Assessment Centres for Jobs

Moorsy

Hi!

I'm not sure if this is posted in the wrong area (sorry mods).

I was wondering if anybody has done, heard or knows much about assessment centres?

I got accepted to the next round for Enterprise Ireland which is an assessment centre in their office from 8:30 in the morning until 5 pm in the afternoon!!

Does anybody have any experience or tips on how to approach this or what kind of tests you have to do?

Thanks very much.

Ellechim

I've worked as an assessor in a number of assessment centres.

Phone the HR person and ask them what the content of the day will be, what types of tests will there be, who will be interviewing you, etc. If they won't tell you fair enough but if you do ask you will be getting a bit more info to help tailor your preparation (and they won't hold it against you if you do ask but if you don't ask and then find yourself unprepared it could make life harder). By phoning you are more likely to get a bit more info because they will tell you more chatting over the phone than by emailing. You could start by phoning to ask whether you need to bring your lunch (they will most likely provide lunch but it's a reasonable question to ask and gives you a way in).

If it's a whole day expect to have some or all of the following:

a) aptitude tests: numeracy, logical reasoning, analytical skills, language: for these you can buy a book in most big bookshops which give sample tests: do as many practice ones as possible. The idea is not to do 100% of the questions but to answer as many as accurately as possible - and you do need practice at them because they are fairly specific in the way they approach things.

b) psychometric tests: these test your attitude to yourself and your decisionmaking styles and types of behaviours (ie whether you prefer to work alone or in teams, how you operate under pressure, etc). the best thing to do with these is absolutely be yourself, take your time doing them and try not to second guess yourself. There really is no right answer on these.

c) Written test: a piece of analysis: like an exam type question, a case study, here's the business problem, write a report to the board or chief exec. You should practice this, know how to lay out a report. When doing it, mind your time, read the requirements carefully and make sure to answer the question.

d) presentation: again, you're given a case study and make a presentation to a group reporting how you'll handle x or y. You might have to do this on your own or as part of a group. If you're doing this in a group you are being judged on your leadership and teamworking skills and communication. Stay calm, focus on what you're being asked to do (whatever the question is) and make sure the group work together. You will get extra points for diplomacy, working well within the team, thinking 'outside the box' a little (challenging the group to come up with an even better solution). They are trying to judge whether you can get the job done and get along with people.

e)Role Play: there could be various examples of this: commonly you have to take part in a team meeting solving a problem, with representatives from different areas of the company (the other interviewees) - you have to take part in the meeting, and come up with an action plan. Same comments as in d apply here. If you're going for a people management position you might have to do a performance review with an employee. In both these situations read the brief really carefully, you will be given time to prepare. Make a brief note of what it is you're being asked to do so you can refer to it during the meeting and then at the end make sure you recap on any agreed action points and also who is going to do what.

f) an interview, or maybe two probably with HR and a line manager or maybe two HR people or perhaps even a panel. The interview will most likely be competency based: there may be competencies listed in the job description and they will ask you about these. What you need to do here is to give them answers to questions which give specific examples of things you have done to demonstrate this competency. If they say 'tell us about the most successful team you have been a part of ' then you need to say 'I was part of a x company, and it was successful because of y and I contributed to it by doing a, b, c...' They are evidence gathering here: make sure you talk about 'I' not 'we' and if you can do a mock interview with someone in advance then do.

Hope that helps, if I think of anything else I will post it - but I was in Dubray books in Dun Laoire recently and they had some great books on this kind of thing. I'm sure your local library will have some too.

Best of luck!

M

Moorsy

Hi Ellechim,

Thanks for that info, that'll be very very useful. I've already done their psychometric test on-line (innumeracy, verbal and personality) so they may not subject us to that again (although they said if you scored exceptionally well they may have to test you again to make sure you didn't get outside help etc).

I think I probably have some of the bases covered already. I'm doing business studies and political science in TCD so we have lots and lots of presentations and lots and lots of team work, and lots of case study/problem solving type essays/class discussions, so I should have a good grasp on that stuff.

I'll get working on the other stuff, and the phone call is a fantastic tip, cheers.

One question.... What would be the largest amount of people you would have usually brought in for a day of assessment? Apparently this year Enterprise Ireland got around 3 to 4 times the average number of applications and there are three separate days on which the assessment centre is being held to accommodate everybody. Just wondering if there'll be 100 other graduates all in one room all fighting each other to get a job.
There's 15 place btw.

Thanks again.

Ellechim

In terms of largest groups it really depends on how they are running it and how many hr assessors they have: if they are trying to recruit 15 people from 3 days then the groups will be large but I would be surprised if they were larger than 15 each and they would break this number into smaller groups.

Your course sounds like it is placing you well for this kind of thing, however be aware that you are competing with lots of other people who have similar backgrounds (and maybe more experience) so don't get complacent: prepare prepare prepare and research every iota of enterprise Ireland - talk to everyone you know, read every newspaper, website, etc in order to be as informed as possible.

Also, in terms of interview make sure you have prepared answers for every possible question: you will get books with lots of interview questions in a library or bookshop.

Best of luck! Let us know how you get on.....

ipnface

I'm doing the assessment center too. What day are you doing it? From what I've been told there are 73 through in this round, although I'm not sure how the numbers are split between days. It went from 1,500 to 300 to 73.

What I'm wondering is, is are there another round of final interviews after this one or is this it? Also do we have to choose a country for the interview to be interested in going to or are countries assigned randomly later?

Moorsy

It said in the e-mail that I received that this was the final stage/round. So I would imagine that this is it.

I don't know about the numbers. How did you get the numbers? Somebody you know works there? I was thinking it was more in the range of 30 -40 but I was just guessing.

Again, I don't know the process re what country we go to. I know from other org's I've worked in, which have multiple deptarments etc, you put down your preference for the dept you want to work in and they try to accommadate you, so it may be along these lines.

If I really don't want to go to Dubai, and I know it wouldn't suite me, then it would be counterproductive of them to send me there, right?

I'm on Friday btw.

ipnface

a mate i know didn't get through this far and asked for feedback and they gave him those numbers apparently. that's all i know.

I'm on Friday too.

Yeah, I'd pretty much take any job location, but i'd definitely have a preference alright.

ipnface

So it appears the Enterprise Ireland Graduate programme has been scrapped due to the recruitment moratorium. Another job opportunity swept away.

AntonLC

Hello

I have received an email inviting me to the assessment centre next month. Would you please share some advice or insight having gone to one a few years ago.

Thank you

leekc20

I'm the same I'd love some advice so that I can try to prepare as much as possible! Could it really be true that numbers are as low as 73 at this stage?! Any info would be greatly appreciated