What happens at property graduate assessment centres

The vast majority of large property firms use assessment days as part of their graduate recruitment process, including BNP Paribas Real Estate, Cushman & Wakefield, Jones Lang LaSalle and Knight Frank. The format of the days is surprisingly similar – it typically comprises of:

• a group exercise
• a presentation (either prepared in advance, usually on a topic of your choice, or the findings from the assessment centre’s group exercise)
• an interview with a partner
• aptitude testing (if this is not done earlier in the process)
• some socialising with current graduate employees and/or senior members of staff (for example, at Knight Frank candidates will have lunch with graduate employees and a divisional head).

Kim Brumley, resourcing manager (associate director) at BNP Paribas Real Estate, says: ‘Our assessment centres start off with a group exercise, which is a bit of fun, helps breaks the ice and makes the graduates feel at ease. Then some graduates will have a competency based interview first while others start preparing for their individual analysis exercise. The analysis exercise involves working through a case study of a company looking to relocate their business; the graduates have to review the data of two different sites and give advice on which location out of the two they would recommend and why. They then have to deliver their findings via a presentation one-to-one to an assessor. All graduates at the assessment centre complete all of the exercises and finish off by writing a business report of their recommendations from the earlier case study.’

How many graduates get through to an assessment centre?

This will vary depending on how many graduate vacancies an employer has. The property sector is fiercely competitive at the moment, with graduates from the last couple of years all going for the same graduate programmes. ‘We had over 700 applications last year, which were filtered down to 271 for online testing. The top 90 went through to telephone interview and 60 graduates attended our assessment centres,’ says Kim. ‘The quality of candidates was very high – we filled 15 vacancies, but could easily have filled 20 with the applicants we had.’

How are candidates assessed at a property assessment day?

Most property firms assess their candidates against set competencies, which are fairly easy to work out from looking at their graduate recruitment websites. Common ones include your interpersonal skills (how you communicate and get on with people), problem solving, ambition/drive, commercial awareness and commitment to a career in property.

BNP Paribas Real Estate scores candidates from one to four on each exercise and take into account the performance at interview. However, the scores you need to achieve will be governed by the nature of the vacancy. ‘It is perfectly possible for candidates who shows excellent client-facing skills but scored lower on the numerical tests to score more highly overall than someone who was strong on numeracy but weaker at dealing with clients,’ explains Kim. ‘Remember, we don’t expect you to be strong on all of the exercises – hence why we assess all competencies more than once.’ The moral? Don’t try to second guess the assessors.

What should graduates do in the group exercise?

‘The group exercise and presentation are useful to us because they give an insight into thought processes and analytical skills, as well as how they get on with different people,’ says Kim. Don’t get too hung up on getting the ‘correct’ answer. As Kim says, ‘Sometimes there isn’t a right answer and the assessors are looking more at how you think and work as part of a team.’

When tackling a group exercise, you can impress the assessors by:

• articulating your thoughts and making clear notes (especially if working through a case study)
• not shouting over other people to make yourself heard
• welcoming other people’s ideas – praise the good points and, if you disagree, say so politely
• volunteering to be timekeeper or note taker
• making constructive suggestions on how to tackle the task – for example, to break into sub-groups to look at different pieces of data.

How can candidates make a good presentation to a property assessor?

A good presentation has a good structure. For the BNP Paribas Real Estate presentation, you could do the following:

• Welcome your audience and state what you will be covering – that you will present a certain recommendation.
• If you have five minutes, your middle section should take about three of them – enough to make two or three points well. You could structure it by saying why you think one site is better than the other, comparing each site.
• End with a summary of what you have covered. Invite questions from the assessor and thank them for their attention.

Why are graduates given a written exercise?

Writing tests aren’t common at property assessment centres, but when you do get them assessors are looking at your use of structure and language: how do you tackle a professional piece of communication? Can you write in a formal tone, while ensuring that your recommendations are written unambiguously? Of course, you also need to avoid making spelling and grammatical errors.

And relax, but not too much

There will be times when you interact with graduate employees and more senior people in a more social setting. Here, the tip is to make small talk, and don’t say anything negative about the company or talk about other firms you’re applying to.

• Interested in applying to BNP Paribas Real Estate? Read our independent Employer Insight for more tips on how they recruit graduates and how to impress them