Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Graduate Recruitment
Handbook
- Job search guide for students
- A to Z directory of participating employers
Career Guidance
Registered UCT students and recent graduates in need of detailed individual
guidance may book an in-depth 45 minute session with a Career Advisor.
We also offer a CV Review service to those who have attended the CV
Development talks and/or used the resources in the CIC. CDP provides a Quick
Queries service where students can consult a Career Advisor for approximately
15 minutes on a first come first served basis. The Quick Queries service is
available on Tuesdays: 14h00 – 15h30 and on Thursdays: 10h30 – 12h00.
Careers Fairs
Annual Career Fairs provide students with an opportunity to meet and interact
with graduate recruiters at a central location on campus. In 2009, during the
second semester, more than 150 organisations set up their stalls for the day at 2
General Career Fairs and 2 Sector Specific fairs for Law and Accountancy.
www.careers.uct.ac.za
The CDP website is regularly updated with information about our services and
events. Also view the job search and career development articles under CDP
the resources tab.
Career Portal
The Career Portal is an online communication tool designed to complement
campus based recruitment activities, connecting UCT students and alumni
with opportunities in the world of work. The Career Portal extends our reach
to students, alumni and employers beyond the annual graduate recruitment
cycle and after a gap year, time out or first job. There is also a link service for
bursaries, scholarships and vacation work for students. It can be accessed by
clicking www.careers.uct.ac.za/careerportal
Work/Study Project
This project links students to short term, part-time and casual job opportunities
to help generate income and provide work experience opportunities
while studying. §
S
o it is time for that all important task of finding employment after 3-5 years
of studies at UCT – where do you start? Navigating graduate opportunities
is like a project – it requires loads of understanding of what the “as is”
situation is coupled with a review of what the “to be” situation can be.
So let’s assume you wish to be gainfully employed – the “to be” situation. In
order to even start thinking about what that will look like, your focus should
start with analysis.
Who are you and what do you have to offer the future world of work? On
analyzing your skills set, you would come up with a range of competencies,
attributes, attitudes, interests and preferences that make you the person that
you have become. The challenge is to know what all of that comprises before
you start analyzing which opportunities that potentially suit your profile.
Write down the skills you have developed thus far – in and out of the classroom.
For example: As a graduate you might have developed organizational skills
– often managing your time as well as others; you would have had to work
in teams and developed effective communication skills; you would have had
to solve problems and be flexible and adaptable when you are faced with
challenges; and you would have used technology in your assignments and by
this stage have an intermediate understanding of various packages.
All employers are looking for resourceful, effective communicators who are
problem solvers with a qualification in a major offered at UCT. Ask your friends
and family what they think your key attributes are that make you an ideal team
member or participant in a group situation – what do you bring to the party?
Once you have a clear picture of who you are and what you have to contribute,
start writing down the key areas that you find interesting. If organising is your
strength, there are a number of graduate opportunities in almost every sector
calling out for planning and organizational skills.
Then start looking at the opportunities out there for graduates – such as the
opportunities advertised in the Directory Section of the Graduate Recruitment
Handbook. Find out who is employing graduates with your skills and
qualifications, in the city you wish to work?
It makes sense then for them to spend their recruitment budget on flying around
South Africa visiting the campuses and letting graduates know what they are
looking for and how to apply. Small and Medium Enterprises and Not for Profit
Organisations on the other hand, don’t have big graduates programmes with
large intakes of graduates – they typically have demand for 1-3 graduates a
year and would not have the resources to mount a glossy graduate recruitment
campaign with extended travel budgets to visit all the Universities.
If you know this up-front, then you can customize your opportunity search to
target the companies and opportunities that suit your profile and save a lot of
time and effort.
F
or some time there has been a growing trend for graduate employers to
emphasise the need for a strong set of skills or “competencies” in their
new recruits. Gone are the days when employers could afford to take on a
very raw graduate and spend a couple of years training them up. Graduates are
now expected to “hit the ground running” when they start work.
