Think Before Going

I saw an advert online for a "Business development" role with Pareto Law so decided to check their website out. They seemed ok and like they might be a good way into the industry so I decided to apply. Had a phonecall a few days later and whilst the woman that conducted my phone interview was lovely and quite helpful, although she didn't seem extremely well organised (Wouldn't call at times she had promised, Told me she'd be contactable by e-mail constantly but took days to reply) - But I luckily got through the phone e-mail and was sent on my way to the assessment day.

The day came and I was a little apprehensive as I had been to a few similar days with other companies that basically lie about the job titles to draw people in. They tell you where to go and park if you're driving and tell you there will definitely be space (There wasn't, I don't know the Wilmslow area that well either so I then was frantically looking around for a place to park for the day as they tell you it will last around 7 hours. It also cost me a hell of a lot in parking fees).

At the actual assessment day there were some great candidates, some of which i'd say definitely deserved to go through and get the job but equally some of the people that did get the job seemed like worse candidates than some that were left out. It seemed as though if you had a funny introduction story, asked pointless questions that other people already know the answers to through research and caught the attention of the assessor early then you are probably going to get through.

The group assessment was literally nothing to do with the role advertised. It didn't seem like it mattered if you got the answers right or wrong, you were just given 10 minutes so they could see who shouted over other people the most. Feedback I was given was "People didn't listen when you were speaking and your input wasn't great" When actually a few of the ideas I raised were ones we ran with and they ended up being correct. That just led to the assumption that if you're polite and only speak in turn, you don't have a chance with them.

Then comes the most ridiculous part, a FOUR minute interview to convince them why they should pick you (By this time, they have probably made their mind up anyway). 4 minutes face to face with an assesor, that is all you get throughout the whole day. I actually connected really well with my two assessors in that 4 minutes and had a bit of discussion with them afterwards, but as mentioned previously, the decision on whether or not you were in was obviously already made before this.

So then they leave you with another pointless task at the end which is basically a time filler and they come back in to let you know who is successful, those people are filtered into different rooms. If you aren't successful, you basically just get told "Right, you can go now, leave us a good review" despite being promised feedback on other potential careers that you might be suited to.

So I left the day with the only positive thought being "Well at least I know I don't want to be involved with them or with that type of sales organisation". In interviews i've had since, i've spoken with assessors about Pareto law and the response has almost always been "Trust me, you will be glad they didn't choose you" which to me only adds to the negative views that a lot of people have on them.

So all in all, I am not bitter about the experience, but if you leave an assessment day thinking "I'm kinda glad they didn't pick me" then it generally doesn't bode well for the organisation. MOST of the people who got through will probably be extremely successful and were really friendly, genuine people and I wish them luck, however, I do think they missed out on plenty of other candidates that would have been great in those roles too (And no, that doesn't mean myself). I felt the actual assessment was in no way a fair or relavent way of assessing people for the kind of roles they offer. My word of advice would be do as much research as you can on them before going to any assessment day and then make your mind up. If i'd have known more about them before going then I probably wouldn't have bothered.