Assessment Centres - practiceaptitudetests.com

Assessment Centres an Insiders Guide

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Chartered Occupational Psychologist Experts

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Table of ContentsAssessment Centres ........................................................................5

An insider’s guide ........................................................................ 6Why use Assessment Centres? .............................................. 6How is an Assessment Centre designed?............................... 8How does the assessing work? ............................................ 10What is ORCE? .................................................................. 10Who gets the job? ............................................................... 13

Preparing for an Assessment Centre. ............................................19The day before .......................................................................... 19Getting there .............................................................................20A few small pointers .................................................................. 21At the Assessment Centre ......................................................... 21

Group Exercises ............................................................................25What is a Group Exercise? ........................................................25Example Group Exercises ..........................................................26

Group Discussions ...............................................................26Group Tasks ........................................................................26

How do I prepare for a Group Exercise? ....................................46Working with the business information ..................................46Research, research, research! ............................................47Read the information you are given ......................................48Useful pointers for the group ................................................49

Top tips for Group Exercises .....................................................52Do …. ..................................................................................52Don’t ...................................................................................53

Presentation Exercises ..................................................................57What is a Presentation Exercise? ..............................................57Example Presentation Exercises ................................................58How do I prepare for a Presentation Exercise? .........................59

a: Researching your presentation .........................................59b: Writing your Presentation ................................................ 61c: Delivering the Presentation ..............................................65

Top tips for Presentations .........................................................67Do… ....................................................................................67Don’t…… .............................................................................68

Analysis Presentation ....................................................................71What is an Analysis Presentation? ............................................. 71Example Analysis Presentations ................................................72How Do I Prepare for an Analysis Presentation? ........................76

a: Working with Business Information ...................................76b: Analysing and Developing Your Content ...........................78c: Writing and Delivering the Presentation ............................82d: Handling the Question and Answer Session .....................83

4.Top Tips for Analysis Presentations: .......................................84Do….. ..................................................................................84Don’t… .................................................................................86

EXAMPLE ANALYSIS PRESENTATION EXERCISE .......................89Background & Instructions .........................................................90Analysis Presentation: Southwell Tennis Club – A Quick Guide 109


Assessment Centres

Assessment Centres are not a physi-cal place. They are a method of as-sessing multiple applicants for a job, consisting of a number of exercises designed to assess the competencies deemed important for success in that job.


Assessment Centres (and many other selection methods) have been under scrutiny for many years and lots of time and resources have been dedicated to understanding whether they actually work.

The short answer is yes they do.

In order to justify the use of any assessment method, occupational psychologists are required to carry out ‘validation studies’. This basi-cally means taking candidates’ scores from an assessment that is used to make a decision about someone’s suitability for a job and then looking at how strongly they correlate with the same peoples’ per-formance on the job. A high correlation suggests that the assessment method is predictive of job performance, a low correlation suggests otherwise! The implication being that high performers score higher on the assessments and lower performers achieve lower scores on the assessments.

Assessment Centres have consistently been shown to be one of the best predictors of performance on the job. That’s why we use them!

It can be a costly undertaking for the recruiting organisation to get trained assessors, appropriate assessment exercises and the right lo-cation, but they do so time and time again.

Why?

It is more cost effective than employing the wrong people and then having to re-advertise and recruit again (as people who are not suit-ed to a role are more likely to leave), or investing more time and money in training and performance management for the candidates who are not suited to the role.

The overall objective of the Assessment Centre, as far as the recruiter is concerned, is to gather as much information as they can about the candidates so that they can make an informed and objective decision about who is the most suitable.

An insider’s guideAs experienced assessors, our authors wanted to give you some insight into what they see and what they do as part of an Assessment Centre. In offering you this information, we hope it will blow away some of the myths surrounding Assessment Centres.

Why use Assessment Centres?

The first thing we want to say is that, despite many people’s anec-dotal claims that they can ‘spot a good candidate as soon as they walk through the door’ or that they rely on ‘gut instinct’, Assessment Centres really are the superior choice when it comes to assessing whether someone is suitable for a job.

Let us explain.

In a recent conversation that one of us had with a retired senior manager from the aero-engines industry, we were asked how busi-ness was and what we’d been up to. I explained that business was good and that I had been involved in designing some really interest-ing Assessment Centre exercises for use in education when the reply came back: “Oh really, and would [the company I retired from] get involved in this sort of thing? Only in my day, we relied on that good old-fashioned notion of gut instinct.” (Shortly followed by a snigger, a scoff and possibly a guffaw!)

Being as polite as I am, I smiled and quickly moved the conversa-tion on as family parties aren’t always the best place for this kind of debate! However, it reminded me of why we constantly have to justify the use of all forms of objective assessment to recruiters and candidates alike. They cost a lot, they are time consuming and not many candidates can honestly say they enjoy them.

So why bother?


Only when all of these stages are complete, is the Assessment Cen-tre ready to commence.

Example Assessment Matrix

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Communicating & Influencing √ √

Team working √ √ √

Building relationships √ √ √

Customer focus √ √ √

Creative & analytical thinking √ √ √ √

Commercial & market awareness √ √ √

Achieving results

√ √ √

Planning & organising √ √ √

This is just an example of how different methods are used to assess different competencies. The methods used to measure each compe-tency can vary widely.

How is an Assessment Centre designed?

Before the Assessment Centre even begins, a number of stages have already been completed:

• Avarietyofmethodsareusedtodeterminewhichcompetenciesarerelevanttotherole,oftenincludinginterviewswithjobholdersandotherstakeholders.

• Thisstagehelpstodeterminewhichtestsandexercisesarerequired.

• Usinginformationfromthejobanalysis,acompetencymodelisde-signed.

• Competencieshavebeendescribedas“..anunderlyingcharacteristicofapersonwhichresultsinaneffectiveand/orsuperiorperformanceinajob”anddifferentcombinationsofcompetenciesarerequiredforsuccessindifferentjobs.

• Competenciesallhavebehaviouralindicatorstodemonstratewhatconstitutes“good”

• Amatrixofwhichcompetencyistobeassesedbywhichexerciseisproduced

• Eachcompetencyisusuallyassessedbyatleasttwodifferentmethods.(Seeourassessmentmatrix.)

• Sometimesexercisesareboughtfromtestpublishers‘off-the-shelf’andsometimestheyaredesignedspecificallyforoneorganisation.

• Theexercisesusedmustreflectthecompetenciesaccurately,theymustbepitchedattheappropriatelevelofdifficultyandmustbetechnically(psychometrically)sound.

• Atimetableisdrawnupthattakesaccountofavarietyoffactors.

• Theyincludetimeavailable,numberofassessors,numberofcandi-dates,numberandlocationofavailablerooms,breaks,reportwritingandintegrationtimefortheassessors.

• Evenveryexperiencedassessorsarerequiredtoundertaketrainingforanewassessmentcentre.

• Traininggenerallycoversfamiliaritywiththecompetenciesandexer-cises,theORCEprocessandreportwriting.

JobAnalysis

• CompetencyDesign

• Assessment• Matrix

ExerciseDesign/Selection

TimetableDesig

AssessorTraining


• Classify: Soon after the exercise is complete the assessor will identify which competency each recorded observation relates to, and decide whether it is a positive or negative reflection of that competency.

• Evaluate: Finally, they will assign a rating for each compe-tency based on the amount of positive and negative evidence they have for each.

An evaluation is provided for each competency within each ex-ercise. In the example above, we can already see two positive ex-amples of teamwork.

Assessors use a predefined marking template that includes a defi-nition of the competency and the key behaviours underlying it. These templates can take a variety of forms but they often look like the one below:

J turned to S

“What do you think?”

Kept eye contact, nodded at S.

“I agree, why do you think this is?

J turned to S“What do you think?”Kept eye contact, nodded at S.

“I agree, why do you think this is? “How would it impact customers though?”

Teamwork+Comm&Infl+

Teamwork+Customerfocus+

How does the assessing work?

Some assessors are occupational psychologists, some are Human Re-sources professionals and some are managers and professionals from within the recruiting organisation. The common strand amongst them is that they will have undergone thorough training before they can become an assessor.

What is ORCE?

As part of their training, assessors have to learn to use a method known as ORCE. ORCE stands for Observe, Record, Classify and Evaluate. Assessor training ensures that all assessors are competent in applying this method.

• Observe: Assessors are assigned 1 or 2 candidates to closely observe in each exercise. Generally, each candidate is observed by multiple assessors over the course of the Assessment Centre to ensure a fair evaluation of all candidates.

• Record: Assessors are required to make notes that reflect ev-erything ‘their’ candidate said or did. (Including verbal and non-verbal behaviour).Within each exercise the assessor will be assigned 1 or 2 candi-dates to observe and they will observe and record everything these candidates do or say. For example, their notes might include:

J turned to S

“What do you think?”

Kept eye contact, nodded at S.

“I agree, why do you think this is?

J turned to S“What do you think?”Kept eye contact, nodded at S.

“I agree, why do you think this is? “How would it impact customers though?”


Assessors undertake exactly the same process for every candidate they observe. This ensures all candidates are observed fairly and ob-jectively. Don’t be surprised if you don’t manage to get eye contact with an assessor during an exercise. As you can tell from the above, they are very busy! They are there simply to observe you so trying to get their attention or looking to them for help if something goes wrong is not advisable.

Who gets the job?

Before a decision can be made, each candidate is assigned a rating per competency and an overall rating of suitability. This is achieved in the ‘Integration Session’. This is a meeting that takes place at the end of the Assessment Centre where all of the assessors take part in a detailed discussion about every candidate.

Before the integration session, all assessors will have summarised their evaluations for each exercise into a form similar to that below:

Name_______________________ ID number_________________________

Communicating & Influencing – Group Exercise

Speaks clearly, fluently and with conviction. Uses own persuasive style to successfully encourage others to strive towards the group objective. Influences others to gain acceptance, agreement or behaviour change.

Key behaviours to look for:

Negative behaviours 1 2 3 4 5 Positive behaviours

Stumbles, mumbles or hesitates; speaks quietly so cannot be heard

Communicates clearly and confidently

Uses jargon; presents messages in a long-winded and/or ambiguous manner

Makes contributions which are concise and easy to understand

Monotonous and inexpressive language and tone

Adapts language to suit the audience; uses varied and expressive language

Does not pick up on cues from others; fails to adapt style or seek feedback

Checks others understanding and adapts style in line with cues from others

Fails to acknowledge contributions of others; shows little evidence of active listening

Uses summaries, checks and agreement to demonstrate active listening to others

Fails to respond to challenges from others; backs down easily

Defends own views when challenged; adapts argument if required

Strengths:

Development Areas:


Assessors are provided with a definition of each rating level (in this instance from 1 - 5) and they use this to assign the appropriate rat-ing to each candidate on each competency. An example is provided below:

Rating Level Description

5 OutstandingMeets all of the competency definition

Evidence of strength in this competency demonstrated consistently across all of the required behaviours

4 GoodMeets more than half of the competency definition

Evidence of strength demonstrated across more than half of the required behaviours

3 AcceptableMeets half of the competency definition

Evidence of strength across some of the required behaviours with some areas of weakness or inconsistency

2 MarginalMeets less than half of the competency definition

Evidence of less than acceptable performance across most of the required behaviours

1 PoorMeets almost none of the competency definition

Evidence of weakness or less than acceptable performance across all of the required behaviours. No strengths demonstrated.

They will then combine the ratings from each exercise into an As-sessment Results Matrix. This provides an ‘at a glance’ overview of a candidate’s scores across the whole Assessment Centre:

Summary of Evidence Observed:

Communicating and Influencing

Rating (1-5)

Team Working

Rating (1-5)

Building Relationships

Rating (1-5)

Customer Focus

Rating (1-5)

Creative and Analytical Thinking

Rating (1-5)

Commercial and Market Awareness

Rating (1-5)

Achieving ResultsRating (1-5)

Planning and Organising

Rating (1-5)


By the end of the integration session, each candidate will have an agreed set of ratings. In some instances, any candidate that scores above a certain threshold is considered for the role, or for the next stage in the process (for example, a structured interview with a se-nior manager from the company). In other scenarios the candidates who scored highest might be offered a position. A

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Communicating & Influencing 5 4 4

Team working 3 4 4 4

Building Relationships 3 4 3 3

Customer Focus 2 3 2 2

Creative & Analytical Thinking

2 2 3 2 2

Commercial & Market Awareness

3 3 3

Achieving Results 5 5 5 5

Planning & Organising 4 5 4 4

The Integration Session is chaired by the lead assessor (typically a very experienced assessor). Taking each candidate at a time, asses-sors are asked to justify the competency ratings they assigned. Any discrepancies between how individual assessors evaluated candidates are discussed and debated. Assessors are challenged by other asses-sors where there is incongruence between opinions and written evi-dence plays a vital part in this process. This is where the importance of the Observation, Record and Classify stages comes in to play! An assessor could observe up to 5 candidates in a day so it is paramount that they keep detailed notes.


Preparing for an Assessment Centre.

The day beforeA good night’s sleep is essential. Make sure you avoid all the things that stop you from easily falling asleep, like caffeine, alcohol or using an iPad or similar just before bed.

Check, double check and triple check your alarm clock. Ask some-one else to check it too. Ask someone to call you if you know that getting up early is not your strong point. You could even ask some-one to come and bang on your door if you have been known to sleep through the phone ringing!

Plan what you are going to wear a few days beforehand. Finding a stain on your trousers or a missing button on your blouse hours before you leave is not a great way to start your day.

