Internal Candidate Support &

Interview Guide

Human Resources 2017

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Growing and developing HSBC talent internally is a key priority for the Bank and has tangible
business benefits including increased employee engagement and ultimately stronger business
performance.

This document is designed to help you understand the initial stages of the recruitment process
at HSBC and provide quick reference support for the initial position application, shortlisting and
interview stages of the internal recruitment process at HSBC.

The chart below provides an overview of the initial stages of the recruitment process from the
initial application for a position up to an interview:

Job Search

Application

Shortlisting

Preparing

Interview

After the interview

1. Job Search

HSBC MENA have recently transformed the way we recruit with the launch of “CareerLink” (a
Global Recruitment technology) across the Region. One of the significant benefits of this
system, is that it provides all employees with the opportunity to proactively manage their Career
within HSBC.

“CareerLink” is easily accessed either via ‘My Career’ in HR Direct; or under the ‘Global Tools’
link on HSBC Now Intranet page.

To ensure all employees are given equal opportunity to apply for roles that become available
across the MENA Countries, all vacancies are advertised internally on “CareerLink”.

Everyone already has a basic profile automatically set up on “CareerLink”, so once you log in,
you can then create a full profile by updating your personal, career, and educational details.

Once you have updated your personal profile, there are then two ways you can manage your
career development, both Locally and Globally:

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 You can regularly search for career opportunities based on your job preferences through
the standard job search functionality; or

 You can create a career profile on the system, with your preferred job criteria which will
then generate automated job alerts sent directly to you in relation to your preferences
selected by: General Profile → Your Information → Job Posting Notification

For further support in using “Careerlink” to find and search your next career opportunity in HSBC,
please speak with your HR Relationship Manager.

2. Application

When submitting an application for a position, ensure that your CV is up-to-date and that and
that the CV highlights the relevant experience and skills for the position being applied for.

Your CV should;

 Highlight Major achievements

 Use bullet points – short sentences that summarize key responsibilities

 Present career history in reverse chronological order

 Include academic qualifications / professional certifications if any

 Further information e.g. explanation of sabbatical or long gaps between jobs

 Photos are not required!

It may be that as part of the process of selection, you are required to undertake pre-employment
vetting to certify your experiences. Start collating relevant documents to support your application
(including education / qualification certificates, identity information including passports etc).

Once the position advertisement timeline concludes, the recruitment team will start screening
the applications and short listing candidates. If your skills, qualifications and work experience is
suitable for the role, it is likely you will be contacted by the recruitment team to have an initial
screening discussion for the purpose of confirming your suitability for the shortlist.

If you skills, qualifications and work experience are not suited for the role, then you will receive
confirmation your application is not proceeding further. There is no harm in requesting
feedback at this point to assess what development areas you can focus on for future
applications.

3. Shortlisting & Screening

Once the position advertisement timeline concludes, the recruitment team will start screening
the applications and short listing candidates. If your skills, qualifications and work experience is
suitable for the role, it is likely you will be contacted by the recruitment team to have an initial
screening discussion for the purpose of confirming your suitability for the shortlist.

If you skills, qualifications and work experience are not suited for the role, then you will receive
confirmation your application is not proceeding further. There is no harm in requesting
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feedback at this point to assess what development areas you can focus on for future
applications.

4. Preparing for the interview

“Congratulations! You have been shortlisted for this role”.

Before anything else, preparation is the key to success!

The success of an interview does not rest solely on your performance in an interview but also
how well prepared you are. If you are well prepared, you stand a greater chance of success.

 Conduct your own research on the role

 Speak to colleagues and key stakeholder on the nature of the role, the competitive
environment, regulatory considerations;

 Explore social media / news articles relevant to the role, business area etc;

 Understand who the interviewers are, their backgrounds, experiences and professional areas of
interest.

 Use your research to formulate some (2 or 3) relevant questions to ask during the interview. This
demonstrates interest and eagerness for the role.

Review the most common questions that are used in a typical interview, questions like:

 Tell me about yourself?