Recent years have also seen the advent of a new set of responsibilities, namely
career management and personal development. As the world of work changes
graduates are less likely than ever before to obtain a “job for life”, and employers
are consequently less concerned with guiding an employee’s long term career
path. Graduates must therefore acquire an ability to assess their own continuing
needs both in terms of marketability (keeping professional skills up to date)
and personal satisfaction (matching their interests to market opportunity).
They must be willing and able to participate in the “lifelong learning” culture
that is evolving.
All of which means students and graduates need to be able to analyse, develop
and record their constantly evolving skills profile. This is itself a skill, and one
that is vital not just when applying for jobs, but in choosing a career. On the
opposite page and overleaf are brief descriptions of each skill and how it can be
evidenced or developed.
There is a growing awareness that graduates will need to be able to assess their
skills profile, opportunities and marketability continually. As more jobs are
offered on a fixed term basis there will be periodic requirements to re-assess
career choices, make changes of direction, and retrain. Repeated job hunting or
job creating will be required, and this will entail developing skills in networking,
self-promotion, etc. as well as developing an attitude of self -reliance / self-belief
and adaptability. A commitment to lifelong learning (both formal and informal)
to maintain the relevance of your skills, as well as to develop personally, will
therefore be crucial. §
_____________________________________
“How to Analyse your skills for Work” and related titles are available in the Career
Information Centre, ground floor, Hoerikwaggo, on Upper Campus.
Personal attributes
These are underlying attitudes and behaviours Manage conflicting priorities,
that make you employable, for example, being a start a new club, show your
self-starter, having a “can do” attitude, showing stamina in sporting or lab
commitment to the organisation you work for, activities, having a methodical
being goal-oriented, desiring excellence, being approach, and show your
decisive, having an awareness of cultural and reliability, being self-aware at
social issues, using common sense. every step of the way.
While the Career Fairs are occasions for companies to market themselves and
scout for talent, it is primarily intended as an opportunity for students to sample
and research different employment prospects and to find out more about the
graduate labour market.
Ask about the company and possibilities for graduates from your discipline or
area of study. In some cases this will be in addition to their target recruitment
group (for example, HR positions in Engineering firms or Marketing in Financial
Services).
Find out about graduate opportunities within that organisation, the work
environment and future career prospects.
Explore openings for work experience and tips on how graduates might best
use their time at university to prepare themselves for the world of work. Search
out opportunities for job shadowing, vacation work, internships etc.
Make enquiries about changing work trends, company hiring policies and the
main skills and competencies they are seeking from graduates.
TIPS
• Collect information and brochures - web addresses and contact details are
always useful.
• Try to visit all the stalls, don’t restrict your enquiries to one company or
sector.
• Ask about hiring trends, skills requirements, recruiting methods and future
training opportunities.
• Follow up with further research. The UCT Career Portal will link you to
company websites. Also visit the Career Information Centre in Hoerikwaggo
on upper campus. §
S
o, you’ve finally arrived at the point where (hopefully) you can see the
graduation light at the end of the tunnel… now what? This is a question
I found myself pondering about 2 years ago, as I was nearing the end of
my MSc studies in Chemical Engineering at UCT. As seemingly disorganised
as it was at the time, my thought process around this really centred on three
key questions:
Looking back, my preparation for the job hunting process began at least a year
and a half or so before the end of my studies, when I actively participated in
on-campus extracurricular activities in student societies and thus gained an
understanding of how I worked and interfaced with others.
As a member of the AIESEC UCT Executive, I became aware of the fact that
I enjoy working with and leading teams, coming up with creative ideas and
doing “project-type” work that is varied in its nature. However, even with
this new-found self-knowledge, I still felt very ill-prepared for the real “world
of work”. This is where taking up a few internships proved incredibly useful
in understanding what “being at work” means. By the time the Graduate
Recruitment Programme started, I had already completed three internships in
employment sectors that I was interested in, over and above my exposure to the
mining industry through vacation work as a De Beers bursar – in management
consulting, business and in academia. I would strongly encourage you to visit
the Career Development Programme and ask about available internships– they
would be more than happy to assist!
