Prepare for NGDP Online Tests and Assessment Centre

This PrepPack™ offers a personality test, assessments centre exercises, an interview preparation, guides and video tutorials.

The NGDP, or National Graduate Development Programme, is a local government’s graduate management development training programme. The recruitment process for the NGDP Graduate Scheme contains several stages, each with its own challenges. This article will go through the recruitment process stage by stage, highlighting the preparation resources available and giving you the best chance of success.

The NGDP assessments have changed for 2015, with the addition of a series of online tests.

Throughout the NGDP application process, you are assessed against a set of competencies or skills. These are:

The application form is your opportunity to introduce yourself to the recruiters. The NGDP application form asks for information about your education and any employment you may have had to date, as well as some more testing competency-based questions. In these questions, the recruiters are looking for evidence of the competencies above. Don’t forget to give examples from your previous experience in your answers. Evidence of research into the organisations you want to work with will also improve your application form. You have 500 words to answer each question; therefore, plan your answers out carefully beforehand and use the STAR method to ensure that you do not miss out any crucial details.

The type of questions on the application form include:

• Please describe a situation where you worked effectively in a team to deliver a successful task/ project. How did you approach this task/ project? What skills did you use and how did you ensure success?
• Please describe a situation where you used your ability to effectively communicate to overcome a difficult problem or challenge. Why did your particular approach succeed?
• Please describe a situation where you demonstrated successful leadership to achieve positive results. What did you learn about yourself and how did you know it was a success? What actions and behaviours did you deploy to ensure success?
• Please describe a situation where you acted on your own initiative to meet the needs of others. Explain how you balanced the cost/ benefits associated with this outcome.
• Please describe why you are committed to working specifically in local government. What do you hope to learn and achieve by working in local government over the next two years? Explain what innovative and/ or creative ideas you could bring to a council. 

If your application is taken forward, the next stage is an online verbal and numerical reasoning test. The following test is the most important one:

The personality reasoning test assesses traits that are relevant for the applied role. You might be asked to rate statements on a scale of 1 to 10; similar questions are likely to be given as well. This exam wants to see if your characteristics and behaviour are suitable for the specific position and moreover - for the company.

The assessment centre will test you through a series of both group and individual exercises. You are advised to do your research into local government before you attend the assessment day, so that you have a background knowledge for the tasks. Activities include:

In this exercise, you are given some materials and time to prepare a presentation to a hypothetical leadership team in a local authority. At the end of your presentation, the panel will ask you questions on your presentation. In order to prepare for this exercise, you may want to take some practice case study tests, including advice on how to pull the information together into a presentation. 

This exercise is a “boardroom” exercise. Along with other candidates, you are given an agenda and papers and asked to move through a meeting, discussing the issues in the papers. You are expected to keep to time and to come up with clear outcomes for each problem debated and agreed. One of the purposes of this exercise is to examine how you work in a team. You will be assessed on the quality of your contributions- it is not how much you say, but what you say that counts. The assessors are looking for how you respond to comments made by your team members, how you encourage others to participate and how you listen to what is being said. Group exercises are not easy, but devising some strategy for how you will approach the session will help you get through. The group exercises guidance pack can help you plan your day to maximum effect.

This is the final stage of the NGDP application process. You are invited to be interviewed at two local authorities, based on your preferences and availability of spaces. You can only be offered a position with one of these two councils. This stage is possibly the most competitive stage of them all, where you still have around a 50:50 chance of getting a position. The recruiters are looking for you to really do your best to stand out from the crowd. Research the council and the area that you are interviewing for and prepare to use that research in your answers during the interview. All your previous experience is important. Your role is to show how it has given you the skills to take your career forward.