For any recent graduate applying to ProGrad, they will have to pass a telephone interview prior to being invited to attend an assessment day. Unlike a typical recruitment company, we screen all of our candidates through a 5 hour competency based assessment framework. We know it sounds intense, but organisations use ProGrad because of this screening process and so its a necessary part of our process.
All graduates turn to the internet to start researching the company prior to attending the day, and many of them will come across various blogs which outline experiences from graduates (both good and bad). There are many myths about the ProGrad Assessment Day, such as:
You’re not allowed water.
Well, we definitely do allow water on the day, and I’d always suggest bringing your own on the day. We’ve had various experiences when providing water at the assessment days, but the real explanation is here. When you provide unlimited water to over 40 candidates at an assessment day – we’re faced with many time delays as those 40 people need to make several toilet stops, each. I appreciate this sounds quite ridiculous, but it has caused a number of frustrations to employers on the assessment days as our candidates duck off for various toilet breaks and miss crucial parts of the exercises. So, there it is. Myth revealed. You are allowed to drink water, we just recommend you bring your own.
There are no toilet breaks.
Well we do have toilets, and there are several parts of the day where its easier to take a toilet break than others. For example, if you’re in the middle of a 10 minute exercise, its not an opportune time to run to the bathroom. If you’re missing from the group, its difficult to assess you. We aim to have a bit of momentum in the assessment day, and we like to keep up the pace to avoid frustration in the group. We’ll always allow a toilet break (its clearly in our best interests!), you simply need to ask.
ProGrad are Sales People.
Well, this is not a myth. ProGrad are heavily made up of sales people, in fact approximately 80% of the team are in sales. They are tasked with finding employers who will take graduates into the teams, and yes, in many cases that requires more selling than you realise. Truth is, some employers are still not convinced that a graduate is a decent investment. We aim to change that preconception and prove that graduates can add a lot of value to an organisation. We service over 500 clients in Australia and at some point, they have all received a cold call from a sales person at ProGrad. That is how we have generated our client base – through selling. We’re not an HR company, we are a sales led business.
The Psychometric Test is not marked
We don’t look at the psychometric assessment on the day as we feel it is unfair to use this as a tool to decide whether someone will be “successful” or not. We’re fully aware that these personality tests can be manipulated and therefore we feel it is far better to keep them for reference only. Clients will often ask to see the results prior to interviews, and at this point we will share the information.
You’ll feel humiliated.
This is certainly not our intention at any point during the process, and if candidates are made to feel that way I hope that they can feed that back directly to ProGrad. The ProGrad Assessment Day is a competitive day, which is designed to highlight candidates with the competencies which would make them successful in business to business sales. Not everyone makes it through the assessment day, but the entire experience is worthwhile, certainly for candidates that are new to the interview process with employers. We provide a presentation during the assessment day, titled “The Importance of 1st Impressions” which is designed to provide useful information to job seekers. Ultimately, candidates are investing an afternoon of their time with us, and it is our responsibility to make that session worthwhile. If nothing else, we hope candidates leave with some information which will assist them in their career search, whether that includes ProGrad or not.
Over the last 3 years in Australia, over 8,400 candidates have been through our ProGrad Assessment Day. ProGrad specialise in assessing recent University Graduates for the competencies which make them effective in business to business sales.
Davinia