Recruitment Process
What can you expect from a typical Graduate Recruitment Programme?
Some companies run a series of extended selection procedures called assessment centres, when recruiting for Graduates. They usually occur after the first round of interviews and are designed to provide additional information for employers’ to make their final selection decisions.
Many employers consider the assessment centre to be the fairest and most objective method of recruiting staff and will often involve a number of assessors and exercises over a period of say one to two days (and sometimes more) to collect and evaluate all of the evidence gained throughout the process.
You may be faced with a range of exercise designed to assess your performance on a number of specified dimensions and these might include: in-trays, group exercises, case studies, job related exercises, psychometric testing, structured interviews and presentation exercises etc. A valuable spin-off is that you should have a fairly clear idea if you have been successful, thus reducing allegations of subjectivity or bias that can so easily follow the conventional interview. Training and Development plans can be produced for you, thus allowing a much smoother transition into your role.
Many companies recognise that the interview is the least objective method of recruitment and often use Psychometric tests to obtain additional information to help support decisions made.
Typical Psychometric elements include:
Verbal Application - measures the ability to understand the meaning of words and logic within sentences and the use of grammar. One use of this test would be to assess your ability to understand, complete or correct high level written text. The time to complete the test is 20 minutes.
Numerical Reasoning - measures the ability to understand the relationship between pieces of numerical information and to complete the relevant operations needed to solve particular problems. Problem types range from straightforward arithmetic to proportions, ratios and probabilities. The main use of this test would be to establish your competence in handling basic business data. The time to complete the test is 20 minutes.
Verbal Analysis - measures the ability to interpret high level written information in a number of ways. This test would assess your ability to understand and interpret complex written reports and policy documents. The time to complete the test is 35 minutes.
Numerical Analysis - measures the ability to interpret and use complex business-related numerical information. This test would be particularly useful in assessing your ability to identify trends across a wide range of data or combine statistics from different sources to establish new information patterns. The time to complete the test is 35 minutes.
Prepare yourself - practise tests can and should be obtained.
NB: The above information is taken from SHL – a leader in this particular field.
Personality Questionnaires – measures your behaviour in a work situation. They help to provide detailed information on specific personality characteristics that underpin performance on key job competencies, critical for graduates, managers and experienced hires. There are no right or wrong answers and the best way to answer the questions is to be as honest and as straightforward as you can. Guessing what someone is looking for will often be counter-productive.
