I applied online and was invited to attend an assessment centre on a set date. We were told not to prepare beforehand, which I thought was a bit unusual but went along with it. The day itself was mostly group activities. To be honest, it didn’t really feel like the recruiters were properly listening to what people were saying. The setup didn’t help either, we were sat in a row rather than in a circle, so a lot of the time you were either talking to someone’s back or trying to jump into a conversation you couldn’t fully engage in. The groups were also quite large, which made it harder to contribute. It felt like a few people dominated while others barely got a chance to speak. There were also candidates who had clearly done this process before and seemed to know exactly how to play it, which made it feel a bit uneven. After the morning session, we had a lunch break while they decided who would move on to the 1:1 interviews. This part felt quite uncomfortable, people were called out one by one and told to go home if they hadn’t made it through, which felt pretty abrupt. Overall, it was a bit disappointing. People take time out of their day, spend money to get there, and prepare in their own way, so it’s a shame that many aren’t even given a short chance to talk about their own skills and experience. Especially when the group setup makes it so difficult to properly contribute, it doesn’t feel like the best way to assess candidates. Nor do you get any feedback!