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Assessment
Centre
TestHQ
Assessment Centre
6
What is an Assessment Centre? 6
The First Users of the Assessment Centre 6
Who Uses the Assessment Centre 9
The Four Types of Assessment Centre 11
The Elite Graduate Assessment Centre 11
The Graduate Assessment Centre 14
The Management Assessment Centre 14
The Development Centre 15
What format will an Assessment Centre take? 18
Types of Exercises 19
Use of Psychometric Aptitude Tests 20
How are Exercises Conducted? 20
Competencies and Behaviours 22
Why do employers use Competencies? 23
Linking Competencies to Behaviours 24
How are Behaviours Measured? 42
Defining K.S.A.s 43
Do KSAs have meaning outside of the Assessment Centre? 47
Relating KSAs to Assessment Centre Exercises 48
Why Lack of Realism in Exercises Can be a Big Problem? 52
Relating KSAs to Interview Questions 53
The Assessors 58
Who are your Assessors? 58
Score Cards 60
Recording of Exercises 64
Preparing for an Assessment Centre 65
Long-Term Preparation 66
Short-Term Preparation 68
Preparing for a Development Centre 70
10 Steps for Your Preparation 72
How to attain the Role’s key Competencies 81
Administrative Role Documents 84
Administrative Role Question & Answers 89
Page
Assessment Centre
Management Role Documents 94

Management Role Questions & Answers 97
Strategic Role Documents 105
Strategic Role Questions & Answers 108
Comparing Role Competencies with Your Own 118
Marketing Manager Advert Details 119
Define Competencies of the required Role 121
Customer-Focused 127
Strategic Thinking 129
Leadership 133
Interpersonal Communications 136
How to Develop your Competencies 138
Competency Development Cycle 138
Resource Management Competency 141
Decision Making Competency 145
Mentoring & Coaching Competency 148
Summarising Your Preparation 151
Creating and Using Your Own Tools 152
Short-term Approach 154
Long-term Approach 155
Index Cards 158
Behaviour Index Cards—Short-term 158
Behaviour Index Cards—Long-term 163
Exercise Index Cards 167
Assessment Centre Exercises 172
In-Tray or In-Basket Exercise 177
Planning Behaviours 181
Prioritisation Behaviours 183
Decision Making Behaviours 186
Management Style Behaviours 187
Evaluation Behaviours 189
Analysis Behaviours 190
Speed and Accuracy Behaviours 191
Effective Use of Time Behaviours 192
The Justification or Discussion aspect of In-tray exercises 194
Hints and Tips 196
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Assessment Centre
Presentation Exercises 198

Format 199
The Six Point Plan 200
Identifying the Aim 201
Identifying the Key Points 202
Planning the Structure 202
Planning the Content 203
Preparing Visual Aids 205
Preparing for Questions 206
Six-Point Plan—Example 208
Presentations Summary 215
Group Exercises 218
Types of Scenario 220
Team Player Behaviour 222
Communications Behaviours 223
Goal Setting Behaviours 224
Organisational Skills 225
Analysis Behaviours 226
Negotiation Behaviours 228
Decision Making Behaviours 229
Group Exercise Tips 230
Role-Play Exercises 231
Effective Listening 238
Issues concerning Rod Walter in each of your communications 245
Potential Approach to Issue 249
Media Interview Exercise 251
Format 255
Example 257
Hints & Tips 261
Assessment Centre Interviews 262
Commitment 263
Compatibility 265
Competency-based Interviews 266
Preparation & Techniques for Competency-based Interviews 268
The Risks of Exaggerating Your Achievements 269

Assessment Centre
Panel Interviews 271

The STAR Method 272
Graduate Example 274
Work Experience Example 283
The Advantages of this Approach 293
Inappropriate Questions 294
Questions to Ask at the Interview 295
Portfolio 297
Aptitude and Ability Tests 301
Question Types and Scoring 303
Speed and Power Tests 304
Verbal Ability Tests 306
Spelling 306
Missing Word 308
Related Word 309
Synonym and Antonym 310
Word Pair 311
Comprehension 312
Verbal Reasoning 314
Summary—Verbal Ability 315
Numerical Ability Tests 316
Arithmetic 316
Number Sequences 317
Letters of the Alphabet as Numbers 319
Data Interpretation 320
Summary—Numerical Ability 322
Abstract Reasoning Tests 323
Shapes & Patterns 325
Flowcharts 327
Summary—Abstract Reasoning 328
Spatial Ability Tests 329
Shape Matching—Two Dimensional 329
Visual Comparison—Two Dimensional 331
Group Rotation—Two dimensional 332
Combining Two–Dimensional Shapes 333

Assessment Centre
Cube Views in 3-Dimensions 335

Cubes in 2 and 3 Dimensions 336
Other Solids in 2 and 3 Dimensions 338
Summary—Spatial Ability 339
Interpreting Aptitude & Ability Test Results 340
Criterion-Referenced Interpretation 340
Norm-Referenced Interpretation 341
The Third Way 342
Percentile Scores 343
Making Selection Decisions 344
Rank Ordering 345
Cut-off Score 345
Profiling 345
The Social Event 346
Approaching Other People 347
Moving On 347
Conversation Skills 348
Buffet Etiquette 350
Formal Dinner Etiquette 350
Summary 351
Appendix A—Reflective Learning Cycle 352
Appendix B—Competency Sheets 354

Assessment Centre
Introducing the Assessment

Centre
What is an Assessment Centre?

The term ‘Assessment Centre’ can be defined as:
‘A method for assessing aptitude and performance; applied to a group of
participants by trained assessors using various aptitude diagnostic processes
in order to obtain information about applicants’ abilities or development
potential.’
As you can see, this 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. The ‘Aptitude Diagnostic processes’ referred to in
this definition are the exercises and tests that you will undertake during your assessment
centre.
The assessment centre focuses on a set of varied exercises, which are designed to
simulate different aspects of the work environment. These exercises assess how closely
your behaviours, that are required for the role, match.
Your assessment centre will usually last from half-a-day to two full days depending on
the level of position you are applying for. It is most likely that it will be conducted at the
employer’s training facility or in facilities provided by the HR consultancy that have been
contracted to design and conduct the testing.
The First Users of the Assessment Centre

Understanding the history of how and why assessment centres were developed will
help you to appreciate what the original users were trying to achieve and how they have
increased in sophistication. This knowledge will help you to prepare yourself so that
you are able to best illustrate the required competencies as well as your knowledge,
skills and attitudes (K.S.A.’s) during the exercises, thus allowing you to maximise your
score.

