 The assessment centre is very similar, no matter which of our offices that you attend it at and it has three main parts to it, so first of all you will be involved in a group exercise involving some sort of case study working with the other students at the assessment centre, then you'll have your one hour interview normally with one of our partners in the area of the business that you're applying to and then finally you will have a tour of the office and a networking session to really get to know our people. Generally you'll be placed in a team working towards a solution for a particular challenge. At the end of the day generally you'll present your solution with your team and at some stage during the day you'll also sit a closing interview. I'd say first and foremost make sure you get a lot of sleep. I think sleep is pretty important. For the next day we get a lot of people that are quite tired because they've been up stressing. So the second thing would be try not to be too nervous. Nobody really knows what's going to happen next. Nobody actually knows what's going to happen at all and everyone's in the same boat but it's a lot better and it's more fun for everyone if you can kind of relax and just enjoy things as they happen and unravel. Beyond that you could probably research the company. You need to know exactly what the company does and who they are when you turn up. It's all about interviewing for that company. When we have technical interviews if you could prepare for those just make sure you know and you're ready to kind of code and ask some technical questions but other than that get some sleep, eat well, relax, turn up, smile and just try and have a really good time. The best way to prepare for an assessment centre is research. Research the company, be confident talking about why you want to join the company and what makes you the best fit. Review your CV, make sure you're confident talking about your strengths and the skills that you've listed in your CV and also create your elevator pitch. Be able to introduce yourself in a couple of sentences because obviously you're going to be interacting with a lot of new people throughout the day. We actually say there's nothing to prepare fully. We try and say get a good night's sleep the night before but it's always good to think about case studies to read any practice case studies that you can online. Familiarise yourself with the terminology, the language. Just try and be the best version of yourself. Try and not be late, all those kinds of things and I think it's a good time to prepare some questions for the one on one partner interview as well. So when you speak to the partner bring some questions along to try and get a feel for KPMG. I guess be authentic is one of the big things for us so we want you to be the best version of yourself across the whole application process so when you do come to the assessment day we want you to be the same version of yourself that you have been throughout the whole process. So be genuine, be honest. If you're unsure in doubt about anything be a little bit more reserved but also if you're feeling confident feel free to speak up and ask questions, things like that. Standing out I'd say would be be yourself and ask as many questions as you can. So the dress attire for assessment days should be provided by the recruiter. If it's not it's fairly safe to assume that you should dress professionally. The first impressions count so you want to look presentable and professional. In terms of dress for the assessment centre we just recommend that you come in business attire but something comfortable. We don't want you to be fidgeting or too hot or too cold so just take the lead from the career service if you're not sure go and talk to them about what's appropriate. When it comes to wardrobe general advice is dress for the job that you're going for. If you're going for a company that has a pretty corporate culture make sure that you dress appropriately for that. At zero wear whatever you want. We are a t-shirt and jeans company we issue t-shirts every year. You can wear exactly what makes you feel comfortable. If that's a suit then wear a suit but if it's tidy t-shirt and jeans wear a tidy t-shirt and jeans it doesn't matter. Oh and a smile make sure you wear a smile. Again it depends so at Fish and Public Health Care we don't wear suit or tie so I would definitely ask the person that's organised the assessment centre as to what's appropriate. You also want to be comfortable so with these activities you might be moving around a lot so you do want to be in comfortable clothing. I think my top three tips would be first of all come prepared. I'm definitely be as calm and relaxed as you can because we want you to as I said before be as authentic as possible and as genuine as possible so we can see the best of you and your strengths. Secondly I would really recommend that you be as collaborative as possible on the day either in the team exercise or going outside of your comfort zone to talk to different people in the networking section. That way we can really see all of your skills and abilities to network and it gives you the opportunity to show off I suppose to lots of different people who will be involved in the decision making process. Thirdly I would say again to know yourself, know why you're applying to EY, know why you're applying to that part of the business, why you want that role and maybe even why in that certain location because often the partners are very passionate about the clients that they work with in the city. So know yourself and know what you're applying for. Communicate, so try and have fun, try and make friends. It's really good to see when a group of people who haven't met before meeting at assessment day and then become fast friends and we've had examples where they've gone out for dinner afterwards together, they've followed up with each other afterwards. It's really nice to see that cohesion and to see them communicate and make friends. Important things to remember with assessment days, you don't have to be the loudest person on the team. Utilise the breaks, make sure you're introducing yourself to people, networking, it's really important and as well the challenge on the day isn't necessarily the most important aspect of the day. So rather than spending your time preparing for the case study that you may do, spending your time reviewing your CV and being confident talking about yourself, think about how you're interacting with your teammates and obviously ask lots of questions. I think it's really important at assessment centre to listen really carefully to the instructions that way if you're not unsure with the activities that you can ask specific questions relating to them and be more comfortable. I suppose if there was anything else that you should probably remember when it comes to an assessment centre, the first one would have to be assume you're being assessed at all times, treat the entire day like an assessment. Sometimes the things that don't actually seem like a challenge actually are so that would be tip number one. I think tip number two is not. I said earlier that you should be yourself and it's okay to not be right for our company. But I would say it's not just okay to be yourself, it's just the best. The best people are always themselves and that's a lot easier to hire for. We can see that quite quickly. And then I would say probably the third thing to really nailing an assessment day is just to have an open mind and a positive attitude to pretty much everything you come across. If you can smile through something that you're nervous at or if you can smile at something you're not necessarily strong at, we're going to notice that as well and that's equally as important.