“Great”, I thought, “so now I know how I like to work and have some ideas about
where I would like to work (in terms of sectors) – but where do I find these job
opportunities and how do I best prepare for submitting job applications once
I have found them?”. This is where the UCT Career Development Programme
(CDP) really helped. The Graduate Recruitment Handbook presented me
with an incredible range of job opportunities from some of the country’s top
employers in engineering, consulting, business, government and even non-
profit organisations.
W
ell done for holding the UCT Graduate Recruitment Handbook in
your hands right now. There are many other things you could be
doing with your time but you are investing it wisely. Let me tell you
of the return on investment I experienced.
When I was a student, I used the Handbook to get vacation jobs at a ski resort
in the USA and then at a club in Ireland. I graduated with a BBusSci in 2002
and completed my PGDA the next year. In order to qualify as a Chartered
Accountant, I needed to complete 3 years of practical training, and I completed
those in 2006. I am grateful for the help that the Handbook provided in guiding
my job search, but that is not the point of this short article. This article is an
attempt to share some BIG PICTURE tips and also to introduce you to a possible
career in education.
ABILITY – Are you good at what you want to have as a career? This can best
be gauged by asking people that you interact with regularly. Ask them what
it is that you are good at. Ask your family and close friends, they might point
out aspects that you would not have ever considered. Tell them to be honest.
Having an affinity for something is sadly not enough - we’ve all seen those
people singing on Pop Idols who loved singing – they really had lousy voices
though (and dishonest friends who never told them the truth!). Singing was
not something that they were going to have as a career. Ask yourself and others
“What am I good at?”
In conclusion
I want to be excellent at what I do in life and I suspect that the same is true for
you. I chose a career in academia and education because I come alive doing it (I
have an AFFINITY for it) and others tell me I am good at it (I have an ABILITY
for it) and importantly I have an OPPORTUNITY to do it (UCT hired me!).
If you find that OPPORTUNITES are not coming your way (South Africa has an
incredibly high unemployment rate and that includes some university graduates),
I encourage you to participate fully in the Graduate Recruitment Programme
but also to explore entrepreneurship as a possible source of employment. If you
have the AFFINITY and ABILITY, make your own OPPORTUNITY! §
W
e, Joshua Raizon from Harare/Zimbabwe and Constanze Schmidt-
Rhode from Hamburg/Germany met in February 2009 as two out
of sixty Management students who enrolled with the University of
Cape Town in order to learn in a one year-crash course (Postgraduate Diploma
Enterprise Management, PDEM), what the building, running and management
of an entrepreneurial business in the real world is all about.
In the first week of the course, the sixty very nervous and excited PDEM
students were encouraged to choose teams of 4-6 partners and open their own
business as the practical part of the course. We immediately decided to form a
team, hardly knowing each other but believing that Joshua with his Hospitality
Management degree and myself with a Medical Science degree would be able
to reach the outmost level of creativity and academic achievement within our
business.
Joshua and I are still running the Whippit business successfully and have
maintained the donations to the Homestead until today, which has enabled
us to have proudly donated several thousand rands to support projects for
homeless children in South Africa.
We are also proud to say that we have extended our product range to various
genuine leather wallets, handbags and belts and most products are successfully
exported to Europe. Whippit, a product made by young South African
entrepreneurs, will be featured in several high-gloss fashion magazines in
Germany before the Soccer World Cup 2010.
I can only encourage young people to sign up for PDEM. It has taught us how
to be open to business opportunities.§
• Interviews
• Personality Inventories
• Cognitive Assessments
• Work Samples / Job Specific Assessments
• Assessment Centres
Interviews
Interviews are all about making the best matches. Both the company and the
job seeker want to determine if there is a correct fit between them. To this end,
recruiters conduct various forms of interviews and these may vary between the
first and second rounds.
Assessment Centres
In the assessment centre approach, candidates are assessed with a wide variety
of instruments and procedures. These include ability and personality measures
Work sample / job-specific tests assess functional competencies and may form
part of the selection process. These assessments require candidates to perform
tasks similar to those required in the job, for example, using MS Excel to process
and analyse data.
continued on page 22
Case Studies
A ‘case’ is a scenario modelled after a real business or management problem. The
idea is to test a candidate’s ability in some or all of the following areas: listening
skills, analytical and reasoning skills, quantitative skills, ability to organise
and present information and hypotheses, ability to manage ambiguity, ability
to perform under pressure, understanding of basic business and economic
principles and professional poise. A case study could be given to an individual
in an interview situation, or to a group to discuss and present a group answer
to the business situation.