Assessment Centre
Selecting people based on their ability to do the task required has long been established
in the selection of military and intelligence personnel. There are several examples of this
throughout history, but it was between the world wars that the German Army developed
the forerunner of the modern assessment process.
In the book Spies and Saboteurs, by Dr. W.J.Morgan (1955, London – Victor Gollancz
Ltd.), the author describes how a German psychologist, Dr. Simoneit observed officers
performing a variety of tasks and exercises.
The officers were rated on how well they performed and chosen for promotion
accordingly.
The successful officer needed to show the following qualities:
• Leadership,
• Adaptability to different situations,
• Ability to find a solution to a problem, and
• Ability to work as team member.
Dr. Simoneit’s work formed the foundation of what became known as an Assessment
in the German army. The virtues of this assessment system were recognised by the
British Government and a Selection Assessment Board was created using its own
testing methods.
American Intelligence also recognised the benefits of such selection methods and
added further psychological tests and more exercises to their assessment days.
Dr. WJ Morgan in his book clearly illustrates:
That it is how you performed your tasks, whether as an individual

or within a group, that matters not how quickly an exercise was done.
This was reflected in the scores of participants, those who scored highest had shown
the qualities, competencies and behaviours required for an ‘Intelligence’ role.

Assessment Centre
Although these original assessment days had a military bias and their specific exercises
are unlikely to be used in a commercial or public sector environment, it is still important to
be aware that each exercise has been designed to assess your behaviours in performing
a task. No matter how trivial or petty an exercise may appear to you remember that the
original psychologist designed it to assess how well you display the required behaviours
for the role.
The assessment centre method has evolved its own terminology. You should take the
time to familiarise yourself with it as this will make the process easier to understand and
therefore less intimidating. Definitions may vary but we have found the best ones to be
those used in the table below and those are the ones we use throughout this eBook.
Term Definition
Is a process employing multiple techniques and multiple assessors
Assessment
to produce judgements regarding the extent to which a participant
Centre
displays selected competencies.
Behaviour Everything you say or do that can be linked to a competency area.
Competency A group of behaviours that are specific, observable and verifiable,

(or Dimension) that can be readily and logically classified together and that are
related to job success.
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Attitudes that are required for
K.S.A.
competency.
Exercise A simulation or technique designed to elicit behaviours related to
performance requirements of the job.
Assessor An individual trained to observe, record, classify and make reliable
judgement about the behaviours of those being assessed.
(Usually at least one level above the level applied for.)
Job Analysis This determines the competencies, attributes and other
requirements for job success in the position being evaluated.
A fictional situation in which the candidate is expected to respond
from the perspective of someone in the level being sought.
Simulations
(E.g. group exercise, in-tray, role-play, presentation or fact-finding
task.)
Source: Lewis Rowe, Tina; A Preparation Guide for the Assessment centre Method; (2006)
Charles C. Thomas Publishers Ltd, Illinois, USA.

Assessment Centre
The definitions are those of Tina Lewis Rowe a well-known authority on the assessment
centre method and are taken from her book: A Preparation Guide for the Assessment
Centre Method. For reasons of clarity and simplicity the definition of KSA’s used in this
eBook has been slightly modified from that used by Tina Lewis Rowe and is explored
further in this eBook.
This definition uses more straightforward language and makes it easier to see what you
are required to do. It refers to displaying ‘selected competencies’ and the definition of
‘competency’ is ‘a group of behaviours related to job success’. This is the essence of
the Assessment centre process.
Who Uses the Assessment Centre

In a recent survey by Employment Review magazine more than nine out of ten
employers using assessment centres believe they are a ‘very effective’ or ‘fairly
effective’ means of selecting staff.
The survey, which used a sample of HR practitioners in over 90 organisations, found that
more than half believe the often-considerable costs of assessment centres are justified.
As human resources are frequently one of the highest overheads of an organisation and
the training of their personnel is a significant expense modern employers want to ensure
they get the ‘best fit’ employee for their considerable investment.
Private sector service companies and public sector organisations in the survey were the
most enthusiastic about assessment centres, with almost 60 percent believing them
to be very effective. This was in contrast to manufacturing companies where only 29
percent thought that assessment centres were effective and valuable for money.
Two-thirds of employers using assessment centres include them as part of their graduate
recruitment programmes or when selecting middle or senior managers. You are most
likely to face an assessment centre at the critical points of your career, for example:
• As a graduate applying for your first ‘real’ job.

• When moving from a supervisory role to a management role.
• When seeking a position on the board.

Assessment Centre
It is important to realise that your ability to truly influence your score and stand out
from the other candidates increases as your career develops. As a graduate your most
influential factor to success will be your preparation for the assessment centre and
ensure that your behaviour and language matches that of the organisations.
As your career develops you will acquire competencies that you did not possess as a
graduate so you will be able to differentiate yourself from the other candidates because
of these experiences. As part of your preparation you will be able to bring out how
these additional competencies increase your compatibility with those of the role and
organisation.
The expense of conducting an assessment centre is usually somewhere between

$300 and $5,000 per candidate. This tends to restrict their use to situations where the
costs can be justified in terms of preventing high expenses associated with unsuitable
personnel. Assessment centres are seen as one of the most effective ways of identifying
top candidates who’ll get on well with others and fit in with the organisation’s culture.
The assessment centre method is utilized in a variety of settings including industry

and business, government, armed forces, educational institutions, and safety forces
to select individuals for supervisory, technical, sales, or management positions. You
can also expect to face an assessment centre if you apply to work for one of the major
financial institutions or management consultancies.
According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s survey on

‘Recruitment, Retention and Turnover’, 34 per cent of employers now use assessment
centres when recruiting managers, professionals, and graduates. This figure will
inevitably grow as organisations seek to make more accurate selection and promotion
decisions to secure the considerable investment they make in their personnel.
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Assessment Centre
The Four Types of Assessment Centre
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,
which is described in detail in this eBook.
Having said that, there are really four types of assessment centre and whilst they share
many characteristics, there are some distinct differences.
It is worth looking at these, in detail, here in the introduction to this eBook because
these differences will adjust your mindset depending on which type you are attending.
The four types are:
1. The Elite Graduate Assessment Centre

