On the 16th October I attended a mock assessment centre ran by the University.

Having never even heard of an assessment centre before and so I found the whole experience very helpful.

Throughout the entire day we were monitored by observers who were there to see how we acted within our groups and to give us feedback on the entire day.

Assessment centres have a variety of components that you will be observed on at all times:

• Competency tests
• Psychometric tests
• In tray exercises
• Case studies / Role plays
• Presentations
• Group exercise
• Interview
• Social events / “Down time”

Due to time constraints we only did two of this list: The group exercise and the interview.

Group Exercise

For this part of the day we had to construct a device using materials given, to prevent an egg from breaking off a drop of ~4 metres.

We managed to construct a form of device that looked like it could manage the fall, with everyone contributing to the design and helping make it.

In the end our egg did crack, but we weren’t the only group who this had happened to, and it also wasn’t the purpose of the exercise. The purpose was to make us work as a group and see how we reacted when in this position.

Overall I think that I performed well in this exercise despite our egg cracking. I proposed my own ideas to the team and also tried to involve everybody in the decision process.

I enjoy working as a group and so being part of  a group was not a problem. I felt I acted in a confident manner, talking and listening to all members and even including those who weren’t talking much.

The Interview

This was potentially the hardest part of the day to take seriously, being interviewed is hard but being interviewed by a fellow student is even harder.

As well as answering questions we also had to ask the questions, having a different role for each person in our group.

My questions were on my selection of course, my dissertation topic and a time where I had been part of a team.

They were all relatively simple to answer due to me being passionate about my course and dissertation. I explained my interest in wanting to work in close proximity with animals as regards to why I selected my course and dissertation topic.

I have had a lot of experience in working as a team so thinking of an example and explaining my role in this was fairly easy. In the end I settled on my recent volunteering oppurtunity in Tenerife with the AWDF.

At the end of the questions the interviewee would leave and then the group would discuss their answers and give feedback.

I was given a good review and only really have to work on explaining some points that I was making when answering the questions.

Overall this day was very enjoyable and I learnt many applicable skills to when I will have an interview or even have to attend an assessment centre. IT also gave me much needed interview practice and pointers on how t improve my answers.