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Are you a recruiter or hiring manager looking for candidate pre-employment assessment tests and tools including assessment centre exercises? We invite you to visit our Assess Candidates website.
Have an online assessment centre coming up? What assessment centre activities to practice for? Worry not, kickstart your assessment centre preparation and ace your coming assessment day with this latest guide.
In this text, we will cover what assessment centres are, who uses them and what types of exercises you can expect on your assessment day with our bonus assessment centre tips to boost your assessment centre practice.
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Not sure if you should practice to prepare for your assessment centre exercises? A recent study found that around one-third of employers use assessment centres in their application processes (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2020).
We offer a complete package of assessment centre practice tests to help you prepare for the assessment centre exercises, a part of many recruitment and assessment processes around the globe including the UK and the US.
Check out the critical questions we’ll answer in this guide:
So, without further ado, let’s dive in!
The assessment centre, or assessment day is a selection process employers use to evaluate applicants for suitability for a job role. It involves a series of individual and group assessments alongside job-specific work simulation exercises to test your relevant skills, competencies and personal attributes.
Keep reading to discover the top 5 key facts about the assessment centres that stand out.
Good to Know: While psychometric tests are usually a pre-assessment centre stage, some employers may also include assessment tests like the ability tests and personality questionnaires as part of your assessment day to verify your previous scores.
Now, after discussing some of the integral facts of the assessment day, let’s discover how an online assessment centre works in hiring.
The online assessment centres involve various tasks and interviews that simulate workplace challenges. The assessors will observe and evaluate your performance based on set criteria or competencies necessary for the job role for hiring, promotion, training, and development decisions.
While the-person or online assessment exercises tend to measure about a specific job role, most of them are used by employers to broadly evaluate candidates for the following:
Important to Note: Your assessors will take notes on what they see and hear during the exercises, but not on what they think. Therefore their own judgement is often excluded from the session.
Many large organisations use online assessment centres as part of their hiring process. Keep reading to discover who uses assessment centres in hiring.
The assessment centres are used by a variety of global industry giants including both public and private for sectors, ranging from customer service to technology as part of their hiring and training programmes.
Some of the top employers known to use in-person or virtual assessment centres include:
But why do organisations use assessment centres including virtual assessment centres as part of their hiring process? Let’s find out below!
Assessment centres are a top choice for employers to evaluate and shortlist from the pool of candidates for a variety of purposes, including:
Let’s now discover these in terms of the top 7 advantages that employers get by using assessment centres for hiring.
Large organisations such as KPMG use assessment centres for the following characteristics including:
Standardised and objective
Assessment centres help assess candidates on predefined competencies and skills by recording their observable behaviour on score sheets.
Comprehensive candidate evaluation
The assessment centre tests candidates on a variety of exercises including individual or group assessments to evaluate both technical and soft skills with strengths and weaknesses.
Proven return-on-investment
The assessment centres are proven to select candidates well-suited for the job role, thus reducing absenteeism and losing employees, while boosting organisational productivity in the long run.
Talent management
The assessment centre tests help employers design well-suited development programmes based on the employees’ training needs.
Differentiate similar employees
The online assessment centre exercises help employers differentiate and choose from the candidates that seem skill-wise similar on their CV or resumes.
High predictive validity
Assessment centres have high predictive validity and help employers predict a candidate’s future performance based on the existing performance on the tasks.
High efficiency and reliability
The online assessment exercises are quite efficient and allow employers to assess multiple candidates at once and evaluate each on a specific set of competencies important to the organisation on multiple occasions.
Depending on the job role and location, the employers may require you to appear in any of the following types of assessment centres as part of their hiring process.
The 4 major types of assessment centres you may encounter may be one of the following:
In-Person Assessment Centre
The in-person or traditional assessment centres are used by top employers like Caterpillar which requires you to participate in a variety of exercises like role-play individually or as a group assessment at the office or a third-party space.
Virtual Assessment Centre
The virtual or online assessment centre like the ones used by Shell involves you to participate in virtually simulated online assessment centre activities that will test your on-the-job skills and competencies without the hassle of travelling to an office.
Hybrid Assessment Centre
The hybrid assessment centre, as the name suggests, combines both in-person and online assessment centre activities using online platforms like video conferencing. It is used by popular organisations like Unilever and Deloitte as part of their assessment day.
Developmental Assessment Centre
The developmental assessment centre, or assessment and development centre, is used by General Electric and Johnson and Johnson to evaluate existing employees’ skills and training needs for promotion, succession planning and development of training programmes.
Did you know? Virtual assessment centres are becoming increasingly popular in many industries and fields, including education, recruitment, and employee training & development.
Discover the key reasons why many employers are now often using virtual assessment centres in this short video:
How are virtual assessment centres any different from more traditional in-person assessment centres? Keep on reading to find out.
Virtual or online assessment centres became more prevalent during the pandemic, with some employers still opting for more virtual screening methods. Here’s how they differ from traditional assessment centres conducted in person.
So, how to ace your virtual or online assessment centre? Here are our top 5 assessment day tips you can use to ace your next virtual assessment day.
Here are 5 quick tips that you can use to ace your coming virtual assessment centre:
Depending on your job role, you may expect a variety of assessment centre activities as part of your assessment day. Let’s discuss them.
Most assessment centres include at least two to three or more of the following common online assessment centre exercises to evaluate you on some employer’s pre-set competency framework and skills.
Let’s find out more about these key assessment centre activities that you may take below!
