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A glimmer of light is appearing at the end of the tunnel for Europe's
job-seeking graduates. Following a difficult period of economic downturn
and high unemployment for new entries to the job market, there seem to be more
help-wanted ads once again.
Although there are now more management positions open than there were a year
ago -- perhaps in answer to the retirement wave washing through companies as
baby boomers take their leave -- European employers are increasingly wary of
being 'stuck' with less than optimal personnel.
To avoid having to manuver through the difficult, and expensive, process of
dismissing an unwanted employee, human-resources departments are being very
discerning indeed about who they select for vacant management positions.
And they are doing this by assessing, analyzing, testing and re-testing. Below
are some of the today's frequently encountered obstacles in the European job
market 'jungle':
The curriculum vitae: The job of a carefully-crafted resume is to get
your foot in the door, no more. For this reason it is certainly worth the effort
of re-thinking, and re-designing your CV for every job application.
Try to make your experience and education history relevant in some way to the
position for which you are applying, although this may not be necessary for much
longer.
Top firms such as Unilever are basing their assessment and selection
procedures not on the applicant's background, but on competencies and aptitude,
making these tests more crucial than ever.
The written application: Practice that penmanship, because an increasing
number of firms are requesting hand-written job applications. Whether or not
they are actually screened for signs of a mother-fixation or sociopath
tendencies remains uncertain, but head-hunters confirm it is a growing trend.
Often you are asked to express your motivation in applying to the company in
question, or for the position. Try to be original, keeping in mind there may be
hundreds, even thousands, of applicants for the position.
The pre-interview interview: Young actors may be long familiar with the
cattle call, but young managers find it unnerving to be herded into a crowded
anteroom to face a 15-minute rapid assessment by a panel of HR and other
managers. The lucky few are subsequently called back for the next event,
sometimes called 'the knockout round'.
The second round interview: This is where you dust off all your lessons
from charm school and go for gold. Applicants who drop out at this level will
certainly go no further. You should have done your homework very thoroughly by
this point, and are conversant in company processes, at least recent history,
and can ask some intelligent questions about the industry, the company, the
position -- and the interviewer.
If you survive this process, it's off to the testing round, where the fun
truly begins.
The intelligence test: Today's very sophisticated intelligence/aptitude
tests include spatial orientation and measurement of other cognitive functions,
including language competency and communication measures.
These will focus on verbal reasoning or comprehension (the ability to
understand and process written and oral communication); numeric reasoning (the
ability to understand quantitative data and arrive at logical inferences from
data) and abstract reasoning (the ability to solve complex problems, understand
relationships between things and often 'think outside the box').
The personality test: Candidates are usually required to do a personality
assessment, and in Europe this is frequently the European variant of the Myers
Briggs Type Indicator, the ALTI. Find more information, in several languages, at
the site of Belgium-based Alert Management, app or take a sample test at
www.keirsey.com or www.humanmetrics.com.
Cross-cultural competence: Tests for cross-cultural competency are also
performed for international management positions. ITAP International offers a
range of innovative instruments, (see www.itapintl.com
for more detail, and to take a sample test). Additional tests and information
are offered on www.career-intelligence.com,
and Quintessential Careers offers the most comprehensive list of free assessment
and career tests at www.quintcareers.com.
The situational exercise: A new and increasingly common twist is the
situational exercise. Here important aspects of the job are simulated, and you
have to handle, and solve, a number of problems as if you were actually on the
job.
Some sample exercises that you could face:
- The In-basket Exercise. You will be asked to handle
letters, reports, memoranda and messages that are typically deposited in a
manager's in-basket for information and action, explaining (in writing) the
reasons for your strategies, plans, actions and decisions.
- The Meeting with a Client. You will meet an external
client to discuss issues relevant to a particular situation.
- The Task Force Exercise. You will be a member of a
work-group established to work on problems that the organization is facing
and to work toward a consensus on a plan of action.
Handling stress is an important factor in almost any position, and the HR
department and assessment centre will have been asked to pay particular
attention to your reaction to the unexpected.
The group situational assessment: The final candidates, usually three to ten, are pitted against each other in
problem-solving exercises. Here again, research and preparation are of
incalculable value. You should know the type of behaviour expected and valued by
the company before you ever enter the assessment room -- and stay alert. It may
be obvious which type of candidate is being sought: as one young woman candidate
observed: "It was clear the more loud-mouthed you were the better".
Put things in perspective: All testing agencies have the same advice,
however: show up for the tests well-rested and as relaxed as possible. And take
the results with a grain of salt.
According to Dutch psychologist and social scientist Peter Tellegen, quoted
in Intermediar magazine, 'Many tests don't rate much higher than horoscopes qua
scientific basis.'
Remember, in the words of human-resources professor Maria Perez: 'If they
don't select you, they may not have been prepared for you. And in that case,
they don't deserve you.'