Classic business situation questions are used to see how much general business
knowledge candidates have and how logically they can apply this knowledge
to a common business problem. Business questions might relate to, for example
profit/loss, organisational structure or marketing scenarios. This sort of question
will usually be answered verbally by the candidate and will often be structured
in stages. Your interviewer will probably draw on his or her own real, client
experience to steer you through the scenario. An example of a business situation
might be: “An airline finds that, while its revenues are at an all time high, the
company is still operating at a loss. What is going on?”
Conclusion
When embarking upon any phase of the selection process, candidates need to
be confident in themselves and in what they have to offer in terms of their
knowledge and skills, including their transferable skills and core competencies.
One of the key factors in personal and work success is ongoing self-assessment,
which leads to greater self-awareness. Too many candidates make the mistake
of thinking that “self marketing” is separate and distinct from authentic self-
representation, whereas recruiters’ selection techniques and tools are expressly
designed to assess the latter. §
______________________________
This article was prepared by the UCT Career Development Programme. Case studies
information courtesy of the Careers Service at the University of New South Wales,
Australia.
T
he CV is a multipurpose document, but its main aim is to get you an
interview, which might open the door to various opportunities. It can
also be used as a self-assessment, marketing and presentation tool.
Careful thought and effort should be given to compiling your CV. It is often
the first interface between you and recruiters or employers. Your CV should be
carefully designed to present clear, factual data which will create a favourable
impression and convey key messages about your suitability as a candidate.
Once you have compiled your CV, it can be useful to prepare a summary version,
as you may be requested to provide a brief outline of your CV (or resumé) in a
one-page format. There is no rigid formula according to which CVs should be
constructed. No one size or shape fits all. Whatever format you decide upon,
your CV should be organised in a way which assists the reader to establish
your qualifications and experience to date and particular skills, interests and
achievements you may wish to highlight without wading through too much
biographical detail.
For most purposes, CVs should be no more than a page, 3 pages long at most.
The task is to convey the relevant information as clearly and efficiently as
possible whilst stimulating interest in what you have to offer. Use the resources
Contact Details
Name, surname, postal address, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address.
This information can usefully be presented in a letterhead format, or in a box
on a title page. Please ensure that these are reliable means of contacting you at
short notice. [N.B. Will your email address become obsolete after graduation?]
See the example below.
EMILY SITHOLE
27A Prong Road Tel: 081 902 6309
Luton Park Mobile: 087 460 2628
5600 emilys005@grandmail.com
Objectives
It is not necessary to state your career objectives in your CV. If you choose to
do so, be specific: If applying for a job, indicate the position you wish to apply
for. If you are seeking to embark on a professional career in a particular field or
environment, or with a specific company, state this at the outset.
Education
Tertiary - include institution(s) attended, qualification(s) obtained, major
courses, date of graduation.
Secondary - institution attended, certificate attained, year of matriculation.
Additional - training courses attended, including certificates gained where
appropriate. Always start with current or most recent studies.
EDUCATION
continued on page 26
Extramural Activities
This is where you may mention additional experience, activities, community
involvement (social, family, religious, political), sports, leadership positions
etc. not covered by “work experience.”
Work Experience
State year, organization and position held/title, and provide a brief outline
of your duties where you think this adds useful information to your skills and
experience profile. Include voluntary, part time and vacation work, identifying
it as such. All and any work experience counts.
WORK EXPERIENCE
March 2009-present UCT Botany Department
Research Assistant (part-time)
Buchu Project: monitoring growth rates of
indigenous plants in W. Cape
2008 Greasy Burger
Waitron (vacation work)
2007 XYZ Organisation (full-time)
Youth Development Volunteer
Skills/Abilities
Briefly indicate where and how you developed and enhanced the particular
skills and abilities you wish to highlight. This can also be presented in note
form. Avoid complex narrative and business jargon or using the first person.
