The New Crop of Graduates have arrived

So September has drawn to a close which means that the new intake of graduates have had a month to bed into their new lives as young professionals. There have been 30 arrive in my department recently and the other day I stood up in front of them all to give a talk about Professional Development.

It was an important discussion for a number of reasons, firstly I explained the company’s process for heading up the ladder. There were the usual questions around how long does it take for promotion and what training is there. I stressed the point that it was difficult to put a time frame on the astronomic rise of a talented graduate…but more importantly I stressed that going out of your way to gain promotions and attempting to fast track yourself up the ladder isn’t necessarily the best way to go about things and can often lead to a glass ceiling at junior management.

If graduates direct their effort into delivering the highest quality work whilst demonstrating the behaviours of a leader then the professional success will naturally follow at a pace that will allow excellent prospects at senior management levels.

Don’t forget that the way you go about your work is as important as delivery…but it shouldn’t take precedent…you need a good balance, that way you will stand out in comparison to other high performing graduates vying for similar roles in the business. It isn’t a crime if you purely focus on delivery, however you may find it harder when it comes to behavioural and strategic interview questions for managerial positions.

It occurred to me as I was explaining the development process that the management structure of the business hadn’t been explained to them. I asked the group an outright question whether they understood it…the common response was ‘yeah yeah’ with a few nods. Fair play to one of the guys who actually spoke out and said ‘No, could you explain’. I like honesty and I also like it when people seek understanding so I happily explained…much to the relief of the rest of the room.

The session went well from then on and I encouraged open questions about both the department and their development.

When I called for one final question, it came from the same guy who had asked about the management structure. He asked ‘What one piece of advice would you give us to help our progression?’ What a great question, one I had to take a second to give it the justice it deserved…I went with the following…see if you agree (bearing in mind I had a few seconds to answer it)?

“I would say the single most important thing for your own progression is very good self awareness, it allows you to take a step back to view the impact of every action or inaction you take…not just the impact on those around you but also the impact on yourself. It allows you to catch yourself before you come across as an arrogant so and so…It allows you to ultimately not be the guy or girl everyone hates. A heightened self awareness in my view nurtures the right environment for a high performer to succeed.”

1 Comment Leave a comment

Day One as a Graduate – the first few hours!

September came around and it was my first day at the Formula 1 team…I proudly hid the Silver Fox (my beat up old VW Polo) in the far corner of the company car park, packed with a vast number of high end sports cars, ready for my first day as an Operations Graduate on a 2 year scheme, ready to set the F1 world alight! It was fair to say the day hadn’t started particularly well, as I rushed through the car park towards the entrance. I was still living over 50 miles away from where the team were based and although I’d left in what I thought was plenty of time, there had been a crash on the motorway which had used the entire buffer time I’d allowed myself for the journey. So there I was, day 1 and I turn up 10 minutes late, not my finest moment but luckily the induction session hadn’t started yet and as I walked (jogged) in there were some familiar faces waiting in reception. It turns out that a total of 5 graduates, including me, were taken on that year from the assessment centre, 4 guys and 1 girl. As I glanced at the faces of the successful few, I had a mixture of feelings; in my opinion, some of graduates deserved to be there based on their performances at the assessment centre…and others…well let’s just say amazement and disbelief are 2 words that aren’t quite descriptive enough for the feelings I had.

The girl of the group, who out of the others was probably the strongest performer at the assessment phase, leaned across and whispered two things, firstly “I was beginning to get a bit worried they hadn’t offered you a job, I thought you presented really well.” That made me laugh, but not as much as her second comment “How on earth did HE get a job?” which made me laugh so hard I had to walk away for a bit.

The induction session was a pretty standard exercise, nothing much to report except we found out our placement schedule over the next 2 years. As the session finished, the responsible manager for each graduate’s first placement came to collect us, in my case it was the Head of Quality, who turned up last therefore leaving me feeling as if I was the last one picked for the school team.

There was no desk for me to sit at in the Quality department so I was led to an area along the corridor and right round the corner where an empty desk was available in the IT department, this was due to a guy being off on long term sick, “You can sit here” said the Head of Quality. “I only found out you were coming to Quality last week so I’ve being trying to find a desk and I need to think of something for you to do”.

It was at this point that reality struck home; it maybe took me quicker than most and some never quite grasp the situation, but graduates are the lowest rung on any corporate ladder. They have no divine right to respect or authority in a company; this is something they have to earn through proving themselves and slowly gaining credibility, not through professional networking, but through bloody hard work. This may be a bitter pill to take to those who see themselves as the wonder kid on the fast track to corporate royalty, but in my opinion, the quicker this is realised then the transition from student to graduate to executive is a far smoother, considerably easier and perhaps most important of all, a far more enjoyable journey for all involved.

