Assessment Centres

What we will cover

• The 6 main assessment centre activities you could experience.
• Ways you can improve your performance in each of these activities.
• Where you can find further resources to help you.

What is an assessment centre?

"It's a process that involves a full and rigourous assessment of your mental and professional abilities. They are usually used at the latter stages of recruitment & selection"

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• Used for all levels of seniority & positions.
• Range from half day to two full days.
• Involve a variety of tests and activites (detail later)
• 68% of UK employers use them
• Can be on or off-site. Company or 3rd party hosted.

Assessment centre outcomes can be split into:

Assessment centre activities

1. Presentations: Three main facets to take care of.

Planning Cycle

Content & layout

• Less is more
• Slide structure
• Use the right platform
• Enrich your slides

Delivery

1. Logos
2. Pathos
3. Ethos
4. Practice

2. Group Exercises: What happens?

"A group of candidates collaborate to perform an activity while being watched by assessors"

Remember they are assessing skills & competencies e.g.

• Be aggressive
• Negative
• Shy
• Be dominant

Common examples

• Build a tower
• Group presentation
• Discuss / debate a scenario
• Solve a puzzle

Do

• Use the 3 As (Ask for input, Articulate the feedback, Apply what you heard)
• Be calm & assertive
• Take the lead
• Use first names

Don't

• Be aggressive
• Dominate the conversation
• Be withdrawn
• Be negative

3. The In-tray exercise: What is it?

"A simulation where you play a member of staff dealing & prioritising the workload of a typical day"

It is testing the following skills:

1. Analytical
2. Prioritisation
3. Communication
4. Delegation
5. Commercial
6. Evaluative

Example Task: 30 minutes

"Your job is to decide whether each task you've been assigned is low, medium or high priority and to also explain very briefly why you would prioritise it in this way. Also describe how you would deal with each scenario"

Try it for yourself

https://www.assessmentday.co.uk/in-tray-exercise.htm

4. Role Plays

Key facts

• Can be 1:1 or group
• Scenario based
• You act out a role
• Scored on peformance

Example:


"Candidates are given a background briefing on a number of commercial opportunities. After being allowed a short time to read through this briefing the group as a whole must consider the pros and cons of the various options and reach a unanimous decision on which venture to approve"

5. Interviews: Useful to break into phases

A simple way to do well. Pre-Interview, KNOW...

During the interview

• First impressions
• Body language
• Be friendly & smile
• Show interest
• Ask great questions

Post Interview :-(

• Always seek feedback
• Maintain the relationship
• Review performance
• Implement improvements
• Think of a feedback loop!

6. Psychometric & Aptitude Testing

"The branch of psychology that deals with the design, administration, and interpretation of quantitative tests for the measurement of psychological variables such as intelligence, aptitude, and personality traits".

Aptitude tests can be split as follows

Personality Questionnaires

These aren't really tests

Examples "Myer Briggs", "Big 5",
"Situational Judgement (SJT)"

Key Tips

• Practice (lots)
• Take care of physical & mental wellbeing
• Find out what you will be tested on

Video

Key Resources

• Careerhub (Abintegro)
• Google (just know what you are looking for)
• Youtube (careerplayer)
• Udo/launchpad/careers/A-Z/assessment Centres

Summary & Questions