2. The Graduate Assessment Centre
3. The Management Assessment Centre
4. The Development Centre
The Elite Graduate Assessment Centre

This type of assessment centre is used exclusively by topflight management
consultancies, Fortune 100 companies and the most prestigious Government agencies.
The one thing that these organisations have in common is that being accepted onto
their graduate/management fast track programme will change your life dramatically.
Starting salaries are very attractive and the training programmes and work opportunities
offered are invariably world-class. In short, once you have been accepted onto their
graduate scheme, money and career worries will become a thing of the past provided
that you can keep pace with what is demanded from you.
There is no universally-accepted agreement of who these elite organisations are, but

they have several things in common which mark them out. Their own marketing will
focus on how their people are the best and they will make a virtue out of how difficult it
is to get onto their graduate scheme. In addition:

Assessment Centre
• They recruit exclusively from top universities*

• They specify very high academic achievements as a minimum requirement
• They make no secret of the high-level of remuneration
• They expect total commitment from successful candidates
* The current fashion for ‘embracing diversity’ means that these organisations may
now cast the net slightly wider and allow the occasional candidate from a second-tier
university. This may be because they genuinely believe that diversity is a good thing or
it may be because they feel that they need to be seen to be doing something to attract
a more diverse range of candidates.
Not surprisingly, the competition for these graduate placements is intense. There are
typically several dozen applicants for each place on offer. This is true even when the
world economy is booming and these organisations are recruiting at their maximum
level. During hard times, these elite organisations tend to cut-back dramatically on their
recruitment as most of them are heavily reliant on other organisations being economically
successful enough to fund expansion, mergers, acquisitions, etc.
The one thing that epitomizes the Elite Graduate assessment centre is the fact that
there are a large number of very similar candidates for each available place on the
programme. This bears repeating because it is the one factor, which really sets these
assessment centres apart from the other three types.
By the time a list of very similar candidates has been through the initial selection
process involving CVs and interviews and has been shortlisted for the assessment
centre, they are as homogenous a group of people as you could expect to find
anywhere.
• They are all aged between 21-25 (most will be 21-22)

• They all have similar degrees and educational achievements
• They have all attended one of a handful of universities
• They all have a list of similarly impressive ‘personal achievements’*
* In the absence of any full-time work experience the selectors will have been looking at
part time work experience, sporting accomplishments, charity work, etc which together
make up the list of ‘personal achievements’. These are important because the selectors
don’t have any other way of establishing which soft-skills the candidates have, and the
best that they can do is to infer these from this list.

Assessment Centre
So What?
The unexpected (by the candidates anyway) effect of this is that the selection process
at these elite assessment centres is very subjective. Of course, the candidates are
put through rigorously designed exercises and competency interviews, the assessors
spend a lot of time trying to be as fair as possible and award marks according to the
criteria that have specified and everyone involved in the selection does their utmost to
make the whole thing as objective as possible.
But, the fact is that most of the candidates can exhibit all of the competencies required.
One or two might blow it by having a bad day but as for the others, there just won’t be
enough difference between them for the assessors to make a truly objective decision.
Nonetheless, a decision will be made and some candidates will be accepted and some
rejected. Many of the candidates that are rejected really can’t see why it happened
that way and they will begin to look for the shortcomings in their own performance that
caused them to fail. If they ask for and are given feedback about their performance,
then they must bear in mind that the reasons given for their failure may be spurious.
The assessors don’t give spurious feedback on purpose but they do have to give some
reasons, and in the absence of anything concrete they are in a position where they feel
that that must give objective reasons even where none exist.
Some rejected candidates lose faith in the assessment centre process and give up on
applying for jobs where an assessment centre is required. Others try to modify their
behaviour to make up for what they erroneously see as their own shortcomings.
Both of these are negative outcomes for the candidate. The fact is that they are victims
of the ruthless arithmetic of the elite assessment centre; too many identically qualified
people chasing too few places. If you are trying to secure a place on an elite graduate/
management programme, then you must take account of this fact. You will need to
prepare as well as you possibly can and perform at your best during the exercises, but
this may still not be enough to win a place. If this happens, then don’t lose faith in the
assessment centre process and don’t become too self-critical as both of these can
adversely affect your chances of future success.

Assessment Centre
The Graduate Assessment Centre

The graduate assessment centre is used by many organisations to recruit their annual
intake for their graduate/management programme. Most of these organisations will
be household names, but they won’t have the ‘wow’ factor of the elite organisations
either in terms of the initial remuneration or future prospects. These organisations are
typified by high street banks, public utilities and the less prestigious government
departments.
Many of these organisations mimic the marketing messages of the elite

organisations, but common sense and experience should tell you that a public
utility or insurance company cannot possibly offer the same prospects as an
international management consultancy or an investment bank.
Competition is not as fierce as for the elite programmes and the bar is set lower in
terms of academic achievement. These organisations typically cast their net much
wider and arguably they take the issue of diversity more seriously.
The practical effect of this is that the assessment centre process tends to be
more objective that at the elite organisations. To be sure, the candidates are
usually from broadly similar backgrounds but there will often be significant
differences in their levels of ‘personal achievements’ and consequently in the
competencies they are able to demonstrate.
Candidates who are rejected from these assessment centres have much more to gain
from analysing any feedback they are given as it is far more likely to be truly objective.
The Management Assessment Centre

