ICS Assessment- Part 2

I got into York 20 minutes late due to a delayed train, but thankfully still found the International Service building with time to spare. I handed in my documents (driving licence, passport, etc) and was shown into a seminar-style room to meet the others. Initially all girls, the last male member of our group joined us after myself. Everyone seemed so lovely and welcoming, and the girls had all worn blazers! We seemed to all be thinking along the same lines and had the same worries, so I felt at ease straight away knowing I was in the same boat as everyone.

We were given a talk about the charity and shown some interesting videos which answered pretty much all the questions I had, and made me even more excited to possibly go on this programme. Then we were told it was time for our group exercise. This was simple enough, consisting of a sorting exercise where we had to put in order of importance some flashcards relating to volunteer placements. Even though we were given half an hour for this, our group did it in about 5 minutes, which I think impressed our assessors! 

Then we had about 30 mins for lunch, in which the potential volunteers and I chatted about the forthcoming interviews and got to know each other a bit better.

(Just a note to anyone reading this that is going to an assessment day at IS, food was not provided so bring a packed lunch!)

After that we were called one or two at a time for our informal interviews. I of course was left til last so I could panic for the longest time! I was a bit worried but the other potentials put my mind at ease. The actual interview was quite fun, just chatting about my strengths and weaknesses and any questions I had in general. It probably lasted about 45 mins but it didn't feel that long. After I was let out it was about 3:30pm and all but one of the others had left to wander around town. So we joined them and walked around York for a while, which was a nice bonus since I hadn't expected to see the town before I had to get my booked train back.

It transpired that 2 of the girls and I had booked the same train back to London, so we got to chat and get to know each other better too. There was also a strange 'small world' moment with one of the girls- she is also from Dorset and lives very near to where I do, but we had never met. It was the craziest moment!