Associate, Business Consulting

Initially I attended a presentation held by Sapient Global Markets on campus. I stayed around at the end to ask some questions and got a couple of business cards from the two women who gave the presentation. I applied online a couple of weeks after the presentation. The application required basic information, CV and an optional cover letter.
I then had a "phone interview", which was essentially a 15 minute chat with a guy from HR who then invited me to a half day assessment centre.
The assessment centre started with a short presentation about the company followed by a 1-on-1 interview with an experienced business consultant. Mostly about why I wanted to work for Sapient and why I wanted to do consulting given my science background. But I was also asked to talk about recent news and how this would impact the markets.
Then I had a case study interview. I was given a couple of minutes to read the brief and ask any questions, before being left alone for 45 minutes to prepare a presentation solving the given problem. It was not related to finance and the resources given were pens, paper and a whiteboard. After 45 minutes an experienced business consultant came in and assumed the role of my client and I gave my presentation.
I immediately got feedback, which was great. A key thing to do is engage with your 'client'. I asked my 'client' a question during my presentation, and was told that was an excellent thing to do and I was the only person to do so, which made me stand out. Also, use the whole whiteboard, something I did not do. This was followed by a short chat about some things on my CV and, again, my motivations for applying.
After this I had a 2-on-1 with a woman from HR and a recent graduate. I was asked to describe a time I've had to deal with a difficult team member at work, what I did and what I would have done differently. I was asked, again, about my motivations for applying, what I want to do in the next 5 years, to explain a time I made an impact upon a team and similar questions.
After this I was given a tour of the building by a recent graduate and then the day was over.
The whole afternoon was very relaxed and everybody was really friendly. The only time I felt stressed was during my case interview presentation, but that turned out fine once I got going.
The office culture appears fairly relaxed and friendly. And there is no 'face time', once you've done your work you're free to go. There is a real drive for personal development and the company really wants to provide a great service for their clients.
Plus graduates go to India for 10 weeks training.