Wow, I’ve just read that back and that last bit seems quite harsh, but actually, it’s probably the best piece of advice I can give anyone going through this process…succeeding at a graduate assessment centre does one thing…get’s you through the door, you should see it as nothing more than that otherwise you might find you’re creating a long list of people who you systematically piss off.

Oh, and the other key points to draw out of this is that during the time between accepting the role and day one…firstly, drive the journey at rush hour a couple of times, I got away with it, but there’s nothing worse than rocking up late on your first day. Secondly, take a bit of initiative, give the company a call a couple of weeks before starting and find out what your first role will be and also if they’d be willing to send out any information that would normally be given out during the induction, I did this when I moved company and amongst other things they sent me a long list of the 3 and 4 letter acronyms they used. If they are well prepared you might also be put through to your first manager…I’ve found out recently that talking to a new manager prior to starting is a really useful thing to do. Try it…what do you have to lose?

I’ll write a bit more about what happened later on my first day, but hopefully this enough to be going on with.

“NTG”

0 Comments Leave a comment

How to be successful at a graduate assessment centre…Part 2

So here is part 2 of my assessment centre experience…

The next morning started with yet more aptitude testing and for the first time since being in the presence of the candidates there was silence, at last! Don’t get me wrong, idle small talk is a skill I possess to varying degrees, but on the most part I don’t choose to exercise it, and I was beginning to get a little bit bored of being talked at by arrogant students.

Although I can’t remember the exact details of the one sided conversations that I had the pleasure of being involved in, I’m fairly certain they went along this sort of line:-

Hotshot: “Did I tell you about the time I was so brilliant”
Me: “I don’t think so…no”
Hotshot: “Well this one time when I was doing something incredibly difficult, I found out I was actually being incredibly brilliant!”
Me: “Congratulations…you must be very proud.”
Hotshot: “Yeah I know, actually me saying that now has reminded me of a time where I literally saved the world…literally!”
Me: “So the fact we are here now having this conversation, we can attribute entirely down to you…literally!”
Hotshot: “Yeah exactly, sometimes I astound myself with my own amazingness”

You get the picture. It was at this point I had made a critical decision about one of the other candidates, he was a complete and utter idiot, we are talking a prize specimen here, I’ve not met many people in my working life quite like this guy, in my mind it was safe to say there was absolutely no way this guy was getting a job from this assessment. It turns out I can be wrong sometimes!

After the thirty minutes of blissful silence for the tests, it was straight into a team exercise. This time I didn’t have the distinct advantage of knowing the solution, however what I had learnt from the first session was how to speak to people in a way that would engage the team and hopefully tease the solution out without being overbearing or obnoxious. I guess it would be rude of me not to tell you how I did this, but the honest answer is I don’t really know, firstly, it was a few years ago now and the details are a little hazy and secondly I think I’ve always been the type of person who listens to everyone’s point of view before rushing to a decision. All I can offer to you is that if you find yourself in a pressure situation like this, take a step back and say to yourself “Do I sound like the guy/girl everyone hates?” If the answer to that magical question isn’t a resounding “No” then I have 4 simple words for you:-

“Don’t be that guy!” Or “Don’t be that girl!”

You might not think that it’s quite as easy as that, but you will be amazed at the amount of people working in large corporations who are blissfully unaware about the concept of self-awareness. No one ever seems to take a step back and reflect upon their actions, words or behaviour and the kind of shadow that casts on their colleagues. Even the most self-aware can get caught up in the world of high pressure workplaces, behaviours (good or bad) tend to be contagious and can quickly become habits, especially to those who outside of the workplace are completely different versions of the same person.

The team exercise was coming to a close and it was clear there were two solutions to the given task depending on your point of view, and whichever one the team chose you could guarantee the assessors would side with the opposing view. After coming up with our team decision we notified the assessment team, a mixture of F1 managers and recruitment advisors, and were immediately thrown a curve ball. The lead assessor asked for a volunteer from the team to stand up and present the reasoning behind our decision and effectively go head to head with her about the team’s decision. Up to this point I had no reason to think I would get the job, but as I quickly scanned around the table suddenly 15 pairs of eyes became fixated on a combination of carpet, shoes or a very interesting graph on the documents scattered across the table. I remember thinking to myself “Wow, maybe these hotshots don’t want the job” so I stuck up my hand (no…not like the eager kid in class before you say it!) with a bit of a smile and said “Yeah go on then, I’ll give it a go if no one else is keen.” I then promptly stood up before anyone else had the opportunity to pluck up some courage. As I walked to the flipchart where we had made notes about our decision, I could feel 15 pairs of eyes pierce into the back of my ill-fitting suit jacket.