Want to level up your practice for your assessment centre interview?
As we covered the types of assessment centre tasks above, let’s boost your assessment centre preparation with one of the assessment centre example questions designed by our experts.
The assessment exercises you will take are likely to depend on the role you’ve applied for and often involve scenarios you will face. Therefore these exercises are likely tailored to the requirements of the role.
Good to know: The assessors may also assess you on different competencies that are based around the company’s values.
Below is an in-tray exercise example designed by our experts, which are often used during assessment centres.
SCENARIO
You are a manager at a consulting firm. You have just returned from a meeting and have been given an in-tray of documents to review and respond to within 2 hours. These include:
TASK
You have 2 hours to go through your in-tray and decide how you would respond to each document, make decisions and take the best applicable action. Prioritise your tasks based on urgency and importance
Here is a useful table that you can use to help with organising and delegating your tasks during an in-tray assessment:
Good to know: This table should be used as a general guide and the priority of tasks can vary depending on the specific exercise and the company’s priorities and policies. Read the instructions carefully to understand the priorities of the company.
The assessors will be evaluating your ability to:
You will also be assessed on the quality of your responses and recommendations, the format in which they are written, and your ability to follow the provided instructions.
Want to practice with more such mock assessment centre exercise questions?
A thorough and strategic plan to approach the assessment centre exercises is key to prepare for your assessment day.
Here are our 13 easy-to-follow tips when preparing for an assessment centre including virtual assessment day that you can use in order to get the best possible results during the assessment day and stand out
Research the company and its objectives:
Understand the company’s key values and work culture. You can use this to get a good picture of the ‘ideal’ employee.
Revisit your job application:
Ensure to practice elaborating on your work experience through a well-structured STAR format to answer any competency questions clearly.
Check the job description
to uncover what important skills and competencies the company is looking for. Consider how you can demonstrate these during the exercises.
Keep up with industry-related news:
Look out for the latest industry trends and challenges in the company to gain insight into its developments and culture/values. You could also use these as examples for interviews.
Practice the key concepts and terminologies beforehand:
Ensure to know the common terminologies and concepts used in the sector you are applying for, especially for case studies and role-play exercises.
Dress smartly:
A professional appearance will help you make a positive first impression at the examination centre. This applies to virtual assessment centres too!
Read the instructions carefully:
Ensure to thoroughly understand the information and guidelines provided before and throughout the assessment day.
Be prepared for the ice-breakers:
Socialise with other candidates and current employees during ice-breakers and lunch/ meals to help relax and even get noticed for your initiative.
Showcase the key abilities:
Ensure you showcase skills like active listening, collaboration, effective negotiation, leadership and decision-making ability while participating in group assessment centre exercises.
Stay positive:
Try to remain upbeat and attentive throughout the evaluation centre, even if you feel anxious or overwhelmed. Take deep breaths and focus on the tasks at hand.
Ask questions:
To engage in discussions and to gain further information to assist with the exercise. This also shows the assessors you are interested and motivated.
Manage your time:
Practice with timed work simulation exercises to prepare for your presentation and in-tray or e-tray exercises.
Follow up:
Contact the assessors or interviewers afterwards to express gratitude for the opportunity to participate in the assessment day. This indicates professionalism and demonstrates your continuous interest in the job.
Discover more about assessment centres with our FAQs to gain quick answers to even more questions people have about assessment centres.
After you are done with your virtual or online assessment centre tests, the assessors will evaluate your assessment results to match with their pre-set competency framework. You will get to know your results usually within a week and the job offer
The assessment centre is usually the last stage of the recruitment process of large global organisations which is both a challenge and a source of enthusiasm for candidates. They get to know and indulge in activities expected of the job role.
The individual assessment centre activities include in-basket exercises like in-tray, e-tray and written exercises. The tasks may range from sorting the email inbox to writing letters or reports. Depending on the employer, you may also be assessed using individual presentation exercises.
While most employers favour business casuals, it’s better to stick to the organisation’s employee dress code whether you are attending an in-person or an online assessment centre. It will showcase your professionalism and ability to adapt to company culture.
A copy of your CV, job application and a summary of your employer research will help you refresh your basics before you proceed with your assessment centre. Ensure to also bring along your list of questions to ask the employer.
Usually at every assessment centre, only 6 to 25 candidates get to this last stage of the recruitment process. They are then tested through multiple assessment centre exercises on the skills and competencies necessary for the job role.
Do you want to pass your assessment centre, first time? Sign up for tools offered by GF, the only aptitude practice test experts that provide tests to over 150 UK universities and their students, and also across Asia and continental Europe. Go to GF now and select from the range of products we offer at no risk. We offer a comprehensive premium package with a full set of assessment tools for job candidates (numerical, logical, verbal reasoning, situational judgement tests, assessment centre exercises, and more). Buy with peace of mind without commitment to a full 100% money-back guarantee if you do not pass your job tests.
Do you want to pass your assessment centre, first time? Sign up for tools offered by GF, the only aptitude practice test experts that provide tests to over 150 UK universities and their students, and also across Asia and continental Europe.
Go to GF now and select from the range of products we offer at no risk. We offer a comprehensive premium package with a full set of assessment tools for job candidates (numerical, logical, verbal reasoning, situational judgement tests, assessment centre exercises, and more).
Buy with peace of mind without commitment to a full 100% money-back guarantee if you do not pass your job tests.
Start Preparing Today