Keep this section brief and to the point, for example, “Leadership: Developed
whilst serving as subwarden in my residence and particularly when organising
year-end function for 200 people.”
Additional Information
Membership of Professional Associations/Bodies - insert information where
relevant.
Awards and Achievements - at both secondary and tertiary level. These may
be academic or non-academic. Try to distinguish between achievements and
awards. You may choose not to include this section.
Publications and Conferences - insert where appropriate.
Attachments
It is not necessary to attach certificates, testimonials and personal documentation
unless requested.
______________________________
For more information and assistance with developing your CV, please sign up for the
CV talk at CDP reception in Hoerikwaggo. DVDs and other resources on CV writing
can be found in the Career Information Centre (also in Hoerikwaggo).
Y
our cover letter can be a powerful marketing tool and deserves just as
much care as you’ve taken with your CV. The purpose of the cover letter is
essentially three-fold: to steer your application to the appropriate person
or department, to highlight your CV (that has been customised in line with the
requirements of a specific position) and to draw the recruiter’s attention to you
and what you have to offer.
The cover letter should always be neat, brief and to the point. Avoid long
wordy paragraphs, exaggeration or pretentious adjectives (e.g. nice, excellent,
brilliant, perfect) and business jargon. Standard, clear language will be more
effective. As a general rule, do not exceed one side of an A4 page with adequate
line spacing - each paragraph should consist of just a few short sentences, using
a formal professional style.
Don’t repeat the phrases you have used in your CV, and remember to highlight
the main reasons you are interested in this employer and why they should be
interested in you. Also, make sure that the summary overview or pen portrait
of yourself in the cover letter can be backed up by the information contained
within the CV – as evidence of the skills, qualities and experience you have
to offer.
As with your CV, one size will not fit all. The cover letter needs to be customised
to each context and purpose. Ideally your cover letter should be addressed to a
named individual, stating in the subject line what you are applying for.
You may want to take this opportunity to put any interruptions, setbacks or
changes of direction in your university studies into context. Where appropriate,
you may also choose to highlight personal information that will enhance
your application (for example, stating that you fulfill the equity requirement
as stipulated in the job advert, or you are someone whose background and
experience shows a commitment to working in a particular sector).
The aim is to hit the right tone, sounding keen and genuinely interested, having
done your homework on the opportunity and the organisation behind it. Unless
you research what the employer is looking for and have spent enough time
reflecting on your own skills, priorities and interests, your cover letter could
fall into the trap of reading rather hollow – either as a mere checklist of the job
requirements or as a set of sweeping claims about yourself and your abilities,
devoid of any real substance.
Last, but not least: by the time you have reworked your own cover letter several
times, you may not be the best judge of the final product. Consult with family
and friends (and Careers Advisors), and please do remember to use the spell
and grammar check facilities on your PC. §
1st paragraph:
Reason for contact (eg bursary / job / vac job
application / informational interview request, etc.)
Make this as powerful an opening as possible.
4th paragraph:
A positive conclusion and statement that
Reasons why the organisation encourages the reader to act on this letter.
should contact you: Highlight
how your skills, qualifications
Yours sincerely (if addressed to a named person)
and experience will benefit
Yours faithfully (if addressed “Dear Sir/Madam”)
the organisation. Describe
the benefit to your future
and career development, to Signature
be derived from a bursary, Your name
vacation job, informational (typed / printed, whichever is appropriate)
interview (etc.).
Can you do the job? – Do you have the appropriate qualifications, knowledge,
skills and experience/potential to do what’s required?
Will you do the job? – Do you have the right motivation and enthusiasm? Are
you really keen on this job or would you rather be doing something else? If you
enjoy the job, you will work hard and they will get value for money.
Will you fit in? Would people enjoy working with you or would you seriously
damage morale by being around?
Remember that, ultimately, they want you to be the ideal candidate because they
need to employ someone to fill the position – this is your chance to persuade
them that it should be you.
First impressions
Most people feel nervous at this point, but try and show confidence in yourself,
your abilities and potential. If a hand is offered, shake it firmly – avoid the
bone-crushing handshake and the limp, wet shake (a surreptitious wipe of your
hand before entering may help!).
