Assessment Centres or Second Interviews or Selection Centres or Final Interviews John Nicholles, Careers Adviser, UCL

Typical Format Lasts ½ day to 2 days. Employer premises or hotel. Meet night before, maybe dinner- Socialise with recent graduate recruits and the selectors. Range of selection methods. Want to get a more complete picture of what you’re like.

Group Discussions you may: discuss a topic e.g. –current news issue, grants v. loans, moon crash- landing, business issue, abolish the royal family, genetics. solve a problem (case study) e.g. –(a) manager of supermarket, food line is contaminated, what action do you take? –(b) your company makes pizzas, expanding into Europe, where do you build your production units? physical group task e.g. –ice breaker (legoman, carpet squares obstacle course), –physically move -people and equipment across difficult terrain.

Group Discussions (2) Leaderless or Leader-assigned Group Discussion Examples: (a)“Three years’ work experience is of more value than three years’ in higher education’ - Discuss. (b)“Your company has just received two new orders with imminent deadlines. –But, you can only fill one order.-one order is the usual small order from a long-established customer. –the other order is much larger but from a new customer who may place more orders in future. What should you do?

Dimensions Employers May Use to Assess Individual Contributions to Discussion Influence on others, offers relevant points Participation and enthusiasm within group Speaks fluently with clear, good diction Good quality of thought and problem analysis. Determination - energetically presents and defends views Plenty of new ideas. Receptive and listens to other ideas Helps to facilitate discussion, stop others dominating, brings in quieter members, summarises. Fails to influence or get points accepted. indifferent to discussion or others’ opinions stumbles or hesitates. fails to grasp essential points easily discouraged simply repeats what others say battles against others or simply ignores other speakers

Oral Presentations Usually about 5-15 mins (time will go fast). May be asked to prepare before you arrive or given some time on the day. Audience will be the assessors and may include the other candidates. May be: choice of subject - something you know well or, you may be given a topic. –e.g. “Why I enjoy ”, “ Tell us about (a current topical issue)”, “What can you offer this organisation”.

Oral Presentations 2 Pretend you are telling a story to a group of children, friends, people who are on your side. Don’t complicate it with too many facts or figures. Keep it simple. Use short notes/headings. Don’t read from a script. Start by giving an outline of your talk. Speak clearly, slowly (not too slow). Breath. Don’t speak in a monotone, change the pitch of your voice Practise beforehand.

Written Exercises Draft a letter Write a report In-tray exercise

Draft a Letter - Example You are an area manager of a computer firm. A customer has written objecting to the annual £10,000 maintenance charge. Apart from routine maintenance, engineers have not had to visit the customer for two years. You don’t want to upset the customer, who will be expanding their computer department next year. You have no power to waive the charge. The letter writer is new to the company, and in their previous job used another computer manufacturer. A fault in one of your computers will cost your company in excess of £50, 000. Write a firm but tactful letter saying ‘NO’

Write a Report - Example You are the production manager for a small, very old- fashioned rubber foam manufacturer. Your company has just been bought by a Belgian company. The new owners want to modernise and expand production and have asked you to recommend one of several options: –acquire a new factory, build a new green field site factory, expand the old factory, no change. You are given a set of papers relating to new and old equipment, production, labour, distribution, maintenance and overhead costs, redundancy payments, predicted sales and markets etc. You must summarise main facts, give arguments for and against each option, evaluate and recommend.

In-tray Example You/your boss are suddenly called abroad for several days. You are given 40 minutes to sift the in-tray and sort the contents into: – urgent - to be dealt with now. – important - pass on to someone else to deal with. – trivial - leave till return. Give reasons for your decisions.

In-tray Example 2 The in-tray could consist of: –a request for leave, –a letter from a graduate wanting a job, –a request from the MD for a speech, –an official report requiring comments, –re-schedule a meeting, –telephone messages, –etc.