Management assessment centre candidates tend to be far more diverse that
those attending a graduate assessment centre in terms of age, educational
achievements, personal achievements, and work experience.
The management assessment centre differs from the graduate assessment

centre in that all of the candidates will have significant full-time work experience.
Some may be graduates, some may not, but all of them will be looking to take a
step up in their level of responsibility. This could be a promotion from a
supervisory role to a management role or it could be a promotion from a
management role to a senior management role.
Assessment Centre
This means that even though the candidates all have significant experience of full-time
work and have a track record in their jobs so far, they are all seeking promotion to roles
where not only will their responsibilities be greater than they have been, but the nature
of those responsibilities will be different.
For example, many candidates who have been in supervisory roles will have spent most
of their working day actually producing deliverables as well as a portion of their day in
supervisory activities. For most, the promotion to management means that the nature
of their work will change so that they spend all of their time managing the activities of
others rather than producing things themselves.
Similarly, candidates who are moving from a management role to a senior management
role will need to begin thinking far more strategically and be prepared to delegate the
‘tactical’ decision making that they have grown used to making themselves.
In both cases, the assessment centre process is trying to determine whether candidates
can demonstrate competencies at the next level up from the one they are used to. This
is described in detail in Competencies and Behaviours later in this eBook.
Management assessment centre candidates have much to gain from analysing

any feedback they are given and from spending time themselves analysing their
own performance and comparing it to that of the other candidates. The concept of
demonstrating the behaviours that are expected in the new role as opposed to
demonstrating behaviours that have been successful in the current role, is one that
many candidates find difficult to grasp.
The Development Centre

The difference between a development centre and an assessment centre is that
candidates are not in a pass or fail situation.
This is reflected in the definition of a Development Centre:
‘A Development Centre is a day or number of days where the participants

are actively involved in the assessment of their own and others behaviours
as part of their professional development.’

Assessment 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 organisation’s graduate management programme. As a participant of
a development centre your preparation will follow the same approach as that for an
assessment centre and specific preparation relevant to any internal promotional activity
is discussed in greater detail in later chapters.
The fundamental differences for the participants are:
• They will actively be involved in assessing themselves.

• They will be required to assess and give feedback on the competencies of
other participants.
• They are given detailed feedback on their results and what they mean for their
future development.
• They will be expected to ‘own’ the development requirements as part of their
Continuous Professional Development (CPD).
The role of the assessors is focused more on facilitation and identification of the
competencies that participants need to acquire or develop. The way in which the
assessors score an individual during an exercise will emphasize their developmental
needs rather than their competency to perform a specific role. This may alter the nature
of the exercises so that the developmental aspects are emphasised.
The results of these tests will then be discussed and decisions made as to where the
main focus of personal development should be. For example,
• Management,
• Research, or
• Technical.
If you take part in a development centre, you can expect there to be more emphasis on
your abilities to explore or brainstorm an issue or the potential of a situation; rather than
simply to display particular competencies. It is important to focus on why you are taking
part in such a centre and you may wish to assess your own level of competencies before
your development centre. You can do this by printing off the individual competency
sheets as you need in Appendix B.

Assessment Centre
Many centres also use a technique called ‘Domain Mapping’. This is where you identify
where you want to be in a particular skill or level of knowledge, e.g. become a Senior
Consultant. You then work out a staged plan of personal and professional development
of how to get there through discussion with your assessor or your peer group.
Throughout the development centre you will have ‘Evaluation Sessions’ where you
will be given feedback on how you performed compared to the competencies of your
potential future role.
Many internal candidates perform below par because they neglect to familiarise
themselves with the latest internal policies, procedures and interpretation of the
organisation’s mission statement. They also forget to review their personnel file, which
will provide important clues as to how their strengths and weaknesses are perceived
by others.
If you want to manage your career within an organisation, then you must prepare for
all internal assessment as diligently as you would for any external opportunity. Many
people forget the importance of their preparation when attending internal assessments
as they feel there will be no surprises during the process. Experience often shows that
these interview are equally tough and in some ways more challenging than external
ones.
Organisations are obliged to ensure that all recruitment is operated fairly and frequently
incorporate ‘Assessment Day(s)’ as part of their internal promotional. All of the
preparation described in the following chapters is relevant to your internal promotion
and you should prepare in the same systematic way.

Assessment Centre
What format will an Assessment Centre take?

It is not unusual for you to be interviewed either face-to-face or over the phone at the
outset of your application. From these interviews the human resources personnel will
select a group of six to twelve candidates to invite to the assessment centre where they
will take part in a variety of exercises, which are being monitored and assessed by the
assessors.
One recent trend is in the development of mass testing. This is done by videotaping
candidates as they perform various exercises and by using objectively scored exercises.
This permits the assessment of a much larger number of candidates per day as the
scoring is done later and requires far less observation and administration.
Initial Assessment Selection

Interview Center Exercises Decision
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.
They are commonly held either on employers’ premises or in a hotel and are considered
by many organisations to be the fairest and most accurate method of selecting staff.
This is because a number of different selectors or assessors get to see you over a
longer period of time. They have the chance to see…
• What you can do?

• How you react to situations.
• How you relate to others.
…rather than what you say you can do, in a variety of situations which emulate your
future role.
At the end of the assessment centre the assessors will select one or two candidates
who will be invited for a final interview based on their scores.

Assessment Centre
Types of Exercises
There are certain assessment centre exercises that have been designed to make the
assessment of certain behaviours and competencies much easier and the diagram
below shows the most common types of exercises.
With each exercise you will be given a brief from which to work and given a desired
outcome. Each exercise has a specific time limit and you must work within the
parameters assigned otherwise you will lose marks. It is essential that you remember
they are assessing your competencies within the specified situation.
In-Tray Exercise
Giving Presentation
Assessment
Group Discussion
Center Exercises
Panel Interview
Role Play Exercise
An in-tray or in-basket exercise asks to assume a particular role as an employee of a

fictitious company and work through the correspondence in your in-tray. This exercise
is designed to measure your ability to organize and prioritize work.
In a presentation exercise, you will be given a topic or possibly a choice of topics and
asked to make a presentation of around ten minutes, with five minutes at the end for
questions. This is designed to measure your presentation skills including your ability
to organise and structure the information and to communicate your points clearly and
concisely.
Group discussion exercises involve you working with other candidates as part of a team
to resolve a presented issue or deal with a critical incident. These exercises are designed
to measure interpersonal skills such as group leadership, teamwork, negotiation, and
group problem solving skills.
Panel interviews are regarded as a more objective means of assessing your suitability
as you will be interviewed by three to five people and therefore the decision is not reliant
on just one person’s opinion. In addition, they are usually more structured than a one-
to-one interview as the panel need to assess all of the candidates against the same

Assessment Centre
criteria.
Use of Psychometric Aptitude Tests

Many Organisations also include psychometric tests within their assessment centres
and these will be marked in the usual way and not by the assessors as they do not
reflect your competencies. These tests typically include:
• Verbal reasoning,
• Numerical reasoning, and
• Abstract reasoning questions.
Preparing for these types of test is best done by practicing the types of questions
that you will be asked on the day. This aspect of assessment centres is not dealt with in
detail in this eBook and you should refer to the ‘Graduate Level Aptitude
Tests’&‘Management Level Aptitude Tests’ eBooks available from
www.testhq.com.
How are Exercises Conducted?

