CMS Assessment Centre

[Lisa Lowe]

Will they contact references for Vac Scheme?

 

[castrooo]

Will they contact references for Vac Scheme?

I am not entirely sure; maybe they only do it if you receive a training contract offer?

 

[Iqra]

Hi guys, I was wondering how long it took you to receive the confirmation email?

I’ve received my login details today for the Academy. The email says that they’ll be sending another email confirming our offer. (Waited 8 days)

 

[TLen]

I’ve received my login details today for the Academy. The email says that they’ll be sending another email confirming our offer. (Waited 8 days)

I have just received my login details too! It says the offer email will follow shortly, but not sure whether to expect it tonight or Monday now hahah

 

[Iqra]

I have just received my login details too! It says the offer email will follow shortly, but not sure whether to expect it tonight or Monday now hahah

Yeah that's what it said on mine too. I didn't get a follow-up email either so I guess we'll be waiting until next week!

 

[law2021]

Hi everyone! Appreciate I'm a little late to this thread but thought I'd post anyway My AC is next week (it's my first one!) & I'm particularly nervous about the case study. Are there any resources that can help me prepare for it? Thank you!

 

[IntrepidL]

Hi @law2021, I would recommend researching on CMS' practice areas and industries because most case studies would revolve around those. Prior to my assessment centre, I was also advised on updating my knowledge in relation to four key themes: 1) Brexit, 2) US-China Trade War, 3) Coronavirus and 4) climate change, sustainability and ESG-related issues.

Making notes on those four key themes and incorporating my general knowledge of those into my case study really helped!

 

[law2021]

Hi @law2021, I would recommend researching on CMS' practice areas and industries because most case studies would revolve around those. Prior to my assessment centre, I was also advised on updating my knowledge in relation to four key themes: 1) Brexit, 2) US-China Trade War, 3) Coronavirus and 4) climate change, sustainability and ESG-related issues.

Making notes on those four key themes and incorporating my general knowledge of those into my case study really helped!

Thank you so much!

 

[whoyou]

Hi everyone! Appreciate I'm a little late to this thread but thought I'd post anyway My AC is next week (it's my first one!) & I'm particularly nervous about the case study. Are there any resources that can help me prepare for it? Thank you!

Hello,

I wouldn't suggest you need to know everything commercial going on in regards to the case study - I had a lot of knowledge of global affairs/commercial issues but I didn't necessarily find them applicable. My advice would be to focus on the materials they give you and pick out the issues from there, when I was doing it a lot of points were drawn from mainly common sense. For example, if one of the materials provided was an article that stated there was a scandal in regards to a business that the client was interested in acquiring, immediately I can see one con as being reputational harm, stability etc. So based on the task you get approach it through thinking - ok if I was this business or client what would I think about this? What are the pros and cons? If you're dealing with a business what makes it valuable? Its employees, intellectual property, stability, profitability, logistics, reputation etc. So pay attention to any issues that come up regarding anything that may diminish or increase its value in your analysis and when reading the materials.

Also you get quite a lot of time to prepare for it. I read through the materials first and annotated the docs (on the screen because you get sent the documents) and then as I was thinking I wrote out my thoughts in a structured way, so when I was presenting I had something to refer to.

Hope this helps

 

[law2021]

Hello,

I wouldn't suggest you need to know everything commercial going on in regards to the case study - I had a lot of knowledge of global affairs/commercial issues but I didn't necessarily find them applicable. My advice would be to focus on the materials they give you and pick out the issues from there, when I was doing it a lot of points were drawn from mainly common sense. For example, if one of the materials provided was an article that stated there was a scandal in regards to a business that the client was interested in acquiring, immediately I can see one con as being reputational harm, stability etc. So based on the task you get approach it through thinking - ok if I was this business or client what would I think about this? What are the pros and cons? If you're dealing with a business what makes it valuable? Its employees, intellectual property, stability, profitability, logistics, reputation etc. So pay attention to any issues that come up regarding anything that may diminish or increase its value in your analysis and when reading the materials.

Also you get quite a lot of time to prepare for it. I read through the materials first and annotated the docs (on the screen because you get sent the documents) and then as I was thinking I wrote out my thoughts in a structured way, so when I was presenting I had something to refer to.

