The Best Way to Gain the Advantage at Interviews and Assessment Centres
Congratulations! The stage has been set. You’ve crushed your application and have received that golden ticket to attend your interview or assessment day. The crucial moment has arrived where you must truly demonstrate your abilities. If you're feeling apprehensive or nervous about it, have no fear; everyone who is with you on the day will be in the same situation as you. Also, avoid approaching these situations with the mindset that everyone else is your competition; this is an unhealthy outlook that won't serve you well if you are faced with collaborative tasks! Be the person you'd want to meet at your interview.
Within this article, you’ll find the top tips on how to prepare for either your interview or assessment day, including how both may differ in aspects and how you can prepare for those parts as well! If you’re attending an assessment day at the firm you’ve applied for, you may have to do a little bit of extra groundwork to secure your chances of success but as always, FirstGens will never leave you in the dark. We’re here to support you at every step of your journey and tell you all about the details that the invitation email may have omitted and how it’ll be slightly different to a typical interview. Ultimately, interviews and assessment centres are just different techniques used by employers to find what they want in an ideal candidate. The difference in structure is nothing to be worried about!
Interviews
Now that you’ve made it to the interview, you need to realise one thing first and foremost:
you can put yourself across a lot easier in person than you can on paper.
That may seem obvious, however, in practice, it means that you want to try and demonstrate the side of yourself that you couldn’t through an application form. Letting your personality shine through at an interview is essential to making your mark on the interviewer and furthering your prospects of success. Remember, most candidates who are eligible for the interview will also be able to answer the questions to a satisfactory level, you now need to play the psychological game by connecting on that human level with the interviewer. Studies show that personality is among the top three factors employers seek in their decision-making[1] as ultimately when looking at a potential colleague, employers also want someone dynamic who they can get along with. Ensure that whilst you are being cordial and allowing your personality to come out, you are reading the room appropriately though. Some interviewers will take a slightly less warm approach than others to see how you react and if you can temper your reactions under pressure. Just keep in mind, they’re never setting you up to fail!
In terms of the actual interview technique, the STAR method[2] is fool-proof when it comes to those competency questions. When faced with a “tell me about a time you…” question you should ideally structure your answer as Situation, Task, Action and Result. This will allow you to keep your answers logically structured by explaining the background of what happened, what you were tasked with, the action you took and the result it produced. It’s a clear way to make your examples easy to listen to and extract the important parts. There is some further information and examples in footnote 2!
Along with brushing up on the standard questions such as “Why this firm” and your general motivations, you want to ensure that your body language is correct too. Make sure that you’re maintaining eye contact when answering questions and sharing that eye contact with all interviewers if you have a panel. You want to make sure that you are sitting comfortably, and you can also lean forward slightly[3] when being asked questions to show interest. Of course, your hands are one of those question marks for a lot of people. Ideally, you want to keep them still when listening. You can rest your hands in front of you with your fingers interlocked to avoid fidgeting then when speaking, if you’re someone who does, you can mildly gesticulate just to make your points seem more active.
Assessment centres
Depending on where you’re interviewing, assessment centres will be structured slightly differently. The best way to describe them in a general sense would be doing a series of interviews over a whole day, with additional activities mixed in to test different skills.
For the most part, nearly every assessment centre will include a competency-based interview, so all of the tips listed above will be largely the same when you attend one. A key thing to bear in mind throughout the process of an assessment centre is that you are likely to be doing it in a cohort of candidates. Don’t be fooled into thinking that your assessment is only in front of the assessors. From the members of Graduate Recruitment to the receptionists and catering staff, the firm will be watching you at all times to see how you generally interact with your environment and the people around you. A big part of assessment centres is seeing if you’re the correct fit for a firm. Make sure that you’re making friends and being polite to the people with you! Remember, you will be working alongside these people again when you’re successful.
Two exercises that may form part of your assessment centre could be the case study/ commercial interview and/or the group interview:
Case study and commercial interview
You aren’t going to be able to over-prepare the specific material on this one, instead, you should focus on preparing around it so your approach can be flexible. Typically, you’ll have a case study where you are given sheets of information about a potential client, their issues and the surrounding markets. You will then be asked commercial leaning questions on this information and the approach you should take with the client. For example, a legal assessment centre which I undertook had a case study regarding e-commerce mergers & acquisition transactions.
