About the Client
Our client is a leading integrated energy company operating across the oil and gas value chain in Africa. With a strong focus on sustainability, innovation, and long term value creation, the organisation places people at the centre of its growth strategy.
One of the ways it builds future capability is through a structured graduate trainee programme designed to attract, assess, and develop young Nigerian graduate talent. The programme plays a key role in creating a reliable pipeline of professionals who can grow into technical, commercial, and leadership roles across the business.
For the 2025 cycle, the client wanted a programme that went beyond filling entry level roles. They wanted a process that would help them identify graduates with the right mindset, potential, and capability to succeed in a demanding and fast paced industry.
The Business Challenge
The client wanted a graduate trainee programme that would help them identify candidates with the right capabilities for long term success in the oil and gas sector. They were clear that academic performance alone could not predict workplace readiness or future leadership potential.
What they needed was a structured assessment approach that could test how candidates think, learn, collaborate, and respond to real work situations. The programme had to reveal strengths that are not visible on a CV, while remaining fair, consistent, and scalable.
With a large and diverse pool of applicants, the challenge was not attracting interest but applying the right tools to assess quality. The client needed confidence that each stage of the process would provide reliable insights and that every decision would be backed by evidence.
This required carefully designed assessment tools, trained assessors, and a clear success profile that linked candidate performance directly to the organisation’s expectations. The focus was on building a graduate intake with strong potential, using methods that could stand up to scrutiny and support future workforce planning.
Our Strategic Approach
We began by working closely with the client’s project team to gain a clear understanding of what success would look like for the graduate trainee programme. This included discussions around the type of graduate the organisation wanted to build, the competencies required for early career success, and how these aligned with the company’s long term talent needs.
From these conversations, we developed a clear success profile for the graduate trainees. This went beyond technical knowledge and academic results. It included behavioural competencies such as teamwork, drive for results, adaptability, leadership potential, learning agility, and commercial awareness. These competencies were validated with the client to ensure they reflected real expectations within the business.
Using this success profile, we designed a multi stage assessment process that allowed candidates to demonstrate their capabilities in different ways. The process began with initial screening and aptitude assessments to establish a baseline and manage volume. Candidates who progressed were invited to further assessments that tested reasoning ability, communication, collaboration, and decision making.
We deployed a combination of competency based interviews, presentations, and group discussions. Each exercise was designed to mirror situations graduates were likely to encounter in the workplace. Candidates were observed by trained assessors, and performance was measured consistently across all participants.
Throughout the process, we placed strong emphasis on fairness, objectivity, and accuracy. Assessors were thoroughly briefed, scoring guides were standardised, and candidate data was reviewed carefully. Every recommendation was based on evidence from the assessments, ensuring that decisions were defensible and aligned with the agreed success profile.
The Assessment Journey
Interest in the programme was significant, with over forty thousand graduates applying from across the country. From this pool, just over four thousand candidates were shortlisted for the first level of assessment.
Participation remained high across all stages. As candidates progressed, performance data became clearer, allowing the client to focus on those who demonstrated consistent capability across the key competencies.
By the final assessment stage, a fraction of the initial candidates met the required standards. This group showed strong performance in teamwork and drive for results, with solid capability across leadership potential, adaptability, innovation, and commercial awareness.
The assessments also revealed that strong performers came from a wide range of institutions and academic backgrounds, reinforcing the value of using structured tools rather than relying on academic results alone.
The Outcome
At the end of the programme, we delivered a comprehensive report to the client. This included a detailed breakdown of candidate performance, insights across demographics, and clear recommendations to support final selection decisions.
The client now has a strong pool of graduate trainees who have been assessed fairly and thoroughly, with clear data to support every outcome. More importantly, they have confidence that the individuals selected have the potential to grow and contribute meaningfully to the organisation over time.
The programme also strengthened the client’s employer brand. Candidates experienced a transparent and well structured process, reinforcing the organisation’s reputation as a credible and serious employer within the energy sector.
Looking Ahead
With a successful graduate trainee programme completed, the client is well positioned to continue building a strong internal graduate talent pipeline. The insights from this exercise will also support future workforce planning, training design, and early career development initiatives.
For us, the project demonstrated the impact of combining thoughtful assessment design with disciplined execution. It reinforced the value of using the right tools to identify potential, not just credentials, when building the next generation of talent.
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