Assessment days (also called assessment centres) allow companies to assess candidates over an extended period of time, whilst offering candidates the chance to find out about an employer in greater detail. An assessment day also usually provides an opportunity for a candidate to meet with current employees at a firm. Assessment days can be long, time consuming and highly mentally demanding.
What is an Assessment Day?
[Edit]An "assessment day" is an important part of the recruitment process for many graduate employers. As the name suggests, it is a period of extended assessment that usually lasts for the best part of a day, and occasionally, two, or even three days).
Generally speaking, the more prestigious the employer, the longer the assessment day will last for. An assessment day for an investment bank, such as Barclays Capital (BarCap), will usually last for two days and include an overnight stay. The assessment day for a retailer, such as Aldi will usually last for just one day, or even an afternoon.
A well structured assessment day is generally considered to be amongst the fairest and most objective means of selecting employees for jobs, particularly graduate jobs. This is because they give a number of different interviewers a chance to assess candidates over an extended period of time, enabling assessors to see what you can do, rather than what you say you can do, in a wide variety of situations.
Where do Assessment Days take place?
[Edit]Assessment days are usually take place at employer's offices, although some firms use third party organisations to run their assessment days. For two and three day assessment days, some employers use hotels to run their assessment activities, hiring function rooms and paying for rooms and meals for candidates.
What happens at an Assessment Day?
[Edit]Assessment days require you to participate in a number of individual and group exercises. The exact tasks involved are designed to replicate the demands of the specific job you have applied for. Assessment days usually comprise a mixture of: interviews (including competency based interviews and partner interviews), case studies, aptitude tests (such as verbal and numerical reasoning), personality tests, group exercises, role plays and presentations (both group and individual). Candidates are also usually given a tour of company offices during an assessment day and several opportunities to meet with, and talk to, current employees.
How to behave at an Assessment Day
[Edit]Candidates should be assertive, enthusiastic and co-operative at an assessment day. An assessment day is not a competition; teamwork is key if you want to do well. Be friendly, polite and supportive to other candidates. Assessors are looking for competitive people who can work well with others, not just competitive people.
Further Information on Assessment Days
[Edit]For further information on assessment days see:
- Assessment centres.
- Group exercise.
- Competency based interview.
- Internships.
- Ask questions about your next "assessment day" on the WikiJob forum.
19 March 2009 - 2:21am
n8net
hi noobster,
is that for RBS Graduate role u went for ? may i know when did u had this?
19 March 2009 - 2:23am
n8net
thax for sharing the exp.really descriptive post.thx a lot.
can u plz confrim this is for rbs graduate role?
what was ur Group excersice topic?
19 March 2009 - 5:58pm
noobster
Hi n8net,
Im glad that you found my post useful. The post above relates to a graduate role that I applied for at RBS, which I eventually received an offer of. Which position are you applying for? It may not be that you get exactly the same exercises as me because when they sent me a pack on how to prepare for the AC, they told me that I could any range of exercises that could include:
Role Play
Group Exercise
Presentation - Which I didn't do
Business Report - Which I didn't do
Numerical Exercise
Fast track Exercise
In - Tray exercise - Which I didn't do
My friend also applied for a graduate role which was different from mine, and she got completely different exercises from me.
The best advice would be to prepare as though you are you are going to be tested on all of them, therefore you don't get any suprises on the day. My group exercise topic was about a company that all members of the group worked for and we had an objective to meet, in terms of finding a suitable sporting event that our company could sponsor. There were lots of options to choose for and you have to take different considerations into account such as choosing a sporting event that reflects the company's values and gain maximum exposure for the company. To be honest, I don't think that the topic of the discussion matters at all, they don't even look at the solution to see if its right or wrong. They are just testing you to see how well you work and interact with other members of the group.
Hope this helps, when is your AC?
19 September 2009 - 4:56pm
sunrise
Hi Noobster,
Thanks for sharing your AC experience.
I found it very useful and interesting.
I am getting prepared for an AC for which I dont have any details yet, but it is with a global Cie and for an experienced role. So it's nothing to do with a graduate level job.
I am a bit anxious about it, because I have done one in the past that I have litteraly failed.
And the feedback were not that relevant, so that didnt help me to understand why I didnt get the job in the end.
I know that I can find some materials on the numerical and verbal tests, but my concerns are more on the group exercice which I might have.
Can you please give me some tips / hints on that one plz?
English is not my first language, although I have a pretty good level. I am not very confortable in group exercice cause the few jobs i held in the past were pretty individual.
