FDM University of Kent Insight Day Attendee Review

On the day, we learned a lot about what FDM was about, how it worked and what it valued in creating a pleasant environment for their employees. So a bit of their history, what they look for in interviews and a bit of how their recruitment process works (I think specifically the interview and the online application), how they try to incorporate EDI and why it is important for them to do so, then we also had a discussion among ourselves (students) about two related topics. Then we had a talk with a university alumni that was currently working there

I learned more about how tech roles can come up in unexpected places and be as rewarding or even more rewarding as roles in the usual big tech companies and that is why it is important to keep an open mind. I also learnt some key tips about preparing for strength-based interviews: to be natural confident and expressive, draw from all your experiences (they don’t necessarily have to work-related ones) but still have some semblance of an idea of possible answers you can give ahead of the interview etc.

It was pretty amazing and eye-opening I would say. There was this short activity we had where they would try to find a role match for you based on your preferences and what you naturally like doing and some of the recommended roles turned out to be surprising, as they were not you would expect, especially with what we assumed they would entail but it turned out that they were actually more nuanced and involved more useful things (which makes them perfect to serve as a foundation for more niche roles later on if that was what you wanted) than we thought e.g. the role of Technical Operations or another one that had something to do with the Cloud.

It was very nice and welcoming. The staff were friendly, refreshments were provided, we were also given souvenirs (a pen and a notebook), we were made to have meaningful discussions and also network with a university alumni that was able to provide a different and very informative perspective on the company that piqued my interest and showed how the company and its employees strive to think outside the box by diversifying the sectors they operate in and encourage and help to prepare the students for future employment

I quite enjoyed it, especially the fact that it was not too long. It was quite informative, although I think that the focus was a bit too much on how inclusive and diverse they are and why that is important to have in a company, rather than on providing the opportunity to network with more current employees, learn more about the various roles and sectors in the company (we only really learned about one, although it was quite interesting and eye-opening, it was still just one) and also talk to current students on their graduate programme.

Yes

Based on what I have heard about it, the graduate programme is really good and very rewarding. They almost literally prepare you and provide you with a very good job (that could possibly even become your dream job) in well-known companies on a platter. Beware though that they use strength-based interviews during the recruitment process and not the usual competency-based interviews, so you have to prepare for that, but it shouldn’t be too hard as both interview types are not too different. They are also clearly very committed to equality and inclusion based on how a good part of the insight day focused on that, so that it something I else I think would be good to know.