• If the dress code is not clear to you, err on the side of caution and dress smarter than you think you should. You don’t want


A few small pointers• Before you set off check you have the phone number for the

building where the Assessment Centre is being held as well as the person who has been assigned as your main point of contact.

• Wear a watch. There are likely to be clocks spread around the Assessment Centre but it is useful to be able to quickly check the time. Remember, you probably won’t have your phone with you (and if you do keep your phone in your bag it should be turned off ).

• Take all of the relevant paperwork with you and place it in a smart wallet or folder. This will usually include:

o Your CV or a copy of your application formo The job description/job adverto Any other details about the job that you have been

sento Relevant details about the organisation that you

might want to brush up on if you have timeo The details you have been sent about the logistics of

the Assessment Centre and the exercises contained within it.

o A map and relevant contact details.

At the Assessment Centre• Consider yourself as being under scrutiny from the minute

you arrive. Asking the receptionist to run off a few photo-copies as you forgot, and treating the catering staff poorly will not score you any points! People talk and you have no idea of who knows who.

• Be polite and friendly, do use humour if it is appropriate but don’t treat other candidates or the assessors as though they are close companions. It is important to remain professional yet approachable.

to be remembered as the candidate who was wearing jeans. A suit or smart dress is usually perfectly acceptable. You can always remove your tie/jacket if you feel overdressed when you get there.

• Put petrol in your car the day before.

Getting there• Make sure you allow time for breakfast before you leave. It

is worth sacrificing the extra 15 minutes in bed in order to eat a good breakfast.

• Know where you are going. If you are driving, plan your route and take a map not just a sat nav. Check online for any known road works etc.

• Driving round and round a city trying to find a car park is not conducive to a good start to the day so find out where the nearest car park is too! (It’s also useful to have plenty of loose change for the car park just in case credit or debit cards aren’t taken.)

• If you are using public transport, double check whether there are any known delays. Make sure you can get to the location of the Assessment Centre easily from the bus or train station.

• However you get there, allow plenty of contingency and consider booking a cheap hotel somewhere nearby the night before if you will have to leave too early.

• If you do get delayed the stress of being late could impair your capability when you get to the Assessment Centre. It does not reflect well if you turn up even a few minutes late but just in case, make sure you have the contact details of the relevant person should you need to call and tell them you are delayed.


• Introduce yourself to other candidates to break the ice and practice using a nice, firm handshake.

• If you are given opportunities to talk to current graduate trainees or other employees, make the most of them. Have some questions prepared in case this situation comes up. Asking them what the sandwiches in the cafeteria are like is probably not the best question! Think about what it would be really useful to know.

o How long have they been there? o What training and development opportunities have

they been given? o To what extent do they work with colleagues from

other departments or countries? o What’s been the highlight of the job for them so far?

• Do not criticise other candidates or any assessors that you meet. Even if you come across someone who is rude and ob-noxious, it is unprofessional to talk about them in this way.

• You are likely to take a number of breaks and even to have lunch with other candidates, assessors and other employ-ees from the business. This is unlikely to constitute a formal assessment of you but it is vital to remain professional at such times. These scenarios can feel very odd as they create a blurred line between social and business but then, work can be like this and it is for you to be true to yourself without appearing unprofessional.

• Remain positive. Regardless of the competencies being for-mally assessed, positivity is always highly regarded. Joining in with others’ complaints about the food, the accommoda-tion or the timetable is not a good use of the limited time you have to impress.

• Having one bad exercise is not the end of the world. You can see from the assessment matrix that this is not a ‘one-shot’ approach. After a bad experience, take a few minutes to compose yourself and then approach the next one as if it were the first!


Group Exercises

What is a Group Exercise?Group Exercises are designed to simulate realistic meetings or group work situations. They allow recruiting organisations to observe how candidates behave when working as part of a team and are designed to assess a number of competencies that are deemed important for the role in question. (See our competency matrix for details.)

Organisations use them as they offer immediate evidence of how a candidate works and communicates with other people. They allow assessors to observe candidates’ behaviour in a standardised setting, which is fairer and more objective than casual observations of how they interact with others.


ing, planning or solving a work-based problem or it might involve completing a task (perhaps solving a puzzle or building something).

The information provided sets the scene for the meeting. Some tasks provide all candidates with the same information, others give candidates information unique to themselves and they are expected to share this with the group as the discussion evolves (just like in a real meeting). Many allow candidates to take part in the discussion with no pre-assigned roles, others may give each participant a role within the discussion (for example, they may be asked to represent a specific department’s priorities or someone may be assigned the role of Chair, Secretary.)

The topic area of the scenarios that candidates might encounter can vary widely. Some offer a scenario very relevant to the organisation for which they are applying, for example, a technology company might ask candidates to decide how to bring a struggling technology project back on track. Other organisations might opt for a broader scenario, for example, a wider discussion to plan the launch of a new business or product.

Often the actual content of the discussion is not really relevant; what matters is how candidates interact with one another within the con-text of the competencies being assessed.

Example Group Tasks

Example 1: New Catering Contract

Information for the candidate

You have 10 minutes to read the information attached and then a further 45 minutes to discuss the matter with the rest of the group. By the end of the discussion the group must:

• Decide what next steps should be in the decision-making.• Justify the decision the group has taken.

Example Group ExercisesGroup Exercises typically involve between four and eight candidates and are usually one part of a wider Assessment Centre. Candidates sit around a table and the assessors are placed around the room. Each assessor will be assigned one or two candidates to observe and they will be recording details of the interactions that take place as the exercise progresses.

There are two main types of Group Exercise:

Group Discussions

In this scenario the group is given one or more topics to discuss. The topic may relate to some of the issues impacting the industry in which the recruiting organisation operates or it may be a more general topic, perhaps current affairs or an issue impacting society more widely.

Example Group Discussions

1. There is a shortage of semi-skilled labour in this country.How can this be addressed?

2. The industry is suffering as a result of automation, what isthe solution to this?

3. What is the best invention in the last 100 years?4. Identity cards would reduce crime in the UK.5. The family plays a less important role in society now than it

did 50 years ago.

Group Tasks

Group tasks can take a variety of forms but usually the group is given some preliminary information to read within a pre-defined period of time before the ‘meeting’ begins. The task may focus on debat-


Information for the assessors

Key factors for consideration

Ultimate decision for the group is whether to accept the late pro-posal. There are a number of key factors for the group to consider:

• Value for money is vital across the business. • The impact the decision will have on existing employees in

catering.• If Caterit fail to make the deadline and the group accept the

proposal what implications does that have for the company that pulled out due to time constraints?

• If Caterit can’t meet a deadline due to two people being off sick, how does that portray them? Levels of service are also an important factor!

• Is it fair to Cookaway/the in-house team that Caterit have had extra time?

• Should the procurement team listen to the rumours about Caterit being cheapest?

• Employees are the customer in this exercise as they will be using the catering services. How do they best get serviced?

• Are redundancies a factor for consideration?

Competencies to be assessed in this exercise are:

Commercial & Market Awareness

Demonstrates up-to-date knowledge of industry, market and com-petitor information. Uses such information to inform planning and decision-making. Identifies and seizes opportunities to grow the organisation; demonstrates an understanding of the wider issues that can impact its success. Understands how their own area and input can impact the wider organisation and beyond.

• Outline key factors that impacted the decision.

You have 10 minutes to read the information provided and then a further 40 minutes to work as a group to respond to each of the points above.

As a member of the procurement team at your organisation, it is your role to help the group appoint a new provider with the con-tract to provide all catering services to your organisation. Up to now catering services have always been provided in-house, however, the Chief Executive is keen to ensure that the organisation is getting value for money and the best levels of service. The closing date for all potential providers is 1 March at midday. Four organisations have been short-listed to this stage of the process. You are part of a team responsible for the decision-making. The day before the deadline, two tenders have been received. One was provided by the current in-house catering services department and one is from a potential new supplier (Cookaway). A third party has decided to withdraw from the process as they did not feel they were given sufficient time to put the proposal together. At this stage the in-house catering services tender is the cheapest, whereas the other one is significantly more expensive.

The team have just been informed by the fourth potential supplier, Caterit, that a couple of key people from their team have been off sick but they hope to get the tender submitted within a couple of hours after the deadline and they are doing all they can to get it in on time. The rumours that have been circulating imply that Caterit are likely to offer the best price and they have a great reputation in relation to the quality of what they offer. The CEO has already told the decision-making committee that if the late tender is accepted, and if it is less than your own, then many internal catering staff will face redundancy which will not be a popular decision in the organ-isation. However, as many other departments are looking for ways to reduce costs it is important that real value for money is achieved.


- What are the pros and cons of each store?

- Which option should Wow! opt for and why?

- What other information would have been useful to aid the decision-making?

You have 10 minutes to read the information provid-ed and then a further 40 minutes to work as a group to respond to each of the points above.

Background information

Due to the success of the last twelve months, Wow! Fashion is keen to open a new store. There are a number of possible sites under con-sideration. Wow! is a fashion retailer aimed at females in their late teens and twenties. They source all materials ethically and have a team of highly innovative designers on board. These factors are a key part of their brand. This will be the eighth store they have opened since they were founded 5 years ago.

They also have an online presence but their stores are currently prov-ing to be more successful than the online side of the business, de-spite what is happening more widely in fashion retailing. The units outlined below are all available in two months and all have approxi-mately the same floor space.

Site 1: Osgaston village

Osgaston is an average sized, fairly affluent village (approximately 10,000 inhabitants). It is approximately 25 miles from the nearest city (Siftford) with good transport links in the form of buses and trains. It has a number of well-respected secondary schools in the area and many of the children attending them walk past the store twice a day including those from the very popular and expanding further education college (for 16-19 year olds).

Whilst it isn’t a large village there are a number of other shops and it has a busy farmers’ market twice a week. The other shops on the high street tend to stock high end furniture, gifts, accessories and lo-

Communicating & Influencing

Relates well to others; adapts communication style to successfully influence and communicate with others. Listens to other people and communicates with impact and empathy. Communicates ef-fectively orally, in writing and via electronic means in a manner ap-propriate to the audience. Successfully explains complex or technical information to non-experts. Makes an impact, putting one’s own point across with clarity and purpose.

Team working

Works effectively as part of a diverse team and demonstrates the ability to work collaboratively and empathetically within diverse teams. Puts the needs of the team above their own and demon-strates openness and honesty with team members. Builds a sense of team spirit by listening to, encouraging and supporting colleagues and wider team members.

Customer Focus

Strives to anticipate and understand the needs of customers. Ap-plies their understanding of customers to ensure they receive timely and efficient service, going the extra mile in order to surpass expec-tations. Focuses on customer needs and levels of satisfaction in all they do; acts upon customer feedback; takes customer concerns and feedback seriously.

Example 2: Retail unit suitability


As a key member of the Wow! Business Development team, you have been asked to work with your colleagues to make a decision regarding the expansion of the business. You are part of a team who have to choose between three different units for the company’s new store. The options could all be a success but there is a lot of variation between them. Wow!’s commercial director has asked the group to consider the possibilities and to discuss the following:


to its other stores. The rental costs are reviewed every two years but historically they have not been increased massively year on year. The local council are really keen to find suitable retailers to rent the empty units.

Site 3: Hillview out of town shopping and leisure cen-tre

Hillview opened five years ago and has been widely regarded as a success. It plays host to 280 units and on average, 95% of them have been occupied most of the time. It is situated five miles outside of Siftford. The shopping centre itself attracts a large number of inter-national high street brands with four major department stores being amongst them. The rest of the centre is split between fashion, shoes, beauty and homeware mainly. Independent retailers have tended to be less successful over the last five years as the rental costs are very high, so many have closed within 18 months of opening. It also contains a multi-screen cinema and bowling centre, both of which prove very popular with teenagers. The owners of Hillview are also building a luxury leisure club complete with swimming pool which is planned for opening in 2 months.

There is no typical profile of Hillview customers. As one would ex-pect, weekdays tend to be quieter with older people and parents with children being major customers. The weekends tend to be five times busier and the customer profile widens to include teenagers, profes-sionals and families. There are three main zones to the centre. The unit on offer currently is situated in the less expensive end which tends to attract brands that are less well-known for quality, instead focusing on goods at a lower price point. This tends to attract lots of teenagers hoping to spend their pocket money! The other two zones are ‘prestige’ and ‘leisure’. It is anticipated the turnover at this store could be above average if the shop is a success but the rental will be amongst the highest Wow! has ever paid. Rental costs are reviewed annually and they typically increase 5% year on year.

cally produced artisan crafts. The village also hosts a very popular art gallery which attracts many visitors plus there are a growing number of holiday lets becoming available in the area. The village is currently expanding as a new development of 300 houses is being built over the next three years. It is thought that this development will attract more affluent young families.

The site is right in the middle of the high street between a café and a leather shop. It commands an average annual site rental in com-parison to other Wow! stores and the lease runs for five years. It is projected that a Wow! shop opened in Osgaston would generate slightly less than average turnover in the first year but the owners of the unit have committed to fixing the rental costs for five years. It is also thought that the new housing development could have a posi-tive impact on turnover. Competition for this unit is high.

Site 2: Siftford city shopping centre

Siftford is a large city with a very diverse population (just over 1 mil-lion inhabitants). It is surrounded by a number of smaller towns and cities and a number of international businesses are based there. In recent years there has been a downturn in retailing due to the open-ing of a new out of town shopping centre (5 miles from the city) but over the last 12 months the local council has invested a lot of money to attract shoppers back to the city. An upturn has already been seen. As part of this initiative, the shop units are being offered at a very low rental rate, with the one Wow! is considering costing a lot less than the rest of the units that Wow! rent.

