Group assessments are the bane of many people’s lives; you’ve got plenty of similar personalities fighting it out for the same role, you need to find a way to stick out. It’s important to remember you got this far to start with, use that to your advantage and let it fuel you through one of the most gruelling parts of the application process.
Be confident
One of the key traits of someone in our industry is to be confident – if you turn up to a group assessment with your head down inspecting the five year old chewing gum, you may as well just go home now. Show off your teeth, make your presence notable and throw out the handshakes and elbow touches whenever you get the chance.
When it comes to activities, be sure to offer your services ahead of the game, it’s better to be known as ‘that one who went first’ than ‘oh, that one with the brown hair that went third from last, think his name was Paul or something like that’.
If you know you’re good enough to lead a task, don’t be afraid to throw your name into the hat and impress your soon-to-be employer with your leadership skills.
Preparation
Prepare yourself as if you were attending a normal face-to-face interview – Become a bit of a stalker, check out the Twitter feeds of your prospective employer, find out if you have any common interests and keep them in mind when it comes to passing conversation. Locate company values through respective websites and train yourself to showcase these as much as possible, know the company back to front and generally reach a stage that would allow you to slide straight into a team.
Assure that you haven’t over prepared to a point that leaves you fluffing your lines on every unexpected question, but make sure you really do know your stuff, it’ll give you the edge over those who didn’t bother.
Captain the team
When it all comes down to it, the key to a group assessment is to remember the entire point of it in the first place – to showcase your team working. Sell yourself as such an asset that you’d be captain of a hypnotical sports team, you’re the cog that keeps the machine running, prove that you’d be indispensable.
You don’t need to be the leader, but you want to show that your individual contribution is having a noticeable impact on the overall output of the team. There’s nothing wrong with becoming the leader, you just need to make sure you’re a successful and likeable person while doing so.
Assert yourself
Avoid becoming the person everybody hates straight off the bat. If you’re shown to be irritating or dominating to a point that others are getting visibly frustrated, you’ll likely be reminding the employer of that person they already can’t stand that currently works opposite them in the office.
Get your opinions across quickly and effectively, make your point, listen to any suggestions and if needed, explain why your idea would be better, incorporating other propositions where needed. If your idea is shunned by others, defend your case by all means, but don’t show forms of aggression when things don’t go your way.
Bring or wear something strange
Generally speaking, appearance is without a doubt one of the easiest ways to stand out without too much effort. This doesn’t mean turn up in a track-suit, but do something unique that nobody else would think of, keep it professional and it could make all the difference; but it doesn’t stop there.
Perhaps you could be the person that brought a home cooked lasagne to the interview, maybe a duffle bag with a full football kit, or even you’ve accidently carrier a clown’s horn. If you end up being neck and neck with someone possessing exactly the same skills, experience and qualities, the employer will go with the person that did something a bit different – just make sure you keep it clean.
In essence, it’s not that hard to stand out if you just be yourself, remain confident and be prepared to do all you can to tear yourself away from the pack. Make conversation with the assessors when necessary and gauge what they’re after, insert a bit of what they say into your performance or attitude and enjoy the next stage of the application process or even the job itself!
