ASSESSMENT CENTRES

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ASSESSMENT CENTRES

• Jenny Keaveney
• Careers Advisory Service
• 9th February 2012

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• What is an assessment centre?
• Who uses assessment centres?
• Why do employers use assessment centres?
• What happens at an assessment centre?
• How will you be assessed?
• What are assessors looking for?
• What happens after an assessment centre?
• How can you prepare for assessment centres?
• Further help and information

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What is an assessment centre?

• Good news! Normally only 5 of the original
  applicants will get this far
• A series of exercises, carried out individually
  or in a small group over one or two days,
  designed to measure the competencies needed in
  graduate recruits
• The final stage in the selection process

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Who uses assessment centres?

• Most large graduate recruiters including
• The Civil Service
• Local government the NHS
• Manufacturing companies
• Banks, chartered accountants
• Advertising agencies
• Consultancies
• The armed forces, police etc

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Why do employers use assessment centres?

• They are one of the most reliable indicators of
  successful future job performance
• They are a fair and objective selection method
• They assess candidates across a number of
  dimensions

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What happens at an assessment centre?
A number of different exercises, which are likely
to include

• Group exercises
• Discussions
• Practical tasks
• Role play

• Individual exercises
• Written tasks
• In-tray exercises
• Psychometric tests
• Presentations
• Interviews

Plus socialising with assessors,
fellow-candidates and recent graduates
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The most frequently-used exercises at assessment
centres

• Interview 97
• Psychometric test 91
• Group discussion 89
• Personality test 79
• Case study 71
• Presentation 61
• In-tray exercise 48

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How will you be assessed?

• By people with clipboards!
• On a range of competencies that are important in
  the job you are applying for
• By more than one person
• On your own merits

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What are assessors looking for?

• Evidence of the competencies needed to perform
  well in the job
• You have already been assessed on these on paper
  and at first interview
• The assessment centre will look particularly at
  your ability to work with others, influence and
  persuade and how others respond to you

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Group exercises

• Discussions
• Practical tasks
• Role play

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Group Discussions

• Discussion of a general topic, e.g.
• Should tolls be introduced on all motorways?
• What can be done to improve the NHS?
• How can the problems associated with excessive
  alcohol consumption be tackled?
• Discussion of a scenario
• Assessment of bids for lottery funding
• Shipwreck/desert survival

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Group Exercises

• Practical tasks, e.g.
• Constructing a Lego tower or paper chain
• Creating an advertising campaign for a specific
  product
• Crossing a shark-infested river

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Role Play

• Discussion of a given topic or problem
• Each member of the group allocated a role, e.g.
  Marketing Manager/Finance Director
• You will have information that other members of
  the group do not
• Need to reach an agreement or produce a
  recommendation

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What are assessors looking for in group
activities?

• Interpersonal skills
• Persuasiveness
• Co-operation and teamwork
• Analysis, judgement and decision-making
• Initiative and creativity
• Time management

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Case Studies

• May be one of the group exercises and
  discussions, often involving role-play ..
• or an individual task
• Will need to study the information you are
  presented with, pick out the key points and reach
  decisions
• which you may need to write up in a report or
  to present verbally

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Presentations

• You may be given a topic in advance or allocated
  one on the day
• Keep visual aids simple and relevant
• You will be allowed to use notes small cards
  are best

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In-Tray Exercises

• Simulates the work you will be doing if selected
• You will be given a number of messages plus
  attached documents that you might find in your
  inbox one morning
• Need to sort, prioritise and take or recommend
  action
• Time-limited new emails (and even phone
  calls) may keep coming in!

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Interviews

• Likely to be more challenging and probing than
  previous interviews
• but will be with a different interviewer so be
  prepared for some of the same points to be
  covered
• especially anything that has emerged as a weak
  point at previous interviews

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The Social Side

• May include coffee breaks/lunch with the
  assessors and/or meetings with recent graduates

• Not part of the formal assessment
• but anything you say or do could be
  remembered

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What happens after the assessment centre?
A job offer!
or
Rejection
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How you can prepare for assessment centres

• You can practise for some exercises in advance
• .. and keep up to date with current issues
• Think back over your previous interviews with
  this organisation
• Use the information sources coming up on the next
  slide!

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Further help and information

• At the Assessment Centre DVD (AgCAS)
  www.kent.ac.uk/careers-local/vid/ACIntro/assessme
  ntcentre.html
• Book How to Succeed at an Assessment Centre
• www.kent.ac.uk/careers/selection.htm

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THE END . of this presentation
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