The diverse nature of the city means that there are a wide variety of people who use the shopping centre. There are a number of deprived areas close to the city but it also services many of the more affluent towns and villages within a 5 mile radius. The store itself is based inside a newly refurbished shopping centre. A number of large, well known fashion chains have already started to open stores there and the low rental costs are attracting a lot of interest. There has been an above average level of incidence of shoplifting reported in the shopping centre over the last 12 months but the police are now of-fering a heavy presence during peak shopping times. It is believed that a Wow! store in Siftford would see average turnover compared


Even with new development of houses, only likely to bring in 1200 more people (only half likely to be adults), even less teens/early twenties

Lots of competition from out of town retail centre

Wow! is known for ethics and innovation which is not in line with the low end shops it will be situated amongst

Average rent but below average forecast

Rental costs could rise in two years

Rent likely to increase quickly

Competencies to be assessed

Communicating and Influencing

Relates well to others; adapts communication style to successfully influence and communicate with others. Listens to other people and communicates with impact and empathy. Communicates effec-tively orally, in writing and via electronic means in a manner appro-priate to the audience. Successfully explains complex or technical information to non-experts. Makes an impact, putting one’s own point across with clarity and purpose.

Team working

Works effectively as part of a diverse team and demonstrates the ability to work collaboratively and empathetically within diverse teams. Puts the needs of the team above their own and demon-strates openness and honesty with team members. Builds a sense of team spirit by listening to, encouraging and supporting colleagues and wider team members.

Customer Focus

Strives to anticipate and understand the needs of customers. Ap-plies their understanding of customers to ensure they receive timely and efficient service, going the extra mile in order to surpass expec-tations. Focuses on customer needs and levels of satisfaction in all they do; acts upon customer feedback; takes customer concerns and feedback seriously.



Osgaston Siftford Hillview

Advantages

Affluent area (fairly self-sufficient)

Diverse and large city so lots of potential customers in right age bracket

Already a well-established shopping centre

High proportion of families therefore some teenagers

Slight upturn in retail seen in last 12 months

Facilities on offer likely to attract Wow! customers

Lots of visitors to the town

Services lots of surrounding towns and village

Investment still being made so unlikely to see a downturn in near future

Village is growing Council keen to support retailers in this centre

Above average turnover anticipated

No rising rental costs despite being a popular site

Low rental costs Very busy weekends

Disadvantages

Surrounding shops aren’t in keeping with Wow! offering

Last 5 years has been poor for retailing overall – no guarantees that the recent upturn will last

Lots of competition for business

Only 10,00 inhabitants in total

Competition from other well-known fashion chains

Smaller retailers have traditionally failed due to high rental costs

Visitors’ focus tends to be art gallery (not typical Wow! customers)

High incidence of shoplifting

The unit available is amongst low-end brands which could impact the Wow! brand negatively


ingredients. The other alternative is to replace Burst with a range of flavoured sparkling waters. Results of the trials show some advan-tages and disadvantages to each.

The Marketing department has also been carrying out research to understand whether the Burst image is in need of an update or whether the product itself may be the problem with customers.

A financial review has also revealed some major differences between sales across Europe.

Today’s date is 14th January.

Information sheet 1

Memo

To: The Graduate Trainee Team

From: Sam Baird, Head of Product

Date: 14th January

______________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

My PA has collated a series of useful papers for you to review in rela-tion to the decline in Burst’s sales. I’d like you to look at the informa-tion provided, then together as a team:

• Consider the advantages and disadvantages of each product

• Decide on which product we should launch/relaunch• Create a high level action plan for next steps• Create a list of what extra information you need to see.

You will be asked to spend 5 minutes outlining your solution at the end of the meeting. Please appoint a spokesperson to do this.

Commercial and Market Awareness

Demonstrates up-to-date knowledge of industry, market and com-petitor information. Uses such information to inform planning and decision-making. Identifies and seizes opportunities to grow the organisation; demonstrates an understanding of the wider issues that can impact its success. Understands how their own area and input can impact the wider organisation and beyond.

Example 3: Product Proposal


You have recently joined Quench International, a producer of soft drinks who export their products to many countries around the world although mainly Europe. Your role as a graduate trainee is to work across a number of different departments, learning about the organisation and taking on a variety of projects. Over the last year, concerns have been raised about Quench’s key product and you have been asked to work with the other trainee graduates in the business to decide next steps.

You have 15 minutes to review the information on your own. The group will then have 40 minutes to discuss what recommendations should be present-ed to the Head of Product.

Background information:

Quench’s flagship product is Burst – a range of fresh fruit smoothies. Burst is the most important brand amongst the Quench products and up until recently has been a really popular product in the UK and Europe. However, a decline has recently been seen in both its sales and market share across most of Europe. It is not obvious whether this decline is due to Burst’s image and marketing or to the characteristics of the product itself.

The Research & Development department are in the process of un-dertaking research to look for possible replacements for Burst. One option is to consider a range of energy drinks using mainly natural


Information sheet 2

Initial New Product Test Results

Full technical results are not yet available but what follows is a high level summary of the findings. Trial participants were not given any prior information about the drinks and what they were designed to do/who they would be marketed to.

Fruit-based energy drink:

4 prototype flavours were produced for the trials: guava, mango, ba-nana and passion fruit. Taste trials suggested that banana was the least popular and mango was most popular. Guava and passion fruit were moderately successful in the taste tests. There were no gender differences between preferences but the under 20’s rated the product less favourably overall.

Technical tests show that it would be possible to have an average shelf life of 10 months, which is a lot less than traditional, caffeine-based energy drinks offered by competitors. The product would also require storage in a refrigerator (like Burst is currently stored), whereas caffeine-based energy drinks do not.

Manufacturing costs for this product would not be excessive as Quench already have access to all necessary product development equipment that would be required, but there are obvious extra costs associated with developing a new product range

Most energy drinks are currently stored in cans; we could differenti-ate by supplying in recyclable clear plastic bottle. Trials suggest that clear drinks are the least popular, with consumers preferring energy drinks to reflect the colour of the associated fruit. This would require artificial colorant.

In a follow-up survey 40% of trial participants felt that the drink did impact their energy levels for more than 30 minutes afterwards. Half of the participants claimed to be regular consumers of caffeine based energy drinks and 80% of these people claimed that their ‘usual’ en-ergy drink enhanced their energy levels for at least 30 minutes.

The papers I have attached include:- Initial New Product Test Results- Burst Marketing Research Report- Quench Company Values- Excerpt from Burst Sales Report- Memo from Head of HR

I’m sorry I can’t be there in person, I am travelling until early next week but I have arranged for a colleague to listen to your proposal at the end of your meeting.

I feel it is also worthwhile offering you my views in relation to the current problems we are facing regarding sales of Burst in Europe. I was part of the original marketing team that launched Burst 10 years ago. At the time, it was ahead of the competition as no one else was offering affordable smoothies. Over the last 10 years we have seen a rise in the volume of smoothies on offer, and whilst not many are as inexpensive as Burst, they do seem to be more popu-lar. It is interesting to note that the marketing emphasis amongst our competitors has changed somewhat from when Burst was first launched. Our original intention was to market to parents as Burst was a healthy alternative to the then popular sugar-filled drinks. However, many competitor smoothie products are aimed at adults too with a lot of attention being paid to stylish packaging and the offer of a luxury brand and linked food products. This extra spend on marketing and design does seem to have resulted in many com-petitor products being more expensive though.

It would be a shame to lose Burst following just one year’s decline in sales but we need to think fast now if we want to claim back this market. I haven’t seen any of the results of the trials of the energy drink or the sparkling waters but this could lead to an even more difficult decision.

Good luck.

Sam


Information sheet 3

Burst Marketing Research Report

The following is an abstract of a full marketing report surrounding consumer research in relation to Burst.

The brand appears to be confused. Under 25’s think it is old fash-ioned and over 25’s think it is for children.

The branding has not changed for 10 years. Consumers appear to like the name but many stated they feel like the packaging and ad-vertising is dated and not in keeping with latest trends.

When asked what connotations Burst had for them, themes in-cluded:

Fruity drinks for children

Lunch box fillers

A good alternative to fruit

Questions about preferred competitor smoothie drinks led to the conclusion that the most popular were those which offered organic products and had related health benefits.

Parents had concerns over children consuming too many smoothies due to the risk to their teeth and would prefer to give them fla-voured water as an alternative.

Knowing that products were sourced locally or at least in the UK was also important to consumers that were interviewed in the UK.

Marketing research was not conducted outside of the UK.

Flavoured sparkling water:

4 prototype flavours were produced for the trials: orange, apple, mango and lemon. The most popular were orange and mango; lem-on was least popular and apple fell into the middle. The only gender difference was seen in relation to apple, whereby females rated it higher than males. The over 60 category appeared to enjoy the range less overall but no other age differences were observed.

The shelf life of the sparking water is likely to be 12 months, which compares favourably with many similar competitor products. The product would most likely be presented in a recyclable plastic bottle with a coloured label to represent the associated fruit flavour. Con-sumers were positive about the packaging, saying it compared fa-vourably to other sparkling waters.

Like the energy drinks, manufacturing does not require purchase of any new equipment but there are obvious extra costs associated with developing a new product range.

Burst:

Blind trials were also conducted using Burst. There are currently 8 different Burst flavours and of these, 3 were consistently rated as ‘poor’ by at least 80% of trial participants. There were 4 flavours that 90% of those taking part rated as at least ‘good’, namely Or-ange, Mango, Passion fruit and Strawberry. The under 20’s gave all flavours less favourable ratings than all other age groups. Burst was most popular overall with those in their 30’s and 40’s.

The drink was presented in both clear plastic containers as well as the traditional card boxes. The former was overwhelmingly more popular. Most people said they liked seeing the ingredients as they looked so fresh and inviting.


Information Sheet 6



- We know Quench export outside of Europe, could this be an option to consider further for Burst? Why focus only on Europe?

- We have no information to tell us how energy drinks and sparkling water are performing more widely at the moment. We need to look at whether they could even come close to becoming a key product for Quench. Would like to see a full competitor analysis.

- Image is very obviously an issue. Could the brand be split in two? There is clearly a market for children and for adults but the same product won’t work for both.

Memo

To: European Executive Team

From: Tony Slane, Head of HR

Date: 5th January

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I am pleased to inform you all that Will Dickinson, Head of Sales for UK and Ireland will be returning to work following a period of extended absence following illness. He plans to return this summer. We would like to thank Jorge Montague for covering this region as well his own area of Western Europe during this period. We look forward to welcoming Will back to Quench and wish him a speedy recovery between now and then.

Information sheet 4

Information sheet 5

Quench company values

Nature is king – as our customers become more concerned about health and well-being, our role is to support them as best we can by offering products that, where possible, are made with the freshest and healthiest ingredients. Where we have to resort to an artificial alternative we will make this clear to our customers.

Relish opportunities – our success this far has been based on grasp-ing opportunities when we see them. We don’t want our people to feel constrained by process, entrepreneurialism is vital to keep ahead of the competition.

Look after others – this includes each other and our customers. We want to support and improve our community and our environment.

Look after the numbers – making money isn’t a bad thing. We can support our community and each other whilst also being commer-cial. Without consideration of the numbers, none of us would be here!

Excerpt from Sales Report (Burst Sales)

All figures in £m Year 2 Year 3 Year 4Year 5(this year)

UK and Ireland 1.5 2 2.2 2.1

Northern Europe 0.4 0.9 1.1 1.1

Southern Europe 1.8 2.1 2.2 2.3

Eastern Europe 0.0 0.1 0.1 0.3

Western Europe 0.4 0.8 0.9 0.8

Total 4.1 5.9 6.5 6.6


Competencies to be assessed in this exercise are:

– Commercial & Market AwarenessDemonstrates up-to-date knowledge of industry, market and com-petitor information. Uses such information to inform planning and decision-making. Identifies and seizes opportunities to grow the organisation; demonstrates an understanding of the wider issues that can impact its success. Understands how their own area and input can impact the wider organisation and beyond.

– Communicating & InfluencingRelates well to others; adapts communication style to successfully influence and communicate with others. Listens to other people and communicates with impact and empathy. Communicates ef-fectively orally, in writing and via electronic means in a manner ap-propriate to the audience. Successfully explains complex or technical information to non-experts. Makes an impact, putting one’s own point across with clarity and purpose.

– Team workingWorks effectively as part of a diverse team and demonstrates the ability to work collaboratively and empathetically within diverse teams. Puts the needs of the team above their own and demon-strates openness and honesty with team members. Builds a sense of team spirit by listening to, encouraging and supporting colleagues and wider team members.

– Customer FocusStrives to anticipate and understand the needs of customers. Ap-plies their understanding of customers to ensure they receive timely and efficient service, going the extra mile in order to surpass expec-tations. Focuses on customer needs and levels of satisfaction in all they do; acts upon customer feedback; takes customer concerns and feedback seriously.

- There are some differences within Europe in relation to sales. We need to understand more about this. HR memo shows that the two declining areas have been managed by one person for a while. The UK & Ireland Head of Sales is returning this summer. Could Will’s absence have been a factor?

- It is clear that smoothies face increased competition and that Quench hasn’t really done anything to move the Burst brand forward in that time. They are now lagging behind. The marketing report already shows some ideas for how the brand could be improved.