Establish eye contact with your interviewer – don’t look at the floor- and smile!
The person interviewing you is human after all, not a trained robot. Remember,
the recruiter was once in your shoes so they will also try to put you at ease.
The first few minutes of any interview – the way you walk into a room and sit
down – are very important as they can influence the rest of the encounter. If you
make a bad start it can be an uphill struggle to recover lost ground – so try to
avoid slouching, scowling etc. On the other hand, if you are relaxed, confident
and polite it will help your performance and will impress your interviewer.
Another temptation is to blurt out the first thing that comes to mind when you’re
asked a question. Instead, stop and think before you give an answer. Don’t be
afraid to do this – it’s perfectly acceptable to say something like “That’s an
interesting question, I’d like to think about it for a moment.” If you do this,
use the time effectively to actually think about what you want to say (rather
than sitting there in a silent state of blind panic!) Any pause you make is going
to seem like an eternity to you, but it will show the interviewer that you are a
confident, thoughtful person.
You can make anything sound interesting by the tone of your voice – articulate
your thoughts clearly and enthusiastically with a variety of tone and volume.
By the same token, your answers may be concise and intelligent, but they won’t
have any impact at all if you’re mumbling away with your head down.
continued on page 32
Body language
All the time you are speaking the interviewer is looking at you and is picking
up all kinds of signals from your body language. It’s important that you’re
sitting comfortably because it will help you feel relaxed. Sit up straight with
your head back and look at the person you’re talking to, but try and avoid
looking as if you’ve had a steel rod surgically implanted in place of your spine
(you’ll look tense and nervous). Avoid fidgeting too much because this will
distract from what you are saying, though don’t be afraid to use your hands in
moderation to illustrate a point. Be conscious of negative actions like slouching
and covering your mouth with your hand. Remember, everything you say can
be enhanced by how you say it and the way you look.
Biographical questions
The interviewer uses these questions to find out more about you as a person,
and they are often used to settle you into the interview.
Open/Closed questions
Open questions often take the form of a request to “Tell me about…” These
questions cannot be answered by a simple yes or no, and you should use them
to provide a succinct, interesting and relevant statement. You might be asked a
ridiculously open-ended question such as “Tell me about yourself.”
In this case you should think about the job for which you are being interviewed
and the kind of person who fits the job description, then bring out the relevant
parts of your own experience in the answer. Questions that can theoretically
be answered yes/no are known as closed questions. You should avoid single
word answers and use this opportunity to elaborate and steer the questioning
towards another interesting aspect of your experience. For example: “Did you
enjoy the Spanish option you took?”… “Yes, I found it particularly enjoyable
to put what I had learned into practice when I spent the summer travelling
in Spain.”
Hypothetical questions
You may be asked how you would respond or act in a particular hypothetical
situation. There is often no “right” answer to the question as the interviewer
will be looking at your reasoning and problem solving skills. The scenario
continued on page 34
If you wish to seek clarification regarding the scenario, ask the interviewer, but
keep your questioning succinct and promptly answer the questions.
Gather your thoughts before speaking; you don’t have to be an expert – just try
to give a logical, sensible and clear answer.
Examples
Examples
• Describe an event/task/situation where you have influenced
a group to which you belong.
• Describe a task which you have performed or an event you
have been involved with which has conflicted with your
spare time. How did you overcome this?
• Describe an event where your accuracy and precision has
been relied on by someone else.
• Give examples of when you were faced with someone
difficult who didn’t want to deal with you.
• What type of leader are you?
• How would you go about solving a problem in a
small team?
• How do you deal with people who are unresponsive to what
you are saying?
continued on page 36
Technical questions
Certain positions require an element of technical knowledge. If this is the case
expect to be quizzed on it. Before the interview make a list of your technical
abilities and be ready to prove your competence in each, using examples. Re-
read any course notes that are relevant to the specialism. The interviewer will
be looking at your ability to communicate technical information as well as your
actual knowledge.
Examples
Give examples of how you would use your technical knowledge to solve this
problem…(interviewer gives example)
You are presented with a piece of equipment and asked to explain what it
does.