Assessment centres may be conducted by HR personnel within the employer
company or by outside consultants. They are highly structured in their design,
application, and assessment procedure and are specifically adapted to assess your
competencies for a role in such factors as your level of skills, aptitude and
compatibility with the role and the organization’s culture. Each exercise is designed
to measure a range of indicators defined by the assessors as essential for the role
within these competencies.
During each exercise, a group of observers will rate you on a range of

competency indicators, using a prescribed performance scale. Results are then
cross-compared against the same indicators, which are measured in the other
exercises. Following the completion of all the exercises, observers or assessors meet
to discuss each exercise result and reach a group consensus about your final score.
At the beginning of the assessment, you should receive an initial briefing about
the timetable of exercises, location of rooms etc. Prior to each exercise, you will be
given instructions describing the exercise, your role, timeframe’s, equipment etc. You
will not be told in detail about the individual indicators that will be measured.
Assessment Centre
In addition, you are unlikely to receive feedback on your results, unless you have been
successfully selected for a final interview. This does not prevent you from calling the
assessment centre afterwards for some personal feedback on your performance.
The length of the assessment centre varies according to the level and complexity of the
role. For more administrative and supervisory roles it usually lasts either half-a-day or a
full day. As the roles become more complex (i.e. management or strategic in nature) and
the necessary requirements more detailed, a greater number of exercises are required
to ensure the best candidate is selected, so the assessment centre can be up to two
full days.
During the exercises, a small team of assessors will observe and award you marks for
your performance. The candidate with the highest marks will be offered the position
or asked back for a final interview. Due to increasing costs many assessment centre’s
now video certain exercises so that the recordings can be reviewed and marked more
efficiently so it is essential that you perform the exercise as realistically as possible.

Assessment Centre
Competencies and Behaviours

Assessment centres are very specific in their objectives and are used to ensure that the
organisation takes on the best person for them. The way in which you as the candidate
will be assessed is by your competencies. So in order for you to succeed you must
have a clear understanding of what a competency is and how best to portray that you
possess it.
By you taking part in specific exercises the assessors are able to rate your competencies
for a role in such factors as: your level of skills, aptitude and compatibility with the role
and the organisation’s culture. Each exercise is deliberately constructed in such a way
that the assessors are able to measure a range of indicators essential for the role within
these competencies.
Competencies are general descriptions of the behaviour and underlying characteristics

needed to successfully perform a particular role at the required level. They are concerned
with how an individual carries out a particular element of their role rather than merely
what they do.
For example:
Customer Focused = “how” an individual meets

the needs of the customer.
An individual may fulfil their role by answering ten telephone calls in one hour (the “what”)
but may not make any attempt to resolve the customer’s problem (the “how”).

Assessment Centre
Why do employers use Competencies?

Competencies provide an employer with the following:
• A consistent measure of performance, making it easier to be objective when

assessing and monitoring performance.
• A structured way of describing behaviour—a common language for the
organisation.
• An effective tool to help managers give constructive feedback. Competencies
provide examples of required level of behaviour.
• A self-assessment tool to help individuals identify development needs.
• A mechanism to support the growth of a development plan for an individual’s
current role and future potential.
It is through the use of competencies that organisations can ensure their employees are
productive, effective, and develop to their full potential.
The following list shows the type of management competencies that could apply to
a job description for a modern management role. This is just an example, not all jobs
require these competencies, but the list is fairly typical.
It is also important to view this alphabetical list in the context of the organisation’s culture
as this will provide you with indications of which are more important than others.
• Change Agent
• Continual Improvement
• Customer Focused
• Decision Making
• Interpersonal Communications
• Leadership
• Mentoring & Coaching
• Planning & Organising
• Professional Development
• Resource Management
• Stakeholder Management
• Strategic Thinking

Assessment Centre
As you know, the assessment centre process is designed to make judgements about
you based on what you can actually do as opposed to what you say you can do. This is
the important difference between an assessment centre and a traditional interview.
For example, if the role requires the competency ‘Planning & Organising’ then you should
expect one or more of the assessment centre exercises to measure this competency.
How is this done? This is done by linking certain behaviours to each competency.
Linking Competencies to Behaviours

Each competency will have a series of behaviours associated with it. These behaviours
are what the assessors are looking for and if you demonstrate them during the exercise
then you will be awarded marks that count towards your score for that particular
competency.
One or more of the assessment centre exercises would be designed to allow you
to demonstrate the behaviour associated with those particular competencies. By
understanding how you need to behave, you will be able to show the assessors that
you have the appropriate level of competency for the required role.
By improving your ability to portray these behaviours you will increase your score for
each exercise and overall. So it is vital that you identify the key competencies for your
future role.
You will be taken through twelve competencies along with the associated behaviours
that would be expected at different levels within an organisation. These examples of
competencies are designed to show you:
• What types of things are regarded as competencies?

• How they are defined?
• What types of behaviours are associated with them?
As you read through the competencies, try to imagine which ones will be applicable to
the job you are applying for, which of the associated behaviours you would be expected
to display and how you could do this in both the exercises and the interview.

Assessment Centre
Each table has its competency listed in the top left corner with its opposite definition.
The three rows below list the behaviours associated with that competency for each of
the three levels:
• Strategic
• Management
• Supervisory
It is important to realise that different organisations have their own definitions and
that the behaviours associated with each will be specific to the organisation and to the
role within it.

