Wondering how succeed at a graduate scheme assessment day? Helen Miller, a graduate on the Chime Communications Grad Scheme, shares some top tips she picked up when attending assessment days, covering how to prepare for the big day in part 1 and how to stand out on the day in part 2. Read on for some great advice that could help you get the job you want.
Firstly, well done on getting through to an assessment day! It’s a fantastic achievement, and you’ve just beaten hundreds of other applicants to get through.
To help you succeed at your assessment day, this blog post covers two main topics – in part 1 I’ll answer some frequently asked questions that may be running through your mind before you get to the big day, such as:
• What can I expect to happen on the day?
• What questions might I be asked at my interview?
• How can I prepare for my individual presentation?
• What research should I do?
• Will my social media profile be looked at?
• What should I take with me?
• What should I wear?
In part 2 I’ll then go on to talk about ways in which you can stand out on the day itself, starting with general hints and tips and then talking about the day in chronological order from when you first arrive through to the end of the day.
So, what should you do before the big day? Ultimately, being prepared is the key to succeeding at assessment days. So here are some answers to a few frequently asked questions that will help with your understanding of assessment days and how you can prepare for them.
What can I expect to happen on the day?
No two assessment days will be alike; however there are a core number of activities that will occur on most days, typically in the following order.
Introduction – usually the day will begin with a presentation that welcomes you to the company, introduces you to your assessors and informs you of the timetable for the day. Although there won’t be much for you to do during the introduction, be aware that your assessors will be judging you right from the start.
Group task – the group task will often be the main focus of the day. What you’ll be asked to do will vary between agencies; however one very common task is to come up with an advertising campaign for one of the company’s brands. You’ll be given a creative brief in the introduction session, which will outline the problem your campaign needs to address. You’ll then be given a few hours to work in groups and define your target audience, objectives, strategy, positioning, what you want to say, whether your ad will be rational and/or emotional etc. All this will lead to the generation of an idea for your campaign, which you’ll then need to develop during the second half of the day. At the end of the day your group will be asked to present your campaign idea to your assessors.
Individual interview – you may also have an individual interview, which will usually be similar to your first round interview. The interviewers will be looking for three simple things – that you’re a decent person, that you’ll be able to do the job well and that you’ll fit in at the company.
Individual presentation – some companies may ask you to prepare an individual presentation on a certain topic, such as a current trend in the industry or an interesting strategic insight. You’ll know in advance what the topic is and how long you’ll have to present. After your individual presentation, you’ll also probably be asked some questions on the topic.
Drinks – assessment days sometimes end with casual drinks.
What questions might I be asked at my interview?
The questions you’ll be asked at your assessment day interview will most likely be very similar to those you were asked at your first round interview. You’ve already succeeded at the first round, so be confident that you can succeed again at the assessment day.
The key to interviewing well is to prepare answers to standard questions as thoroughly as possible, but on the day answer them naturally without sounding rehearsed. This can be difficult to master, therefore practice with friends and family until you can do it.
Here are some questions you should be able to answer before you go to your interview:
• What are your strengths/ weaknesses?
• Tell me about a time when you: showed leadership/ demonstrated problem solving/ dealt with a project that went wrong/ [insert any other generic CV topic here]
• How would your friends describe you?
• What are you passionate about?
• Where do you see yourself in 2/5/10 years’ time?
• Why do you want to work at this company?
• Why do you want to work in advertising?
• Why do you want to work in Account Management/ Planning/Project Management?
• What is your favourite advertising campaign at the moment/of all time?
• What is your least favourite advertising campaign at the moment/of all time?
• What is your favourite integrated communications campaign?
• Tell me about a controversial advertising campaign?
• What brand could improve their advertising?
• What are the current trends in the advertising industry?
• What does the future hold for advertising?
• Have you read any books about advertising?
• Do you have any questions?
This last question is the most important of them all. Make sure you go to your assessment day with at least three questions prepared that you want to ask about the company or the graduate scheme. Your assessors will want to know you are keen to find out more, and you should use this opportunity to explore whether or not you think this is the right job and company for you. Tip: don’t ask what the salary is – if you get the job you’ll find this out soon enough, but don’t make it look as if you are only interested in the money.
If you aren’t able to answer any of the above questions (for example, if you don’t know the difference between account management, planning and project management), then make sure you can by the time your assessment day comes around by doing your research online. The IPA AdMISSION blog is a great place to start.
When practicing and preparing for your interview questions, focus in particular on explaining why you want to work at the company you are interviewing at. It’s almost guaranteed that your interviewers will ask you why you want to work for them specifically, so do your research on the company and give a personalised rather than generic answer.
How can I prepare for my individual presentation?
Don’t put together your presentation the night before the assessment day as this will be evident to your assessor when you present. Think about how the other graduates will be preparing for the day – chances are they’ll have their presentations prepared a week beforehand and will have practiced it multiple times. So write your presentation a few days before your assessment day and practice until you know it off-by-heart and can deliver it smoothly without umm-ing and err-ing.
