Job Interview Assessment Centres - Assessments For
Job Interviews - Job Interview Assessment Techniques

JOB INTERVIEW TESTS | What are Assessment Centres?

Assessment Centres involve structured selection tasks or activities for job candidates to attend. These are organised by employers or can be outsourced to specialised recruitment companies. Assessors aim to evaluates the strengths, weaknesses, skills and qualities of individual candidates.

JOB INTERVIEW TESTS | Importance Of Assessment Centres

Each assessment has specific criteria to be assessed. A number of diffierent activities aim to test the overall capabilities and suitability of candidates towards the role. It is hoped that an outstanding candidate will emerge, thereby making the process of recruitment less risky.

Remember assessment centres are not cheap and can be difficult to arrange. Should you be invited to attend, it means that the company is seriously interested in you as a viable candidate.

JOB INTERVIEW TESTS | During The Assessment Day

Make sure you fully participate in all the activities no matter what it is. Everyone has to do it!
Always maintain a professional approach & a positive attitude as everything will be noticed.
Try to be yourself, although be careful what you say & how you say it (you can talk yourself out of a job).

Job Interview Assessments: Job assessments and Job Tests are used to select the best candidates - Overview.

JOB INTERVIEW TESTS | Main Types Of Interview Assessment

JOB INTERVIEW TESTS | Report Writing Tests

Using information or a basic heading given to make recommendations in a brief report.

JOB INTERVIEW TESTS | Group Assessments | Group Tasks

Doing something with a common goal - i.e. taking decisions, strategy, presentation, etc.

JOB INTERVIEW TESTS | Role Playing | Group Discussions

Participating in a group discussion by performing the role of a particular person, etc.

JOB INTERVIEW TESTS | Job Interview Presentations

Structuring solutions / recommendations / demonstrating knowledge regarding a particular
brief, topic or business issue. See article: 10 Ways To Presentation Skills

JOB INTERVIEW TESTS | Job Psychometric Tests

Aptitude Tests and Personality Questionnaires (more information above).

JOB INTERVIEW TESTS | In-Tray Exercises

A test designed to assess abilities to prioritise tasks and manage a workload.

JOB INTERVIEWS: Group Assessments test important team working, communication and decision-making skills.

Interview Assessments: Succeeding in Group Exercises

Group exercises are an integral part of the job recruitment and selection process. These are often performed during interview assessment centres when a group of carefully selected candidates attend an event organised by employers or external recruitment consultants. A series of interviews, presentations, tests and exercises are usually performed in front of trained assessors, who in turn evaluate the performance of individual candidates against pre-defined criteria.

Expectations of Employers

Assessors and employers look for people who fit the job description in terms of business acumen, communication skills and problem solving abilities in group situations, combined with the ability to motivate and work with others. The ability to fit into the company culture is also an important aspect of hiring people. There are many variables to consider on the day so it can be difficult to prepare for group exercises unless candidates have been asked to do something specifically in advance.

The size of the group (works best with 5-6 people), the nature and scope of the exercise, what recruiters are looking for and other things like time limits will determine the configuration of the task. Diverse topics like town planning issues, business scenarios and who do you save first from disaster are all scenarios that have been used before.

Successful group exercises are founded on good levels of co-operative, clear communication, effective negotiation and an understanding of the task requirements (objectives). Candidates are encouraged to participate fully when achieving set tasks, so a confident, proactive and professional approach always helps convey a positive image. Groups exercises often fail because the group dynamic is wrong (does not work well together) or there is a lack of understanding (clarification) of task objectives.

Group Exercises - Defining Roles Within The Group

There are essential three or four main roles of contributors in group exercises, although a good group dynamic will ensure people take it in turn to show leadership, ideas, team playing or facilitating skills at some point.

Leadership: This is all about motivating, directing and managing team members to complete tasks and set objectives. Natural leaders usually come to the fore by getting the best out of team members and ensuring everyone contributes and works to common goals. It is inevitable some candidates will confuse leadership with control, by deciding on group strategy and completing a large proportion of tasks themselves, largely at the expense of the wider group.

Team Members: Team players are essential as they contribute to the successful completion of tasks. Everyone is a team player because they should share ideas, take on board individual tasks and occasionally take the lead when asked or needing to do so.

The Facilitator: Arguably the most important team member because they are responsible for keeping things on track by reviewing progress, monitoring time deadlines and ensuring everything is completed thoroughly.

Ideas Person: A good group will have ideas buzzing all around the place, so no one person should be responsible for coming up with ideas. This is a collective responsibility to get the best out of the team and solve the task in question.

Interview Group Exercises - Key Success Factors

Successful group exercises rely on candidates working closely together and making positive contributions. We have highlighted these under certain headings.

Ideas and Creativity: People like new and innovative ideas that work. A good idea successfully executed in a group context can work wonders. Shows important initiative too.

Team-playing: This is all about working closely with other team members by allowing others to contribute and participate fully when performing tasks.

Communication: It is important to make frequent and timely contributions to show confident communication, negotiation and problem-solving skills.

Task Completion: Remain focused and goal orientated by sticking to task objectives, reviewing (maintaining) progress and completing tasks in a logical (planned) progression.

Time and Resources: Awareness of deadlines and monitoring time required for task completion.

Decision-making: Group exercises often involve some kind of dilemma, very often forcing people to make a decision either way. Be prepared to compromise with others, negotiate an outcome or achieve a consensus with the wider group.

Task Outcome: Group exercises are often hypothetical, so no right or wrong answer is appropriate. It is more how the group reached a certain decision, skills utilised and personal qualities displayed by candidates.

Professional Traits: Assessors are looking for positive behaviours like being courteous and professional at all times, which can easily be translated into a work situation.

Interview Group Exercises - Negative Factors

A successful group exercise will often reveal a sense of co-operation and achievement when completing tasks. However, sometimes group exercises do not work very well because of certain inhibiting factors, including.

Dominant Leadership: A person making important group decision without gaining a consensus rather than allowing participation and the sharing of ideas.

Competition within the group: Sometimes people clash or become ultra competitive when they are thrown together in a group situation. This often causes a distraction.

Lack of professionalism: People lacking respect for others. Being respectful to others in the group is a must regardless of what happens.

Group conflict: In a competitive environment, discussions and disagreements happen and things can get overheated. A lack of self-control will not get people hired!

Poor team dynamics: People failing to work together effectively nor being able to talk freely without interruptions or be open to sharing ideas.

Failure to complete tasks: Success of the group exercise will be on how teams performed and completed tasks set according to certain deadlines and criteria.

Lack of co-operation: People within the group failing to negotiate or compromise.

Group Exercises: Performance Feedback and Review

Regardless of what happens in a group exercise, it may take a couple of group assessments to appreciate everything and build confidence. Chances are that you will never see the recruiters again (unless asked back for further consideration) so it is worthwhile just going for it and trying your best. Nonetheless, it is always important to learn from experiences, review performance and glean feedback if unsuccessful, as group tasks and team working play a vital role in creating successful businesses.