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The work environment should be stimulating and enable people to

CHANGE be creative so that new ideas can be generated adding value to the
AGENT organisation.
Their flexibility welcomes change and assists in its implementation.
1. Questions traditional ways of doing things to see if change can improve it.
2. Creates an environment that encourages innovation and experimentation.
3. Leads by example embracing change with energy and conviction.
4. Recognises and anticipate how market forces (regulations, legislation,
technology, competition etc) can initiate change.
5. Plans and prepares for potential and real changes within the organisation.
Strategic
6. Provides formal and informal methods of communicating such changes
at all levels of the organisation.
7. Generates new opportunities by bringing together people with different
backgrounds and viewpoints.
8. Identifies and implements new business processes and structures into
the organisation.
1. Provides a positive and enthusiastic attitude to team in all
communications connected with change.
2. Through their own acceptance and support of change provide well- reasoned
statement to gain team’s acceptance and deal with any concerns.
3. Seeks new opportunities by bringing together people with different
backgrounds and viewpoints.
4. Provides encouragement for team to suggest new approaches and
Management implements those that offer a benefit to the organisation.
5. Adds value to the organisation by researching and introducing new ideas
and practices.
6. Investigates the practical implications of integrating new practices into
the existing structure.
7. Reviews traditional practices and recommends changes to bring
improvement.
8. Offers support during the implementation of new opportunities.
1. Has a clear understanding of changing policies and procedures.
2. Encourages discussion and new ideas amongst team members on
current processes and procedures.
3. Welcomes change within the organisation.
4. Contributes and supports an organisational initiative.
5. Adopts the use of successful processes and procedures from elsewhere
Supervisory in the organisation to improve performance.
6. Presents initiatives, which offer improvements or put forward prospective
changes.
7. Assists with and supports the implementation of new initiatives that add
value to the organisation.
8. Encourages team to have a flexible approach to change.
9. Actively prepares and supports those effected by any aspect of the change.

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CONTINUAL Showing commitment to the maintaining of high standards.

IMPROVEMENT Always seeking ways to improve the service offering.
1. Leads by example ensuring their own work is of the highest standards.

2. Oversees that standards throughout all parts of the organisation are
maintained and developed.
Strategic
3. The focused on quality is not at the expense of completing a task on time.
4. Oversees that any errors are rectified efficiently and speedily.
5. Strives for improved efficiency and continual improvement.
1. You are the role model within your department /division for maintaining
high standards.
2. Ensure your own work shows your attention to detail and promote this
within the organisation.
3. Use regular monitoring and reviews to encourage and support individual
adherence to organisational standards.
4. Ensure that processes set in place to monitor service delivery meet
organisational standards.
Management
5. Undertake regular audits of these processes and maintain this
information.
6. Responsible for monitoring errors, finding their causes, and setting
procedures to address poor quality.
7. Recognises success and acknowledges achievements as part of
continual improvement in standards.
8. Adopts a proactive approach to the promotion and support of continual
improvement.
1. Ensure that external bodies minimum standards (including legislation) are
achieved.
2. Appreciate why accuracy and attention to detail help to maintain high
standards.
Supervisory 3. Appreciate the need for continual improvement in services.
4. Procedures to monitor and assess quality of service and work are
maintained.
5. Double checks work to avoid unnecessary and minimise errors.
6. Aim to achieve all your departments Service Level Agreements (SLA’s).

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Understanding and identifying the needs of existing and potential

CUSTOMER
customers.
FOCUSED Ensure that the main focus and priority is on meeting customer needs.
1. Owns the identification and development of strategies, so that the

organisation meets customer needs.
2. Bases decisions on a long-term view of customer satisfaction rather than
‘quick fixes’.
3. Creates an in-depth understanding of customer needs, so that the
Strategic
customer receives what they ‘need’ rather than what ‘best suits’ the
organisation.
4. Educates others to think and feel as if they were the customer.
5. Searches for opportunities, within operational constraints, to add value for
the customer.
1. Proactive in seeking feedback from customers, which is then actively
used in decisions in all aspects of customer service.
2. Strives to gain an in-depth understanding of customer needs so that
future recommendations can be made.
3. Where customers have concerns or specific needs agree a timescale in
which they will be dealt with effectively.
Management
4. Have a clear understanding of customer expectations and aim to add
value without causing cost implications to the organisation.
5. Deal with customer complaints effectively, understand why they
happened and develop procedures to prevent it happening again.
6. Seeks to develop knowledge of marketplace so services can be
improved.
1. Manages the implementation of customer feedback strategies.
2. Responsible for keeping the customer informed and up-to-date on the
service.
3. Strives to understand the real needs of the customer.
4. Helps to clarify and balance customer requirements with their
Supervisory expectations.
5. Responds to both internal and external customers within agreed
timescales.
6. Provides input into developing customer service strategies.
7. Monitor service to ensure customer needs are being met and takes
appropriate measures if necessary.

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The ability to identify and respond creatively to actual and potential

DECISION problems and opportunities.
MAKING Decisions made from a structured analytical approach to the collection
and examination of data based on organisational needs.
1. Identifies and presents coherent arguments for the root cause of issues
or problems.
2. Decisions are made based on well reasoned judgements and within
required timescales.
3. Presents well reasoned background to decisions with conviction.
Strategic 4. Is proactive in communicating potential issues and opportunities.
5. Seeks out information from the most respected and appropriate sources.
6. Takes a direct, but appropriate, approach when making or faced with
awkward decisions.
7. Shows a willingness to alter a decision, if in the light of fresh information
this is appropriate.
1. Approaches problem resolution by dividing it into its component parts and
basing a resolution appropriately.
2. Researches several potential resolutions to problems before making a
firm decision.
3. Through constant monitoring is able to identify issues and opportunities
as their outset.
Management
4. Aims to identify what the roots cause of any problem is.
5. Bases decisions by considering all stakeholders interests appropriately
for the organisation.
6. Decisions are made after acquiring adequate information from a variety
of reliable sources and in a timely fashion.
7. Endeavours to resolve long standing issues.
1. Researches and records data relevant to the problem.
2. Seeks to identify the main issue and potential resolutions.
3. When an issue is highlighted uses a variety of techniques to make a
decision based on the information gathered.
4. Seeks out other people or resources that can help resolve a problem as
appropriate.
Supervisory 5. When a solution has been identified discusses this thoroughly before
making a final decision.
6. Provides clear guidelines as to the limits of team members’ authority or
responsibility when making decisions.
7. Takes a proactive role in anticipating potential issues.
8. If a senior person is unavailable then they make decisions taking into
account future organisational plans appropriately.

