AI Careers

Using Generative AI to help you get ready for an Assessment Centre

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As part of our AI in Careers series, this blog explains what an assessment centre in a job application involves and how AI can help you prepare for them

What an assessment centre involves

Assessment centres are a common part of recruitment for graduate schemes. There are variations but they tend to incorporate a few different types of assessments across the course of a whole day or half day. These commonly include:

  • One to one or panel interviews
  • Group tasks
  • Individual tasks including written tasks, case studies, presentations, technical tasks and/or in-tray exercises
  • Social and/or networking elements, such as an informal chat over coffee or a meal with current employees
  • Aptitude tests
How can you use generative AI to help you prepare?

At its simplest, you could ask for general advice. The key to using Generative AI tools successfully is to have a clear specific prompt. When you’re looking for career support, it can be useful to prompt the AI tool to take on the role of a ‘career coach’

Remember if the first response you get doesn’t quite work, you can add more prompts to get closer to what you’re looking for.

Example prompt: “take on the role of a career coach and give me some advice about how I can prepare for my virtual assessment centre with xxx. I’m going to have [e.g. an interview, a group exercise and give a presentation as well as some short tests which I find out about on the day]”

If there are specific elements that you’re worried about, you can ask about those.

Example prompt: “I’m worried about what to do if someone talks a lot in the group task, and won’t let anyone else speak. How will I deal with that, especially in a video call? I don’t want to be  unprofessional or have a confrontation in the middle of trying to make a good impression with the recruiter.”

Example prompt: “The bit I am most worried about is when we have a social chat over coffee with employees of the company. How can I make small talk when I am nervous? Can you suggest any open-ended questions or conversation starters I can use?”

The nature of generative AI means that it will always return slightly different results but when we tried these prompts, we generally received reassuring and common-sense suggestions.

However, one of the responses about managing dominant personalities suggested you ask the recruiter to intervene- not something that we would recommend! Always check the answers an AI tool gives you against other reliable sources of information like the employer’s own website or a trusted graduate careers site (e.g. https://www.prospects.ac.uk or https://www.careers.cam.ac.uk).

Managing your preparation time

AI tools can help you generate a schedule to fit assessment centre preparation alongside study and extra-curricular activities. There’s lots of guidance for creating study plans online, which can easily be adapted. You can also prompt AI Tools to ask c questions to work out what your priorities and commitments are.

Example prompt: “I will be attending an assessment centre [brief details] and I’m worried about how I will find time to prepare for it alongside my studies and sports commitments. Please could you ask me one question at a time to help me work out what I should prioritise in the time I have available and create a study schedule.”

Other developments to be aware of- aptitude tests

There’s the possibility of employers repeating testing from earlier in the recruitment process under controlled conditions, to ensure that candidates have not used AI tools in a way that would give them an unfair advantage or be contrary to the spirit of the assessment. This could include things like situational judgement tests, numerical tests or verbal reasoning tests, or repeating questions that have been asked in earlier video interviews. Ensure you’ve practised for these recently if this applies to you.

The one to one interview

We have a separate blog post on preparing for interviews with AI, which will help you prepare for one to one interviews

This blog focuses on using generative AI tools to help you prepare for an assessment centre. You can find general information about Succeeding Assessment Centres on our You Tube playlist.

What are employers saying about AI in the careers and early talent space?

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As part of our AI in Careers blog series, we surveyed some of the employers we work closely with. This blog captures what they’ve told us about how they are using AI in their recruitment alongside their top tips for students and researchers using AI to support them with applications and interviews

How are employers using AI in their recruitment processes?
  • Using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) that automatically screen applications based on minimum academic criteria, facilitating the selection process. 
  • Using AI algorithms to match applicants to internship opportunities based on their preferences for sector and location 
  • Integrating AI technology into their on-demand video interviewing process. This tool assists in ranking candidates, allowing for “focused efforts on high-potential candidates and filtering out less effective communicators”. 

The employers were keen to reassure students and potential candidates that AI isn’t ‘taking over’. They are in the very early stages of using it from a recruitment point of view. The emerging theme is that humans are still very much a part of the recruitment process, reviewing application material, video interviews and forming interview panels. 

What do employers think about students and researchers using AI to support applications?

“If an AI tool can help an applicant craft a CV, cover letter, or performance review that better conveys their skills and experience, use it! I would apply this perspective to any tool, including grammar checkers and resources on CV, cover letter, and performance review writing. Why should AI be excluded?” – respondent from a large multinational professional services firm.

Overall, employers are positive about students and researchers using AI, but recommend using it with caution.They offered lots of practical advice and tips about how you might use AI to support you when applying for opportunities. 

  • Maintain your authenticity – for many employers, their concern is not that applicants are using AI, but that they may become over-reliant on the tools and therefore the applications become more reflective of Chat GPT than you as individuals, making it tricky for you to stand out in a competitive job market.
    “I think that if a candidate uses ChatGPT to refine their answer to a question, or uses it as a starting point to generate a rough answer to a question that they then personalise that is absolutely fine.  This simply replicates how someone could use it in a work environment…I think the drawback could come if applicants develop an over-reliance on it, and that their applications end up straying too far from being a true reflection of them.” – respondent from an international IT consultancy firm 
  • Personalise your applications – if you use using AI to assist with applications, always add personal details and your own motivations to ensure the content sounds natural and specific to you. “AI tools cannot speak to your experiences and skills as effectively as you can” says a respondent from a multinational professional services firm.
    “AI can provide structure and suggestions, but your unique insights and genuine responses will differentiate you in a competitive job market.” shares a respondent from a parent company of a set of large multinational businesses 
  • Avoid directly copying – use AI as a tool to support your writing and overcoming the writers’ block that comes with a blank page. AI can provide you with a structure and word choice to get you started. Avoid directly pasting chat GPT responses into your applications, some recruiters can easily detect copied content. 
  • Complement your skills with AI –  use AI tools to refine materials and prepare for interactions but ensure your personal touch and critical thinking shine through to differentiate yourself in the job market. 

In summary, using AI can prevent you from standing out for the right reasons. Remember if other applicants are using similar prompts, they’re likely going to generate similar answers and application responses. Likewise, employers can put in an application or interview question and see the response chat GPT generates so they will be able to see if you’ve lifted something without personalising it to you. While employers may not always have systems in place to detect the use of AI, the are often cues that enable them to recognise when the work is not fully your own. 

“When evaluating candidates, it’s challenging to be entirely certain if they have used AI to craft their responses. However, we often find it evident when candidates have done so, as their delivery may sound unnatural or they appear to be reading off the screen. Such responses lack authenticity, are predominantly factual, and are missing personal insight and perspectives…To identify stronger applicants, we sometimes ask follow-up questions that encourage them to elaborate on their responses and share their own thoughts.” [Parent company of a set of large multinational businesses] 

Practical steps – what next? Actions?

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