- Could a rebrand of Burst include a focus on local products? Organic offering? Packaging looks to be a factor too.

- Competitors have smoothies at a higher price point. Maybe sales to adults can carry the extra cost. Could that make the product seem more luxurious?

- It is also clear that there are many flavours of Burst that are not enjoyed. Could be sensible to stop supporting these flavours and focus on the more popular ones.

- There is mention of storage in the report, is this an impor-tant factor? What impact might this have on the decision?

- Whilst it is clear that the general manufacturing costs wouldn’t be an issue necessarily, we still need to take account of the increased costs associated with product development.

- A potential issue with the energy drink is the reduced im-pact on energy compared to other products. This could be a barrier and would need addressing in the next phase of development.

- Concerns could be raised as to whether the energy drink is in accordance with company value of ‘Nature is King’. Could this devalue the wider Quench brand and values?

- Looking at the sales report shows that Burst sales are still increasing year on year in three regions. Worth considering why this might be.


what you do – so their opinion matters! In every busi-ness decision you need to consider how your staff will feel – this information might be included in the form of staff surveys or opinion polls.

yy Good business people use “gut feel” and listen out for information that will give them hints about mood and morale. You may also find snippets of informal infor-mation about staff weaved into other data amongst the information provided. Small snippets of information might add up to an important theme – so refer to it in the discussion if you think there’s something there.

– One Group Exercise is very unlikely to include all of the information listed above as there is usually limited time for reading – the main focus is on the discussion. For a detailed overview of each of the above, take a look at the Analysis Presentation section.

– As part of the Group Exercise you will be required to read and digest this type of information before discussing it with the rest of the group.

Research, research, research!

– Look at the company website. What recent initiatives have they been involved in? Are there any key people it is worth finding out more about? What plans are there for expan-sion? Who are their main competitors and what market share do they appear to hold?

– Is there any information about their values? What is impor-tant to them? Are they more focused on acting with social responsibility or are commercial gains more important to them for example?

– Use the information on their recruitment website. Often you will see what competencies they regard as vital for suc-cess in the company. Think about how they relate to your natural style of behaving and use this to guide the way you think about the task at hand.

How do I prepare for a Group Exercise?

Working with the business information

– The information you are provided with in a Group Exercise can vary widely – just like in real life! Business data comes in many forms, reflecting the complexity of business. Think about how effective business people make decisions – they take on board information from a wide variety of people and sources. Included in this might be the following:yy Profit and Loss Accounts – also referred to P&L: this

is a financial statement that summarises the revenues, costs and expenses incurred during a specific period of time - usually a quarter or year. These records provide information that shows the ability of a company to gen-erate profit by increasing revenue and reducing costs.

yy Balance Sheet – this gives a snapshot of how the com-pany is doing on a certain date.

yy Organisation Charts – these give a pictorial view of how the company is structured and who key people are.

yy Sales and Trading data - Data reflecting current trad-ing information including pricing and volume and oth-er information related to the trade.

yy Customer data – this could come in the form of demo-graphic data about the customers used to inform such as gender and income; or it could be data from the cus-tomers such as feedback, complaints or market research.

yy Organisational Structure – organisational and business charts will show you how the company is structured in terms of who key people are, what their job is and where they work.

yy Staff – the people who work for you will make or break


way of bolstering your confidence in a less pressured situa-tion prior to the real thing.

– Try and find opportunities to observe others whose style you respect. For example, take the time to sit back in meet-ings, or during group work, and look at what is happening. Are people naturally taking up specific roles? What is the chair person doing to ensure that everyone is involved in the meeting? If there is no assigned chair or facilitator, how is the group managing to work cohesively? How could the meeting be improved?

– You can also talk to friends who have already undertaken a Group Exercise to get a better understanding of what to ex-pect. However, their experience will inevitably be different to yours so don’t place too much emphasis on this.

Useful pointers for the group

– The task set for the group can vary widely but there are some useful models and techniques that are worth knowing about. Having them in mind can help you to give the group a useful framework for their discussion. yy Categories and themes. Typical headings might include:

– People & staff issues – Finance issues – Customer issues – Facilities and Resources

yy Importance & Urgency. How important and how urgent are the key issues that are apparent in the information? This is a useful approach when planning is required. It will help give the group some structure.

yy Timeframes and Priorities. If you are asked to plan a project or to develop a product launch plan, the asses-sors will be looking for evidence of you prioritising and planning ahead. You could suggest using the headings that businesses often use – immediate, short, medium

– Look at any social networking links that they have. Often Twitter, Linkedin and Facebook can provide valuable infor-mation about their latest thinking and offers. This can give you an insight into what’s important to them and this can help you to frame your thinking in relation to the exercise.

Read the information you are given

– You will inevitably have seen some form of job description, maybe even a list of key competencies for the role. Use this to think about what the assessors may be looking for in the Group Exercise but do remain true to yourself.

– The website will also often give you more information about the specifics of the Assessment Centre and may tell you about the exercise. It is also likely that the company will send you more information ahead of the exercise. It is really important to read this.

Understand yourself

– Ask for feedback from those who know you best. This might be teachers, employers, friends or family. Ask them what they think about your communication style in a group. What do they think are your strengths and your develop-ment needs in this regard? Play to your strengths in the ex-ercise and spend time considering your development needs and thinking about ways to improve. For example, if you are told that sometimes you tend to take over in a group setting, try and manage this when you are with friends and colleagues so that it becomes more natural for you. You can even ask a very close friend to give you a nudge when they see you doing this!

– Get involved in group discussions or debates. This could be as part of an organised club or group, for example a debat-ing society, book group or committee, or, it could simply be taking part in more serious discussions with friends and colleagues. If you are naturally quite shy this can be a good


impact upon the organisation, its people, prod-ucts and customers?

– Legal: will changes to the law impact upon the company, its products, services and customers?

– Environmental: how will changes here impact upon the company? Consider how the resources could be affected by change.

yy SMART (Targets and Measures of Success). If the group is required to develop a plan it can be useful to have targets and measures of success to help structure the planning. It helps the group agree on what they want to achieve and what success looks like. SMART is a useful and straightforward way of setting targets and measures.

– Simple: state the goal in one line or sentence – describe exactly what needs to be achieved, what the result will be.

– Measurable: how will success be measured? Will it be in sales units, reduced costs, increased cus-tomer foot-fall, happier staff, and better return for your share-holders? Whatever it is, make it something you can measure and count! Be as specific as possible and say exactly how the mea-surement will happen.

– Achievable: no point putting in an unrealistic target that will let people down and disappoint. Good targets are tough, but can be done.

– Realistic: Whatever your target, encourage the group to think about exactly what needs to hap-pen to get there.

- Timebound: be clear and specific aboutwhenyouwanttoseeyourresults.

and long-term. yy SWOT. If the group is asked to make a decision, the

assessors will be looking for evidence of how you came to that decision. The group can use SWOT to help make the decision and it can offer a nice structure to help you keep track of how you got there.

– Strengths: what is the company or business good at? What are the special or successful things it already does?

– Weaknesses: what problems or pitfalls exist within the business? Where are there current or future concerns?

– Opportunities: consider the business context or market – what opportunities could or might come up and how could the business take advan-tage of those?

– Threats: what risks and liabilities are there? What negative things could happen to put the company, its product, its people or reputation at risk?

yy PESTLE. PESTLE offers the group a useful way to evaluate the data. It is most useful if you have been given a lot of context regarding the organisation and the climate in which it operates. It might not be useful in all scenarios. Simply put, PESTLE is:

– Political: the political landscape - remember this can include the politics within the company as well as those outside the organisation.

– Economic: this can include the financial situation inside the company as well in the wider market.

– Social: this can include an internal view which would mean looking at staff and people issues within the company, or outside the company which would mean looking at the wider societal context.

– Technological: how will technology and change


good, why not encourage everyone to remind the rest of the group what their name is at the start of the session and make a note for yourself.

– Encourage quieter group members to have their say as well as trying to get overbearing people to listen to others. This is not increasing the competition; it is demonstrating good teamwork skills. Not ev-eryone naturally gets involved but even though someone is quiet it doesn’t mean they don’t have valid opinions.

– Consider the time allocated to the exercise and what you all need to achieve in this time. Reminding the team of how long they have left can help bring the group back on track.

– Focus on what’s important and not all of the detail. If the group is spending too long on an area that is not really relevant to the overall objective, be polite and diplomatic in how you approach this but don’t be afraid to suggest that you move on and come back to it later.

– Find opportunities to summarise the discussion so far. Do-ing this demonstrates that you have understood the discussion so far and that you are comfortable taking a leadership role by bringing the group back on track.

– Think about the ‘big picture’. You may have your own priorities but often compromise is important in order to do what is best for the fictional group you are part of.

Don’t

– Completely take over and be too dominating or controlling. Leadership is important but a strong leader listens to others and makes sure that the right people are involved.

– Confuse being assertive with being arrogant. There is a fine line between these two concepts and it is important to get the right balance. You may be confident that your ideas are workable but other people are more than likely feeling the same. Usually, there is not necessarily one right way of completing an

Top tips for Group ExercisesA useful check-list of “dos” and “don’ts” when taking part in a Group Exercise:

Do ….

– Think before you speak. Filling quiet time with ir-relevant and useless opinions and suggestions will not gain you points with the assessors.

– Relax and be yourself. It is important to remain profes-sional but being yourself will also ensure that you do not come across as contrived or trying too hard.

– Body language is important. Think about how you sit and interact with others non-verbally. A smile can go a long way towards improving relationships with others as can nod-ding and demonstrating agreement with others when relevant.

– Take an active part in the discussion. If you sit back for too long you will find it more difficult to find a way into the conversation. Try and remain active throughout without saying things to fill the gaps!

– Reign yourself in if you feel you are taking over. If you feel that you are starting to dominate create a way of pulling yourself out of the discussion by asking someone else what they think.

– Let other people speak and listen to what they say. You might not agree with what they are saying but ev-eryone deserves to have their opinion heard and often opposing views can help the group to come to a more balanced decision. Making reference to someone else’s point later in the discussion demonstrates that you have been listening.

– Call people by their first name. This may seem re-ally simple but by remembering someone’s name and address-ing them accordingly you are more likely to get them ‘on-side’. ”That’s a great idea Helen.” If your memory for names isn’t very


friends in a more familiar setting. That said though, appropriate humour and charm will get you a long way.

– Think that you are superior to others. The whole point of Group Exercises is that they create a level playing field. Acting superior and as if you are ‘above all this nonsense’ will not be regarded well by the assessors or the rest of the group and you could quickly alienate yourself.

exercise. – Interrupt others. You may have a burning desire to com-

ment on something that another group member is saying but reign that in, let them finish, but be sure to make a mental or written note so that you don’t lose that thought.

– Demonstrate frustration with others. Your diplo-macy skills can be tested to the max in a Group Exercise and it is important not to lose your temper or shout someone down. Remain polite and calm.

– Offer to take notes and then end up being left out of the conversation as you are acting as the secretary for the group. Someone will of course be required to take notes but if you do volunteer to do so make sure you remain part of the discussion. Taking notes can also reduce opportunities for eye contact with others.

– Respond to rude or offensive behaviour with similar rude or offensive behaviour. Don’t be afraid to stick up for yourself but do so with tact and diplomacy.

– Be afraid to offer your opinion and defend your point of view. You may find yourself surrounded by more confident and outgoing people than you are used to but just because someone has a lot to say, this does not make them right. Present evidence to support your own viewpoint and don’t be afraid to ask others what they think.

– Criticise other people’s opinions or ridicule their responses. It is fine to disagree with others but it is also vital to offer constructive alternatives too. Under no circum-stances should you attack someone personally.

– Consider yourself in charge and start delegat-ing roles to others in the group. Leadership is one thing but teamwork is also key. Bossing others around will not reflect well on you.

– Relax so much that you become unprofession-al. It is great to feel relaxed and the assessors will be looking for those people who are not highly strung but don’t fall into the trap of thinking you can act in the same way you might amongst close


Presentation Exercises

What is a Presentation Exercise?It is very common to have to make a presentation at an Assessment Centre. There are a number of different types of presentation and in this section we focus on presentations you can prepare in advance and deliver on the day of the Assessment Centre. Very often the subject matter is “about you” or what you know about the organisa-tion or job you are applying for. Organisations use this kind of exer-cise not only to see how well you can “present yourself ” but also learn a little about you, your background and career aspirations. They are not testing your knowledge as such, but through the presentation want to see how you communicate, interact and present. Aspects of your confidence and style will be assessed, and if you are asked ques-tions about your presentation, assessors will also get to see how well you think on your feet.

There are endless variations and possibilities for this type of presen-tation exercise. Perhaps the most common aim of all is to find out about you, your reasons for applying for the job, and what you know


How do I prepare for a Presentation Exercise?

Most organisations using this technique will give you a topic or title upfront along with some general guidelines about how long they expect your presentation to be. There are a number of things you will need to consider to help you to prepare for the presentation:

a: Researching your presentation

What could be nicer than writing a presentation all about you? Wrong! When assessors ask about you, they really want to know what you can do for their business. So when it comes to research, start by doing all you can to understand the role, the organisation and the market you are applying to. The company web-site, Google, Wikipedia will all be useful sources of information to you. The more you can find out about the organisation the better. Think about what the company is really trying to achieve. What are its aims and as-pirations? What is it really good at? What are the main challenges it faces? If you really want to get below the surface of the organisa-tion, you might want to use evaluation techniques such as SWOT or PESTLE (See our section Analysing and Developing Your Content under the Analysis Presentation area for details.)

