Tata Consultancy Services Assessments

Careers at Tata Consultancy Services

With a presence in 45 countries and more than 30 UK office locations, Tata Consultancy Services offers a wealth of opportunities both nationally and internationally.

TCS offers a graduate programme that can be applied for year-round. The programme is open to graduates and postgraduates with a minimum of a 2:1 degree in a discipline related to technology, IT, or computer science.

There are technical and non-technical roles available, with opportunities varying depending upon the location and time of application. The most popular roles are software engineer, test engineer, network engineer and business analyst.

Graduate hires receive a tailored training and mentoring programme to accelerate their IT careers.

There’s also a wide variety of roles for experienced professionals. Current vacancies can be explored according to role or location on the TCS careers site.

TCS offers a talent development programme for personal professional development, an employee engagement and community volunteering platform, and an employee wellbeing programme.

Recognised as a top employer, it has won awards for its supportive working environment and employee offering.

The TCS application process is thorough and seeks to determine whether you are a suitable fit for the company and role to which you are applying. It consists of four exam-style tests (usually sat consecutively) and three interviews.

It is important to give each stage the same level of importance and dedicate time to targeted preparation. Poor performance in one of the tests will prevent you from progressing to interview, while a weak HR interview may damage your chances even if you impress during the technical interview.

The process may initially seem lengthy and inhibiting but you should aim to view the experience positively. There are numerous opportunities to display your technical skills, enthusiasm, and suitability for your chosen role.

TCS Aptitude Tests

TCS numerical reasoning test

The first stage of the process is a numerical reasoning test. These standardised tests are commonly used to effectively filter applicants based on their mathematical ability.

The test will be a timed, multi-choice exam and will contain questions on arithmetic, fractions, ratios, averages, percentages, and sequences. You will also be required to work with tables, graphs, and charts.

Depending upon the role there may also be more specific questions on data interpretation and financial analysis.

The test will assess your ability to work with numbers quickly and accurately, giving an indication of how well you would work under pressure on the job.

Preparation is the key to achieving a high score on a numerical reasoning test. If you become accustomed to the format and type of questions included, you will be confident and prepared to tackle any mathematical problem come the day of the test.

TCS programming and coding tests

As part of the recruitment process you also will be required to take tests to assess your programming and coding ability.

The programming language test will consist of ten basic-level questions on programming concepts, with multiple-choice answers. You will have 20 minutes to complete the test.

The coding test will comprise technical coding questions which require you to actively demonstrate your skills. You will likely have one or two tasks to complete in 20 minutes. The answer submission will be a section of correct code.

TCS written exercise

Prospective TCS employees are also required to complete a written exercise which assesses a candidate’s ability to write emails.

You may not be given a full email to reply to in each instance, but instead be asked to compose an appropriate and professional email from scratch, addressing a particular subject, problem or client.

You will receive some keywords to base your correspondence around and a set of phases that you must include in your composition.

Be sure to follow the instructions carefully and include all required text, to avoid losing unnecessary marks.

Seek to demonstrate that you have a clear, concise and professional writing style, along with the ability to convey the correct tone when responding to different scenarios.

Technical interview

The content of the technical interview will depend upon your background and proposed role, but it will likely consist of questions around data, management systems, algorithms and operating systems.

It will also include more specific questions around your main programming language, such as object-oriented programming in Java.

You may also be required to complete short written exercises to discuss, so be prepared to write code during the interview.

Managerial interview

In your managerial interview, the interviewer will seek to explore whether you possess several different key competencies.

You will not be asked directly about your skills but required to demonstrate these competencies through relevant and detailed examples.

The interview aims to reveal how well you will be able to handle different management scenarios in role.

HR interview

The HR interview will likely be based around the information provided on your CV, asking questions about your education, interests, and past experiences.

The interviewer will want to get a sense of your personality, to complement the already established picture of your technical skills.

They may also ask questions about your motivation for applying to the role and company, so make sure you have clear and authentic reasoning to share.

The interviews may be held as panels, or with a single interviewer. You will likely be given guidance on their format in your invitation to interview.