ASSESSMENT

CENTRES

F. A. QS.
FREQUENTLY
ASKED
QUESTIONS

What

is

an

Assessment

Centre?

The term assessment centre does not

refer to a location, but to a process
that is being increasingly used by
organisations to assess staff, either as
part of the recruitment process or for
internal development and promotion.

Who Uses the Assessment Centre?

Employers using assessment centres
include them as part of their graduate
recruitment programmes or when
selecting middle or senior managers.

What are the different types of

Assessment Centres?
The assessment centre process is
used for graduate recruitment,
management selection and staff
development.
In all of these cases the process
itself is very similar and a candidate
for any of these would prepare
themselves in more or less the
same way.

What is a Development Centre?

You will most likely take part in
a development centre as you
progress from front-line to
managerial roles, or from a
general role to a more technical
or strategic role, often as part of
an
organisations
graduate
management programme.

What format does an Assessment

Centre take?
Assessment centres are usually
used after the initial stages of the
selection process, because of the
large amount of time and expense
in conducting them, and they
usually follow the initial job
interview.
Other measurements such as
psychological tests may
complement the selection process.

How are Behaviours Measured?

As you can imagine, behaviours are
quite difficult things to specify and to
measure accurately.
The professionals who design
assessment centre exercises usually
try to overcome this problem by
subdividing behaviours into separate
factors that are more specific and
therefore easier to measure.

Do Knowledge, Skills , Attitudes

(KSA) have meaning outside of
the Assessment Centre?
KSAs are important only in as
much as they make it much
easier for you to think about how
the assessors are going to
measure appropriate behaviours
and to plan your responses
accordingly.

How do we demonstrate KSA's in an

Interview?
Some competencies cannot easily
be demonstrated in exercises and
the only opportunity to show that
you have them will be with
reference to your qualifications,
employment history or personal
achievements.
This is why almost all assessment
centres retain some sort of
interview.

Who Are the Assessors?

The assessors are usually the
people one level above the
position you have applied for.
They will be ambitious and
successful individuals within their
own
departments
and
organisations.
These people will have a very clear
idea of the qualities they expect to
see in an individual performing the
role you have applied for.

What are Assessment Centre

Exercises?
Over the many years that
assessment centres have been
used as part of the recruitment
process a core group of exercises
have become recognised as the
best ones to assess a candidates
competencies and behaviours.

What is an In-Tray Exercise?

The in-tray exercise forms the
back-bone of any assessment
centre and this is because of
the diversity of behaviours as
well as, Knowledge, Skills and
Attitudes (KSAs) that can be
tested as part of this exercise.

What is a Presentation
Exercise?
Giving a presentation offers
you a much better platform
than is normally available
when simply answering an
interviewer's questions.
You also have far more
control in this exercise than
in any of the others.

What are Group Exercises?

Group exercises are used to assess how
you interact with others and to gauge your
impact and influence when working in a
team. Typically, you will be given a
problem or scenario which requires a
collective decision to be taken.
This is usually presented in the form of a
brief, which also includes a strict time limit
when the result of the discussion will need
to be conveyed to the assessors.

What are Role Play Exercises?

This type of exercise also allows
the assessors to actually test how
you respond when put on the
spot or dealing with conflict.
The key purpose of the exercise
is
to
again
see
what
competencies you display and
how your behaviour matches
those of the required role.

What is a Media Interview Exercise?

This specialised exercise is unlikely
to be in the majority of assessment
centres, but if you are seeking a
senior management position or
directorship then you must
familiarise yourself with this
exercise.
You can view it as a unique roleplay exercise designed to assess
how well you perform with the
press.


What are Competency Based Interviews?
Some competencies cannot easily be
demonstrated in exercises and the only
opportunity to demonstrate them will be
with reference to your qualifications,
employment
history
or
personal
achievements.
The assessors are aware of this and almost
all assessment centres retain some sort of
interview
component,
usually
a
competency-based interview.

What are Social Event Exercises?

The social event provides an
opportunity for the assessors to see
how you act in an informal social
environment.
The assessors need to be confident
that you are going to be a good
ambassador for the organisation,
particularly if your role is likely to
involve socialising with clients or
people from other organisations.

THANK
YOU