Once you have done your company needs analysis, turn it into a checklist. Try to match up what you offer. Be specific and think about real examples that actually demonstrate what you have done in the past.

about the organisation. As well as the typical competencies such as communication, assessors get the chance to see just how much re-search you have done about the company and the job in question. If you can demonstrate that you really understand the job and that you “get” what the business is trying to do, then in the assessor’s mind, you are likely to make a better recruit than another candidate who isn’t really sure what they are getting themselves in to.

If the presentation content relates to a specific business case study, then this is an Analysis Presentation (see Analysis Presentations section).

Example Presentation ExercisesThere are many variations of this kind of exercise. What follows are some typical example scenarios.

Example Presentation Exercises

I. Please prepare a 10 minute presentation on “Why you think you are right for this job”

II. Prepare a 15 minute presentation telling us what you would do in this job in the first 6 months.

III. A 10 minute presentation describing who you are and the qualities you would bring as an employee for company X

IV. Convince us to employ you in 10 minutesV. Provide a 15 minute presentation outlining what attracts

you to this roleVI. A 20 minute presentation outlining the skills and experi-

ence you bring to this jobVII. A 20 minute presentation on what you know about our

company and why you think we should employ you


b: Writing your Presentation

Presentations combine two things: firstly, the content of your slides, and secondly, what you actually say. Both of these important ele-ments need to add up to make a convincing and logical story. More than that, it needs to be your story! And like every story, you need a start, a middle and an end. And just like a good story, it needs to be informative, interesting and personal.

Let’s look at structure. A good structure for a presentation includes:

– The start: a welcoming and informative introduction – The middle: a coherent series of main points presented in a

logical sequence – The end: a clear and meaningful conclusion.

The Start:

This is the point where you introduce yourself and invite your audi-ence to listen to your story. So you need to gain the audience’s inter-est and confidence by telling them what they can expect from you during your presentation. Key elements to include are:

yy A positive start: “Good afternoon, my name is Karen and …”;

yy A statement of what you will present on: “I am going to explain why I will make a good employer for you”;

yy Describe how you are going to do this: “I will share with you examples of my work and university experience that demonstrate the skills and qualities you need…

yy A statement of the outcome: “and I hope this will show you why I am right for this job…”;

yy Slides at this point: On your first slide include the title of your presentation, your name and the date (see Rules on Style for hints and tips about using presentation software).

Company X What I can offer

Culture of long hours and hard work

Got myself through University whilst holding down 2 part-time jobs. Undertook summer jobs each year with Company X – 100% attendance & good reviews from line manager – used to working early and late. No absenteeism. Demonstrated punctuality.

Values team-work

Experienced working in teams – on year out worked with volunteer team & was made team leader

Expanding into foreign markets

Degree in European Business Studies

Experience of working for Italian Manufacturer

Fluent French & Italian

Reached Times Top 100 Great Places to Work

Friendly and work well in a team – I can add to the team culture that is important here

The Role

Working with complex numbers and data; researching potential markets

University research project cross-country study into market x – used techniques a, b & c

Working with researchers from other countries to pool common data sets

Worked with research team at university

During summer job with Italian manufacturer had to liaise and work with suppliers from across Europe

Once you have gathered as much information about the company, and why you think you match their needs and requirements you are ready to pull it together and write an actual presentation.


have these skillso 1 minute x 1 slide summary and conclusion of your

key points.

The Conclusion

The conclusion is a very important but often forgotten part of a presentation. Here you summarise and remind the audience about what you have said and reinforce the key messages you want to com-municate. Important parts of a conclusion are:

• A review of the purpose of your presentation: “In this presen-tation I wanted to tell you why…”;

• A reminder of your aspirations: “I hope to have been able to show that....”;

• An invitation for questions “Please ask me questions …”;• A thank you to the audience for their attention and partici-

pation: “Thank you very much for listening.”

Holding Attention

It’s not that assessors are lazy. In fact they work really hard! But how do you hold their attention and keep them focussed on you? One way to do this is to keep your eye contact with the assessors – if you keep looking at them, they will find it hard to look away! Another useful technique is to use transitions. Transitions are like a signpost which tells the audience that you are moving on to a new section or about to tell them something really important or that your presentation is coming to a close. Just as signposts on a country walk give you guidance on which route to take, transitions tell them what to expect next, and that makes them more inclined to follow you and your presentation.

Examples include:

yy “I will begin by telling you about …”;yy “Now that I have described my project, let me explain how

it will help me in this job, firstly…. yy I would like to move on to my next point….

The Middle

This section will become the backbone of your presentation, so you need to make sure you have prioritised, focussed and sequenced the information gathered in the research phase.

yy Start by pulling out the most important and key points for your summary checklist. Express each of the points in few words or a short sentence. These are the key state-ments to go into the presentation slides. Keep them short, neat and to the point.

yy Once you have identified and written your main points, you need to back them up with supporting information or evidence. This will add colour and interest to your presentation. Again, express the evidence in a short statement or phrase to go on to your slide.

yy Ask yourself: “What am I really telling them? What do they really want to know here?” Your answers to these questions will help you to form what you actually say as you present the slide. You will need to talk around the short statements, explain them further, build up more detail and share why they are important and meaning-ful. This won’t necessarily be formally scripted or writ-ten down, but you need to communicate to the assessors the key messages behind your written content.

yy In 10 minutes you will only have time for five or six main points and allow everything else to support these. Don’t try to pack too much content in - think qual-ity, not quantity! A good example of structure over 10 minutes might look something like:o 1minute x 1 slide introduction – who you are and

what you are going to tell themo 2 minutes x 2 slides on the challenges facing the

organisation in the current marketo 1 minute x 1 slide on the skills the organisation re-

quires in their graduate o 4 minutes x 4 slides on evidence showing that you


c: Delivering the Presentation

Be Yourself: the more you can make this presentation your own, the better it will be. Not everyone enjoys delivering a presentation and standing up in front of people can be daunting. Importantly you need to think about how to be truly yourself and be authentic. The best presenters never deliver a perfect presentation – but they do present an honest picture of themselves and that is what we like and respond to. So the best advice is to be yourself.

Body Language: walk in and smile. Take a breath and take your time as you set up and get ready. Stand up straight and to the right of your presentation screen. Face out to the room and the as-sessors – do not face the screen and turn your back on the assessors! Your body language needs to show that you are at ease. Keep your hands out of your pockets (especially important if you are a male!). Stand straight with your feet a comfortable distance apart. Don’t cross your legs and keep your core straight (especially important if you are female!) Try to breathe slowly and this will help you to re-lax. Keep your shoulders back but don’t puff out your chest! Think neutral. And breathe again!

Expression and Tone: think about how you will express each point – body language, tone and volume will add much to the mean-ing of what you say. Consider how a storyteller does this: Little Red Riding Hood didn’t meet any old wolf. It was the “BIG, BAD WOLF!”

Timing: you should aim to deliver your introduction confident-ly (wait until the audience is quiet before you start speaking) and communicate energy and enthusiasm for your topic by smiling, and making eye contact. Speak a little more slowly than you think you should. Use pauses and breaks as you move from one slide to the next – what may seem like a long silence to you will be a welcome break and time to write important comments for the assessor.

Practice: make yourself actually rehearse the presentation over and over again. Don’t just sit and think it through. Stand up and ac-tually talk it through as if the assessors were there in the room with you! Actually doing a presentation uses different parts of the brain

yy “In contrast to my earlier statements concerning …”;yy “Finally, I’d like to focus on.…”

Transitions can also be made without speaking. Non-verbal transi-tions include pausing, changing a slide or other visual aids, moving to a different area of the room before resuming speaking, or making eye contact with a different group in the audience.

Rules on Style

If you are preparing a presentation in advance then it is appropri-ate to use professional presentation software such as PowerPoint or Keynote.

yy Choose a simple background and template that is straightforward and clear

yy On your first slide include the title of your presentation, your name and the date

yy Aim to have just 1 slide for every 2 minutes of timeyy Use bullet points, key words and short phrasesyy Keep the formatting consistent throughout and use a

standard classic font such as Ariel, Calibri or Times New Roman

yy Use images sparingly and carefully – keep them clear, tasteful and in theme with your presentation. Stay clear of comedy images, cartoons and other gags

yy Slides that whizz in from different directions? Forget it! Don’t complicate your presentation. If you need the wow factor think how you can deliver it in what you say, not what’s on the screen

yy Practice setting up the technology beforehand. Ask the recruiting company what hardware they will provide. Most will ask you to email your presentation in advance or bring it with you on a data stick on the day. If it’s on a data stick, file it somewhere obvious and easy to find. Bring backup.

yy Have an end slide – which says “Thank you”.


Top tips for Presentations A useful check-list of “dos” and “don’t’s” when delivering a Presenta-tion:

Do…

– Stand up for your presentation. To the side of the screen so the audience can see it and you at the same time.

– Say hello, smile and try to make eye contact with each of the assessors. Try to maintain this throughout the presentation.

– Speak a little more slowly than your normal pace. The infor-mation is new to the assessors and new information needs more processing time. You are likely to raise your pitch and speed up when you are nervous so just try to keep a slow steady pace.

– Use pauses – there’s no great rush! Pauses add impact and emphasis when slotted in at a key point in a presentation. They also give you and your assessors time to digest and think about what has been said.

– Monitor your time. Work out how long you have for each sec-tion of your presentation (say 2 minutes per section) and keep to it. You could be penalised for running over time.

– Check your audience are with you! From time to time invite the assessors to ask you questions.

– It’s OK to use humour, in moderation, but better to use an-ecdotes than to rattle off a string of jokes.

– Practise, practise, practise. You have no excuse not to film your-self and give yourself feedback. When you re-play, note down what works well and what needs to improve. Time how long your talk takes and get your friends / family to give you feedback too.

– Take a hard copy of your presentation (printed-out). If your technology fails you have a safe fall-back.

– Expect to be asked questions at the end of your presenta-tion.

than simply thinking it through. So the rehearsal does matter – a lot! It will help give you confidence and fluency on the day.

Scripts and Notes: no-one expects you to learn your presenta-tion off by heart, line by line, word by word. Good presentations need balance between being “gentle scripted” and natural conver-sation. The most straightforward way to do this is by using your presentation software. It will allow you create a version of the slides with your own notes underneath. So for each slide, write out the key points you need to make, print this off and bring it with you. Make sure your staple and number it so it stays in the right order!

Dealing with Nerves: for many the very idea of speaking in public is a nightmare come true – never mind having to actually do it. But keep your ultimate goal in mind – won’t it be worth a little pain for that dream job? Learning how to manage your nerves so that they work for you is an important skill. So how do you over-come the anxiety and turn it into performance enhancing energy? Firstly, keep imagining yourself delivering a great performance. Vi-sualise yourself calmly walking into the room, smiling and deliver-ing a great presentation. As you imagine it, really feel how con-fident, happy and in control you will be. Smile to yourself as you visualise the assessors smiling at you. Now, hang on to that feeling and switch up the volume! Keep practising this exercise – research shows that those who practice visualising the outcome they want are much more likely to achieve it.

Dealing with Disaster: things don’t always go to plan and the same is true for presentations. Real life business presentations are never perfect, but good presenters know what to do when things go wrong. Firstly, whatever the mistake is, they make no big deal about it. They admit they have made a mistake, pause, and fix it. By making no big deal out of it, they appear in control. And most of all, no-one feels uncomfortable or embarrassed. Even the most experienced and hardened assessor can squirm with embarrassment when a candidate gets flustered and upset. It just doesn’t feel good to see someone struggle. So if you make a mistake, “fess-up”, fix it and move on! Assessors will be impressed by how well you dealt with adversity!


– Make use of all the time. If you are given up to 10 minutes, then use the 9-10 minutes. If your presentation is well below time it suggests you cannot think of enough to say.

Don’t……

– Go over your time. Just as bad as not using all of the time, but suggests you cannot be precise and ramble on.

– Don’t read out your talk. This sounds boring and stilted. – Look at your notes all the time. It suggests insecurity and will

prevent you making eye contact with the audience. – Put your hands in your pockets (especially all you men out

there!) If you don’t know what to do with your hands hold a pen or your notes.

– Use too many slides. Try to aim for a new slide roughly every 2 minutes.

– Insert a dirty stick – now that got your attention! If you’re loading a presentation from a data stick, remember that the names of all the files on that stick could be projected on screen as you set up. Use a new / clean data stick.

– Forget to check the focus. Fuzzy presentations never come off as professional.

– Forget to spell check your slides. Unforgiveable in the eyes of every assessor!

– Chew gum. As above!


Analysis Presentation

What is an Analysis Presentation?In an analysis presentation you are given a detailed information pack about a realistic business scenario. You are required to analyse the information and investigate specific themes. Once you have done this, you have to formally present your answer(s) to assessors, ex-plaining your rationale and putting across a convincing and well-ar-gued case. This is usually followed by a question and answer session.

This kind of exercise is relatively in-depth and could take between 1 – 2 hours to complete. Whilst the business scenario in these ex-ercises is fictional, the kind of information you will be required to analyse is very realistic and could include things like profit and loss accounts, data about staff, organisation charts, customer related data and general communication and update emails. You may be required to undertake some analysis of the data and depending on the level expected you may be supplied with a calculator to do this. You will also be given flip chart paper and pens so you can make visual aids for your presentation. There isn’t necessarily a right or wrong answer as this kind of exercise requires you to use your judgement and put your own ideas and views forward about the issue concerned.


