You have a phone interview, and they invite you to an assessment day if you sound interested in sales and competent. The day was 1-6pm, and really fun. The staff are all extremely friendly and welcoming to everybody. It starts with an introduction, and then you go round the room and say your greatest non academic achievement and choose a celebrity you admire. You shouldn't just say I was a professional swimmer; explain why it was an achievement and state something you had to overcome in order to achieve it. Then you have 2 group tasks; very perfunctory and don't require any preparation. Remember, it is not about leadership. It is a sales task and you should seek to influence others (that doesn't mean hard sell). Then you give a 3 minute presentation. You can bring note cards to follow. They send you an email with an A4 page about the content for your presentation and the day itself. At the end, those who are successful are called out. It was a great day, and it wasn't about being the loudest and shoutiest as you might think. Most of the people who got through were a mixture of the most and least talkative; but they all had something sensible to say when they spoke. Some people asked what the presentation should include at the start of the day; you should be fully prepared when you enter. You get all the questions prior to arrival. There was only crisps, an apple, and a free coffee machine for snacks and everyone was absolutely starving by the end. Could have been perhaps some biscuits also; just as it is a tiring day and there wasn't an appropriate time to eat any food you might have had in your bag. They mentioned other people had said the room we were kept in for most of the day was always really hot, so they turned the AC on and it was freeeezing by the end. Temperature control!! (A completely minor point). Really happy with the day; especially the final Q&A where we could ask questions about prospective interviews etc; I feel I came out with a lot of knowledge.

The phone interview was very relaxing, and competency based questions. However B2B sales was not what i applied for. I never applied for this type of job and they just try to sell it to you without mentioning the job you actually applied for, which makes me believe it is all a ploy. I have my assessment centre in 2 weeks time.