Dear Jonathan, how do I research an industry for an assessment centre?

“I’ve got an assessment centre coming up for an internship, and they’ve said I’ll be asked about the challenges facing the industry. I’m not sure where to start with my research or how much I’m expected to know. What are employers actually looking for?” 

- 2nd year undergraduate, MPLS

One of the nine sets of employability skills employers assess is “commercial and societal awareness” and you are rightly wondering why they would be interested. If you step back, the underlying purpose of the assessment centre is to answer one question: “Do I want to work with you?” 

They have already decided that, on paper, you can technically do the job, which is why you are in (and fully deserve to be) in the interview.

As part of the fundamental question, they want to understand if you have thought about how their organisation fits within the industry sector, what are the stresses and strains the sector is facing, how the market sees their organisation, and what changes are happening or projected to happen in legislation or market that might affect them.

A recent PwC report has highlighted how, somewhat driven by AI, there is “increasing demand [in candidates] for judgement, leadership, and adaptability much earlier in careers.” Your academic programme, encouraging critical thinking, will have prepared you for some of this. But to exercise leadership and judgement, your employer is looking to see if you have awareness of the wider context in which the organisation is operating.

Having explored the rationale, how can you develop and demonstrate this understanding? Start with an internet search based on the organisation and its industry. Look for news articles in the Financial Times and other publications such as The Economist or Bloomberg Businessweek. Oxford students can access a range of business news publications through the Bodleian Libraries. You can also consult news outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, or The Telegraph. 

Extend your search to relevant trade magazines, and websites; for example, for a marketing or ad agency, you could read Campaign; for a legal firm, there are two websites: AllAboutLaw and LawCareersNet. The sector briefings from the Careers team on the University of Oxford website list relevant sites for over 40 different industries.

Once you have identified some interesting and relevant stories, draw on your academic research skills to explore them further. Look for related developments, verify the information you find, and consider consulting independent data sources to gain a broader perspective (government data for example). 

As well as short-form stories, long-form review articles can also be useful for context. You can then weave what you learn into your interview and assessment centre (e.g., the team exercise). You may well be asked, “What two big challenges is the industry facing over the next 5 years?”

For six years, the Careers Director at the University of Oxford, Jonathan Black, wrote a fortnightly column for the Financial Times answering readers’ careers questions - you can still find it here.

Now, the “Dear Jonathan" column has come to Oxford.

If you are an Oxford University student, send in your career question to [email protected] and each week of term, he will answer one of the questions in this feature. We’ll anonymise the author (but please tell us whatever is relevant) so you can be sure that readers won’t know it’s you.