– How will you ensure that business carries on “as usual” dur-ing changes?

You have just 1 hour and 15 minutes to prepare your presentation. The presentation itself should last up to 15 minutes. You will then be questioned by the assessors about your recommendation for a further 10 minutes.

Example 2: Fairlawns Finance Group

You are on the Graduate programme for Fairlawns Finance Group and have been with the company for 6 months now. The 12 other graduates on the programme this year have voted you as their coun-try representative.

Traditionally graduates are offered an exchange with Fairlawns Fi-nance Group overseas - a 3 month work exchange, living overseas and working in a Fairlawns office. This year the exchange might not go ahead: the down-turn in the global economy has meant that budgets have tightened. The Managing Director is not decided if the exchange programme should be offered to the graduates.

The Head of Graduate Training has asked you to help persuade the Managing Director to fund the exchange. He has managed to get a 30 minute meeting slot for you with the Managing Director. In this meeting you are to deliver a 15 minute presentation stating your choice for either New York or New Zealand and must convince the Managing Director to fund the exchange this year.

You have consulted with your graduate colleagues and have discov-ered that opinion is equally split. With half the group wanting to go to New York, and the other half wanting to go to New Zealand, you must cast the deciding vote as well as convince your Managing Director.

You will have 1 hour to make your decision and prepare a 10 minute presentation for the Managing Director. Your presentation should cover:

– Reasons for funding the Graduate Overseas Exchange – Preferred choice of location

Exercises like this allow recruiting organisations see how candidates evaluate information from a variety of sources and put together a strong and convincing business case. It also allows assessors to see how well candidates communicate ideas and respond to questioning. Because all candidates are given the same task, the exercise is a fair way to evaluate analytical skills, decision-making skills, communica-tion skills and confidence under questioning. (See our competency matrix for details.)

Example Analysis PresentationsBelow are some example Analysis Presentation scenarios. Each would come with its own “information” pack containing background information. (See our Analysis Presentation “Fit & Funky” for an example pack containing full background information.)

Example 1: Wow Media Communications

You have just joined Wow Media Communications as an analyst. Over the past few years Wow has been very successful and has grown in size. Staff numbers have increased and the business has now out-grown its current HQ, Wow House. The company directors have looked at a number of options to resolve the issue of housing the growing business and 2 emerge as the most viable:

Option 1: Stay but extend Wow HouseOption 2: Move to a new site.

Because you are new to the company the Directors are keen for you to look at both options with “fresh eyes” and make a recommenda-tion regarding which option they should back.

Your Task: you are asked to read through the documentation and answer the following questions in a presentation:

– Which option would you recommend for Wow Media Communications


keting promotion. Information has been collated for you including production and manufacture costs, market research data, predicted sales figures, and other feedback about the 3 potential products. The Head of Products is going to meet with you in 1 hour and 30 min-utes and wants you to make a 15 minute presentation on the fol-lowing:

– The product you recommend to join the Super-Clean line – The rationale behind your choice

Once you have made your presentation you will be questioned for up to 15 minutes about your choice.

Example 5: Dalesford Veterinary Group

Dalesford Veterinary Group is a large veterinary group in the Cen-tral belt of Scotland providing exceptional care to pets, horses and farm animals. There is a small animal hospital in Dalesford and a small animal veterinary centre in Northfield. There are separate farm and equine teams working across Northfield and Dalesford Counties. The group prides itself in the quality of their staff. Many of the dedicated vets and nurses have been with the group since the beginning of their careers and have further post graduate qualifica-tions in their area of interest.

Having founded the group many years ago, the Dr Pat Greenwood is exploring how to phase into retirement. Dr Greenwood is keen to hand on the business as they no longer wish to be personally and financially involved. A number of options have emerged which include: absorbing the Dalesford Group into a Central Scottish Vet-erinary School; offering the group for Management buy-out; or sell-ing the group to a large U.S. based veterinary group.

Your company offers business advice and specialises in small and family run companies. You met Dr Greenwood at a recent business networking group and you are keen to engage Dalesford as a client. Dr Greenwood has agreed to see what you can do and has suggested that you present your initial ideas in a meeting.

You have been given some background information and will have 1 hour and 30 minutes to evaluate the contents and prepare for your

The Managing Director will be played by an assessor and you can expect up to 10 minutes of questioning after your presentation.

Example 3: Fresh Zest Supermarkets

You have just joined a specialist consultancy team and have been given your first client project. Fresh Zest is a new supermarket chain which specialises in organic, health and wholefood lines. The com-pany has a number of successful retail operations across London and the South East. Your consultancy has been asked to help Fresh Zest with its plans for expansion. One of the issues they want advice on is where they should open new stores. They have a number of op-tions which include further penetration of the London and South East market, or expanding into a completely new geographical area.

Keen to get you on board with the client, your manager will bring you along to help out at a meeting tomorrow. You have been given some background information and your manager would like you to prepare a presentation on the following:

– The advantages and disadvantages of further penetration in London and South East

– The advantages and disadvantages of expanding to a com-pletely new geographical area

It is now 2pm. Your manager is in another meeting now but wants you to have prepared your presentation and deliver it to him when he gets back to the office at 3.30pm. Your manager will be played by one of the assessor team.

Example 4: Super-Clean Household Products

You have recently joined Super-Clean, a highly reputable on-line company which sells general household and cleaning products direct to the customer. The company has been in business for 7 years and in spite of tough competition has been in profit for the past 5 years.

You have been with the company for just a few weeks now but the Head of Products is keen to see what you can do. 3 different prod-ucts are currently being evaluated but only one is to be launched by Super-Clean, in time for the January “Super Clean New Year” mar-


graphic data about the customers used to inform such as gender and income; or it could be data from the customers such as feedback, complaints or market research.

– Organisational Structure – organisational and business charts will show you how the company is structured in terms of who key people are, what their job is and where they work.

– Staff – the people who work for you will make or break what you do – so their opinion matters! In every business decision you need to consider how your staff will feel – this information is often included in Analysis Presentations in the form of staff surveys or opinion polls. Good business people use “gut feel” and listen out for information that will give them hints about mood and morale. You may also find snippets of informal information about staff weaved into other data in the data pack. Small snippets of information might add up to an important theme – so refer to it in your decision if you think there’s something there.

Finally, we already stated that very often there is simply no right or wrong answer to an Analysis Presentation. In fact, it is very much the same in business. Whilst there is lots of data and fact out there, there are also huge amount of “grey areas” and unknowns. If work-ing in business was simply a matter of adding up numbers it would be easy! You will find that an Analysis Presentation is like this. Whilst you need to focus on establishing the facts, you will also have to deal with unknown quantities, gut feelings and opinions. Assessors will be keen to know how you balance the two and you should be comfortable stating where there is fact and where there is “opinion” or where you have used “gut feel”. However, you must be able to justify your approach and say why you have made a decision. Usually a smart business approach relies on a mix of different types of data. Can you do the same?

meeting with Dr Greenwood. You will have just 30 minutes for the meeting itself. For the first 15 minutes you should make your presentation on “Future Recommendations for Dalesford”. During the second 15 minutes Dr Greenwood will ask you questions about the advice you have given.

How Do I Prepare for an Analysis Presentation?

Whilst you cannot predict the scenario for an Analysis Presentation, there are 3 main areas you can concentrate your preparation on in order ensure you do perform to your best ability in the exercise:

a: Working with Business Information

Business data comes in many forms, reflecting the complexity of business. Think about how effective business people make decisions – they take on board information from a wide variety of people and sources. Included in this might be the following:

– Profit and Loss Accounts – also referred to P&L: this is a financial statement that summarises the revenues, costs and expenses incurred during a specific period of time - usu-ally a quarter or year. These records provide information that shows the ability of a company to generate profit by increas-ing revenue and reducing costs.

– Balance Sheet – this gives a snapshot of how the company is doing on a certain date.

– Organisation Charts – these give a pictorial view of how the company is structured and who key people are.

– Sales and Trading data - Data reflecting current trading in-formation including pricing and volume and other informa-tion related to the trade.

– Customer data – this could come in the form of demo-


and urgency quite well in a simple 4x4 matrix:

Importance and urgency can be particularly useful if you have to plan over timeframes (see below)

yy Timeframes and Priorities: all businesses need to plan ahead – and assessors will look at how well you are able to plan activities. Your Analysis Presentation might ask you to plan and or show how you would implement a response. Demonstrating that you can plan and struc-ture time well is critical here. So keep it simple and do what most businesses do – use immediate, short, me-dium and long-term headings to show what you will do:

– Immediate: as in right now! Include here the things that have to be done absolutely right away! How would you know? If you didn’t do it now, then something really serious and significant would happen! Remember these aren’t always obvious big issues and could be as simple as en-suring staff comply with a new safety procedure

b: Analysing and Developing Your Content

The Information Pack can seem daunting and you can easily feel overwhelmed by the amount of information in front of you. Don’t – instead do what top executives do – take a helicopter view of what’s there! Take the pack apart – literally – un-clip the staples and have a quick flick through the pages just getting a feel for the content. Ev-ery Analysis Presentation has a story and context, so it’s worthwhile just reading again the background and what you have to do. Ask yourself what it would be like if this were real?

Then, go back to the start and look through in a little more depth. Think carefully about what you have been asked to do and make sure you follow this structure. When drafting and actually doing your presentation, be very explicit that you are following this structure (see our section on Presentations for lots of ideas on how to struc-ture and deliver a presentation).

Every Analysis Presentation will be different but detailed below are some techniques you can use to help you to sort out what is there.

yy Categories & Themes: when you read through the in-formation, are there any key themes that emerge? Can you cluster and group pieces under different headings to help you to make sense of it? Typical headings or clusters might include:

– People & staff issues – Finance issues – Customer issues – Facilities and Resources

yy Importance & Urgency: another way to understand your data is to think about how important the issues are along-side how urgent they are. Remember, if you are making a business decision, what’s important to you might be different to what is important to other people in the fictitious business. When you present your argu-ment, it can be useful to show that you have considered a variety of points of view. You can present importance


put, PESTLE is: – Political: the political landscape - remember this

can include the politics within the company as well as those outside the organisation.

– Economic: this can include the financial situation inside the company as well as in the wider market.

– Social: this can include an internal view which would mean looking at staff and people issues within the company, or outside the company which would mean looking at the wider societal context.

– Technological: how will technology and change impact upon the organisation, its people, prod-ucts and customers.

– Legal: will changes to the law impact upon the company, its products, services and customers?

– Environmental: how will changes here impact upon the company? Consider how the resources could be affected by change.

yy Targets and Measures of your Success: Successful companies and successful people don’t just drift along and get lucky! They set tough and stretching targets and goals for themselves that act as beacons to aim for. They keep actions on track and ensure that everyone knows what they have to achieve. Targets and measures of success will help to structure any kind of planning activity, showing that you have thought about what you want to achieve and what that success looks like.SMART is a useful and straightforward way of setting targets and measures. It includes all the important as-pects you will need and can be presented easily.

– Simple: state the goal in one line or sentence – describe exactly what you will achieve, what the result will be

– Measurable: how will you actually measure the

– a small act with a very serious consequence! – Short-Term: things you need to do in the next

1 – 2 weeks. No successful business person works alone – so include in here things like meeting new people, getting to know staff and understanding the business itself.

– Medium-term: include here things you will do in the next 1-6 months. Make sure you break down the time to say roughly what you will do each month.

– Long-Term: Include here things you might do in the next 6 months to one year and beyond. Good advice is to include here targets and measures of your success (see below).

yy SWOT: Assessors will also be keen to understand your rationale or the reasons behind your decision. SWOT will help you to make that decision and give you a nice structure to help you explain yourself. Simply put, SWOT is:

– Strengths: what is the company or business good at? What are the special or successful things it already does?

– Weaknesses: what problems or pitfalls exist within the business? Where are there current or future concerns?

– Opportunities: consider the business context or market – what opportunities could or might come up and how could the business take advan-tage of those?

– Threats: what risks and liabilities are there? What negative things could happen to put the company, its product, its people or reputation at risk?

yy PESTLE: Another useful way to evaluate your data is to use PESTLE. Like SWOT, it will help you to pull out what is important in the data and can easily be used to show the rationale behind your decisions. Simply


should reflect the instructions you have been giv-en

– If you have been asked to make a decision, state this up-front and say that the rest of your presen-tation will outline how you came to your decision

– Break the bulk of your presentation down into key sections – use headings and a structure to show how you analysed the data. Say what in-fluenced you and why. Explain the options you evaluated and why you came up with your deci-sion in the end. Use some of the ideas from the Analysing and Developing your Content section to help you.

d: Handling the Question and Answer

Session

yy You will be relieved to have finished the presentation itself. However the assessors may now want to ask you questions. This is their chance to clarify some of the points you have made and understand more about your points of view. Questions give you another chance to show your ideas and understanding. Some candidates find that they prefer the question and answer session because being asked questions helps them to think on their feet!

yy Just like the content of the Analysis Presentation, you cannot predict the exact questions you will get. How-ever you can expect to get questions about areas where there are differences of opinion, areas where the data conflicts, and areas where the answer may be ambiguous – assessors will try to see how you deal with ambiguity! Be prepared to be as straightforward as you can. Try to respond in a pragmatic way by saying exactly what you would do for real, step by step if this were your business.

success? Will it be in sales units, reduced costs, increased customer foot-fall, happier staff, better return for your share-holders? Whatever it is, make it something you can measure and count! Be as specific as possible and say exactly how the measurement will happen.

