Assessment Centre

Asssessment Centres are a great way for companies to throw you in at the deep end in an intimidating environment amongst strangers and see how you perform. It is usually a whole day event and follows success in the application/cover letter and online test. It is the penultimate round of assessment before the final interviews in banking and consulting companies. It is usually split into 3 parts: Group Exercise, Presentation, Interviews (see the the Top 10 Tips: Interviews page for more advice on this). The Group Exercise is the most unnatural form of assessment and unless you know why you are being asked to do it or what you are trying to achieve then this can go horribly wrong. Similarly with the Presentation round you need to know the purpose of the exercise before you can do well.

The key is to understand the purpose of the forms of assessment. But how do you do that? Find below the internshipHelp guide to performing in the Group Exercise and delivering a great Presentation.

GroupExercise

  1. Be very clear on what your aim is: it is NOT to successfully complete the task set. You should approach the group exercise as a game, whereby the winner is the person that gets along with everybody and guides/organises the team, not to get the task done, but to talk easily and openly with each other. Remember, the group exercise is a proxy for the office environment in which the key is to be able fit into a team or desk.

  2. In every group exercise there is always at least one person who is very shy and says little or nothing. Make sure every other minute you deliberately turn to this person and ask them what they think or whether they agree. Recruiters are very impressed by this.

  3. Be sure to pay careful attention to time and take responsibility for letting the team know when they only have 20 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 1 minute remaining. This demonstrates to the Recruiter that you are aware of the bigger picture and your surroundings.

  4. Try to take the middle ground. Do not try too hard to lead the group but at the same time do not agree with things that are clearly wrong in your opinion. The key is to demonstrate that you can lead when necessary, but also follow up on the ideas of others. So try to deliberately encourage/congratulate another team mate when they have a good idea.

  5. When you to talk to people on the team, always refer to them by their name. This gives you a degree of authority and shows the Recruiter you care about your team mates and also causes your team mates to respect you.

  6. Never look disinterested or bored or drift away or start playing with your pencil. This shows poor teamwork and low attention skills. Instead, make sure you deliberately nod when you agree with something, and/or deliberately take notes, and/or deliberately make sure you speak at least every minute.

  7. Speak loudly and clearly and slowly. This shows confidence and also encourages your team mates to take you seriously.

  8. Never persist with an idea if the rest of your team disagree. Instead be graceful and say that you are adamant that your idea is a good one but that you respect and accept the team’s decision. This shows that you are not scared to defend your view, but also that you can be humble and accept the views of the majority. It also avoids you getting frustrated and angry. Recall, you are NOT trying to complete the task, your aim is to give a good impression of yourself operating in a team environment.

  9. When you are first given the team exercise, do not jump into trying to solve it. Read over the question carefully. Let a couple of other people talk first and then make your entrance into the group discussion by deliberately asking the group as a whole ‘do we fully understand the exercise and rules and what we have to achieve?’. This entrance is very measured and mature, making an excellent impression.

  10. Never put anybody down or insult their ideas. This is the quickest way to get a line drawn through your name. Instead, be diplomatic and say something like ‘that is a possibility but I don’t think it can work in this situation because…’.

Presentation

  1. First impressions are everything so make sure you are dressed smartly with clean and ironed clothes. Shirts should be tucked in and shoes polished. Be careful with your choice of suit: try and make sure it doesn’t look like the first suit you have ever bought so preferrably grey instead of black.

  2. Before you start delivering your presentation, introduce yourself and thank the panel for inviting you to give them a presentation. This immediately sets the tone and puts you in control and is very professional.

  3. When preparing your presentation make sure to incorporate all the apparatus available to you: overhead projector, white board, projector, etc. This tells the recruiter you have put energy and time into planning the presentation and that you are comfortable with all forms of presentation machinery.

  4. If you do use a whiteboard or slides, do not write too much on each slide. A good format is to simply write a list of contents on one slide and use this for your entire presentation. This ensures the panel is not distracted with too much writing.

  5. Take a stop clock with you into the presentation and be sure not to overrun your specified time allotment. If you actively do this and the panel sees you doing this then they will be very impressed.

  6. Be sure to know your priority when delivering your presentation. It is not to tell the panel as much information as possible – they are not interested in your actual content. They are principally interested in your presentation style and confidence. They want to see that you can stand up in front of an audience and present well.

  7. When you speak be very clear and very slow and very audible. There is nothing more irritating for the panel if they cannot hear you or have to concentrate hard on trying to understand what you are saying.

  8. In terms of body language, remember all the absolute basics: make eye contact with every member of the panel; use your hands to emphasise your content; use pauses to give the panel time to take in what you are saying.

  9. Do not put too much into your presentation. If you are given 10 minutes to talk, prepare content for only 9 minutes. If you are not racing to get through heaps of information you will be more relaxed and your delivery will be smoother. It is better to talk in detail and carefully about two or three points rather than skim through ten issues. This shows a more mature approach.

  10. Practice and practice again. The more comfortable you are with your content and what you are going to say, the better your delivery will be.