Summary: Assessment Centres

An Assessment Centre may include introductions, ice breaker, several activities, lunch and an opportunity to get to know the business.

Common activities include:

• Introductions
• In tray/email exercise
• Group discussion
• Case Study
• Presentation

Introductions

To help with this prepare 5 short sentences about yourself, that are going to say positive things about you and where possible relate to the role you are interested in, we suggest including:

• Your degree, (predicted) result and uni attended
• Something you are proud of from your degree
• Extra-curricular activities
• Paid work
• Volunteering

Consider what attributes and skills Assessors may be looking for (particularly relating to the role you are applying for) in each exercise and how they might assess them. They may assess:

• Analytical thinking
• Body Language
• Collaboration
• Communication (written and verbal)
• Commercial awareness
• Decision making
• Dress
• Persuasion
• Prepardness
• Research
• Reasoning
• Summarising
• Timekeeping
• Use of visual aids

Group Discussion Tips:

• Balance being assertive and collaborative
• Draw others into discussion
• Use non-verbal communication
• Keep revisiting brief and checking time to stay on track
• Think about how to make best use of time
• Be decisive

Other Tips for Success:

• Remember the big picture of what you need to achieve
• Make sure you finish every activity
• Each activity is a new opportunity to show your skills
• If you are given the option to do your ‘own research’ during your prep time include one fact or statistic to demonstrate you have done this

Good to know:

• Normally there isn’t one correct answer
• You’ll get preparation time on the day
• No technical knowledge is assumed
• You are being observed the whole time
• You may be asked to self reflect on how you have performed