Inappropriate questions
Employers are not allowed to discriminate against anyone on the grounds
of age, gender or disability. Blatant discrimination in interviews is rare, but
if you are asked a question that you feel is discriminatory, remain calm and
respond positively. You can handle the situation in different ways, depending
on your feeling about the question and how much you want to work for
the organisation:
Either you can answer the question directly and emphasise, for example, the
benefits of your experience.
Or you can ask the interviewer if / how their company uses this as a criteria
in their selection process. This will not only give you the chance to think about
your opinions, but also will give the interviewer the chance to clarify.
You can refuse to answer the question, explaining that you do not feel it is
relevant to your ability to do the job.
If you are asked a question of this nature, you may wish to reconsider whether
you want to work within this organisation. §
__________________
This excerpt is from “How to Succeed at Interviews & Other Selection Methods”
published by the University of London Careers Service, 2000. The full version is
available in the Career Information Centre in Hoerikwaggo on Upper Campus.
F
ast track graduate recruitment processes are amongst the most stringent
around and the majority include some sort of assessment. The reason for
this is not only that there are a large number of potential applicants for
relatively few positions, but that employers have quite limited information
upon which to base decisions.
At this stage in your career even the best CV is only beginning in nature and
mostly academic in its scope (that said, an excellent academic record plus relevant
work experience is still an important element in any selection decision, so you
should not underplay these). Employers need to quickly but fairly differentiate
between those applicants that will thrive in their organisations and become
valuable members of the team, and those that would struggle, simply get by
or who may not enjoy the role. They are after all going to spend significant
time, effort and money on the training and development of the successful
candidate – so employers want to be sure that they get it right. Testing, or as we
prefer to say, Objective Assessments, simply provide more information to help
employers make these decisions.
There are two main types of objective assessment: Personality or work style, and
skills. Personality assessments, such as the OPQ, look at your own preferences
for different aspects of work. There are no right or wrong answers; these
assessments ask you to outline which of a range of statements are more or less
like you. This helps employers to see if you will fit in with their corporate and
team culture and if you’d be happy in the role.
Competency tests are more like traditional exams and have right and wrong
answers. They assess for example verbal and/or numerical reasoning skills,
checking skills, and a range of other skills relevant to the role. Most are timed
and are designed to see how you cope under time pressure.
continued on page 41
Rating statements
In these you are asked to rate yourself on a number of statements, on a five-
point scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). In the
example below, the person completing the questionnaire has agreed that “I
enjoy meeting new people” is an accurate description of himself.
Making choices
Here, you are presented with a block of four statements and you are required
to indicate which of the four is most like you, and which is least like you. In the
example below, the person completing the questionnaire has chosen “Enjoys
organising people” as most true or typical and “Seeks variety” as least true or
typical of him/herself.
Students should practise some ability tests before taking them for real so that
they can be at the peak of their performance when they do. Be careful of taking
too much notice of “urban rumours” about feedback that other students get from
organisations. While people are entitled to some feedback from employers after
completing assessments, and you should ensure that you get some whether you
are successful or not, such accounts tend to take comments out of context.
Employers should offer you practice examples of both types of test so that
you are familiar with them before you sit them. Examples of SHL tests and
information about a typical assessment process can be found at SHL’s candidate
helpline (www.shldirect.com).
______________________________________
James Bywater is Head Psychologist at SHL.
1. Clarify
Make sure that you have a complete understanding of the question/problem.
What helps is to listen closely to the problem definition and ask questions to
improve your understanding. You may even need to paraphrase to confirm the
problem statement as some information may be extraneous.
continued on page 46
• Can you explain what process you would follow to estimate how many
cars there are in Uzbekistan?
• A courier company will offer a new packaging and addressing service
where customers can hand over an item directly to the driver. What issues
need to be thought about?
• A well resourced old age home programme wants to improve its
management of Alzheimer’s patients. What would you recommend to the
Social Development Commitee overseeing the project?
There are a range of books and brochures available in the CIC that cover
assessment and selection practice in detail, along with several titles on
psychometric tests including:
“The Times: How to Pass Graduate Psychometric Tests”, 2nd edition, 2001 by
Mike Bryon.
Visit the Career Information Centre (Ground Floor in Hoerikwaggo) for more case
study samples.
