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While applications can tell employers a lot about candidates, seeing you in action, interacting with others and solving practical exercises, can tell them a lot more.

Each of the activities you will be asked to complete as part of an assessment centre is designed to test specific behaviours which will tell the employer whether you are a good fit for the role and the organisation. These behaviours obviously vary but some of the most common include:

• Collaboration - understanding and working with what others have to offer
• Impact - being able to get your point across and contribute effectively
• Effective communication - getting your point across clearly
• Analytical skills - being able to evaluate different options and being realistic

It is important that you get involved fully in all the exercises, so the assessors see evidence of what you can bring to their organisation.

Assessment centres vary widely: some are in person on one day, others are virtual and last only a few hours. Some employers will ask you to complete exercises ahead of the day, others will not. There are, however, some exercises which commonly feature:

• Group exercise - Usually, you will be given a scenario and possible solutions which your group has to evaluate, or just a discussion topic and time to debate.
• Individual exercise - This could be a case study or other exercise where you will be asked to analyse information on your own and present your findings.
• Presentation - You will usually be asked to prepare this in advance and this will be followed by questions from the assessor(s).

You will usually also have another interview to revisit your motivation and fit for the role.

You will be scored against a set of criteria or competencies throughout the assessment centre. This means that you will have several chances to prove yourself: if you think you did badly in one element, you can make up for this in others.

It is important to remember that you will not be competing against the other candidates, so be collaborative. It is not uncommon for an employer to select several candidates from one assessment centre and none from another.

Assessment centres will always involve a certain element of surprise, so keep an open mind and be ready to get involved. However, good preparation will give you confidence on the day:

• Employers will usually give you detailed instructions, so make sure you follow these carefully and ask for advice if you are not sure about anything. Most employers also give you tips on how to prepare. 
• Give yourself plenty of time to prepare any tasks such as presentations.
• Remind yourself of the employer's requirements as well as your selling points. Go back to your application and notes from your interview.
• Use the Careers and Employability Service resources to support your preparation. For example, you can use to go through workplace simulations and practise your interview skills.

If your assessment centre is in person, also make sure that you have thought about travel or planned your local route - with time to spare. If your assessment centre is online, test your connection and consider your set-up (background, noise etc.).

If you are considering using AI to help you prepare for an assessment centre, here are some tips on how this could be useful.

You could ask AI to:

• Research what exercises to expect with a specific employer.
• Find information on other people's assessment centre experiences with this employer.
• Give you tips on how to tackle specific exercises and how to prepare.
• Provide you with information on an employer's workplace culture and values, so you can think about how you fit in and how you can get this across at the assessment centre.

You can also use AI-powered platforms such as to help you prepare through workplace simulations and video interviews.