The Business School Preparing for Placement Sally Western

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The Business SchoolPreparing for
PlacementSally Western

• Interviews, Tests and Assessment Centres

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What happens next?

• One or more of the following the order can vary
• Pre-screening
• Telephone interview
• On-line psychometric test
• 1st interview
• 2nd interview
• Assessment centre

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Types of interview

• Face to face or telephone
• 11 or panel
• Formal or informal
• Technical or personnel
• Structured/Competencies/Situational
• 1st, 2nd or as part of assessment centre

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The interviewers agenda

• Can the applicant do the job?
• Qualifications / experience / aptitude
• Will s/he do the job?
• Attitude / approach / motivation
• Will s/he fit in?
• Personality / style / flexibility of approach

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Your agenda

• Gather information to determine
• Can you do the job? / Will you enjoy
• the work? / Will you feel at home in the
• organisation?
• Emphasise your key selling points
• Ask questions at the end

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Preparation is KEY

• One chance to make a good impression!
• Practical
• Mental
• Psychological

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Practical Preparation

• How are you going to get there?
• Where are you going?
• What time?
• Who are you meeting?
• Whats the format?
• Will you take anything with you?
• What will you wear?

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Mental Preparation

• Know yourself, the job, the organisation
• Current affairs/commercial awareness
• Re read your application
• Prepare outline answers DONT SCRIPT!
• What would YOU like to know if you were the
  interviewer?
• Your questions

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Psychological Preparation

• Approach it with confidence enthusiasm
• Forget any mistakes move on!
• Breathe relax
• Visualise
• Positive affirmations

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The interview itself

• Dress appropriately
• Give a firm handshake
• Keep a good posture throughout
• Maintain good eye contact
• Look and sound interested and enthusiastic
  smiling helps a lot
• How you come across is as important as what you
  say

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Skills employers seek

• Analytical ability
• Commercial awareness
• Computer literacy
• Decision-making
• Influencing
• Initiative
• Leadership
• Negotiation
• Networking
• Oral communication
• Planning

• Presentation
• Problem-solving
• Self-awareness
• Self-confidence
• Self-management
• Team-working
• Tenacity
• Time-management
• Willingness to learn
• Written communication

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Their Questions

• Be yourself
• Dont lie
• Avoid just yes and no
• Think before you speak practise this!
• Ask for clarification
• Discriminatory questions politely decline

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Difficult Questions

• They want your answer AND to see how you react
• Accentuate the positive
• Minimise the negative

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Answering the questions!

• The Question
• How good an organiser are you?
• The Evidence
• How have you demonstrated organisational skills?
• The Personal Contribution
• What was your contribution / what did you learn /
  what
• would you do differently next time?
• The General Situation
• What makes a good/bad organiser / why is it
  important to
• recruit people with organisational skills?

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Typical interview questions

• Why did you choose Business Studies?
• What have you gained from your course so far?
• Why do you want to work for us?
• What do you know about our company?
• How would your friends describe you?
• How do you approach a project?
• Tell me more about your part time job.
• What makes you the best candidate for this
  placement?

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Summary

• Getting an interview means you are well on the
  way to getting a job
• Interviewers want you to succeed
• Interviews are never perfect
• Reflect on your performance and learn from it
  (obtain feedback where possible)

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• DVD
• Making an Impact

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Psychometric tests

• Aptitude
• or
• Personality

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AptitudeTests

• Numerical and Verbal. Sometimes Diagrammatical
• On-line or at an assessment centre or both
• Why? To see how you perform/react
• Standardised scores against a norm group
• No set pass rate depends on the company and
  what theyre looking for

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Aptitude Tests cont.

• Classroom/ exam conditions
• Read/listen to instructions
• Watch the clock and work quickly
• Dont worry if you dont finish
• Practise if you can on-line and paper based

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Personality Questionnaires

• Not a test
• No right or wrong answers just be true to
  yourself
• Certain characteristics may have been earmarked
  as required for a specific position, but trying
  to guess what answer to give seldom works
• May still be timed
• Less common for placement recruitment than for
  graduate recruitment

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Second Interviews Assessment Centres

• One or two days
• Social events
• Group activities (discussion, role-play, business
  games, case studies etc.)
• Individual tasks (in-tray exercises, report
  writing, aptitude tests, etc.)
• Presentations
• Interviews

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• Would you provide this answer???

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• Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,
  it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a
  wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the
  frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The
  rset can be a ttoal mses and you can sitll raed
  it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn
  mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but
  the wrod as a wlohe.

BUT THIS DOES NOT EXCUSE SPELLING MISTAKES!!
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Q If you were given the capital to start a
business, what would it be and how would you see
off the competition?

• A I would start a business concerning
  accounting.
• As for the competition innovative services and
  competitive prices.

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Q If you were given the capital to start a
business, what would it be and how would you see
off the competition?

• A I would open fitness centre, whereby instead
  of having multiple indoor sports-machines,
  members would be equipped with a clip-on callery
  distance counter and encouraged to run through
  the scenic grounds of the centre rather than
  indoors. In order to see off the competition I
  would offer a reduced membership rate to any
  members who have been referred to the centre via
  the NHS. I would advertise this offer at local
  clinics.

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Q If you were given the capital to start a
business, what would it be and how would you see
off the competition?

• A My business would be called Auto-Garage. It
  would fit pop-up garages into household
  gardens. The business would be to build a car
  space under the ground and at the press of a
  button, lift it up to allow you to drive your car
  into it. When the button is again pressed the
  garage lowers back under the ground. This would
  allow parking congestion to be relieved from the
  public roads and enable garages to be fitted
  without ruining restricted garden space in towns.
  As a result it would receive a good response from
  planning committees.
• A unique way of overcoming the competition other
  than protection through patents would be to
  ensure that the product is top quality and
  competitively priced, with good installation and
  after sales service. It would not be possible to
  stop other similar ideas competing but quality
  and efficiency would ensure that the competition
  was reduced.

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GROUP EXERCISESExamples of topics used by
employers

• There should be a 2m limit on the lottery
  jackpot
• This country has too few roads, not too many.
  What is needed is a proper motorway network
• Everyone should be made to have a year out
  between school and university

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Tips on Assessment Centres

• Be yourself
• Contribute
• Research
• Designed to fit round pegs into round holes

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Useful resources

• www.careers.lboro.ac.uk - for information,
  advice, workshops and employer events
• Links from our website to test providers so you
  can practise on-line tests
• Careers Centre leaflets
• AGCAS booklet Going for Interviews
• DVD Why ask me that?
• Practice aptitude test sessions / booklets/ books
• Quick Advice Desk (15 minutes)
• Mock interviews

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THE END

• Thank you for attending these sessions.
• I hope you have found them useful.
• If you need any more assistance please visit us
  in person or on-line
• Best of luck next year
• Sally