2. Structure
Develop a plan to solve the problem. Start off with describing your overall
approach and then break the problem into discrete pieces/issues. Make sure to
state a crisp hypothesis and use a framework if you think this is appropriate.
Don’t get caught in the trap of trying to find a framework for every case. If you
think Porter’s Five Forces is appropriate, then you should use it, but don’t try to
apply it just because you want to show off your knowledge of frameworks.
3. Analyse
It is important that you walk the interviewer through your thinking. Whilst you
do this you should prioritize your issues and pick one piece to probe further. You
can then test your hypothesis with the interviewer. If necessary you should ask
for a few relevant facts and then state the findings for your analysis. Probably you
will want to refine your hypothesis. If you need more information do not hesitate
to probe further and once you are satisfied you can pick another piece to probe.
4. Conclude
Finally synthesise your findings. You can start by summarizing the discussion
followed by your overall recommendations. Discuss the trade-offs you have
made with the interviewer and relate back to the problem statement. Suggest
next steps once you feel you have covered everything.
We design our case studies to see how you act in business situations. Since we
are using real life business problems, you can see the type of work that we do on
a daily basis. As the interviewee, you must see this as an opportunity for you to
decide if you want to work in this industry and for this company. If you do not
enjoy solving these types of problems, then you should re-consider whether or
not management consulting is for you. If, however, you enjoy the challenge of
solving the toughest problems of industry today, then you will be right at home
as a management consultant.
In conclusion, you must remember that the case interview should not be seen
as something scary or difficult, but should be seen as an exciting opportunity
to figure out if you want to do this sort of work in the future. If you have fun
with the case, then you are much more likely to enjoy working as a management
consultant. In addition, in my experience, if you have fun during the interview,
you are also more likely to succeed in cracking ‘the dreaded case’. §
Adam Kendall
Principal
McKinsey & Company
Presentations Schedule
Date Time Venue Company
28 July 2010 13h00 LS - 2B Sasts Working Adventures
29 July 2010 13h00 LS - 3A L'Oreal South Africa
29 July 2010 13h00 Kramer Werksmans Incorporating Jan S. de
LT3 Villiers
04 August 2010 13h00 LS - 3A Public Investment Corporation
04 August 2010 17H00 LS - 3A First National Bank
05 August 2010 13h00 LS - 3A The Foschini Group
05 August 2010 17H00 LS - 3A McKinsey & Co
10 August 2010 13h00 LS - 3A Rand Merchant Bank
10 August 2010 17H00 LS - 3A Monitor Group
10 August 2010 13h00 LS - 3B CCUSA
11 August 2010 13h00 LS - 3A Ernst & Young
11 August 2010 17h00 LS - 3A BDO
11 August 2010 13h00 LS - 3B Tiger Brands
11 August 2010 13h00 LS - 2B Chilli Adventures Work & Travel
A
s you come to the end of your University career, I hope we have
provided some useful tools to consider your options – whether that
be taking a gap year, studying further or entering the world of work.
The question we often get from graduates is: Should I study further and will this
guarantee me employment? Not necessarily – you need to understand what
skills are missing in your portfolio that relate to the kinds of opportunities you
wish to pursue in the future and whether further study would compliment this.
If you intend being part of a global organisation with a fast track management
programme, then a four year programme including Honours is ideal – this
will develop your research and team work skills further- very important
for these organisations. You will notice that some employers consider an
Honours as minimum requirement in their organisation. If you wish to go
into a specialized field such as some of the disciplines in Science or Economics
or be considered for a Research post, then clearly a Masters Programme at the
very minimum should be considered. The question is, will it increase your
long term employability and objectives?
Entering the world of work is daunting – a 2009 study conducted by the South
African Graduate Recruiters Association where 1600 graduates gave their
views on what they felt was important when considering an offer, the top three
suggestions they gave was to look for a company that was committed to your
ongoing training and development, one that had a strong reputation that will
compliment your CV and one where long term career prospects was a definite
option. A fantastic salary offer is attractive but our experience in the long term
is that it does not substitute challenging and interesting opportunities with a
clear vision for advancement.