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Builds and maintains good working relationships throughout the

INTERPERSONAL Organisation and externally.
COMMUNICATIONS Develops a sound understanding of others and their needs to
ensure a good working relationship.
1. Respects and acknowledges other peoples and organisations

values and ethos.
2. Gains the respect and attention of others (internal & external)
whom they deal with.
3. Is always approachable and acts in an honest manner and with
integrity.
4. Shows empathy towards others so that a free exchange of ideas
and views takes place.
Strategic
5. By actively listening to the views and opinions expressed by
others can make a full appraisal of any situation.
6. Their behaviour and communications reflect their understanding
of and respect for others needs and objectives.
7. Is assertive but constructive in their dealings with people.
8. Accepts that they are responsible for their own decisions.
9. Welcomes others feedback on issues and their own performance
in a constructive way.
1. Respects and acknowledges other peoples and organisations
values and ethos.
2. Puts forward recommendations and makes decisions based on
agreement and commitment from the other parties.
3. Is a careful listener to others standpoints and concerns and on
understanding this communication will respond accordingly.
4. Is a persuasive and clear communicator.
5. Has an understanding of the reasoning of other peoples actions
and decisions
Management
6. Welcomes others feedback on issues and their own performance
in a constructive way.
7. Treats all those in the Organisation with respect and
acknowledges all their contributions.
8. Encourages free expression of ideas, feelings and opinions.
9. Welcomes with enthusiasm the challenge of overcoming
obstacles.
10. Continually encourages self and others to over achieve and
exceed targets.

Assessment Centre

INTERPERSONAL Organisation and externally.
ensure a good working relationship.
1. Respects and acknowledges other people’s and organisations

values and ethos.
2. Has an appreciation and understanding of others views.
3. Demonstrates their empathy with customers and others internal
to the organisation.
4. Through the use of effective questioning gains an understanding
and checks this is correct.
5. Expresses and communicates ideas well.
6. Displays and instils enthusiasm at all times.
Supervisory 7. Acknowledge when they or their team have made an error and
learns from this in a positive manner.
8. Is able to keep calm and present a reasoned argument to those in
authority in demanding situations.
9. Recognises, acknowledges and responds to other’s needs thus
gaining their support.
10. Is aware of their own communication style (including body
language) and how this can impact the clarity of the message.
11. Has the ability to interpret and communicate other’s concerns or
views up the organisational structure appropriately.

Assessment Centre
Uses a variety of strategies to persuade and convince others to accept

and commit to their proposals.
LEADERSHIP Taking ownership of decisions and their impact on the Organisation.
Provide direction to and motivate others ensuring an effective and
productive team.
1. Has developed effective and suitable strategies for acknowledging the
diverse interests of others.
2. Communicates clearly and precisely the organisation’s goals and
divisional responsibilities.
3. Through their energy and commitment implements organisational
strategies and decisions.
4. Has the ability to persuade others by reasoned argument and influencing
strategies to achieve a positive outcome.
5. Effective use of third party experts to support their own arguments.
6. Continuously builds and uses networks as a means to influence others.
Strategic
7. Convinces others of the value of plans and actions and drives it forward.
8. Adapts style of leaderships to suit different people and situations.
9. Selects and prepares individuals required for a project or to resolve an
issue to gain their commitment.
10. Is an effective and persuasive communicator.
11. Takes measured risks when making difficult decisions and ensures tasks
are completed whatever difficulties may have to be overcome.
12. Provides direction to all reportees (both direct and indirect).
13. Is recognised for exceeding expectations and taking on challenges.
14. Is respected and recognised for their knowledge and expertise.
1. Ensures their team has a clear picture of the organisation’s goals and
how their objectives fit into these goals.
2. Accepts responsibility for achieving your organisation’s goals and
portrays personal commitment for them.
3. Through careful and detailed questioning gains an understanding of
other’s viewpoints.
4. Is concise, assertive and persuasive in all communications and gaining
other’s support.
5. Prepares responses to likely risks and objections.
Management
6. When faced with disagreement is constructive in trying to achieve a
consensus.
7. When recommending an action or informing others of a decision they use
a well-balanced and soundly reasoned argument.
8. Strives to achieve tough targets and goals.
9. Works to meet customer commitments despite obstacles that may occur
in the process.
10. Ensures that organisational needs are met in all that they do.
11. Stands by their own decisions.

Assessment Centre
Uses a variety of strategies to persuade and convince others to accept

and commit to their proposals.
LEADERSHIP Taking ownership of decisions and their impact on the Organisation.
productive team.
1. Outlines how departmental objectives fit into the organisational goals and
explains how individuals in their team contribute.
2. Listens intently to others opinions and views and where appropriate
offers alternatives
3. Is aware of the importance of creating empathetic relationships.
4. Is able to negotiate constructively gaining other’s support through advice
and persuasion.
5. Uses the art of questioning to gain a full appreciation of other’s views.
6. Gains the support of others through the use of well-presented
information.
Supervisory 7. Gains agreement from their team and provides limits of responsibility for
each individual.
8. Allocates workloads appropriately amongst team and other team
members involved in task or project.
9. Delivers results through additional effort and commitment both for self
and team.
10. Seeks ways to improve their own performance and capabilities.
11. Ensures that each team member has the appropriate resources and
support to achieve tasks within the required timescale.
12. Acts as a representative of the team / department / division to senior
management.

Assessment Centre
Manage all your resources, including personnel so that all tasks

assigned to you are delivered on time and to the required standard.
MENTORING
Proactively create an environment where your team members
& COACHING can develop themselves personally and in their contribution to the
Organisation.
1. Actively involves and encourages reportees through your personal
support and commitment.
2. Makes full use of participative decision making.
3. Consciously creates a strong identity amongst the organisation/ division.
4. Leads by example and encourages others to actively develop themselves
personally.
5. Through regular reviews of individual’s performance identify opportunities
to develop capabilities.
6. Allocates time and thought to developing the team and individuals for
Strategic
their own and organisational needs.
7. Actively uses the art of delegating a wide variety of tasks to expand and
develop your reportees.
8. Acts as a mentor to individuals as part of their development and to
address any performance issues.
9. Makes sure that proper reviewing process exists to assist individual’s
development.
10. Ensure you take the time to praise achievements and successes.
11. Actively listens to and responds to reportees feedback or comments.
1. Bases discussions with individuals regarding training and their
development on their annual reviews and ensures appropriate resources
are available.
2. Requires members of the team to regularly conduct staff appraisals.
3. Makes use of delegating specific tasks and responsibilities within clear
authority limits.
4. Adapts their management style according to the people and situation
involved.
5. Conducts regular performance reviews, agrees clear goals with and
provides constructive feedback to the individual.
Management
6. Actively encourage individuals to come forward with ways to address
performance issues.
7. Allocates time to identify training and development needs for team and
its members.
8. Through appropriate support and resources ensure individual are able to
take up development opportunities.
9. Provides constructive and open communications in situations of poor
performance or improper behaviour.
10. Recognises and offers praise for team or individual successes and
achievements.

