Ngdp lga 2015/16

I'll put my post-mortem of the assessment centre process on here tonight. I think the final people are sitting the AC now.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 241

3458349058349053

8

My post-mortem:

Briefing The individual briefing was the easiest bit for me. I felt I held my own in the discussion well. A bit like a traditional interview just in character. Went well even if the issue was one where the interviewer later admitted there “wasn’t an answer” namely how to improve an a service area suffering massive cuts.

Group ExerciseThe group exercise was so-so. Difficult to criticise other proposals while also not appearing uncollegial at the same time. Group members appeared to ‘come out of character’ at one point and voted for a proposal they were not supposed to be backing. I stayed in character and argued for my proposal! I got outvoted. I felt a bit like the others were ‘playing it safe’ (strength in numbers?) and my attitude was well that isn’t going to help you stand out in this process for better or worse. Not sure if I played it well or not….but I stuck to my brief and that is what I was supposed to do! I thought not to do so would look very weak...

Written ExerciseThe written exercise was far too time pressured and my weakest area. Could have done with another 30 mins! I just didn’t have the time to digest the information yet alone write something coherent. Sure it was the same for everyone but I’m not happy with what I wrote. More a Joycean stream of ideas than anything coherent that a Chief Exec would want to read. Little in the way of coherent conclusion. Very unhappy with it to be honest. That said I remember reading a similar thing from a previous trainee who run out of time and phoned Mum afterwards to say ‘Well that was awaste of time’ and they got through

Conclusion While I’ll be happy if I get through to an actual interview part of me was a bit bemused at the day which largely felt like being a contestant on the Apprentice. Some very contrived group exercises. Felt very tired after the assessment centre. Because you are being assessed all day you can’t switch off so it was strangely draining for a half day assessment centre. All worthwhile if you get through of course… just a bit tired of assessment hoops now. Not sure if I'll make the cut?

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 242

birdie95

2

Original post by 3458349058349053

My post-mortem:

Briefing The individual briefing was the easiest bit for me. I felt I held my own in the discussion well. A bit like a traditional interview just in character. Went well even if the issue was one where the interviewer later admitted there “wasn’t an answer” namely how to improve an a service area suffering massive cuts.

Group ExerciseThe group exercise was so-so. Difficult to criticise other proposals while also not appearing uncollegial at the same time. Group members appeared to ‘come out of character’ at one point and voted for a proposal they were not supposed to be backing. I stayed in character and argued for my proposal! I got outvoted. I felt a bit like the others were ‘playing it safe’ (strength in numbers?) and my attitude was well that isn’t going to help you stand out in this process for better or worse. Not sure if I played it well or not….but I stuck to my brief and that is what I was supposed to do! I thought not to do so would look very weak...

Written ExerciseThe written exercise was far too time pressured and my weakest area. Could have done with another 30 mins! I just didn’t have the time to digest the information yet alone write something coherent. Sure it was the same for everyone but I’m not happy with what I wrote. More a Joycean stream of ideas than anything coherent that a Chief Exec would want to read. Little in the way of coherent conclusion. Very unhappy with it to be honest. That said I remember reading a similar thing from a previous trainee who run out of time and phoned Mum afterwards to say ‘Well that was awaste of time’ and they got through

Conclusion While I’ll be happy if I get through to an actual interview part of me was a bit bemused at the day which largely felt like being a contestant on the Apprentice. Some very contrived group exercises. Felt very tired after the assessment centre. Because you are being assessed all day you can’t switch off so it was strangely draining for a half day assessment centre. All worthwhile if you get through of course… just a bit tired of assessment hoops now. Not sure if I'll make the cut?

Completely agree with you on how tiring it was! I'd travelled to London the night before too, so didn't really have much sleep - and a quick coffee at the centre wasn't really enough to perk me up haha.
The individual presentation was the worst part for me because I was taken aback by some of the questions they directed to me at the end and hadn't really had time to prepare for them.
The group exercise was fun, I gave a strong argument for my proposal but voted for the one I agreed most with at the end because my logic was that councils would be looking for someone who can compromise and not just stick to their own suggestion when it's not the most practical one. Not sure what they were looking for but I hope I did alright.
Written exercise was the same and the empty pages supplied were pretty daunting.. I felt like I had to fill them all up but only managed little more than half on each section. Felt really pressured by time so I can't judge how I did in that one.
Overall I really don't know how I did at all compared to the others in my session. It's the first one I've done and the only one I applied for this year so I'm not too bothered if I don't succeed this year. There's relatively few places compared to the amount of people who applied so I feel good just getting through to this stage :smile:

Reply 243

3458349058349053

8

Original post by birdie95

Completely agree with you on how tiring it was! I'd travelled to London the night before too, so didn't really have much sleep - and a quick coffee at the centre wasn't really enough to perk me up haha.
The individual presentation was the worst part for me because I was taken aback by some of the questions they directed to me at the end and hadn't really had time to prepare for them.
The group exercise was fun, I gave a strong argument for my proposal but voted for the one I agreed most with at the end because my logic was that councils would be looking for someone who can compromise and not just stick to their own suggestion when it's not the most practical one. Not sure what they were looking for but I hope I did alright.
Written exercise was the same and the empty pages supplied were pretty daunting.. I felt like I had to fill them all up but only managed little more than half on each section. Felt really pressured by time so I can't judge how I did in that one.
Overall I really don't know how I did at all compared to the others in my session. It's the first one I've done and the only one I applied for this year so I'm not too bothered if I don't succeed this year. There's relatively few places compared to the amount of people who applied so I feel good just getting through to this stage :smile:

I’ve seen the figure 109 acceptances for a previous year. We are talking about 2.5 people for every place at the moment by my maths assuming a similar number of LAs go in this year.It is easy to over analyse these things.Dread to think what that written exercise isgoing to score but what is done is done.

