Career Advice

How to Succeed at Your UK Assessment Centre

Paul Brown

20.03.19

You’ve passed the pre-screening assessment and successfully completed the video interview, but what’s the next step before kick-starting your career with FDM?

The final stage of the recruitment process requires you to attend an assessment centre, where you have the chance to demonstrate your skills and abilities. This allows members of the FDM team to assess whether you have the drive and capability to excel in the academy as either a business or technical trainee.

Your recruiter will have guided you through the application process and will prepare you for the assessment centre, to make sure you are fully briefed and feel comfortable with what to expect on the day.

Our Assessment Centre Coordinators will take you through your assessment centre on the day, but in the meantime, here is everything you need to know to ensure you secure a place in the FDM academy.

The Layout of the Day

Our assessment centres are located around the world, so the layout of the day will vary depending on which FDM academy you are attending. This blog outlines the format of the UK based assessment centres. If you are reading this from another part of the world and are keen to know more about your assessment day, you should contact your recruiter.

Here in the UK, the day includes:

Welcome Presentation
Tour of the FDM Academy and internal office
Interviews
Numerical Sequences Test
Verbal Reasoning Test
Set Notation / Venn Diagrams Test
Aptitude Test

What do I need to bring on the day of my assessment centre?

You will need to bring a form of ID and proof of your degree certificate with you, which you should present at reception upon your arrival.

The Interview Process

What type of questions will I be asked?

At FDM, we use strength-based interviews in our assessment centre process so that we can assess a candidate’s potential against the strengths that make a successful FDM consultant.

To be successful in your interviews, we recommend that you answer the questions honestly and provide as much detail as possible. If you have a relevant example to provide, that will strengthen your answer.

Remember to also demonstrate your knowledge of FDM, the programme or pathway you are applying to and the technology industry, in order to show your interviewers that you’ve done research into the company.

We encourage you to practice some strengths-based questions prior to your interviews.

Examples of strengths-based questions:

Would you be happy to compromise the quality of your work in order to deliver something more quickly?
Sometimes it is best to focus on tasks that you’ve been set, rather than worrying about the bigger picture. Would you agree?
Is organisational change at work always a good thing?

The Tests

Numerical Sequencing – it’s important to remember that the numerical test is based on numerical sequences and doesn’t include mathematics such as equations and formula-based questions.

Verbal Reasoning – the verbal reasoning test includes several passages to read through and answer related questions. In order to interpret the passages, it is important to take your time.

Set Notation – this involves interpreting data and shading circles to represent this. A course booklet is provided to refer to throughout your test which includes examples of how to answer the questions.

Aptitude – the aptitude tests include multiple choice questions based on IT, business and logical questions. There are no trick questions within the test, so don’t leave any questions blank and take an educated guess as the test is marked positively.

Is lunch included?

You will have up to an hour for a lunch break on the assessment day.

We also provide £5.00 lunch vouchers throughout our UK academies to cover your costs.

When will I know if I’ve been successful?

Our recruiters aim to get back to you with your assessment centre outcome within two working days.

The call you will receive from your recruiter will include feedback on your performance throughout the day, including positive feedback and any areas for development which were highlighted by your interviewers.

Your recruiter will then let you know if you’ve been successful and if you are, they will offer you a place in joining the academy.

Final Top Tips:

Dress in business attire to give a good first impression and to get yourself into the right mindset.

Arrive at reception 15 minutes early to get yourself settled and ready for the assessment centre.

It’s important to remember that you’re not competing with other candidates in the assessment centre. If all candidates are successful on the day, you will all be offered a place on the programme.

Practice online tests beforehand to get an idea of the types of questions you may receive, and use this as an opportunity to practice your timings.

Many of our academies are in city centre locations with great public transport links. Map out your journey the day before to minimise stress levels on the day.

Engage with all members of staff that you meet throughout the day, it is a good way to get an understanding of the business. After all, as much as we are assessing if you are a good fit for FDM, it is also about whether FDM is a good fit for you.

Ask questions. We pride ourselves on being transparent with candidates. The Assessment Centre Coordinators and interviewers will be more than happy to answer questions you may have throughout the day.

Read more Life at FDM posts from our blog:

We run assessment centres on a weekly basis throughout our UK academies. Learn more about FDM’s business and technology careers programmes for graduates, ex-forces/veterans, and people who have taken a career break.