Hope this helps

This is very helpful! Thank you

 

[JW]

Hi @Jaysen this thread seems to be getting quite a lot of spam messages at the moment!

 

[Jaysen]

Hi @Jaysen this thread seems to be getting quite a lot of spam messages at the moment!

Deleted - thanks!

 

[Lisa Lowe]

Hi does anyone know the chances of being offered a CMS TC if you have been accepted onto the VS? Appreciate this is a vague question, but trying to gauge my chances? (London office)

 

[TLen]

Hi does anyone know the chances of being offered a CMS TC if you have been accepted onto the VS? Appreciate this is a vague question, but trying to gauge my chances? (London office)

graduate recruitment have said that around 90% of CMS Academy participants have been offered a TC to date

 

[Daniel Boden]

Hi does anyone know the chances of being offered a CMS TC if you have been accepted onto the VS? Appreciate this is a vague question, but trying to gauge my chances? (London office)

I believe your odds are very good so that should give you a lot of confidence to just be yourself and enjoy the scheme

 

[GR]

Hi guys! I had my AC last Tuesday and I was just wondering how long people took to hear if they had been accepted/rejected? I've applied for the Dubai Academy

 

[TLen]

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know how many CMS Academy participants there are this year by any chance??

 

[lawgraduate]

Hey everyone! I've had a lot of messages asking about the CMS assessment centre over the past month so I figured I'd make a thread and put all the information in one place so everyone can have access to it since more AC invites seem to be going out at the moment. For reference, I had my AC in mid-December (I was fast-tracked after their First Steps programme) and got the vac scheme offer about a day later.

The assessment centre consisted of a case study, a partner interview, and a group exercise. Here's a run-through of how the day went and any tips I have on how to approach each exercise:

For the case study exercise, I had 45 minutes to prepare a presentation answering a question set out in the instructions. All the information you need is in the document they give you (you don't need any prior knowledge), so you just need to read/skim through it all carefully and make sure you pick up on all the key points (most of these will be quite obvious in the document so don't worry too much about missing anything major). My advice is just to make sure you leave enough time to structure your presentation in a clear and concise manner so you can be sure that you're answering all parts of the question (and so you don't end up rambling or jumping from one point to another during your presentation). One way you could do this is to have a cutoff point for yourself to finish reading so you don't run out of time trying to analyse every single sentence (which is probably what I would have done).

After the case study, I had a partner interview where I presented my case study findings in the first 10 minutes, then the partner asked me some questions about my presentation. For this stage, my advice is just to make sure that if you mention something in your presentation, you know enough about it to answer any follow-up questions about it. For example, if you briefly mention Brexit, be prepared to answer any question about other impacts it may have or what might happen in the event of a no-deal Brexit in this case study (obviously the no-deal part doesn't apply anymore, but you get the point). The questions didn't seem designed to trip me up and seemed more geared towards giving me an opportunity to expand on some of my earlier points and show my knowledge.

The rest of the interview was mostly competency questions (I didn't get any why CMS questions but can't speak for other people's interviews) and one or two basic situational judgment questions. The interview was quite relaxed and flowed more like a natural conversation, so I wasn't asked any difficult follow-up questions or specific commercial questions at any point.

For the group exercise, your group is given a task/question at the beginning of the exercise and then you have 30 minutes to prepare a 10-minute presentation with your group answering that question. The task itself was quite simple and didn't require much prior knowledge, since the point of the exercise is mainly to see how you work with others rather than to test your knowledge. This part of the AC was pretty straightforward, my only advice (even though it's super basic) is to just remember that the assessors are in the breakout room with you to watch how you interact with others, so make sure you're being a positive influence and encouraging others throughout the exercise, while still contributing some of your own ideas/thoughts. I'd also say keep an eye on the time because it can be very easy to get carried away with your discussion and not leave enough time to prepare your parts for the presentation.

That's pretty much it! This was my first assessment centre so I was very nervous and intimidated going into it, but it went by really quickly and I actually ended up enjoying it, so try not to stress over it too much (although I know that's easier said than done)!

I hope this is helpful, let me know if you have any questions!

Hi! Thank you for the insight, its been very helpful. I was wondering how long it took for CMS to contact you after the AC?