if you're blagging it. It seemed they were only interested in asking random technical questions at this stage rather than explaining anything in great detail about the job I applied for.
A few days passed and I was invited for a second round which was face to face (includes a 30 minute test). Again they turned up late - instead opting to get the receptionist to lead me into a room with an test paper. (To be honest I felt like i was at school again). Test paper wasnt that hard but if you lied on your CV / skills it would be. Basically if you get to this stage, you should be able to answer most questions - nothing to worry about.
Face to face was just okay - felt like they wanted to question me first rather than explain anything about the job. It did seem one way in terms of what I can offer them, what my background is, etc rather than discussing anything about the role. In the end I was forced to ask questions about what the job entailed, a typical day / tasks examples, what they currently have (in terms of set up, software, team size) and what they're looking for and so on.
I just couldnt get excited about it if truthful - they wanted someone for average money to be good at everything rather than being realistic and getting a small team together or to lower expectations rather than seeking this imaginary "superman" they're waiting for. They wanted anything and everything from one individual; business analysis, development, project management, finance knowledge and someone happy to work very long hours (10 hour days with some evening work).
It just wasnt worth it; they came across as if they didn't know what or who they wanted; instead opting for someone that can do everything (unlikely). This plus being late twice put me off and didnt carry on with the process. If you come away feeling something isnt right then walk away - you havent even got in the door so see it as a lucky escape.
I'm sure there are good teams to work with in Mitsubishi UFJ, but as with all firms a lot of it is luck - if you get a good manager willing to invest and encourage you whilst caring who you are and what you can offer then you're on to a winner. I didn't get this experience...
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Asking me a few financial questions and digging deeper until i got stuck and watching how i reacted. I saw no reason to do this as it was a software development / analyst role not a finance role.