A reflection on collaboration and my perception by others
I went into my mock assessment centre with no idea what to expect. I’d only experienced one-on-one interviews before, and not very many of them — with my last one being for my current retail job back in June 2018. With that in mind, I was a little bit nervous. Would I know what to do? Would I be able to perform well? Would I stand out, or blend into the background?
Luckily, the team I was with for my assessment centre were all friendly and talkative — this made communication a lot easier, as no one was rude, too quiet, talking over others, or difficult to work with. We found it easy to complete the task at hand and reach a decision everyone was happy with with relative ease, which made me feel more confident that I would be able to do this in the real setting.
I received good feedback on my communication and group facilitation skills. This was not a surprise to me as I’ve had a lot of practice at it; at work, I’m a team leader, so need to be able to organise my team to get the best out of them and have to communicate effectively with both them and customers every time I’m in work. Areas I performed less well in include note taking, body language, and allowing for equal input.
When the task began, it honestly hadn’t even occured to me that note-taking was something I might want to do, as I felt confident I could remember the information I needed to. However, when I saw everyone else taking notes, I thought I might be missing a trick… but by that point, I didn’t want to be seen as just copying everyone else! Taking notes, and making sure my body language remains open, could help to make other group members and observers see that I am engaged in the task and interested in the outcome, and prevent me from looking stand-offish. While my job as a team leader helped me in terms of communication and group facilitation, this may have been why I was seen as perhaps not leaving as much space as I could have for others to contribute. In groups of peers, I am used to taking the lead, as when I am the lone member of management in work I am typically supervising staff that are close to my age. It’s important for me to remember that even if a group needs a leader, and even if that leader is me, I must remember to give others the chance to contribute as much as possible instead of unilaterally taking charge. I did try my best to include others in the discussion during this task by directly speaking to people who I felt had been left out, or to make them know that I had heard them, but with more practice this should come more naturally to me instead of as the result of conscious effort.
Overall, this task made me feel far more comfortable with the idea of assessment centres and at working within groups. It showed that I am both capable of performing the tasks required, and that even in a group, I can stand out and still be evaluated as an individual — this is reassuring as I worried that my efforts may be ‘lumped in’ with the groups and I would not be given credit for my successes, or advice for my failures.