In the group exercise some people just hid in the background like some candidates on the early rounds of ‘The Apprentice’ do. I don’t understand what the thinking was there… At least the assessors were writing things when I contributed for better or worse…

In some ways the individual briefing was rather unfair. How can we improve a service area(a) suffering massive cuts (b) where demand is only going to increase (c) where there is little chance of additional funding. Efficiency savings only go so far… After the interview was over my interviewers admitted there is “no real solution” to funding adult social care which made me want to say 'well how completely unfair your questions were then!'

I just hope for some good news on this because I feel I’ve invested an awful lot of time already. We all have. I also genuinely want a job in local govt. This wasn’t one of those hit and hope applications. I've experience I want to mention at interview so it would be good to get to that stage. Just such a numbers game and with so many good candidates they have as many hoops as they want.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 244

Nightwing_

OP

13

Original post by birdie95

Completely agree with you on how tiring it was! I'd travelled to London the night before too, so didn't really have much sleep - and a quick coffee at the centre wasn't really enough to perk me up haha.
The individual presentation was the worst part for me because I was taken aback by some of the questions they directed to me at the end and hadn't really had time to prepare for them.
The group exercise was fun, I gave a strong argument for my proposal but voted for the one I agreed most with at the end because my logic was that councils would be looking for someone who can compromise and not just stick to their own suggestion when it's not the most practical one. Not sure what they were looking for but I hope I did alright.
Written exercise was the same and the empty pages supplied were pretty daunting.. I felt like I had to fill them all up but only managed little more than half on each section. Felt really pressured by time so I can't judge how I did in that one.
Overall I really don't know how I did at all compared to the others in my session. It's the first one I've done and the only one I applied for this year so I'm not too bothered if I don't succeed this year. There's relatively few places compared to the amount of people who applied so I feel good just getting through to this stage :smile:

Me too, I was shattered, the coffee disappeared halfway through too, just when I needed a pick-me-up!!!!
I think the main problem with the individual brief was that it REALLY highlighted how little we know about working in Local Government. But I think this is fair enough really, even with plenty of prep you'll never really know until you actually start working there, that's kind of the point of the program.
I think I had it easy and hard in the group as (others agreed after) my proposal was probably the most logical one to pick, so it was easy in a sense to argue for, but I kind of felt that if I'd have gone with someone else's to just get things moving a bit quicker it would have looked like a really odd decision, so had to stick to my guns really. Just hope it didn't make me come across as a bit of a stick in the mud!! I think we all got on ok though and were fairly respectful.
As for the written I think I probably filled the page on one of the sections, but then only wrote a few lines on others, literally no idea what the best approach is, but it's done now, I don't feel it was horrendous, but I'm also not sure I reached a clear definitive conclusion.

Reply 245

Nightwing_

OP

13

So apparently they were going to have all our marks in by today!!!! I think they gave Friday by the day they'd try and have the results out, but I wonder if they have all the results in whether they may even get released earlier..........

Can anyone remember how we found out last time, was it people logging into their page or did we get an email first??

Reply 246

RubyRoo1993

5

Out of curiosity, was anybody elses assessment centre really lacking in diversity? I couldn't help but notice this and wondered if this was the same for other assesment days

Reply 247

Nightwing_

OP

13

Original post by RubyRoo1993

Out of curiosity, was anybody elses assessment centre really lacking in diversity? I couldn't help but notice this and wondered if this was the same for other assesment days

Hi I really thought this too, off the top of my head I think there was only one person there who I wouldn't have classified as being white English (obviously I couldn't tell without directly asking, but everyone certainly seemed English). Maybe we were in the same one - April 1st am?

Reply 248

RubyRoo1993

5

Mine was april 1st pm. I was surprised, as I just expected a more diverse centre I guess!

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 249

Nightwing_

OP

13

Original post by RubyRoo1993

Mine was april 1st pm. In my case, I was that one person. Not exactly uncomfortable for me since I have been in this situation several times before, but I was surprised, as I just expected a more diverse centre I guess!

I guess it is possible that these sessions were not really representative of all the others??

Reply 250

RubyRoo1993

5

sure, that's why I deided to ask instead of making the assumption - curious to see if others had a similar or different experience

Reply 251

3458349058349053

8

Original post by RubyRoo1993

sure, that's why I deided to ask instead of making the assumption - curious to see if others had a similar or different experience

It was something I noticed as well. Very middle class demographic. Nearly everyone from a Russell Group uni from the small talk made before we started. Certainly unrepresentative of the demographic we hope to serve...

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 252

oms207

Original post by RubyRoo1993

sure, that's why I deided to ask instead of making the assumption - curious to see if others had a similar or different experience

I must have been at the same one as you, PM on 1st. It did strike me as particularly white, male and middle class. Not especially reflective of local government!

Reply 253

paddy25

10

PM on the 1st for me too, so I can't really provide a different perspective on the lack of diversity issue, but it was slightly concerning!

Today's the day then! Good luck everyone :smile:

In response to @Nightwing_'s post before, when I found out I was through to the AC, it was from checking the page about ten minutes before the email arrived! But I guess we'll get an email anyway! I'm already getting impatient and it's only lunchtime...