We asked four successful grads what the f*#& is an Assessment Centre? Here’s what they said.
- Brendan - Paralegal at Freehills, Former congressional intern at the US Senate
- Maddy - Former Trainee at PwC, Westpac Graduate
- Lulu - Analyst at Quantium
- Simon - Analyst at Deloitte
LULU: An assessment centre is pretty much just a day where you have all these different tests.
SIMON: You get invited to basically compete against many people for a job.
BRENDAN: They’ll give you a group task, or they’ll give you potentially, like, a business case study.
SIMON: Usually there’ll be groups of five or six.
LULU: You’re given a sort of information pack with some data…
BRENDAN: ... And as a team, you need to work together, create a solution and create a final pitch.
SIMON: You have to understand the case, talk through it with your group.
LULU: Then, afterwards you often present that to a couple of your assessors.
SIMON: [They] get to see your confidence, and how well you present.
BRENDAN: So, I remember, one group assessment that I had, they gave me a business case study about a company that had just started, and we were meant to be the consultants, advising on how they could expand to their next sales target. So as a team you’d work together, figure out the problem, figure out the solution, and then pitch that final solution to the assessors.
SIMON: They’re just trying to evaluate how you work in those environments, rather than just asking you how you work in those environments.
BRENDAN: There might be a writing component as well.
LULU: There’s usually a sort of mathematical-based assessment.
BRENDAN: I guess it depends on what you’re applying for.
LULU: Whether it’s choosing different patterns, say, “Which comes next?”. It’s pretty much assessing your ability to think quickly. They’re often timed as well.
SIMON: Usually, afterwards, they’ll have individual interviews with those assessors, or different assessors. So that way they can evaluate, you know, behavioural questions, and get to know you a little bit better.
LULU: And then after that, they’ll kind of let you know whether you’re going on to the next steps for a full interview or not.
Update 1 June 2024: The disclaimer in the video is out of date. Professional Super changed trustee from Tidswell to Diversa on 18 December 2020 and moved from Professional Super, a sub-fund of the Tidswell Master Superannuation Plan to Professional Super, a sub-fund of OneSuper on 1 June 2024. See the Significant Event Notice for more information.
