Assessment/Interview - The Carphone Warehouse

elliott36

After 18 years of working for the same company I am being made redundant. This has come as a major shock but trying to stay focused and look for another job.
I have been asked to attend an 8 hour assessment day with the Carphone Warehouse which will include roll play, presentation and an interview. :eek:
Very scary as not undertook anything like this for some time. Anybody been to one of these? Apparently we are not given any details until the day so can't prepare and calm any nerves so any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Mr_Falling_Star

Eight hours? You can prepare for the Interview like you would for any others I guess. The role play is something that, as long as you play a procative, positive role in you should be OK. In my experience its as important to listen and take on board what people are saying as its is to talk during these. The presentation is a bit harder, maybe you could have a practice at home e.g pretending to present the weather?

A full day seems a bit long though, I would imagine there will be a fair bit of hanging around

Myjobcoach

You can always prepare if you have enough time. Unfortunately I cannot give you an answer in this forum because you require 1-2-1 training to nail this. If you are seriously looking to prepare for this assessment and any other intensive interview drop me a line. I am positive I can assist you.

greenbee

Don't get too stressed about it. Assessment centres are intended to find out how you behave in certain situations.

I regularly act as an assessor for my employer (a large corporate)... defintely not CPW, but I'm sure that it will be a similar experience.

Here are some things to consider:

• firstly, congratulations on having got this far. If you've reached this stage, they're already impressed by your qualifications/experience, but need to see how you will fit into the company - and are interested in your long-term potential.
• there will be other candidates there, not necessarily all going for the same vacancies. You're all being assessed together to see how you interact with other people. Be nice, don't think you have to compete with them - thing of every interaction with them as an opportunity to show how well you can work with all sorts of different people
• this session will not be specific to the role that you are being considered for. It's more about the kind of person they want to employ - so try not to get into role-specific/technical detail. I've frequently asked people to give me an example of ... say, a time when something hasn't gone to plan and how they resolved it, only to be bombarded with technical details about something I know nothing about - I can't assess on that.
• Role play - remember the assessor will be just as uncomfortable as you with this... they're a normal person too and will also feel silly, however many times they have done it (and they will have done it several times :rolleyes:)
• Presentation - the chances are that this will relate to the company/industry in some way, so research the market, company and competitors so that you have some ideas in your head when the subject comes up. It may also be at a level or two above the role you're going for to see what management/strategic potential you have. Swot up on people management techniques... dealing with difficult staff, office politics, change etc. Make sure you stick to timings - use your preparation time well, don't put too much stuff on the slides/flip chart, or have too many of them, and make sure you talk about what's on your slides, not just read off them. maximum of 8 bullet points per slide, 8 words per point! Work out how long you have to talk about each section and stick to your timings. Remember you'll be asked questions, so make sure that you have thought through what you're presenting, as they'll want to know how/why you came up with those ideas, and may ask you what you'd do if you were given a different/additional bit of info
• Info - this is likely to be based on behaviours/competencies, so asking you for an example of a situation and how you reacted/what you learned. If they ask for a negative example (e.g. when something went wrong) give them one... I always find it hard to believe people who tell me they've never had a bad experience but also tell them what you learnt, how you'd do things differently, and possibly how you salvaged the situation. Take your time before answering, and make notes - write the question down, think about how it can be divided up, and structure your answer
• Finally, pity the assessors. If you're there for 8 hours, they'll have been there an hour before (having read your CV, interview notes and the material for the assessment centre the day before!), and will probably be there for several hours after you have left writing up and collating the results.

Try to see it as a challenge and enjoy it. After all, if you don't get the job, you'll have had a very valuable learning experience.

Oh... and you can spot people who've been coached... they don't always do as well as people who are natural, spontaneous and honest

Good luck!

elliott36

Greenbee

When its broken down like that it doesnt seem so bad. I will take everything on-board, and as you say if I dont get it then at least it will bea learning experience for next time.

