My first job interview was swift and painless, despite
the 3 hour fear-fest on my way to the office. It lasted a grand total of 20
minutes and a couple of weeks later I was offered the position. Unfortunately,
things are rarely that easy – something I’ve since discovered when applying to grad
schemes this year. There’s plenty of guidance online already geared towards
helping you prep for interviews and assessment centres, but I thought I’d share
things that I’ve learned only recently.
Firstly, grad schemes will set up a line of hoops for
you to jump through; some logical, some on fire… but if you persevere then you
could end up working in a big name company or a more temporary role that will
get you where you want to be in future. Either way, here are some of these
hoops I've had to jump through…
·
Application
forms – a necessary evil which, once you’ve done a couple already, feel like
you’re writing an epic novel starring you, the protagonist, who bears
exceptional teamwork, communicating and problem solving skills alongside an
awesomeness that can barely be contained to one human so must be shared with
others. Trust me though, once you’ve
nailed down your competencies you can basically recycle them as and when needed
– see handy graph below...
· Interviews –
these can be done via a range of media; phone, face to face, skype etc. I once
had an online interview where I was shown a question, given 30 seconds to
prepare and then an app recorded my answer. Hint: Do these ASAP or you’ll
forget and will have to do one on your birthday when you’re on holiday in
Iceland, using your phone, balanced precariously on a pile of books while your
boyfriend goes out to get coffee… also, the boyf hovers around outside while
you’re finishing and you can see his silhouette through the window behind you
while you’re recording. Cue a five second widening of eyes on your video...
·
Assessment
centres – I’ve done a few of these and they’ve all been quite different. You
may have to do team based tasks and/or solo tasks but trust me when I say you
never have as much time as you think. If you’re asked to write a report based
on multiple documents, do NOT read everything first (instructions aside). Write
up important points as you read and add more detail as you go along otherwise
you’ll run out of time without having written all that much. Some assessment
centres want you to do a rap… that’s just grim.
There are also online tests but they’re generally a
practise-makes-perfect type thing which you can find examples for online.
Good luck, may the odds be ever in your favour!
Anonymous, Chemical and Biological Engineering taught postgraduate
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