Sony selects Graduate Dilemmas to sift Euro Graduate Programme applicants ...
By James Foster
News release - 8 February 2010
1000 applicants compete for the prized European Graduate Programme (EGP) from Sony with A&DC’s online situational judgement test
Applicants applying for the highly-prized European Graduate Programme (EGP) from Sony will now be taking an online test to assess their judgement and decision-making skills, considerably easing the sifting process for the Sony team. The global electronics giant is using A&DC’s Graduate DILEMMAS™, the leading online graduate sifting tool, as part of its selection process to ensure it finds the top 10% highest calibre candidates.
The biggest issue to date for the EGP team has been the task of sifting down the large volume of applicants to a manageable number, firstly to conduct telephone interviews and then for successful candidates to attend an assessment centre. From thousands of applicants, less than 1% of candidates were hired in 2009.
As one of the most innovative programmes on the market, the European Graduate Programme (EGP) from Sony has seen graduate applications soar 50% year on year. The initial entry criteria are strict, requiring applicants to have business fluency in 3 languages and flexibility in their working location requirements. Over two years, the European Graduate Programme (EGP) combines business experience, training modules, mentoring and social entrepreneurship to help graduates to achieve their full potential within Sony.
Richard Bennett, People & Organisational Development Manager, and Head of the European Graduate Programme, explains, “This solution offers a reliable and customised situational judgement tool to ensure we don’t miss any ‘gems’ at the sifting stage. With A&DC’s support we customised the tool to reflect our international working culture and values, but equally to help us to promote our brand as a dynamic, forward-thinking organisation.”
Philippa Riley, product development manager of A&DC, adds, “Graduate DILEMMAS has been tailored to fit the requirements of Sony. It sifts candidates quickly and easily by judging them on realistic work situations. The online scenarios were created specially and then reviewed by a number of graduates currently on the EGP, to ensure it reflects their experiences and to make sure the language is appropriate for international applicants. It then gives an overall judgement score to the team of Sony assessors, enabling them to make the best decisions”.
In addition to tailoring the scenarios, the scoring of Graduate DILEMMAS has been customised to reflect “what good looks like” for graduates within Sony. Line managers of graduates were asked to complete the online test and indicate how effective graduates should respond.
For more information visit www.adc.uk.com or call +44 (0)1483 860898. A&DC is an authority in the field of talent management.
Press information from: Kay Phelps, kay.phelps@theprdepartment.net; M: 07710 043244; T: 01932 789524 or Parm Evans, parm.evans@theprdepartment.net; M: 07501 462045; T: 05603 128853.
