3 hour job interview assessment day

Savvy_Sue

They might give you a prioritising exercise, a list of things to do and scenarios, and you put them in order of priority. There's no one right answer to these, just use your common sense, eg if there is photocopying needed for a meeting at 11 am, you probably want to do that before preparing 50 letters for a mailshot.

They might ask you to type something, a memo or a letter, either from a handwritten copy or from rough notes. Make sure you know when to use 'yours faithfully' rather than 'yours sincerely' - you're sincere if you know their name, and faithful if they're Sir / Madam.

They might ask you to put some figures in a spreadsheet. Make sure the figures are accurate, sometimes I've slipped in an error to see if you're paying attention.

What sort of company is this? If it's public sector or voluntary, expect a question on equal ops ...

93123

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

They might give you a prioritising exercise, a list of things to do and scenarios, and you put them in order of priority. There's no one right answer to these, just use your common sense, eg if there is photocopying needed for a meeting at 11 am, you probably want to do that before preparing 50 letters for a mailshot.

They might ask you to type something, a memo or a letter, either from a handwritten copy or from rough notes. Make sure you know when to use 'yours faithfully' rather than 'yours sincerely' - you're sincere if you know their name, and faithful if they're Sir / Madam.

They might ask you to put some figures in a spreadsheet. Make sure the figures are accurate, sometimes I've slipped in an error to see if you're paying attention.

What sort of company is this? If it's public sector or voluntary, expect a question on equal ops ...

I'm not sure

Hopefully it's nothing too difficult! Thanks

On the phone they mentioned doing administration. Based on the fact it's a receptionist position, what exactly is administration in this context and what could it involve? They keep throwing things at me that I can't do (but could, in a few days!) :rotfl:

Savvy_Sue

Well, when I've been in a company with a Reception desk, it's varied, depending on size, but for example they've

answered the phone and put calls through,

greeted visitors, found out where they're going, signed them in / issued ID badge as appropriate, contacted whoever should be expecting them, sent them off in the right direction or invited them to take a seat and wait, offered tea / coffee and pointed out the toilets,

received and sorted the incoming post - sometimes opening it all and date stamping it, sometimes just opening the 'unaddressed' envelopes

dealt with any cash / cheques received, if appropriate, which means logging amounts in a 'day book', writing receipts, passing money on to whoever does finance (although in a small place that might mean doing the paying-in!)

stamped or franked the outgoing post and either prepared it for collection or made sure it gets taken out in time to catch the post

anything else they're asked to do consistent with sitting in one place all day ...

maybe kept diaries for some staff

maybe kept the movement board up to date, by signing EVERYONE in and out

93123

Thank you

jobbingmusician

TBH I never know what my admin staff class as admin, either! I might ask them to do almost anything. For example 'I've just discovered that landlords are supposed to check that their tenants have the right to reside in this country. Could you possibly have a little google around and see what you can find out about this, and how we are supposed to do it? Don't spend more than half an hour, and send me a short email'

The best administrators would send me a summary of what they'd found AND a little form they'd designed so that we could tick boxes of what we'd checked for new applicants (I don't know the answer to this, but I'd expect a form which had a name, address, DOB, NI number, and tick boxes for passport, driving licence, NI documents, proof of address, bank details)

[Deleted User]

1 receptionist role I had in a factory, had me arranging lunches for company visitors and doing much purchase ledgering for the items acquired for the factory production, dealing with staffing timesheets and clock cards just to show reception roles can vary (it wasn't my cuppa tea though) so I quickly went back to hotel reception

Do you know if you would be the sole receptionist? maybe the one2one is more to meet the other staff and see if you have the 'look' - body language v important as you probably know x

93123

Thanks all.

I had the face to face interview today. I didn't get it. I really wanted it, the place was so nice and professional looking.

Fed up and don't have the motivation to keep doing it but I have to. The process of preparing for interviews and the actual interview day makes me feel sick and is so exhausting.

Savvy_Sue

Sorry to hear that. Yes, it is exhausting and nerve racking.

I think you said you were doing some volunteering. Extend your experience there as much as you can - you never know, a job may come up there!

AP007

93123 wrote: »

Thanks all.

I had the face to face interview today. I didn't get it. I really wanted it, the place was so nice and professional looking.

Fed up and don't have the motivation to keep doing it but I have to. The process of preparing for interviews and the actual interview day makes me feel sick and is so exhausting.

Why did you not get it? What was the feedback?

93123

AP007 wrote: »

Why did you not get it? What was the feedback?

I stupidly just replied to the e-mail saying thanks and realised I should have asked for feedback right after I sent it. They only said well done for making it to the second interview against some tough competition. Would it look weird to e-mail tomorrow and follow up asking for feedback?

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Sorry to hear that. Yes, it is exhausting and nerve racking.

I think you said you were doing some volunteering. Extend your experience there as much as you can - you never know, a job may come up there!

Thank you. Yeah, I am. They actually accepted me to do additional volunteering working in the office. However it took several months for them to accept and I've been put forward for another job by my advisor (and they want me after an informal meeting), depending on the hours I may still be able to do it! But with this job it's not the same because I didn't apply or even get interviewed and the pay isn't much, but it's something, although I can't feel excited about getting it. I wanted to be able to say "I've got my first job!" all by myself, if that makes sense.