How To Prepare For The Last Step Of The Aurora Experience

Here’s what you need to know.

Well done, dear candidate.

If you are reading this text it means you are looking for information about the last phase of the Aurora Experience: the group test.

Taking part in this challenge you will learn to:

• Interact with people working in mixed teams;
• Adapt to different contexts.

This step trains some of the skills you will need for the future: you will face stimulating challenges working with agile teams operating in changing contexts. It will be necessary to cooperate, communicate effectively, to have a strong internal locus of control.

All you need is:

• A PC, a tablet or a mobile phone (it’s preferable to use the computer);
• Headphones and microphone;
• A decent network connection.

Seeing you in action, our experts evaluate:

• How you work in a team and take a role, making yourself useful to the challenge;
• The ability to create relationships, manage communication, cooperate and to be a team leader.

I really liked the fact that we almost forgot we were being observed and evaluated. (Mathilde Romeo)

You will take part in two tests. In both cases you will be part of a team who meets remotely from all over Europe.

Once the team meets, the facilitator from the Aurora team, provides all the information needed to play.

I liked to interact with people who have a specific goal to implement. It is very nice to see how people assume social roles in a few seconds and how they develop. (Leòn De Panfilis)

One of the tests takes place on Google Maps.

The team has a map and a list of items to find in it. The goal is to find them all in the shortest time possible, quickly deciding an effective strategy.

To do this, the team appoints a member responsible for moving across the map and for sharing his screen. The latter, and him alone, can move the orange man of Google Street View across the streets, using the keyboard or mouse. The shifts must be sequential. The teleportation of the little man is allowed only if access to a specific place is prevented by Maps or if you get stuck on the map, as long as the facilitator agrees.

An innovative and cool approach. I hope more companies, schools or similar projects will adopt this kind of selection activities. It should actually become a standard practice. (Giacomo Petrut)

All the other members of the team have a static image of a map at their disposal. Their role is to read it, collect useful information and suggest strategies for achieving all the objectives.

The funniest moment was when we found ourselves on the river bank and we were no longer able to go back to the city streets. Nobody knew how we got there, nor how we could get out of there. (Massimiliano Ursig)

The other challenge takes place on Wikipedia.

The facilitator gives the team the link of an initial page and the name of a target page they need to find using internal links only.

For example: the facilitator could give the team the London page link and set as a target the Abe Shinzō page. The team could click on the Olympic Games link (it can be found inside the London page) in order to get to the Japanese edition, then to the prime minister of Japan.

The team appoints a member responsible for sharing the screen, he is the only one who can navigate the internal links of the page. The other team members are allowed to read the shared page and their role is to give indications on possible links to open. The decision to open a link and change the page must be taken by simple majority. Once a new page is opened, the procedure is repeated.

I don’t like 'classic' group tests at all, so I was more than happy to know about this selection activity. Infact, it didn’t create 'embarrassing' moments like those that usually happen in these circumstances. (Giacomo Da Ros)

Thanks to these challenges, our team has the opportunity to evaluate many elements, but you don’t need to know them all. (Anyway, we have already revealed some of them!)

Just be careful, if the map brings you inside Area 51…

In that case turn off your computer and run away: the CIA is coming!

Text by Sebastiano Afeltra — Translation by Chiara Castelli