I applied in-person. The process took 2 days. I interviewed at FDM Group in Mar 2018
Interview
Several rounds on personality, past experience, rough career plans etc. , test on basic mathematics knowledge. Some technical questions for people hoping to land developer roles which are typical for software developer interviews.
I applied online. The process took 7 weeks. I interviewed at FDM Group (Hong Kong) in May 2020
Interview
The recruiters and managers are all very nice and kind. The assessment centre is well structured, with an orientation and HR talk, 3 manager interviews and an online test.
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Account Manager Interview (behavioural): Why FDM? Why this role? Any coding experience?
Academy Manager Interview (technical): What's your most familiar language? How to find the missing value of a list of consecutive numbers without sorting?
I applied through college or university. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at FDM Group
Interview
Very proactive recruitment - they call you, send emails. They clearly have experience recruiting a large number of graduates. They had an organised structure to the day - welcome talk, interviews, and then tests.
The interviews were 'competency' based, but felt quite impersonal because they would ask scripted questions and give no indication of how detailed your answer should be.
The tests were typical of psychometric tests, but also had a multiple choice test more specific to the role.
Overall I got the impression (along with other candidates I spoke to) that we were just one of the thousands of graduates they recruited for and were not individual.
Their pay offer is poor for a graduate scheme, basically keeping you stuck with them for two years even if you're working for a high profile client. If you want to leave within that time they threaten to charge you for the 'training' you received. Not a great impression. You are also NOT guaranteed a job even when you accept their offer because they need to find you a placement and so you may be stuck for months without pay waiting for them. You also do not get paid during their months of training.
In short, they are a recruitment company tying down desperate graduates for two years with the chance that they get to work with a top employer on a low salary.