English and IQ Assessment

What they ask

Every hire, technical or not, passes through the same assessment gate before role interviews:

1. English assessment in four parts: writing, reading, listening and speaking.
2. IQ assessment with verbal and numerical sections: number series, odd one out, analogies, percentage and ratio arithmetic, and reading a small table.
3. Personal interview: conducted mostly in Arabic with one segment in English to check spoken fluency.
4. Technical interview specific to the role (for business roles this meant micro and macroeconomics; for software and DevOps roles it is a conversation about your stack and projects).

After a pass: medical examination and a security investigation, which can add weeks.

Sample IQ-style items: "2, 6, 12, 20, 30, ?"; "If a plan costs 240 after a 20% increase, what was the original price?"

What they look for

• Clearing the English and IQ thresholds; they are gates, not tie-breakers.
• Composure in the Arabic personal interview: motivation for banking, willingness to relocate to a branch or the head office, and long-term commitment.
• For technical roles, the technical interview was reported as easier than the assessment stages.