It’s also likely that the other graduates will cram their presentation slides full of words. So be different – when you put together your presentation, think about how you can demonstrate a point with images rather than words. For example, if you are talking about an advertising campaign, then show just an image from the campaign on the slide, rather than describing it in words. This will stop you reading off the slide and enable you to talk naturally about your point of view. The image should cue your memory of what it is you want to say, especially if you practice enough times.
What research should I do?
The company – spend a few hours researching the company in-depth. Who are the main clients – what’s the current news surrounding the main clients? Who is the CEO – what is their history and why are they inspirational? Has the company been in the trade press recently – are there any stories on Brand Republic’s website about it? When you first submitted your application form, and possibly even when you attended your first interview, you may have only looked at a couple of pages on the company’s website. Look further than this now and try to get to know the company inside out. The more you know about the company the better. In particular, get to know its clients, as your group task will usually be based on solving a problem for one of its brands.
The industry – make sure you know what’s currently going on in the advertising industry, as well as what’s happening in the wider communications industry, including PR and experiential. Do your research on integrated communications by reading blogs and website such as Campaign, Marketing Week and AdWeek.
Current affairs – if you don’t do so already, keep up to date with the news in the week preceding your assessment day, as this will come in handy when answering interview questions and in your group task.
Will my social media profile be looked at?
Yes. During the first round interviews, it’s unlikely that the company will have looked in detail at the social media profile of all 100 interviewees. But now you’re down to the final few grads, it’s highly likely that your interviewer will have looked you up online before your assessment day. Go through all of your social media profiles and make sure that no unwanted statuses or photos that could jeopardise your chances of success are visible to the public.
What should I take with me?
Here are a few handy things to pack in your bag the night before that may come in useful – some of them obvious and some of them less so. All of them are listed below because at some point during an interview or assessment day I’ve thought “oops, I wish I had…”
A print out of your application form and your CV. These are useful to read on your journey to your assessment day to remind you of what you wrote on your initial application. Your assessors will be referring to these during your interview, so it’s best to have a copy on you to avoid any last minute panicking about what you said a few months ago when you applied.
A notepad and a pen. You’ll come across as prepared. Plus it comes in handy at the start of the day when you’ll often be given a brief and you can to take notes on what you’re being asked to do.
Mints. If the agency is providing you with lunch, you’ll probably need to freshen up afterwards, especially if you’re having an interview in the afternoon. Mints are a better choice than gum as they can be eaten subtly and don’t involve chewing like a cow in front of your potential employers.
A watch. You’ll look organised and it saves you having to check your phone to find out the time. Plus, it’s useful if you want to be the time-keeper for your group.
A bottle of water. The agency will usually provide water throughout the day, but adrenaline fuelled, fast-talking graduates soon get through it. So it’s best to have an emergency back-up to save the day and stop you getting dehydrated and drowsy.
Tissues. Always useful.
A chocolate bar. If your assessment day is a full day, the agency will often provide nibbles, but this isn’t guaranteed. And if you’ve had breakfast at 7am and lunch isn’t until 2pm then you’ll probably find yourself very hungry and too polite to ask for something to eat. So take a chocolate bar or a breakfast bar that you can eat quickly on a break to boost your energy levels.
Something to show and tell. This may sound like a strange item to bring, but if there’s something that you have produced, which you’ve mentioned on your CV, then bring it along. For example, you might make jewellery, or you may have been involved in producing your university’s magazine – take it along with you. If you can show something interesting to your interviewers, rather than just talk about it, you will stand out and be remembered.
A map. You may have the latest high-tech smartphone, but it’s sod’s law that your local 3G/4G network will fail on the day you need it most. Have the address of the office you’re going to written down on a piece of paper alongside a print out of Google maps and you’ll save yourself any stress when find your phone isn’t working.
A spare pair of tights. One for the ladies – tights ladder far too often and always when you least want them to, so keep a spare pair for emergencies.
What should I wear?
It’s always difficult to know what you should wear to an interview at a creative agency. After all, most agencies are laid back and you can come to work in jeans and a t-shirt. And your assessment day invite probably said the dress code is ‘smart-casual’, which can be difficult to interpret. If you’re unsure, always go more smart than casual – it’s better to be over dressed than under.
One way plan your outfit is to imagine that you are already working for the company and you are about to meet a client for the first time. Yes, your day-to-day wear may be casual, but you need to be dressed well for this occasion.
Ladies – basically, no bum or boobs on show. Yes: low heels or ballet pumps, black jeans, blouse, dress or skirt down to just above the knees, blazer jacket. No: high heels, ripped jeans, low-cut tops, short skirts or hotpants (yes, I have seen hotpants at an assessment day).
Men – Yes: smart shoes, chinos, shirt, blazer jacket. No: trainers, ripped jeans or a low-cut v-neck t-shirt.