Shining in Group Exercises

Whether in-person or over a virtual platform, the group exercise is a key part of the day in an assessment centre, and helps recruiters assess how you may perform in a position. So impress them with these tips!

The ice-breaker

Your assessors may have one to help you relax and warm up to your assigned group in order for everyone to gel. Icebreakers typically revolve around completng a task in a set tme.

For example, recruiters may ask your group to solve a puzzle within a tme limit. Don’t forget to watch out for the tme as you work with your group mates!

Many applicants make the mistake of spending too much tme discussing and planning, causing them to fall short in the executon of the idea.

Stll, as anyone who has been in an ice-breaker can tell you, these can get very awkward very quickly if no one steps in to take charge. That’s where you can come in – do your best to keep the ball rolling and get everyone chatng!

The group case study exercise

The group will be given a set period of tme to working together and respond to a case study – ofen a set of documents based on a real-life situaton will be given. The group may also be asked to present their fndings as part of the exercise.

Assessors have been known to occasionally shake things up by giving each candidate a diferent briefng document or role to play, leaving the group to reach a conclusion in spite of the confictng views each member may have.

Your goal is to show recruiters that you’re capable of working together towards a common target. Your recruiters actually aren’t looking out for the “correct” answer – they want to see the steps you’re willing to take to reach your goal.

The discussion group

You and your group will be given a topic – or multple topics – to discuss. The nature of the topics can vary, but they usually involve issues of current importance to graduates, or were recently featured in the news.

At the end of the discussion, each candidate may be invited to comment briefy on one of the group’s conclusions, so it’s as vital to speak up as it is to listen.

You’ll have litle to no preparaton tme for this, so it’s a good idea to build up a knowledge bank through quality newspaper and magazine artcles in the weeks leading up to your day in the assessment centre. This way, you’ll be able to join in the discussion with a more complete picture of things.

The leaderless task

Each member of a group will be given a separate briefng – which may or may not be similar to others’ – and a tme limit to complete a task as a group.

As no one in the group has a complete set of instructons and there’s no designated leader, everyone will have to work together to come to a decision acceptable to all members.

As before, there’s no “correct” answer, so be patent and try to broker as many compromises as possible. Assessors are more interested in seeing if you’re able to work with people holding diferent views, as well as how well you can navigate potental confict.

The leadership task

A complete change from the leaderless task, recruiters occasionally spring this on candidates when they’re interested in testng leadership skills. In this scenario, you may be asked to act as the leader of your group or even chair a meetng.

Once again, there’ll be a set task – only this tme, you’ll be expected to lead your group to success. This is what your assessors will be looking for: • Delegaton: A good leader delegates tasks. You can’t do everything alone, so you must divide up the work between the others.

• Using the strengths of others:

Identfying strengths in group members and using them in appropriate ways is one of the hallmarks of a good leader.

• If you know what is going on:

Stcking to your guns and ignoring feedback aren’t characteristcs of good leaders. It’s beter to keep an eye on what’s going on and make changes if things don’t work out.

Skills to demonstrate in group exercises

Contribute, but don’t dominate

Don’t be aggressive, but be assertve. If you’re a shy person who doesn’t speak up, do your best to partcipate.

Inversely, if you know that you sometmes talk too much, do your best to restrain yourself! Keep an eye on the time Stay focused on the overall objectve. Every now and then, try to summarise the group’s progress to make sure you don’t shoot past the tme limit given.

Try to keep things on schedule as diplomatcally as possible. Be diplomatic If a group member is behaving in a dominant fashion, don’t shut them down. Instead, make sure everyone has the chance to share their thoughts.

Be prepared to compromise, but don’t bend over backwards – just make sure you can reasonably justfy any sacrifces you make. Be confdent and aware Listen without interruptng. Be aware of what others in your group are contributng and make it a point to invite the quieter ones to the discussion. Assessors notce and appreciate atentve candidates.