How selective are the Big Four?

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Original post by AW1983

You'd think so wouldn't you? The reality is that most people have been forced into enough things at school that they can embellish in an interview.

Also, very few extra curriculars are actually all that impressive. Things like the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, debating on a national level or being an officer in a student union will certainly help. However, playing sports or doing drama at only a university level tend to only prove you're normal. No harm in doing them though, of course.

Unless you went to private school, you probably weren't forced - I'd say pushed - into extracurricular activities.

Actually, not that many people get involved with things at university, most people don't take part in societies or run them. If you do play a sport this shows that you are willing to put a bit of effort in, probably be in a team, and like competition and fun. If you take part in drama this means you probably challenge yourself, are willing to work with others and perform in a high pressure situations. If you run a society that shows that people trust you, because somebody voted you in, and that you are willing to take on responsibility.

Frankly, university societies and things like that really show who is making an effort, because when you are at school your teachers and parents push you into doing things. When you are at work you are pushed to do things by your boss. When you are at uni, there is only your own motivation.

Reply 21

AW1983

I'll caveat all of this with the old adage that there are exceptions to the rule and certain industries where this won't be true, but here we go...

Your theory is interesting but I'm not sure it really takes into account human nature. If being involved in extra curricular activities was really that important, employers would use logarithms to capture this in a CV before grades during the 'auto reading' phase. That they do not emphasises that grades are king and extra curriculars are of secondary importance. The first conclusion then is that it is foolhardy to pursue extra curricular activities if you need the time to study to get good grades and no auto filter will forgive you for neglecting that.

The second point is that once the auto filters have been applied, the vast majority are then selected for psychometric testing. I would go as far as saying you would need something negative in your background to not do so far more than needing something positive to progress. There's not a lot of point in employers blocking people from taking their psychometric tests if they pass the entry criteria, besides a bit of bandwidth. So we can draw a conclusion here that so far extra curriculars are either not very important or not important at all.

If you do well at the psychometric tests, you'll be invited to an assessment day. At this stage extra curriculars might help if your scores are average. So at this stage I would say doing extra curriculars might help if you need an edge but unfortunately those who need this edge are often the same people who should spend less time playing sport and more time studying to get their upper second! The conclusion I draw at this stage is that doing extra curriculars must be a calculated gamble.

So you reach the assessment day. At this point the decision as to whether you get in relies on how well you perform the tasks, how well you relate to your peers and, ultimately, whether the people running the assessment day like you. Turning up on time, not getting into arguments, not taking smoking breaks and not swearing are all a given. I've been amazed though at some of the reasons my fellow graduate recruitment assessors have given for not taking someone on. A turn of phrase can really turn people off so getting your sense of humour right can be important! At this stage, you will normally have an interview and they'll talk about extra curriculars but by the time you do this they will have decided whether they like you or not. Assessors can upgrade and downgrade as they see fit.

I can honestly say I don't see much opportunity for extra curriculars to give you a boost over and above being normal. I'm not however concluding that your university years would be best spent drunk or playing computer games as a recluse. My advice to young people who want to make it in their chosen career is to learn how to enjoy themselves and get out there and do things only for enjoyment.

Do not do extra curriculars because of how you think others will perceive you; every minute spent doing something for appearances is a minute lost to your own volition. You'll spend 40 years being shaped to fit an employer's wont so come into the world of work with your own integrity and strong sense of self. These are the key ingredients for a successful career.

Reply 22

alibee

More or less every job I applied for had an initial competency interview pre assessment centre. It's so much easier to perform well at these with a wide variety of experiences to draw answers from. Honestly by the end of your degree, your school stuff is a bit out of date in terms of demonstrating competencies. Do you really want to be saying that you haven't demonstrated these skills in any way over the last 2.5 years?

Big 4 interviews are heavily competency based. People who I know who've been successful in securing places on grad schemes all have strong work experience and solid extra curriculars. It would be hard to consistently succeed at competency interviews without these in my opinion.

How selective are the Big Four?

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