Introduction to Graduate Recruitment Exercise

Graduate recruitment exercise is an event which most companies will run once a year with the aim of recruiting the most suitable graduates.

The whole recruitment exercise comprises of various stages designed to test the hard and soft skills of the applicants, their potential for growth and ability to fit into the company.

Though the number of stages and duration of the graduate recruitment exercise vary according to industry and companies, the backbone of each recruitment exercise will always comprise of these few stages: Aptitude test, Tele Interview, Group Discussion, Assessment Centre and Face-to-Face Interview.

The aptitude test is also known as the psychometric assessment test. Candidates will be given set/sets of multiple choice/short answer questions which require their analysis. Questions asked consist of several different categories, including general, numerical, pictorial and verbal reasoning. These tests need to be completed in a tight time frame and sometimes marks are also deducted for wrong answers to prevent guessing.

Tele-interview serves as an initial screening stage to select candidates for assessment centre or face to face interviews. The interviewer will be checking your credentials against what is written in your resume, gauge your communication abilities, thought process, how much you want to join the company and your potential for success with the company. The whole process normally lasts from 10 to 20 minutes.

A group discussion round normally consists of about 10 or more candidates. The group will be given a topic to think about for 5-10 minutes and then to discuss within a time frame ranging from 30 minutes to an hour. The topics can be very general or closely related to the company. The assessors will be in the same or another room, observing the responses of each candidate.

The assessment centre is normally one of the last stages of the recruitment process and is also the toughest stage of all. Be expected to spend at least half a day at the assessment centre. Assessment centre usually comprises of a few stages. The stages are group exercise(s) and one-to-one/panel interview(s). One of the main reasons why companies use assessment centre is to see how candidates interact with other people.

Introduction to Graduate Recruitment Exercise