A selection process is the set of stages an employer uses to decide between applicants, from application to offer. The common stages are an application form or CV, online tests, a recorded video interview, a live interview (by phone, video or in person), an assessment centre and then an offer. Not every employer uses all of them: a small organisation may go straight from an application to one interview, while a large graduate recruiter may use every stage. Some stages, such as online tests, often come before any person reads your application in detail.

Each stage is testing something different. The application checks that you meet the essential criteria. Online tests measure reasoning and judgement across many applicants quickly. A recorded video interview shows how you communicate and gives first evidence of the competencies. A live interview goes deeper into your evidence and your motivation. An assessment centre watches what you actually do across several exercises. Knowing this tells you what to prepare: there is no point rehearsing a STAR story for a numerical test, or cramming facts for a group exercise.

Behind most stages sits a list of competencies: the skills and behaviours the role needs, written down so that assessors can score evidence of them. They usually come straight from the job advert's essential criteria, which you matched to the eight employability components in Module 1. Assessors typically have a score sheet with each competency, a rating scale and space to note the evidence they saw. Two things follow. First, you are scored on evidence, not on charm or confidence alone. Second, the same competency is usually tested at more than one stage, so one weak moment rarely decides the outcome.

To find out an employer's process, read its careers site (many have a "how we recruit" page), the advert and any information sent with an invitation; ask people you've met through networking; and ask the recruiter if anything is unclear. Look too for the employer's rules on AI and outside help. In the Institute of Student Employers' 2025 survey, 46% of employers had no problem with candidates using AI at some stages, mostly for CVs, cover letters and application questions, while undisclosed AI use in interviews was the misconduct employers reported most often. Rules differ and change: follow the employer's own guidance, and where there is none, treat tests and interviews as your own work. Module 2 covers scoring software and your rights.

The same thinking works inside an organisation. Many employers use interviews, tests and even internal assessment centres for promotion, so someone in work seeking a step up maps the stages in exactly the same way.

Online tests fall into two families. Ability tests have right answers and a time limit: numerical reasoning (reading tables and charts and working out answers), verbal reasoning (deciding whether statements follow from a passage), and diagrammatic or logical reasoning (spotting the rule in a sequence of shapes). Preference measures, such as personality and work-style questionnaires, have no right answers, only honest ones: they ask how you usually behave, and employers use them to see how you might fit a role. Both are psychometric tests: standardised, and scored against a comparison group of people who have taken them before.

A situational judgement test (SJT) sits between the two. It describes a workplace scenario, such as a colleague missing a deadline or an unhappy customer, and asks you to choose, rank or rate possible responses. Your answers are compared with what the employer considers effective, so the best preparation is to read the employer's values and the role description, and to answer as a sensible new starter in that role would. Read each question's instructions closely: some ask for the most and least effective response, others for a ranking. Some employers also use game-based assessments, short games that measure things like attention or how you handle risk. You can't revise for them, but knowing the format helps you stay calm.

Ability tests reward practice, and the reason is not that you become cleverer: you become familiar with the format, faster at the routine steps and calmer under the clock. Free practice tests are available from test publishers and university careers services. Do them timed, in a quiet space with a reliable connection, as you would on the day. Then the part most people skip: review every mistake and note why it happened, whether misreading the question, a slip in the arithmetic or running out of time.

For numerical questions, use four steps. Read the question first, so you know exactly what is being asked (a percentage or an absolute figure? which year?). Find the rows and columns you need and ignore the rest of the table. Estimate the answer roughly, which often rules out options straight away. Only then calculate, and check your answer against the estimate. Use a calculator if the test allows one.

Finally, the rules. Many employers say tests must be your own work, with no help from other people or AI tools, and some use time limits and question banks to make outside help pointless. Using help also defeats the purpose: if a test gets you through to a stage you're not ready for, you'll meet the same skills again in person.