 What are your strengths and weaknesses?

 What was your biggest accomplishment in your previous role?

 Why should we hire you for this position?

 What was your role in performing activity A or B and what was the outcome?

Be ready to speak about your career history, identify your accomplishments and achievements
in HSBC and be also prepared for the capability interview.

Candidate Guide to HSBC Capability

Interviews at HSBC are conducted through the assessment of individual leadership capabilities
and the interviewers will facilitate the interviews through asking questions based on your own
personal leadership capabilities.

What is a leadership capability?

A capability (or competency) is an attribute described in terms of skills & behaviors that are key
to effective performance within a job.
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The HSBC Leadership Capabilities

The HSBC leadership capabilities are defined as outlined below and the questions asked in the
interviews will centre on these key themes or capabilities.

 Navigating: Understanding and translating the immediate business/function strategy into

own team and aligning direction accordingly
 Aspiring: Being ambitious about providing the highest standards of delivery and
embedding these in the team
 Driving: Setting stretching goals for self and team and delivering these with courage and
tenacity
 Mobilizing: Authentically engaging with one’s team, colleagues and customers to deliver
at pace
 Sustaining: Making considered decisions that protect and enhance HSBC values,
reputation and business

Why do we use Leadership Capabilities in Recruitment?

Leadership Capabilities have been compiled that are critical to success at HSBC. Even though
we call them ‘leadership’ capabilities, you do not need to be a leader for them to be relevant to
your job as they refer to the way in which we all should aspire to act and behave at HSBC.

Unlike specialist technical skills that are job specific, Leadership Capabilities provide a common
language for describing behavior. The interview methods we use ensure a fair and valid
selection process is facilitated. Evidence shows that past behavior predicts future behavior so
discussing your past experiences is a predictor of how you are likely to behave in the future.

Your responses to the capability interview questions will give you the opportunity to truly reflect
your achievements and experience to date and in return provide us with reliable data about your
ability in certain key areas.

Preparing for the Capability Interview

During the capability interview the interviewer will tell you which of the Leadership
Capabilities they are assessing and will ask you to provide specific examples of when you have
demonstrated the capabilities.

The interviewer will be taking notes, and if necessary will ask follow up questions. It is important
that your examples relate to specific situations you’ve personally managed in the last 5 years.
It’s recommended that when talking through these examples that you utilize the “STAR”
approach below:

Situation/Task
What was the situation?

Action
What did you actually do?

Result
What effect and outcome did your actions have?

In addition to assessing against the relevant capabilities the

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interviewer will be asking you questions around your motivations for applying to specific role and
if relevant the business area/organization.

Tips

 Consider how you may respond to a set of questions based on the HSBC Leadership
Capabilities and prepare your responses in association with the “STAR” interview style
technique.

5. Interview Day

You are now one step closer for this role so be prepared to present your selling points and plan
what to wear in advance.

Tips:

 Conservative business attire, such as a neutral-colored suit and professional shoes is the
best.

 UAE nationals it is best to wear the UAE national attire. Make sure your clothes are neat
and wrinkle-free and that your overall appearance is neat and clean.

 Although all the documents are submitted in the application link it is always best to bring
an extra copy of your CV. Note: The interview could be face-to-face, a role play, a
presentation or a panel interview depending on the role you have applied for.

6. After the interview – what happens after I am interviewed?

At this stage, the interviewers will decide which candidate from the shortlist to select. You will
receive confirmation following the interview as to the success or not of your application for the
role.

Whatever the outcome, remain courteous and polite to the hiring manager / recruitment team
member conveying the outcome to you. If you are unsuccessful for this role, you may meet them
again in the future for a different opportunity.

Whether you are successful or not, seek feedback as part of the process.

 If you are the selected candidate, what qualities did you demonstrate that made you
stand out from the rest?
 If you are an unsuccessful candidate, what are some of the development areas that are
recommended for you to focus on to make you a stronger potential candidate for other
roles in the future?

GOOD LUCK!!

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