– Achievable: no point putting in an unrealistic target that will let people down and disappoint. Good targets are tough, but can be done.

– Realistic: saying exactly how and why it will hap-pen makes it real – and gets people to buy into it. Whatever your target, describe exactly what needs to happen to get there.

– Timebound: be clear and specific about when you want to see your results.

c: Writing and Delivering the Presentation

The second part of the Analysis Presentation is the actual presenta-tion itself ! So not only do you have to wade through lots of data to get to the bottom of the issues, but you also have to write and pres-ent your plans to the assessors! If the thought of a presentation fills you with fear, don’t worry! Treat this kind of presentation more like a business meeting. You have information, you have ideas and you simply want to communicate it in a clear and straightforward way!

You won’t have long to make your presentation and it is important that you get all of your key points across. However it is also impor-tant that the style of your presentation is professional. This means it needs to be brief and clear. You should have one flip chart for each of your main areas.

Suggested Presentation Structure:

– Introduce yourself and state your role if you have been given one

– Explain the purpose of your presentation – this


– Get used to explaining why you have made a decision. This is exactly what you have to do in an analysis presentation, so practice giving reasons and explaining your choices.

– When you start the exercise itself, take your time and read through all of the information pack.

– Feel free to take the documents apart, re-order them and make notes on them to help you keep track of what’s there.

– Ensure that you follow the instructions themselves. You will be asked to respond in a specific way so ensure that your presenta-tion clearly follows that structure.

– Manage your time carefully. As well as analysing, you will have to actually write the content of your presentation. Spend about half of your time actually analysing the data, then use the remainder to plan your flip-charts, what you are going to say and how you are going to say it.

– Keep your flip charts tidy and legible. You may have com-pleted them in a rush, but the assessors will find them much easier to read and follow if they are relatively neat and uncluttered.

– Take a glass of water with you into the presentation room. Have a quick drink of water before you start.

– Number your flip charts. You may prepare your presentation in a different room to where you will actually deliver the presenta-tion – so it will help to have them numbered and in the correct order before you are assessed. You might be asked to pin them up on a wall – take your time, breathe deeply – you won’t be assessed at this point.

– Remember that the context of this kind of exercise is likely to be a business meeting of some kind or other. So, as you would in any meeting, smile, shake hands, introduce yourself be-fore you start.

– Keep your notes and information pack with you during your presentation. You may need to refer to it during your presenta-tion. Just as in any business meeting, share the documentation with your assessors – if there’s an important map or chart, show it to them and explain why it’s so important!

yy Take the questions slowly – don’t be afraid to pause and think before you answer. Where you can, explain your point of view and use evidence – in other words data from the information pack to back up your point of view. When you have given your answer, check with the assessor that you have said enough – ask if they would like to know more.

yy Don’t try to fudge your answers. If you don’t have an answer or don’t understand the question, say so. As-sessors will appreciate your honesty. That said, if you don’t have enough information, they may want you to estimate or guess – so admit that “it’s an estimation” or “an educated guess”.

yy At the end of the exercise thank the assessors for their time and ask them if they would like to keep your flip-charts (they probably will).

(Also see our section on “Presentations” for further tips and ideas on making presentations.)

4.Top Tips for Analysis Presentations:

A useful check-list of “dos” and “don’ts” when undertaking an Analy-sis Presentation:

Do…..

– Familiarise yourself with typical business data such as P&L accounts, organisation charts, survey type data. Use the in-ternet and good business newspapers / journals to see the kinds of information you will be expected to use.

– Get comfortable interpreting and being able to explain data that you see in numerical form or on a spreadsheet.


– Face your flip charts. Stand at the side of them, face the assessors and refer to the flip charts with occasional glances.

– Panic when you are asked a question. It’s easy after you have just done a presentation to lose your focus. Take a quick drink of water, a deep breath and gather your thoughts. Ask the assessor to re-state the question if you need to hear it again.

– Make up the answers just to have something to say. If you don’t know, offer an educated guess. But if you cannot offer an educated guess, but if you cannot offer that, be honest and say so.

– Don’t use too may flip-charts. Keep your content brief and use the flip charts to “sign-post” and note the key facts and points you want to make.

– As with any presentation, at the start, explain what you are going to cover (AND THIS MUST FOLLOW THE BRIEF YOUR WERE GIVEN!). Spend 80% of your time on the main content of your presentation; and in the remaining few minutes, make a summary of your key points, thank the as-sessors for listening and ask them for their questions.

Don’t…

– Panic at the start of your analysis. Information will take you a little time to absorb so you may not understand it all straight-away.

– Avoid certain types of information. If you are biased towards numbers, you may feel uncomfortable with the people stuff; and if you have an arts background, business and numerical data may be harder for you to work with. It’s better to show that you recognise something is important than to ignore it at all. Try to show that you have taken on board all of the different types of data in the information pack.

– Think you can do it all yourself. In many analysis presenta-tions you will be given a context where you have other people about you who can help – so use the colleagues and teams in the scenario to help deliver the solution.

– Spend too much time analysing and not enough time pre-paring to present your argument. Remember the assessors only get to see you doing the presentation – they won’t have any idea what went on in your head when you did the preparation! Therefore balance your time between analysing and preparing your actual presentation.

– Expect your flip-charts to be perfect! In this day and age we all tend to use computers and slides for our presentations. But at an Assessment Centre this usually isn’t possible so it’s back to flip charts and pens – old school but it works! Try to keep them neat and orderly.

– Don’t cram too much on to your flip-charts. Assessors want to hear what you have to say, not read about it!


EXAMPLE ANALYSIS PRESENTATION

EXERCISE

Southwell Tennis Club


• Club Shop

Selling latest tennis equipment including racquets, cloth-ing and shoes. The shop also offers a racquet re-stringing service.

Our company mission:

“Our goal is to be the premium tennis organisation in the UK. We are passionate about service excellence and cre-ating an environment where fun happens.”

Each of the Rose Tennis clubs prides itself on providing a fantastic customer experience and engaged employees. With our successful mix of recruitment, training, development and promotion oppor-tunities, we offer employees excitement, growth and reward. Our clubs are full of people who are committed and passionate about what they do.

The business has struggled during recent economic times but recog-nises that in current times it needs to increase market share if goals are to be reached. A key initiative to help drive this is the Customer Value Programme. This programme focuses on two key points:

1. Knowing the customer

2. Serving the customer well

It was realised that Rose Leisure Group knew little about its mem-bers. Importantly records of who customers were, where they lived and what they liked were scant. To tackle this, the group announced a new initiative: The Rose Members Club. Offering free member-ship would allow the company to capture customer personal data and therefore make contact with them and offer more by way of promotions and special offers.

Since its launch at the beginning of the year, revenues have started to increase. This is particularly the case where clubs have fully em-braced the Customer Value Programme and implemented changes in how their staff operate. Early research also confirms that cus-tomers who become “Rose Club Members” are delighted with its offerings.

Background & Instructions

BACKGROUND

In this exercise you have just taken over from as a General Manager for the Southwell Tennis Club. Your predecessor has had to travel unexpectedly to the USA for family reasons and is not expected to return for 3 months. You currently manage a successful business and are known to be a promising leader of the future. You are ex-cited about the opportunity of stepping into the role of General Manager.

Today’s date is May 1st.

COMPANY BACKGROUND: Rose Leisure Group

There are 15 Tennis clubs in the Rose Leisure Group. Each of the clubs has 4 main business areas:

• Tennis

Each of our sites has 10 state of the art tennis courts with summer and winter protection, air-conditioning and state of the art equipment.

• Restaurant/Bar

Separate from the tennis area we have a fully licensed bar and restaurant where you can choose hot meals and deli-cious desserts from our Restaurant menu.

• Events Room

If you need a place to meet and work then look no further. We have rooms available for hire to corporate guests look-ing for somewhere to run events, or for groups of up to 20 who simply want some private space.


Item 1

Hi,

Welcome to Southwell and congratulations on your new appointment. Your predecessor had to leave at very short notice so thank you for step-ping in. I am sure you will do well in the role.

These papers should give you an idea of what is going on here at Southwell. Some of it comes from your predecessors in-tray and some of it is data I have pulled together for you myself. Please look through the data and present back to me on the following:

What are the key issues facing the Southwell Leisure Club?

How will you motivate staff to make the changes you suggest?

Please could you present your ideas to me in 15 minutes as I don’t have much time. That will give us a further 15 minutes for questions.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts soon.

Pat Bennett

Regional Manager

Rose Leisure Group

Your Task:

In this exercise you are required to step into the role of General Manager. Read the background information and present on the fol-lowing:

1. What are the key issues facing the Southwell Leisure Club?

2. How will you motivate staff to make the changes you sug-gest?

You will have a total of 90 minutes to prepare your presentation. The presentation itself should last up to 15 minutes. You will make the presentation to Pat Bennett, your regional manager. Pat will be played by one of the assessors.

Once your 15 minutes presentation time is up, you will be ques-tioned about your presentation for up to a further 15 minutes.


ITEM 3

Southwell Valley City CouncilSouthwell House18-22 Johnston StreetSouthwellW122 4EQ

The ManagerSouthwell Tennis ClubRose Leisure Group150 Victoria RoadSouthwellBR7 5HX

14 April

Dear Sir,

Health & Safety Notice

Following the recent inspection of your premises carried out by my team on 10th April, you are given notice that your premises do not meet the following criteria for the Health and Safety at Work Act 1996. Our note specifically refers to the indoor public bar and disco area.

• Fire doors should remain unlocked at all times• Fire doors should remain unimpeded• Noise levels must not exceed 95 decibels

On our recent visit the inspection team noted the following:

• 2 fire doors other than the main exit were locked• Audio-visual equipment blocked 2 fire doors• Noise levels exceeded the above stated levels and were re-

corded at 110 decibels continuously for over 3 hours

You are hereby given notice that you have a period of 7 (seven) days from the date of this letter to rectify the faults as listed here. Failure to do so will result in the immediate closure of the premises.

Gerald Wilson

Health & Safety Officer

Item 2


The reception staff take my details when I enter the club

37 25 12 16 10

Staff are knowledgeable about Rose Membership and other special offers

29 32 24 10 5

The restaurant offers value for money

5 15 14 25 51

The restaurant offers excellent service

13 21 30 21 15

Food service staff talk to me about special offers

68 12 11 6 3

The shop offers me value for money

0 1 12 32 55

The shop staff talk to me about special offers

32 21 25 12 10

The Leisure area offers excellent service

5 45 6 13 21

The Leisure staff are quick to help me out if I need it

3 7 5 25 60

I am asked to book another visit when my session is over

60 30 7 2 1

Comments:

The restaurant is great – but at peak times tables don’t get serviced and are not cleared quickly enough.

The restaurant food is good and service is quick most of the time.

Reception is friendly and helpful – and it’s easy to book tennis courts.

I don’t always hear about special offers until it’s too late.

As a family we are really enjoying coming to the club. We are think-ing of having a party for our son there – but it’s a bit pricey com-pared to other venues.

I have been impressed by the events rooms – for business they offer good value for money.

Staffs don’t seem to be updated about the offers you have on your

ITEM 4

Memo

Date: 10 April Re: Customer Satisfaction Survey

Please see below the results for Southwell Tennis Club

Customer Satisfaction Survey ResultsS

tro

ngly

D

isag

ree

% Dis

agre

e

% Uns

ure

% Ag

ree

% Str

ong

ly

Ag

ree

%

Southwell Rose Leisure offers me value for money

3 7 25 52 13

I would refer the club to a friend or colleague

5 9 34 41 11

I always enjoy my visits to the club

8 11 35 43 3

The club offers a wide range of services which suit my needs

5 6 13 45 31

Staff respond to my queries quickly and effectively

11 29 17 16 27

The shop has a great range of products

14 27 24 28 7

The club is clean 3 7 12 55 33

Buildings and car parks are maintained well and look smart

14 27 24 28 7

Staff are friendly and helpful

2 5 14 65 14

I am treated well as a customer

3 7 12 68 10

The reception staff greet me in a warm and friendly manner

0 10 10 69 11


ITEM 5

Mystery Shopper Feedback: Southwell Tennis Club30 April

AREA SCORE (%) COMMENT

CAR PARK; ACCESS & EXTERNAL APPEARANCE

68%Good. Rubbish and litter around side access door. Cigarette butts around door way. External ashtrays overflowing.

RECEPTION 57%

Adequate. Welcome good but receptionist did not ask for or capture personal data.

Shoes met clean & fresh test.

COURTS 54% Adequate. Turnaround time good but 2 courts not in use.

BAR / RESTAURANT 54%

Adequate. Service quick and attentive. Standards of food good. Server did not recommend membership or special offers.

18+ BAR AREA 62%Good. Service quick. Daily newspapers available. Area tidy but some seating appeared to be missing.

SHOP 67%Good. Staff responsive to questions. Clean but in some areas disorganised. No sale items on show.

TOILETS 79% Very good. Clean. Bins emptied. Smell fresh. 2 soap dispensers broken.

OTHER

Leaflet Dispensers: often empty and offer literature not replaced.

Staff approachable but general lack of knowledge re membership & special offers.

Completed application for membership has not been registered.

web-site.

The car park is messy and I don’t necessarily feel safe at night in it with all the kids hanging around.

Overall we love the club for our weekend family activity but over the past few months there seems to have been a change in staff – a few familiar faces have gone and new staff who I don’t know and they don’t wear name badges.

Shop staff are friendly – but I can get much cheaper on-line.

My details never seem to be kept in one place.


