What the Emirates, Etihad and Qatar assessors and recruiters look for in group exercises
Group exercises organised at the Assessment day of Emirates, Etihad and Qatar are geared to measure your ability to work in a team, delegate, contribute and solve problems.
Recruiters act as observers and are taking notes to look for candidates who are able to listen to other people’s ideas, stay positive, and at the same time are able to articulate their own ideas. The recruiters award higher scores for the skills that you have that will be useful in the actual on-board working environment.
TIP: If you have a good thought, please ensure you articulate it as you will be given a higher score for it.
TIP: If you notice a member of the group is being ignored or is quiet, always make a point of asking them for their thoughts. You will earn a higher score for showing fairness and it also shows you have collaborative team working skills.
At the Assessment Day, you will be given a scenario where problem solving would be required but the scenarios are varied but whatever it may be , it involves team work and effective collaborative discussions.
The group exercise will always have a recruiter around you or sat in the group. Please try to ignore them and please do not engage them in your discussion. The recruiter is only watching to see if you are proactive, participate in group negotiations, you are able to think on your feet and behave politely towards each other, you are professional and confident without being dominant, and overall encouraging others in the group to participate.
Overall, the recruiters are making notes to see how you would perform in everyday working life at 40000 feet, which involves working with a different teams on every flight, faced with multicultural teams in different sectors and a higher score means you are adaptable on board.
TIP: Show your professionalism - use people’s names during the group exercise.
Some candidates at the exercises will always attempt to dominate the proceedings and taking over ownership of the conversation. This will be negative for that person and the quieter ones who do not speak will always get more points as you need to be active listeners too!
So what do the recruiters look for:
You take into account everyone’s input.
You are able to balance the discussion, disregarding minor issues and making sure all agree with the important issues raised.
Dealing with those that do not contribute.
Were you the one that try to manage time?
Never talk for talking’s sake.
Has your contribution solved the problem?
Are you criticising others or do you encourage input from others?
Are you passionate and speaking with conviction?
Can you recognise a good idea and compliment the person for his/her good idea.
Can you think on your feet?
Please ignore that the recruiters are there making notes. Those who constantly look at the recruiters are at risk of not getting shortlisted to the next round.
Scores are awarded for team working and collaboration skills and of course bonus points are given for contributing good ideas even though the exercise is less important than the interaction and soft skills.
TIP: Treat everyone in the group as though they are your future colleagues - this will improve rapport and prevent you thinking in your mind that they are your competitors.
If you land up being the spokesperson for the group, be certain to capture the result of the discussion of the group and not only your own thoughts.
If you need assistance from our individual mentoring and coaching, you can order our Skype Assessment training which will go into these points in more detail and also provide you with confidence of how to ace these assessments at all three airlines.
We provide one-to-one assessment day tutorial sessions on Skype so you can rehearse and perfect the techniques.