If I’m completely honest the next twenty minutes were a complete blur, I really enjoyed defending a team decision, and I used some creative license on a subject that basically had no relevance to engineering or Formula 1. I remember making the whole room laugh on a few occasions, admittedly mostly by accident, but that sudden engagement you get from an audience who are at ease after a bit of humour has stuck with me ever since. I’m not saying that you have to be the office clown…don’t be that guy either, but I’ve found that in the right environment and delivered at the appropriate time, humour can really help drive home some important points in a presentation or speech. It takes practice, especially the delivery, so if this doesn’t come naturally then try it out in a ‘safe’ environment first before you feel comfortable weaving it in to a presentation. Close work colleagues, friends and housemates tend to be a good audience and are more often than not your best critics. I have a good example of this so remind me later to tell you about one of the harshest drinking games I’ve witnessed, but that isn’t for now…because right now I have an assessment centre to succeed at!

After the team exercise, after the come down from the adrenalin buzz of presenting, it was time for lunch in what we were categorically told to call a ‘restaurant’ and not a canteen, for fear of the highly skilled team of chefs charging out of the kitchen brandishing their knives. The lunch was quite simply fantastic, the food was delicious and the restaurant walls were adorned with trophies. The tables were full of focussed and determined team members, all in team uniform, clearly living their dream of working in F1. I allowed myself to imagine sitting amongst them, wearing the uniform and chatting about the latest race or the hottest bit of driver gossip. This also proved to be a good tool for drowning out the reappearance of the “Aren’t I brilliant” conversations that had gone missing when it really mattered.

As the rest of the company drifted out of the restaurant, we were left sitting there wondering what was in store next. The lead assessor came striding purposefully over with a clipboard and proceeded to read out a list of names which stopped after the eighth and asked them to come with her as she marched back towards the main building. My name hadn’t been called out, and I, along with 7 other gloomy looking faces, remained in our seats wondering when we’d be released back into the real world. I was annoyed at myself, I’d allowed myself to dream about working there, but now it was time for the trusty Silver Fox to take me back up the motorway. As I sat there bringing myself back into reality, I thought that my luck was due to run out anyway and regardless of the outcome I would take some valuable lessons from the experience. As this began to sink in, the lead assessor returned to our table and proceeded to say “Unfortunately the 8 of you remaining won’t have the opportunity of going home just yet, because you’ve made it through to the second part of the session….a factory tour and a technical interview. The first group of candidates have now left the site and will be on their way home” I have to admit, I didn’t see that one coming!

I won’t bore you with the details of how the technical interview went, there are thousands of books and websites available for interview techniques and I wouldn’t pretend to be an expert in this field. What I will say though is that it is very obvious when someone comes to an interview and is desperately trying to be a character they aren’t, just be honest about who you are and what you want, if anything be a slightly more professional version of yourself. The other point I would make is that an interview isn’t a one way road, you should equally be assessing whether you would be happy working for the person or people across the table. I walked out of the interview with the usual feeling that I’m sure everyone gets afterwards (providing it wasn’t disastrous), the thought that it went fairly well but you wish you had said this or mentioned that, but also the feeling of resignation that it’s now out of your hands.

I received a phone call at 9pm that same night whilst at home….come on….at home? After the 2 days I’d just had I was in the pub. The call was from the lead assessor who told me that they were very impressed with me and if I wanted it, there was a job for me. I quickly found out it was possible to jump around like a lunatic pulling a stupid grin, while still maintaining a semi-professional voice over the phone as I replied in the affirmative, while also spilling beer all over the floor.

Unfortunately, most graduate schemes at global companies and corporations will demand some sort of assessment centre, not all have the overnight element, but you can guarantee all will attempt to induce a level of stress throughout the process to observe reactions and interactions. The grueling process works on many levels to filter out those who will be unable to cope. The successful candidates feel a real sense of achievement and accomplishment; it re-affirms their conviction that they are indeed the hotshot, the best of the best and at the moment of accepting the role, that’s exactly how I felt! The job was mine, mission accomplished, the team I would be joining were no doubt counting down the days to my imminent arrival. It hadn’t occurred to me yet that I didn’t really know a great deal on what the job was…a great deal would be an understatement…I knew nothing about what I would be doing or what was expected of me.

And that’s how I blindly stumbled into the crazy world of Formula 1.

0 Comments Leave a comment