Thank you in advance for your help.
21 September 2009 - 1:06pm
noobster
Hi Sunrise,
Hope the prep is going well.
I found this book really useful when it came to preparing with all types of exercises on the assessment day particularly group exercises so it might be worth getting a copy from the library or even buying one. Its called 'How to succeed at an assessment centre' by harry tolley and Robert Wood. General tips for doing well in group discussions are:
- Ask the group how it might be best to approach the problem/task you have been given and then provide your suggestion (this shows that you would like to take an organised approach whilst listening to other opinions) - Timekeeper is always the classic role to do. Again its good if you can suggest to the group how to organise the groups time at the beginning of the task and make sure that its your role to point out when they need to move on to the next bit of the task. - Always involve quieter members of the group who are not contributing by asking them what their thoughts and opinions are on the matter (you score bonus points for that) - If there is other materials that you have been given for the task, i.e. a whiteboard and pen, suggest to the rest of the group on using it for the task. Remember you have been given those props for a reason. If you have nominated yourself to write down everyone elses idea's, dont just write them down any old way, think about how it would look best to jot down ideas (i.e. spider diagram, putting ideas into decision making tools etc) - If someone else in the group has made a good idea or suggestion then praise them on it by saying ' I really agree strongly with X's idea' - If you disagree with someones suggestion, then first acknowledge their contribution then provide a counter argument by saying 'I agree/appreciate with your suggestion, however I believe...'
I hope this helps, there lots more tips in the book which should help. With all group exercises you will get someone that dominates the session. Dont let them get the better of you by speaking over people to get heard. Interrupting what people are saying is the worst possible thing you could do, instead let them speak, and when they have finished, invite other people into the conversation. My bet is that they will not have been able to say anything if someone else has been taking over the exercise. Also another key thing is that you always need to keep in mind what the objective of the task is, if you feel that the group is going nowhere, then take charge and re-iterate what the goal of the task is and what needs to be done to achieve it. Assessors really like people who keep their mind on the end goal at hand as well as people that engage the whole group.
Hope this helps.
Hi Guys,
I went for my AC recently for a graduate position. so I just thought it would good to share my knowledge of what happened to help you guys. Mine lasted the whole day and consisted of the following exercises:
Group exercise
Numeracy test
Role play exercise
Fast track ability test
Interveiw
In the group exercise, the whole group was given different sets of proposals to look over and we had time to prepare notes on it. Then we had to present our information to the rest of the group (not in terms of a full on presentation but telling everyone about your proposal ie good points, bad points). Then you are given time as a group to decide which proposal you should go for. This is pretty straight forward and you need to think about what assesors are looking for. For example, everytime the group agreed on a decision, I would summarise it and ask if everyone in the group is happy. I also asked quieter members of the group if they were happy with the decisions made. Its not all about being the loudest person, but listening to others ideas, and if you agree with it or disagree, say so and why. also keeping an eye on the time and making sure that the group sticks to time is also key.
The numeracy test was pretty straightforward, its not hard at all and im crap at maths so you should be fine, just keeping practising, but also keep your eye on the time, kos it tends to pass really quickly. You dont get a warning if there is 5 mins to go so its pretty much up to you to be your own timekeeper.
The Fasttrack ability test is a timed exercise where you different sets of card with information on it and from this ou have to decipher a pattern and fill in missing bits of information on other cards. First couple of exercises was ok but i found it really hard towards the end. Im not sure if this is something that you can practise because I have never seen anything like this before!
Th role play exercise involved a scenario where you are working as a team and someone who you have been working with, is not producing the usually high standard of work you normally produce. You get given a brief about your role, the team you work in and also different sets of information in the form of emails. You then get given time to make notes and prepare a plan to bring in with you to the role play exercise which lasts 20 mins. This is where an actor comes in pretending to be the collegue and you have to extract some agreement from them by the end of the meeting. As well as being sympathetic, in terms of asking them if everything is ok in their personal and professional life, you also have to be firm where you need to be, for example, letting them know that the project you are working on is important. It also very good to schedule a time in the future where you will assess their progress again. There is loads of stuff on the web on how to prepare for role play exercises so dont worry about this.
The interveiw was very straight forward, no grilling questions just standard questions like why rbs, y the role and also some basic competency questions.
And thats it. I hope this helps guys, my best advice would be to prepare, after speaking to some of the other graduates, who were there, the advantage that you can have is by preparing. Research techniques that can help you to do well in group exercises and in role plays and keep practising your numeracy tests and you will do fine.
Good luck to all of you.