In a recorded video interview, questions appear on screen and you record answers within set limits, for the employer to watch later. Formats vary: expect preparation time, a maximum answer time, and sometimes a practice question or a retake. Look into the camera, not your own image; keep notes minimal; test your camera, sound, light and background a day or two before. A live interview, by video or in person, adds follow-up questions and a chance to build rapport.

What the interview is for. Andrew Hirst's Interviews Tutorial starts from one idea: an interview is selection, not deselection. The interviewer hopes you're the person they need. They want a human conversation and a feel for you; to "kick the tyres" and check that your CV is real; to ask about specific tasks and behaviours; to test your understanding; and to explain the job. Your stories, told with STAR or PAR, are the tool for almost every question.

The obvious questions. Always prepare these: Why this job? Why you? What do you know about us? What do you bring to the team? What training do you feel you need? How does it fit with your studies or your career so far? And "Can you give me a time when…", about each competency. Andrew's Skills vs Questions grid goes further: common questions down one side, such as "Tell me about you" and "Describe a complex problem you solved", and the employability components across the top. Tick the components each question tests and name the STAR story that answers it. The grid shows which stories carry most weight and which components have no story yet.

Behind every question sit Andrew's three questions every interviewer wants answered but never asks: will you do the job (motivation), can you do the job (evidence) and will you fit in. Use your Career Planning Canvas's purpose for "Why us?". Body language and voice matter too, but don't believe that they are most of the message: that claim misreads the psychologist Albert Mehrabian's 1960s experiments on judging feelings from single words, not interviews. Your evidence is what gets scored.

Your questions for them. Andrew's guide How to get a grad job… Quick! (2018) advises preparing about three, from four kinds: the interviewer's own experience; how to succeed in the role; the team and your development; the organisation and where people progress. Sam prepares "What's your favourite part of working here?", "If I joined, what would you most want me to focus on in my first few months?" and "Where have people who started in this role moved on to?"

Practise by recording yourself, then score it against one competency: is the evidence there, told in "I"?

An assessment centre is a half-day or day of several exercises, each observed and scored against the role's competencies. It may be in person or online. Typical exercises are a group exercise (a few candidates discuss a problem and reach a decision), a written or in-tray exercise (working through emails, documents or a short report under time), a case study, a presentation and one or more interviews. Informal moments, such as lunch, may happen too: be friendly and professional, without worrying that every word is scored.

The group exercise is where people most often prepare the wrong thing. Assessors are not counting who talks most; they note behaviours against the competencies. Behaviours that score well: listening and then building on someone else's idea; summarising the brief so the group starts together; suggesting a timekeeper or keeping an eye on the clock yourself; using the information in the pack; bringing a quieter member in ("What do you think?"); and helping the group reach a decision in time. Dominating, interrupting or ignoring the brief scores badly. Other candidates are not your rivals: several of you can do well.

The written task tests organisation and written communication under time. Read the task first, decide what matters most, plan briefly and leave a few minutes to check. Practise once against the clock, such as replying to an email or ranking a list of tasks. The presentation is usually short and often set in advance, though sometimes on the day; it is taught in depth in Module 5.

Reasonable adjustments. Under the Equality Act 2010, employers must make reasonable adjustments in recruitment for disabled candidates, so that you aren't put at a substantial disadvantage. Disability here means a physical or mental condition that has a substantial, long-term effect on your day-to-day activities; it can include mental health conditions and specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia. Examples in Acas guidance include giving more time for a written test, making sure the interview room is accessible for a wheelchair user and providing a sign language interpreter; the Equality and Human Rights Commission's guidance gives more. An employer only has to make adjustments if it knows, or could reasonably be expected to know, that a candidate is disabled and likely to be put at a disadvantage, so ask: ideally when you're invited to a stage, saying what the barrier is and what would help. Employers should use the information only to arrange the adjustment. This is general guidance, not legal advice; other countries have their own rules.

Afterwards, offer or not, note what each stage tested and what went well, and ask for feedback if it's offered. That reflection is your preparation for the next one.