Assessment Centre Guide
Presentations
Most professional roles will require you to deliver presentations and so this is a common requirement as one of the exercises at an assessment centre. You will usually have to give a presentation on a technical topic related to the industry within which the company operates. You may also be asked to give a shorter personal presentation about your background, your motivations and what you offer the company.
Technical presentations
You will be given a technical topic on which you will have to present at the assessment centre. Sometimes candidates are given a choice or topic and this is given a limited number of days before the day of the assessment centre. This gives some time pressure to all the candidates, but in a fair way. Technical presentations may be required to last from 5 to 10 minutes.
Your presentation will require you to carry out research into a topic you may be unfamiliar with and it is important that you research from a diverse range of resources. You will need to then distill this into a coherent set of presentation slides (or printed handouts) which respond to the precise brief that was set. So if the brief poses a question then this question needs to be well considered and explicitly answered in your presentation.
Within the assessment centre the presentation section would involve you being grouped with up to 3 other candidates and going into a separate room along with some assessors. Each candidate will give their presentation to everyone in the room, and some time will be used at the end of each presentation for the assessors to ask questions. Sometimes the other candidates will also be invited to ask questions as well.
Personal presentations
You may need to give a much shorter 3 minute presentation about yourself, and you may be given a specific brief for this. The aim of the personal presentation is to give you the chance to sell yourself and make a real impact on the assessors. Your presentation should express your motivation and what makes you a great fit for the role and how you will be a strong asset for the company.
The ingredients of a good presentation
Presentations should have impact, should clearly answer the brief set, must fill out the allotted time without overrunning and should be memorable. Assessors will be observing a number of presentations throughout the assessment centre and it is important that your one grabs their attention and engages them!
In preparing your presentation you should consider using some creative elements which enhance the points you are making or the impact you have. This could involve choosing to have slides that break from tradition, innovative use of numbers or the use of props. Any creative approaches you decide to take should not distract from what you are saying though.
It is essential to practice the delivery of your presentation to ensure it flows well and that your timing is on track. Practising in front of people rather than to a mirror is very helpful and the feedback you get is not always obvious to you and can be a real help. Your slides should be professional, not too wordy and should set out some key points rather than trying to capture everything you are saying out loud.
Assessment centre masterclass video course
Our masterclass course provides much more in depth help for you to prepare and deliver a presentation which will make you stand out from the other candidates. It covers:
The attributes being tested
How to deal with nerves
How to research and prepare robustly
Tips for making a strong impact and scoring highly
Reflections from good and bad candidate presentations
The biggest mistakes you must avoid
Given by an experienced assessor, the video course and accompanying sample exercises, interview question bank and assessment scoring sheets are the most comprehensive package available to you.
The course is designed with the single minded goal – to equip you to succeed at your assessment centre.
