Assessment centre at Korn Ferry Futurestep - LI17

In my last learning item for the Change Management module, I will write about my experience with the graduate scheme assessment centre. As I have decided that enrolling into some graduate programme would be the right step for me, I started applying for different graduate schemes. After numerous rejections, I finally managed to receive an invitation for the assessment centre at Korn Ferry offices in Manchester, UK. Korn Ferry’s graduate programme is part of their Futurestep division where graduates are thought everything about recruitment industry and after a couple of years in practice, they are directed towards the most suitable role for them. The most important question I plan to focus on in this learning item is: Are assessment centres a good way of finding the right employee?

First of all, Futurestep division of Korn Ferry helps their clients find middle-level managers or executives. It involves all tasks from screening and interviewing to selection and recruitment. Their headquarters are in London and their other office is in Manchester. After passing all online tests and the telephone interview I was invited to visit their offices for a three-hour assessment. The assessment involved some group work, short picture presentation and a one-on-one interview. The whole process lasted for three hours starting at 9:30 AM on 17th March. Luckily, on that day Manchester United was playing a Europa League game and even though I am not a fan, I had to get my tickets for the chance to see one of the most successful clubs in the history of football.

Moving on, when I came into the office I realised I was competing against four other business students, all ladies, and that I was being assessed by the six members of staff who were all women too. I must admit that I rarely feel out of place, but this was definitely one of those times. For the group task, we received a brief explanation of one bank’s project where they were aiming to build their first brick and mortar branch. As bank's business was solely online until that point, five of us received different cities with explanations about each of them and then we had to collaborate and decide which city is the best solution. After having enough time to analyse my thoughts and without going into too much detail I will try to explain how I think it all went.

Four out of five of us were genuinely interested in finding the best site for our first physical branch and we worked hard in order to find which city was the best choice. On the other hand, it seemed like the fifth person, let’s call her Anne, only wanted to get their city to win. Due to time constraints and the number of variables and possibilities on the table, I was unable to fully make sense of the presented data at the time. I gave everyone a chance to speak and made sure no city was discarded on an unfair basis. In the end, we decided to go with the city supported by Anne. A few days went by and I realised that it is highly likely that my city was, fortunately, or unfortunately, the best option. At that point, I knew I should’ve done some things differently.

Moreover, the next part of the assessment required from us to draw a series of pictures of ourselves which would then represent who we are and who we want to become. In my view, this was the exercise where I performed the best and I really enjoyed creating those pictures and subsequently presenting them. Unfortunately, that part of the assessment wasn’t deemed too important by the assessors. Finally, a one-on-one interview was my next stop. Having done a lot of preparation on this subject during my studies and knowing that I most of the time shine in these situations, I wasn’t nervous at all. Now when I look back, maybe I should’ve been…

The interview lasted between 30 and 45 minutes and I was asked a lot of things about my past 4-5 years and it was all going well until the interviewer started asking me competency based questions. Usually, this is a no-brainer for me, but this time, it just wasn’t going well. I couldn’t remember any of my examples, I struggled with answering them and overall I didn’t apply too much of the STAR framework which led to her asking more and more sub-questions in order to get the answer she was looking for. It just wasn’t my day and I realised it straight away. All in all, I failed and didn’t get into the scheme, but at least I am richer for the experience and will be better prepared for the future assessments.

Lastly, I am able to answer the question I stated at the start: Are assessment centres a good way of finding the right employee? Companies really do have a hard time finding the right person from the thousands of CVs they must be receiving. After all the screening which takes place online or over the phone, the assessment centre is the closest and for now, the best way for employers to find their new employees. It allows them to see how you function under pressure and how familiar you are with the industry. Of course, longer assessments definitely yield more information than shorter ones like mine, but there is always that problem of the candidate having a bad day. However, I don’t see that as too big of a problem as I believe that bad days come to us with a reason. If you didn’t get the job you always wanted maybe that’s a sign that you still don’t fully know yourself and that something suits you better. I failed this time, but I am sure that when the right time comes I won’t have a bad day. On the brighter side...at least I saw the match!

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