Assessment Centre

muboop1

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anybody could give me any advice about what to expect in an assessment centre?

Its only half a day long and i have it next month for my dream job, (I do not want to say what company)

Any tips?

who_ru

what sector?

muboop1

Hey,
Its the premium drinks(alcoholic) industry.

any help would be appreciated.

rebel105

Hey
I got to that stage last year with Jameson...ours was a full day, in the morning everyone had to do a presentation (that was prepared obviously)
then in the afternoon we had 3 sets of interviews and then group work....that was made up of 3 sections...first of all, they did one of those things where they give you a word or saying and you get 1 minute and then everyone has to talk about whatever they got for 2 minutes. I got something along the lines of success depends on you or something like that but some people got some really random words, i think one guy got something like shepherds pie! Next, they divided us into groups and gave everyone a random object, (we got a car air freshener) and we got ten minutes to come up with a marketing strategy and a proposal for how we would launch it, where we would sell it etc and then we had to present it to everyone. The last thing was a debate, we were divided in two groups and had to debate a subject something along the lines of "That drinks companies are not advertising responsibly and alcohol advertising should be banned"

good luck!

who_ru

rebel105 wrote: »

Hey
I got to that stage last year with Jameson...ours was a full day, in the morning everyone had to do a presentation (that was prepared obviously)
then in the afternoon we had 3 sets of interviews and then group work....that was made up of 3 sections...first of all, they did one of those things where they give you a word or saying and you get 1 minute and then everyone has to talk about whatever they got for 2 minutes. I got something along the lines of success depends on you or something like that but some people got some really random words, i think one guy got something like shepherds pie! Next, they divided us into groups and gave everyone a random object, (we got a car air freshener) and we got ten minutes to come up with a marketing strategy and a proposal for how we would launch it, where we would sell it etc and then we had to present it to everyone. The last thing was a debate, we were divided in two groups and had to debate a subject something along the lines of "That drinks companies are not advertising responsibly and alcohol advertising should be banned"

good luck!

good grief what will they expect next, candidates to stand up juggling pieces of waterford crystal while explaining the theory of relativity! first candidate to drop a piece of crystal is out.

rebel105

who_ru wrote: »

good grief what will they expect next, candidates to stand up juggling pieces of waterford crystal while explaining the theory of relativity! first candidate to drop a piece of crystal is out.

haha! well you're not far wrong.

Last year, you had to prepare a 2 minute "Why me?" presentation for the first round interview....

...this year, you had to send in a "Why me?" video with your initial application!

...this year, I didn't apply!

who_ru

you could have submitted this

divad

Hi i got to the assessment stage for Diageo last year and it was said to be a half day but it pretty much a full day with all the waiting around and that.

You will be in with 5-6 other potential candidates so you will get a chance to hang around with them and see how they are getting on but do not listen to everything they say or believe their info they are your competition after all so be way of them.

Each person's task's will be different, but i started off doing a case study. I was given a short case study and let study it for 15 mins then i had to present my findings and make a recommendations based on the info in the case study, no powerpoint involved just an oral presentation. There were two assessors in the room with me who ask quite a few questions so be able to back up your recommendations.

Next i did a group task, all he candidates were placed in a room with a case study with 15 mins to study it and then 20 mins to make recommendations as a group. There is an assessor for each candidate is being assessed.

I then did a role play where you are the boss and the assessor is the disgruntled employee. This is quite hard and you will be really tested on this one. There will also be another assessor in the room too.

Finally the interview was last and this is where i fell down, It was late in the afternoon and i was completely wrecked from the other tasks and i did't give it enough which i hugely regret. But its more or less a regular interview with more specific questions.

These can be in completely different order of course this is just the way it panned out for me.

Hope this is helpful to you.

muboop1

This is exactly what i wanted to know!

Thankyou!

grut312

Hey OP, I have one of these coming up in 2 weeks and I was just wondering if you would have any other tips/advice from how you got on? Did you just find it similar to the other posts? I don't really have any experience with these so any info at all would be great! Were you successful at your centre?

muboop1

Yeh, I ended up being successful.

All the advice I can say is this:

Do not bull**** or waffle, as in, be able to summerise all the major points without wasting time telling the irrelevant.

Do not be afraid to take control/talk in any group exercises, but do not be to aggressive about it, let everyone have their say and get their point across.

Be time aware for your tasks. If given 15 mins, finish by 15 mins...

Mostly, be yourself. A lot of these assessment centres arent just looking for the right answer, in fact, they might not even have a correct answer. They are more concerned with your personality, goals, drive, ability to work with people etc...