Assessment centres: putting would-be consultants to the graduate test

If you’re invited to a consulting assessment centre you’re doing well. You’ve sparked a firm’s interest and have demonstrated on paper that you have the skills and qualities they are seeking. An assessment centre is the next step in the recruitment process and it’s a fantastic opportunity for you to meet a firm and explore what it would be like to work for them.

Assessment centre myths

The most common myth surrounding assessment centres is that recruiters use them to trip candidates up. This is simply not the case. Consulting firms invest a lot of time, effort and money in the recruitment process and they want to see you perform well. The experience is designed to give you a taster of situations consultants face on a daily basis to see how you respond to the issues at hand. You’re not expected to know the ins and outs of a consulting project or converse in business jargon – recruiters just want to see how you process and react to information, work within a team and deal with time pressures.

Structure and processes

Assessment centres tend to last anywhere from half a day to two full days. The range of exercises you’ll partake in will be quite varied: this is a good thing as it allows recruiters to see your strengths in a number of key areas. Group exercises, presentations, interviews, aptitude tests and case studies are all common elements you can expect to encounter. It may sound scary but these types of tests and exercises will give you the best opportunity to demonstrate to recruiters that you possess the personal and technical skills required for the position.

Group exercises

Group exercises come in many different forms. These include discussion groups, exercises that involve role-playing a scenario, leadership tasks, and, most commonly, job-related tasks that test your ability to operate in situations similar to those you could be doing on the job. Promoting your own cause while helping the group to complete the task can be a difficult balance to obtain but remember that recruiters are looking for people who are team players and confident in their own abilities, rather than the loudest or most dominant voice.

Presentations

At some assessment centres you will be asked to give a presentation, usually to a mixed group of candidates and assessors. It’s helpful to bear in mind the following:

• A structure is helpful to prevent your mind from going blank and helps the audience keep track. Once you have a structure you can decide what kind of props you will use; notes are fine but don’t speak directly from a script.
• Be aware of your timescale and don’t attempt to fit in too much information or your audience will switch off and you’ll run out of time.
• Most of the message of your talk is transmitted non-verbally, by the way you present. Your body language can make a huge difference to your presentation so stand confidently, don’t fidget and look at those who you’re addressing.
• If you’re using a flipchart, projector or PowerPoint slides to support your presentation keep the text brief.

Aptitude and psychometric tests

These are designed to gauge how you would respond to a specific scenario.

• Find more information and links to free practice psychometric tests.

Covering all the bases

Consulting firms have criteria which candidates will be tested against. Every test, exercise and interview will match you against these criteria. Good research and preparation are essential if you’re to perform confidently and enthusiastically, so check a firm’s graduate recruitment literature for clues about the type of person it’s looking for.It’s also important to remember that it’s a two-way process, so use the experience to ask questions about the profession, the firm and the type of work consultants are involved with. Make notes on what you thought went well and what areas need improving, and ask for feedback on your performance.