The overall purpose of an assessment centre is to provide a company with a consistent and fair selection process. You will be asked to undertake a series of job-related exercises so that your skills and competencies can be assessed. Here are the most common exercises and our top tips for success. 

Presentations:

You will be given a topic or a choice of topics and asked to make a presentation of around ten minutes with five minutes at the end for questions. Assessors will be looking at your ability to organise and structure information, how you present your case and support it with facts and figures, your ability to think on your feet and, most importantly, the delivery of the presentation.
 
How to Succeed:

• Practice giving presentations beforehand and make sure you are familiar with PowerPoint
• Don’t try to cram in too much detail but ensure you include data and examples to illustrate the points you are making
• Give your presentation a good structure, a beginning, middle and end. If you’re asked to make a recommendation, start with that and then present your reasoning and analysis
• If there is a time limit, make sure your presentation doesn’t overrun
• How you come across is more important than what you say. Be conscious of your tone of voice and body language - hands, eyes, movement

 Group Exercise:

You could be working with others on a practical task or problem-solving activity, or involved in a debate or discussion. Sometimes each candidate is given a different briefing document or role to play and the group has to reach a conclusion despite conflicting views. Group exercises measure leadership, teamwork, negotiation and problem solving skills.
 
How to Succeed:

• Read any information as quickly as you can and try to absorb the essential points without getting bogged down in detail
• Before you speak, prepare an opening remark stating your position and after that make your contributions relevant, positive and well thought out
• Get involved with the group but avoid the temptation to dominate the discussion.  The quality rather than the quantity of what you say is important
• How you work together to solve the problem is usually more important than the solution. Make positive contributions and encourage others to contribute
• Keep an eye on the time, summarise progress and stay focused on the overall objective

 Psychometric Testing:

Most employers use online verbal and numerical tests. The questions are multiple choice and have definite right or wrong answers. These tests check your accuracy, reasoning and numeracy skills. Personality questionnaires look at how you react or behave in different situations and your preferences and attitudes. They help employers understand how you would fit into the company.

How to Succeed:

Personality Tests

• Answer personality questions honestly and don’t over-think the answers
• Don’t second guess what you think a company is looking for
• There are no right or wrong answers or real time limit

 Numeracy and Verbal Tests

• Practice, the more you do the better you will be. SHL have sample questions and tests http://www.shldirect.com/
• Brush up on percentage and ratio calculations
• Work quickly but don’t worry if you don’t answer all the questions. It’s more important to be accurate. It’s the number of correct answers that count

 In-Tray Exercises:

In-tray exercises are a test of your ability to deal with a real work scenario – requests, demands on your time, and information overload. The items usually found in an in-tray exercise include phone messages, memos, letters, documents, reports, e-mails and calendars. You will need to read through the information, put it in order of priority for action and then explain what type of action is required and how you will deal with each situation. You will be measured on your ability to process information quickly, analyse problems, make decisions, take action, manage your time and work accurately.

How to Succeed:

• Try to look through everything quickly and identify the most important. Think about which tasks are important and which are urgent, those you can delegate, delay or drop
• You can use the 80/20 rule. Use 80% of the time available to work on the most important items and then 20% on the less significant items
• Try to imagine that you’re at work doing the described duties. You would take note of dates on e-mails and letters and would negotiate for an extended deadline
• Don’t make assumptions. Assessors want to see how well you evaluate the information supplied and the decision you make based on the scenario
• There aren’t clear right or wrong answers but it’s important you can justify your decision

 Panel Interviews:

These interviews focus on different areas from the first interview. They are usually more technically focused and are carried out by senior managers including the person you’ll be working for directly. If the assessor has any doubts about you from the initial interview they will ask for more examples of when you’ve demonstrated these skills.
 
How to Succeed:

• Be aware of any current news stories about the company and the industry
• Read through your original application form to remind yourself what’s on there. Interviewers might ask you to clarify certain aspects of your life
• You can repeat the same examples you discussed at your first round interview. See it as an opportunity to fill in any further information you may have missed the first time
• Focus your attention on the interviewer asking the question and glance at the other panel members to include them
• Take a deep breath and consider your answer before you respond

 Role-Plays:

Most role play exercises will involve you interacting with another person or group of people to resolve a business-related issue or to convince a reluctant group of people to accept a new idea. Conflict resolution, problem solving, and interpersonal skills are at the top of the list of things that are usually measured. Decision making and leadership may also be assessed.
 
How to Succeed:

• Make sure you understand the brief you’ve been given and are clear about what you’re trying to achieve
• Remember the role player may have a different agenda and understanding of the situation
• You will be given one or more symptoms and need to address the underlying problem to then present a solution
• You may need to try a variety of approaches dependant on the audience
• Never make up your mind in advance what is going to happen

In general, you should do your best to relax as much as you can, while remembering that you may be under observation even in informal situations. Try to be yourself and show the employer you have confidence in yourself and in your ability to do the job.
 
My CV and Me have developed and run assessment centres for top employers and can help you with delivering presentations, coping with group exercises, in- tray exercises, role plays and panel interviews.