How to succeed at assessment centres

Global businesses are looking for MBA hires who will eventually become their global leaders. But how do these businesses make sure that their talent selection is robust, fair and accurate?

What are assessment centres?

Assessment centres are used by organisations to standardise the assessment of technical skills and behavioural styles across a group of candidates. They use a set of processes or tests which measure candidates against predetermined standards and are highly reliable at identifying candidates who will become future leaders.

What abilities do you need to show?

To succeed at assessment centres, you need to display four core competencies.

● Commercial acumen to test whether you understand your role in the organisation and how you contribute to its success. You need to show the ability to appreciate the big picture and grasp what is happening in the macroeconomic environment and how this will affect the organisation. Also, you need to show that you can communicate succinctly the implications.

● Drive and motivation to assess whether you are resilient, passionate and can motivate others. This category tests whether you can initiate ideas and work efficiently, as well as give and receive feedback well.

● Problem-solving. In this case, you need to show that you can identify key issues, think around problems creatively and draw appropriate conclusions from qualitative and quantitative information.

● Personal impact – the ability to share information and ideas easily. Also you will be tested on whether you involve others, not alienate people and you are able to help a team to understand your way of thinking.

What to expect from group exercises?

A further assessment tool is the group exercise, which may involve a practical task such as building a tower using only drinking straws and sticking tape or dealing with a business scenario. Here, the desired outcome is to make individual decisions and then discuss these with rest of the group.

Good candidates will get the group to agree as closely as possible to their individual choices without dominating the conversation. They must have logical reasoning and will need to present and defend their ideas. The aim is to discover what thought processes candidates went through to get the best solution and how they are able to present these back to the team.

It is important that candidates understand and follow the instructions for the exercise. Typical competencies that the assessors may be looking for are listening skills, out-of-the-box thinking and the ability to work well with others. The assessors will be looking at how candidates talk in a group: are they over-dominating or team players? Are they compelling or unconvincing in their reasoning.

For more senior-level hires, candidates are expected to display leadership skills through the way they manage and engineer the conversation.

It is difficult to practise for group exercises as well as personality tests, but it is best to be yourself and try not to second-guess.

What do you need to know about giving a presentation?

Candidates will be asked to give a presentation and will be given a topic once at the assessment centre. Examples include why a company’s profits have been falling for the past two years or what is a company’s strategy for growth. The assessors will look at whether candidates are thinking about customers and stakeholders and have they managed to grasp challenges that may not have been explicitly spelt out.

Some recruiters may also ask candidates to submit a short written summary of their presentation. The aim is to demonstrate a clear structure with an audience-sensitive writing style that shows that all information was recognised and covered.

How do I prepare for numerical and verbal reasoning tests?

To give yourself a better chance of a high score, you should practise the numerical and verbal reasoning tests. To do this, you can revisit the work you did to prepare for the GMAT test. You may want to do a few practice GMAT tests, as they are often similar in content to the management-level tests most companies use.

What else should I expect?

If you are well prepared, the assessment centre can be stimulating and enjoyable. It is important to participate in all aspects of the experience, including social events such as dinner. But be careful not to overindulge.

Make sure you dress smartly but feel comfortable enough to participate in the various activities. Start and end the day with firm handshakes, smiles, enthusiasm and good manners.

Every interaction potentially contributes to your assessed performance, so represent your best self at all times but be as natural as possible.

Iain McLoughlin is the director of career services at Esade Business School in Spain.