The best thing you can do in preparation for these exercises is to have a good general level of commercial awareness (watch this space for an incoming blog on improving your commercial awareness, find a plentitude of other materials on building your commercial awareness online[4], and here’s a non-sponsored shoutout to the Watson Daily Podcast as a great resource to get you started!). You’ll typically be asked what kind of issues would be important to consider and highlight, which you will have identified during your reading time of the materials. Through a combination of the reading materials, your own research of the firm's clients and your general commercial awareness you shouldn’t encounter an industry or client type which will throw you off completely, just ensure that you are being clear and concise in your answers. Remember that as with any interview question, it is always okay to ask the interviewer for a minute to collect your thoughts before you respond! It is not a sign of unpreparedness, it shows integrity in your answer.
After this, it’s likely to be questions such as “Where would the firm help the client in this regard?” or specifically in law firms “Which teams would you draft in on this matter?” These are the commercial questions which relate to your knowledge of the firm, advice for researching this can be found in one of my previous blogs[5]. You want to be thinking like the client, ensuring you are spotting and answering questions in the manner that you would advise them if it was a real situation. Remember that on the other end of this is a business that has goals so weave those into your advice and answers!
Overall, you want to take an approach that shows that you know your stuff whilst also being receptive to being wrong and not knowing certain things. Keep in mind that the commercial interview is in no way a litmus test of the finished product, there will likely be things you’re not sure of the answer to when being asked questions by someone who has been in the industry for 15 years. The best thing to do is to be honest and just let them know you’re not too sure but give it a good guess anyway, I guarantee you the interviewer will appreciate your honesty as you demonstrate your willingness to learn!
Group interview
The group interview can be a tough exercise depending on where you are. There are many factors to consider, including the size of your group, the firm’s general approach to teamwork (some put more weight on this skill than others) and the general makeup of your group. A key thing to remember first is that you’re in a group interview. This isn’t an exercise of showing how knowledgeable you are or flexing your knowledge on the other candidates. This is seriously testing how you contribute and work with a group. Typically one of you will have to assign yourself the timekeeper, just ensure that if you take this role, actually keep track of the time! Don’t do it to gain ‘initiative’ points with the assessor.
Another important point is that there is no ‘correct’ way to be a team player, especially in big firms which gain value through having a wide diversity of thought. Just because you’re constantly contributing does not mean you’re doing well. Instead, you want to be focussing on how you’re contributing to the dynamic of the group. A starting point would be to make sure that you are actively listening to your group's contributions. Ideally, you want to ensure you are allowing everyone to give their piece on the discussion at relevant points. You want to be affirmative of their contributions as well, it would surprise you to know how far a simple “I like that” or “good idea” goes in this exercise! Don’t cut across the conversation, let people finish, indicate you want to add something by gesturing slightly and if you do accidentally interrupt someone who is about to speak, allow them to go first.
You can play many roles in the group exercise, you could be the person who is putting ideas forward for the group to consider or you can be the person who waits until multiple ideas have been given and attempts to draw them all together. As long as you are contributing in a meaningful way that is polite and respectful of your colleagues you will score well. Make sure you are treating it as a dialogue, ask questions to your group such as “Do you think that…?” or “Would you agree that is the best way forward?”. Just ensure you are hyper-aware that the competency being looked for here isn’t necessarily your knowledge, it is your personality and fit in a collaborative environment.
Adjustments
An important note to make about interviews and assessment centres is that if you require reasonable adjustments such as extra time for the exercises, ensure that you communicate and secure it beforehand! Most likely, there will be a section of your invitation email which will include instructions on how to go about securing them but if it doesn’t, never be afraid to ask. It won’t reflect badly on you or harm your chances of success. Embrace who you are and never be afraid to take your true self into an interview room. If the firm makes it difficult for you to secure any potential extra time you need or other adjustments for the interview, they are not a firm to work for and most definitely are not a firm worth your time and energy. Truly, it really is going to be their loss.
We regret to inform you… that this article is now over! I hope that you can use these tips in conjunction with other sources to really smash your interviews. The bottom line is to remember that an interview, whether you are successful or unsuccessful, is a win either way. Even if you don’t get your desired outcome, having practical experience doing an interview or assessment centre in your field is invaluable. Just make sure you utilise feedback and incorporate it as part of your trailblazing journey!
[1] https://www.nexgoal.com/successfully-showcasing-your-personality-in-an-interview/#:~:text=Your%20individual%20personality%20means%20more,in%20their%20decision%2Dmaking%20process
[2] https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/interview-advice/the-star-method
[3] https://www.biospace.com/article/using-and-interpreting-body-language-during-an-interview/#:~:text=Keep%20your%20head%20up%20and,to%20show%20you%20are%20listening.
[4] https://www.thelawyerportal.com/commercial-awareness/how-to-improve-commercial-awareness/
[5] https://www.firstgens.co.uk/firstgen-blog/trailblazers-wanted-what-does-writing-successful-applications-mean