I applied through an agency over the phone. So this was for an ASM role but with a fast-track to Store Manager after 9-12 months of training (assuming you were performing). For the first stage, we were required to attend a group assessment at the HQ in Atherstone. After fumbling our way around the site, a few of us found the correct building and proceeded in. We were met by a woman who took us to the interview room and she told us she would go and get the Director who would be taking the assessment. Within a minute the fire alarm went off and we were all evacuated outside. We stand outside freezing for 25 minutes and then are brought back in - not a good start. We are now 30 minutes behind, but I assumed this would just put the assessment 30 minutes over. Wrong. We begin with doing an introduction to ourselves - who we are, where we currently work, what area we would like to work on (?) and what we thought of our SWOT store. None of this was what I had been prepped for by the agency, she was cutting corners to save time. Next were the tests, graphs and charts which you had to pull the data from to answer questions. Fairly straight-forward except; she told us we'd have 17 minutes to complete them, so I'm taking my time, double and triple checking my answers knowing I'm OK for time. And then at 12 minutes, she says "OK, that should have been enough time - hand in your answers" and I've got a whole page left because I've been taking my time, so I have to leave 3 answers blank. Part of the test? Nope, cutting corners again to save time. Finally we had a group activity. We started solo - Here's 6 people stuck in a cave. 1 has to die (number 6) and 1 definitely has to survive (number 1). We were given 5 minutes to rank them 1 to 6 individually, then we were split into 2 groups of 5. Now, I've run group assessment days, you cannot assess 2 separate groups properly alone. You need at least 2 people with 1 to observe each group, ideally 3 or 4. But no, shes assessing 2 groups. So we were given 15 minutes to agree a ranking of the people from 1 to 6 for the whole group and then had to present back. For the first 5 minutes she was observing the other group so, I felt I was wasting my time - nothing I was doing was being observed and rated and certainly not putting me in good stead to get invited to the next stage. She comes over to our group for what felt like 3 minutes and then after a total of 10 minutes - 5 shorter than we were told we had - she said OK, let's finish there. More cutting of corners. We were then asked to say back how many people we had changed position on from our individual listings and as a group explain why. Then she gave us a huge speech on Aldi, that in hindsight was completely pointless. Later that day we found out she had failed the whole group because "the groups were chopping and changing their lists too much". Well, some people might have but not all of us? Mickey Mouse assessment day at best. Cut short, rushed and I fail to see how that whole process allowed anyone to show that they were suitable to be invited to the next stage.