ITEM 7

Memo

To: Pat Bennett

From: Graham Johnson, HR Business Partner, Southwell Tennis Club

Date: 13 April

Re: Employee data: absence; attrition & engagement

Pat – the Southwell stats are low again and we really cannot understand what is going on. What is going on with staff there? Let’s sit down soon and see if we can come up with a plan when you new manager comes in.

Central Absence AttritionEngagement

Red – Amber - Green

Southwell

Feb

Mar

Apr

7%

12%

14%

16%

17%

19%Red

Ambergate

Feb

Mar

Apr

7%

9%

9%

12%

12%

13%Amber

Partshore

Feb

Mar

Apr

8%

7%

9%

11%

14%

10%Amber

Bemrose

Feb

Mar

Apr

7%

8%

7%

9%

11%

10%Green

Pavely

Feb

Mar

Apr

13%

10%

11%

15%

14%

16%Red

Marlow

Feb

Mar

Apr

7%

9%

9%

13%

11%

14%Amber

Erinside

Feb

Mar

Apr

8%

8%

6%

10%

9%

12%Green

ITEM 6

Memo

To: Pat Buxton

From: Sarah Jones (Cleaning Team Manager)

Date: 13 April

Re: Mess

Pat, can you please step in. I’m just tired of me and my team picking up leaflets all over the place. They cause such a danger because you can slip on them so easily. And they are also such a waste. Surely reception or someone should be picking these up as customers have filled them in. It’s not fair that we have to be the ones to refill the dispensers all the time when the leaflets just end up on the floor. We are just too busy to cope with yet another demand and are still two team members down. It really is getting impossible.

Sarah


ITEM 9

Memo

To: Pat Buxton

From: Jenny Knox

Date: 13 April

Re: Brian Patey

Pat,

Sorry to bother you like this but I really need your help. For the past few months I have been trying really hard to build up the After School Hour. I know that our competitor is doing it and we are los-ing out to them. My team and I have worked really hard and things are starting to happen.

However, Brian has been giving me a hard time about this. Every time I create a lively and fun tennis event, he is there in the back-ground with a complaint and a concern. We have agreed that we will run after school discos in the events room and they have been a real success. But Brian has complained to me about the noise on a number of occasions – but if we are doing an after school training session then frankly, noise and fun are a big part of it. My team are nothing but enthusiastic – they love what they do and our feedback is good. It’s just a shame that Brian has to bring the side down like this – I thought work was meant to be fun and that this was a relaxed and easy going environment.

Jenny

MemoTo: Pat BuxtonFrom: Jenny KnoxDate: 13 April Re: Brian Patey

Pat,

Sorry to bother you like this but I really need your help. For the past few months I have been trying really hard to build up the After School Hour. I know that our competitor is doing it and we are losing out to them. My team and I have worked really hard and things are starting to happen.

However, Brian has been giving me a hard time about this. Every time I create a lively and fun tennis event, he is there in the background with a complaint and a concern. We have agreed that we will run after school discos in the events room and they have been a real success. But Brian has complained to me about the noise on a number of occasions – but if we are doing an after school training session then frankly, noise and fun are a big part of it. My team are nothing but enthusiastic – they love what they do and our feedback is good. It’s just a shame that Brian has to bring the side down like this – I thought work was meant to be fun and that this was a relaxed and easy going environment.

Jenny

ITEM 8

MemoTo: All Club General ManagersFrom: Bruce BaxterCC: All Regional Managers; Andrew KennardDate: 20 JanuaryRe: Rose Club Membership Initiative

As you are aware, we need to drive up revenue and encourage our existing customers to increase their take-up of our offering. Added to this, we know from research that potential customers are choosing other clubs. Yet we have the capacity to take on more customers – our current peak average ca-pacity is 20% below where it could be – which means that typically 2 courts are not in use at any one time.

The Rose Club Membership Initiative is to be rolled out in the next few months and we ask all clubs to help us facilitate the great ideas and initia-tives which will generate further sales. They include:

yy Training to help all staff understand their role in service and sales.

yy Increased capture and use of customer data.yy Rose Membership – which will allow us to capture customer

data in the first place but also enable us to offer customers special discounts, preferential booking times, tips on improv-ing skills and so on.

yy Increased ease of access to offers – the amount of special of-fers will increase as will the format of the offers. In particu-lar leaflet dispensers will be installed at various key customer points (such as side of courts).

yy Staff will be given a cash reward for signing up new custom-ers.

We hope that all clubs will be fully utilising the approach by June 1.

Thank you for your input.

Bruce BaxterManaging Director


ITEM 11

Memo

To: Pat Buxton

From: Jenny Knox (Leisure Team Manager)

Date: 29 April

Re: Support

Pat, I was wondering when I could get some time with you. I know you are busy but we haven’t had a one-to-one or team meeting for months now and I could do with some time with you to talk about some new initiatives. My team and I are not really clear about who should be doing what when it comes to membership. Some of us haven’t been able to get on the training and we are not able to answer some of the customer’s questions.

Also, whilst we are busting a gut to get members signed up, the restaurant staff won’t help us out at all. Our customers leave completed forms at re-ception or the bar staff but they just aren’t being passed on. As a result we are losing out on our bonus which is not fair.

Could you intervene to sort this out please?

Jenny

MemoTo: Pat Buxton

From: Jenny Knox (Leisure Team Manager)

Date: 29 April

Re: Support

Pat,

I was wondering when I could get some time with you. I know you are busy but we haven’t had a one-to-one or team meeting for months now and I could do with some time with you to talk about some new initiatives. My team and I are not really clear about who should be doing what when it comes to membership. Some of us haven’t been able to get on the training and we are not able to answer some of the customer’s questions.

Also, whilst we are busting a gut to get members signed up, the restaurant staff won’t help us out at all. Our customers leave completed forms at re-ception or the bar staff but they just aren’t being passed on. As a result we are losing out on our bonus which is not fair.

Could you intervene to sort this out please?

Jenny

ITEM 10

Matt Forrester24 Heron Road

Waltone Park

Southwell

12 April

Dear Sir,

I am writing to complain about the experience my family and I had whilst visiting the Southwell Leisure Centre last Saturday. You should be aware that it was less than satisfactory.

We had booked our courts 2 weeks in advance and were told on your web-site that we would be eligible to get a 50% discount on drinks if we became Rose Club Members. We were also promised a special family offer which included a free play. The receptionist told us about membership and it sounded great as we are a large family and whilst we all enjoy special tennis nights out it can be expensive. However she said it would be quicker to fill in a paper membership form rather than there and then on the computer. As there were no forms at reception we were told that if we went to our court we would be able to fill a membership form there. We completed our form but the court staff seemed to know nothing about how it worked and would not give us our 50% reduction. Leisure staff did eventually give us a free 30 minutes extra, but only when we showed them the offer on the membership form itself.

We still have not received email confirmation that our membership ap-plication has been received, and as we are regular visitors we would like to know what has happened to this.

Yours sincerely,

Matt Forrester


Item 13

To: Pat Bennett

From: Paula Robertson Financial Controller

CC:

Re: Financial Data

Date: 1 May

I have got the finance team to summarise the Southwell Tennis Club per-formance throughout the last 24 months and produce the P&L detailed below. I hope it helps.

Do let me know if you have any other queries.

Paula

ITEM 12

Memo

To: Pat BuxtonFrom: Brian PateyCC: Jenny KnoxDate: 14 April Re: Noise and After School Hour

Pat,

the noise from the above is just getting out of hand. Sure, teens need to have a good run around after school and make noise. But I ques-tion whether this is the right place. I have had customers complain about the noise. Also, some of the teens are just messing around – they don’t stay in the tennis court area itself and are barging into the bar area and getting underfoot. Added to that, half of them seem to spend most of the time in the car park smoking and lurking around. I don’t want to be a kill joy but it’s just too wild. I have spoken to Jenny about this but she seems to think I am just hassling her for nothing.

Brian

Memo

To: Pat Buxton

From: Brian Patey

CC: Jenny Knox

Date: 14 April

Re: Noise and After School Hour

Pat,

the noise from the above is just getting out of hand. Sure, teens need to have a good run around after school and make noise. But I question whether this is the right place. I have had customers complain about the noise. Also, some of the teens are just messing around – they don’t stay in the tennis court area itself and are barging into the bar area and getting underfoot. Added to that, half of them seem to spend most of the time in the car park smoking and lurking around. I don’t want to be a kill joy but it’s just too wild. I have spoken to Jenny about this but she seems to think I am just has-sling her for nothing.

Brian


Analysis Presentation: Southwell Tennis Club – A Quick Guide

Whilst there is no right to wrong way to approach the exercise, there are some common themes and activities that should be included in your answers.

ITEM

INTRODUCTION

As well as telling you about what you have to do in the exercise, this part of the document gives you important information about the company, its mission statement and the Customer Value Programme – these are highly important issues that you need to focus on in your response.

Item 1 A letter from your new boss telling you what you have to do.

Item 2The organisation chart – the people working for you and the areas they are responsible for.

Item 3A Health and Safety notice – you need to deal with this urgently and as a priority – it’s a legal requirement.

Item 4

Customer Survey – from this you can see what customers think about the club. Key areas where scores are really low indicate:

Staff are not responding quickly to customer requests

Buildings and car-park areas are not maintained and cleaned well enough

Staff don’t know about special offers and as a result customers are missing out

Staff aren’t capturing customer details – so without data, they can’t contact customers with offers – link to item 5.

Item 5Mystery Shopper information: should be taken very seriously – key things include the need to clean up and sort out the car-park, and capture customer data – link to item 4.

Item 6Staff in disagreement about practice and procedure – your job will be to help them sort it out - link to item 9 & 12.

Item 7Attrition and Absence data – your staff have high levels of absence and many are leaving – big signs of discontent. How will you deal with this?

Item 8Details about the very important Rose Club initiative – and from the Managing Director – indicating importance and priority.

SOUTHWELL TENNIS CLUB P&L

Qtr1 Qtr2 Qtr3 Qtr4 Full Year

2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013

Revenue (000s)Bookings (Courts & Coaching)

198 225 206 222 215 209 220 200 839 856

Bar 15 16 15 14 15 13 16 10 61 53

Shop 5 5 5 5 6 5 5 4 21 19

Restaurant 49 54 48 54 50 49 51 45 198 202

Events 13 15 16 17 19 16 20 14 68 62

Total 280 315 290 312 305 292 312 273 1187 1192

Cost of Sales (000s)

Wages & NI 13.5 14 13.5 14 13.5 14 13.5 14 54 56

Staff Bonus 0.54 0.56 0.54 0.56 0.54 0.56 0.54 0.56 2.16 2.24

Uniforms 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.8 0.8

Merchandise 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 8 8

Training 1 1 0.5 1 3 0.5

Marketing 9 10 5 5 2 2 8 8 24 25

Catering Supplies

21 25 20.5 26 22 24 22 24 85.5 99

Total 47.2 51.8 42.7 48.3 41.2 42.8 46.2 48.8 177.5 191.5

Gross Profit 232.8 263.2 247.3 263.7 263.8 249.2 265.8 224.2 1009.5 1000.5

Overheads (000s)

Rent & Rates 120 133 120 133 120 133 120 133 480 532

Insurance 30 32 32 41 32 41 32 41 126 155

Management Wages

15 16 15 16 15 16 15 16 60 64

Equipment Depreciation

6 4.5 6 4.5 6 4.5 6 4.5 24 18

Total 171.0 185.5 173.0 194.5 173.0 194.5 173.0 194.5 690.0 769.0

Operating Profit

61.8 77.7 74.3 69.2 90.8 54.7 92.8 29.7 319.5 231.5


discussed and resolved. Use these meetings to share important feedback with staff – such as customer and mystery shop. Include praise for successes in these meetings.

o Walk the floor and meet with all staff – ask them about their jobs - attend departmental meetings – this shows you are interested in them and need to get them on board.

o Update and explain to staff about the Cus-tomer Value Programme. Ensure each team leader gets their staff trained on this important programme. Set objectives and targets for all staff to focus them on achieving results in this area. Set up a reward programme to incentivise. This could include non-financial awards such as “employee of the month”.

o Praise and celebrate staff where progress and achievements have been made.

Item 9 Another issue between staff members – link to item 6 & 12.

Item 10 Customer Complaint – always high priority.

Item 11A member of staff is telling you that no-one is having meetings, people are unhappy and have no direction – link to item 7.

Item 12 Staff complaining about each other – link to item 6 & 9.

Item 13

Profits and Losses for the year – in other words, the money coming in and the money going out. Where is the revenue strong? Where could costs be reduced? The shop does not appear to be bringing in much money. Why have staff had no money spent on training for the past 6 months?

Based on the above, did you include the following in your response:

1. Key issues facing the company include:o Staff are de-motivated and not given enough

leadership and direction (as seen in absence & attrition data, complaints from staff re lack of meetings and direction, complaints from cus-tomers re staff being unresponsive, petty argu-ments between staff which should be resolved).

o Customers not happy – mystery shop, customer satisfaction data & customer complaints indi-cate much room for improvement.

o Big push needs to happen re Customer Value Programme: all staff need to be updated, trained and working towards new targets around this.

o Other: urgent need to deal with Health and Safety notice; urgent need to respond to cus-tomer complaint.

2. Motivating your staff:o Set up an immediate meeting with your direct

reports to let them know who you are. o Set up 1-2-1 meetings with all your staff to lis-

ten to them and find out from them what has been going on.

o Put in place a regular meeting between staff, chaired by you, where issues can be up-dated,

Documents

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