Dealing with assessment centers: personal lessons

I am not sure how to explain it, but for the me most difficult part in the job search process is getting to the interview stage. Maybe I just don´t have the winning CV, not matter how much it gets reviewed and re-rewiewed by Career Services and peers. However, once I get to talk to a live person on the other side of the fence, everything goes nice and smoothly. To prove that... all assessment centers I have gone through so far - passed all!

• Shell Recruitment Day 2005: got a job
• DHL Inhouse Consulting assessment 2010: got a job offer
• Prudential Momentum Assessment 2011: successfully passed, awaiting an offer.

Anyway... yesterday I had coffee with my friend Anton who is travelling to Bonn next week for his DHL Inhouse Consulting assessment, so he asked me for advice or any tips that would help him do better. The recommendations I gave him (in concurrence with my friend, who is an expert at SHL, a company specializing in assessment centers and global talent management) were only three, and that is exactly what I try to do every time I face a panel of assessors:

• Don't try to be someone who you are not. It is risky and won't get you far. Trying out new uncustomary behavioral models in the assessment itself will push you off guard and you will reveal even more negative information about yourself than you would if you behaved normally. You will only get more nervous and artificial, and such things are easily picked up by trained assessors.
• Manage your time. This one is critical. The exercises are composed in such a way, that you should only have enough to cast a cursory glance at the materials, identify the key issues and prepare your plan of attack. Nobody expects you to be precise and comprehensive, vice versa - your ability to prioritize and pinpoint the essential is more important.
• Boost your attitude. Don't give up if you feel that you have not done everything right. In a correctly composed assessment, there will be at least two different exercising designed to measure a specific competency. So even if you feel that you have bombed one exercise, there will be at least another opportunity to redeem yourself. Thus, keep your nose up at all times!

Besides, have at least five copies of your resume with you, be smartly dressed, try to establish personal connections with the assessors and the candidates, and remember that it is a learning and netwroking opportunity - make the most out of it.

Good luck!