Thanks a lot

Myjobcoach

Hello again, I felt compelled to write a little more in response to the post by the Greenbee above.
Firstly I think the time taken to write all of the above information is very generous and extremely professional which gives a fantastic insight into assessment centres, there’s nothing I can fault there.
For the last 2 years I have worked as the HR internal recruitment and training manager for an international recruitment company. I ran assessment centres on a regular basis and it looks like you’re in for a day of fun and games! Be wary of written tests e.g. aptitude tests as they are often marked straight after you have completed them and if you have not got the mark required to pass you will be escorted out.
Understand that if you are not well prepared you can expect your interview day to be cut short from the whole 8hours because the whole point of this particular assessment in all intent and purposes is to find suitable candidates and it’s likely that this will become a process of elimination during the course of day. Especially if you are applying for a sales or business development role.
Let’s not kid ourselves no –one goes to these assessments to enjoy themselves and get a warm and fuzzy experience from it, everyone goes for the same reason: to beat the competition and get selected and hopefully offered the job at the end of it! You need to see this as what it is and that it’s a competition where the best candidate(s) gets the job. You’ll meet some great as well as not so great characters on the day and my best advice is be yourself but ensure that you’re confident, assertive and engaging throughout if you want make a positive impression.
There is one thing I would partly agree aswell as disagree with greenbee and that is there are very few job coaching companies in the UK that are actually ran by trained recruitment and training professionals like myself so in my opinion coached individuals are normally represented and prepared by recruitment agencies who don't always know what the success criteria is!

However I am proud to say "professionally coached" trainees do excel in group assessments because of their familiarity with the exercises. E.g. I dummy run psychometric, aptitude and group assessment exercises (SHL testing) with my delegates so that they understand the purpose of each test, how they are marked and show them what to do to leap past each hurdle within the time limit.
The final comment I want to make is that a good job coach can instill confidence and not arrogance in trainees which is in essence winning half the battle when faced with assessment centres and thorough interviews. This confidence comes from the fact that they know what to expect through practice, repetition and guidance from the right person.

People can’t expect to do well or feel confident when they don’t know what’s coming; they can only rely on what they know and from previous experience to tackle the tasks at hand.
It’s very simple the ones that do well tend to be the ones who have done it before and pass.

Best of luck in your preparation, I hope you succeed!

bitsandpieces

Myjobcoach wrote: »

You can always prepare if you have enough time. Unfortunately I cannot give you an answer in this forum because you require 1-2-1 training to nail this. If you are seriously looking to prepare for this assessment and any other intensive interview drop me a line. I am positive I can assist you.

Just to confirm - you're offering Elliot free 1-2-1 training? I appreciate that you sell interview training, so it's nice of you to offer this to Elliot.

I'm sure you know that it's against forum rules to use this forum for advertising (and, tbh, if someone had to advertise by posting on a forum, I'd be v cautious about giving them my money...)

bitsandpieces

Myjobcoach wrote: »

I dummy run psychometric, aptitude and group assessment exercises (SHL testing) with my delegates so that they understand the purpose of each test, how they are marked and show them what to do to leap past each hurdle within the time limit.

It's definitely worth practising some aptitude tests, if these will be part of the day - I would guess verbal and numerical reasoning tests, if tests are use. You may be able to access some online (though check it's a reliable company) or your local library/careers advice place might be able to help.

Nothing to panic about if you can't find them - if your verbal reasoning is good, you're likely to get a good result anyway - but a couple of practice runs might improve things further.

Myjobcoach

bitsandpieces wrote: »

Just to confirm - you're offering Elliot free 1-2-1 training? I appreciate that you sell interview training, so it's nice of you to offer this to Elliot.

I'm sure you know that it's against forum rules to use this forum for advertising (and, tbh, if someone had to advertise by posting on a forum, I'd be v cautious about giving them my money...)

Hi bitandpeices,

In response to your question I am more than happy to to give Elliot some informal 1-2-1 preparation over the phone for free. If Elliot decides to take things further and he lives in London and would like to join my workshops then I would happily welcome him.
Also if you've read my posts you'll realise I am providing constructive advice for all those who I know I can help. It's their choice if they want to take things further and register with MJC. I welcome all to check my credentials by looking me up on linkedin.com

Bitsandpeices I want you to understand that there are very few portals that exist where genuine job seekers can find constructive answers to their questions. I post my answers on MSE because I feel that I can contribute to this community and build my reputation with those who are struggling. MJC is a new company and I don't advertise instead I rely on word of mouth and proof of my capabilities, just like a successful driving instructor who takes pride in seeing their students succeed. My classes cost less than driving lessons and I created my company to help and prepare the average jobseeker in every concieveable way in the shortest amount of time. Hopefully this answers your query. For more details feel free to take a look at my website.

bitsandpieces

Myjobcoach - I'm sure you're very welcome to post on the forum. Obviously, your offering advice on the forum is great. You might just want to be careful that this doesn't cross over into promoting/advertising your services, though...

Emmzi

Myjobcoach wrote: »

I welcome all to check my credentials by looking me up on linkedin.com

I'm on linked in. I could write whatever I liked about myself and get my mates to join and make me look like I had a huge network.

Just saying, networking sites are niot the same as professional standards bodies.

I too think you are touting for business. Really you should post your details on the referrers board and leave it at that. We get hundreds of epople spamming the boards every day, most with utter tat, and you wouldn't want that association, would you?