Assessment Centre
Manage all your resources, including personnel so that all tasks

assigned to you are delivered on time and to the required standard.
MENTORING
Proactively create an environment where your team members
& COACHING can develop themselves personally and in their contribution to the
Organisation.
1. Ensure that everyone within the team has the opportunity to contribute.
2. Conducts well-planned and constructive team meetings.
3. Makes use of a variety of communication methods to ensure the team
are kept up-to-date on relevant changes and developments.
4. Uses the most appropriate management style for the situation at hand.
5. Regularly monitor and evaluate both the team’s and individual’s
Supervisory
performance.
6. Gives constructive feedback on individuals and team performance
identifying any training or development needs.
7. Provide appropriate training as individuals change roles.
8. Addresses any performance issues in an appropriate manner, seeking
direction and support as required.

Assessment Centre
Achieves personal, divisional / departmental and organisation goals by

developing strategies for creating your own, your teams and resource
PLANNING &
plans.
ORGANISING Develops strategies for organising self, team and resources to meet all
levels of objectives.
1. Converts organisational long and short-term goals into concise and
deliverable divisional objectives.
2. Develops strategies that meet both long and short-term organisational
objectives.
3. Continually assessing the implications of changing market forces and
altering priorities to ensure that the ‘plan’ will still produce the required
results.
Strategic
4. Ensures regular monitoring of, and feedback on, the progress you and
divisions achieve against these objectives.
5. Devise action plans and policies from these strategies with assigned
responsibilities.
6. Define clear objectives, which enable results to be delivered against them.
7. Through your example, encourage others to set time aside for reviewing
and planning activities.
1. Responsible for delivering all or part of the divisional /departmental plan.
2. Contributes own knowledge to the compiling of the divisional /
departmental plan.
3. Details exactly how their section of the divisional /departmental plan will
be delivered.
4. Identifies and allocates all types of resources that are required in
delivering the divisional /departmental plan.
5. Produces a communication plan that ensures all involved parties are
Management
aware of their responsibilities and kept informed on progress throughout
its length.
6. Establishes appropriate targets for each stage of the divisional /
departmental plan.
7. Sets up proactive monitoring of all aspects of their section of the
divisional /departmental plan.
8. Regularly reviews progress of the plan and recommends potential and
required adjusts to ensure delivery of the divisional /departmental plan.

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developing strategies for creating your own, your teams and resource
PLANNING &
plans.
1. Utilises time management techniques to organise the allocation of their
and their team’s tasks.
2. Writes plans that are concise and have realistic and achievable tasks for
individuals and the team.
3. Makes use or monitoring tools / systems to ensure all team and individual
deadlines are achieved.
4. Liaises with other supervisors in allocating tasks and deadlines to
Supervisory achieve the planned objectives as appropriate.
5. Communicates clear and precise task instructions to ensure the plan is
achieved in a timely fashion.
6. Proactively addresses any operational peaks and troughs in workload or
productivity.
7. Observes progress of the plan and adapts work schedule accordingly.
8. Reports any concerns regarding the plan that are outside their control to
their manager appropriately to ensure success of the plan.

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PROFESSIONAL Take ownership of one’s own personal development and training

requirements as appropriate to your individual role and development
DEVELOPMENT plan.
1. Responsible for developing and promoting a learning culture within the

organisation.
2. Seeks opportunities to maximise your own personal development.
3. Has an awareness of their motivation, strengths and areas for
Strategic development.
4. Capitalises on the value of the learning opportunities that different
perspectives provide.
5. Utilises their own and the learning experiences of others.
6. Seeks constructive feedback and responds accordingly.
1. Identify opportunities that will develop your skills and knowledge (both
internal & external) in line with your career development plan.
2. Own your own career development plan.
3. Seeks potential training and development opportunities, which meet the
role requirements and future organisational developments.
Management
4. Through continuous self-assessment maximises the opportunities to
learn new competencies.
5. Incorporates reflective learning into their own development to improve
competencies and learn from one’s mistakes.
6. Welcomes new ideas with an objective and open mindset.
1. Seek opportunities to develop one’s skills and knowledge (both internal &
external) in line with your career goals.
2. Develop your own career goals and aspirations.
3. Discusses and identifies their development needs with their manager.
Supervisory 4. Responsible for maintaining their own Personal Development Plan.
5. Explores potential training and development opportunities in line with role
and organisational future needs.
6. Works with manager to implement training and development needs for
individuals in their team.

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Ensure the most effective use of organisational resources.

Commit to providing ‘value for money’ by ensuring that your budgets are
RESOURCE well managed and accurately monitored.
MANAGEMENT Ensure that both a short-term and long-term perspective are continually
maintained.
1. Ensure long-term implications of budgetary pressures are accounted for
and alternatives planned.
2. Achieve organisational goals (including divisional & departmental
objective) by securing appropriate financial, operational and human
resources.
3. Ensure that you establish a sound system for identifying resource
allocation and needs (short-term & long-term).
4. Monitors the management of all budgets to ensure best value is
Strategic
achieved.
5. Anticipates potential changes to resources and plans accordingly to
ensure best value.
6. Ensures that the diversity of resources (talents, technology, materials etc.)
are maximised to guarantee work is delivered in a timely fashion and to
budget.
7. At all times when allocating resources ensure that ‘value for money’ is
maintained.
1. Responsible for managing their devolved budget in a manner appropriate
to the organisation.
2. Ensures accurate forecasts of expenditure (short-term & long-term) for
area of responsibility.
3. Negotiates and plans resource allocation to ensure delivery of services.
Management 4. Is aware of the impact of their resource changes at an organisational
level.
5. Conducts regular monitoring of resources and provides accurate reports
to management.
6. Commits to identify potential resource development or procurement
opportunities.
1. Is conscious of the importance and need for monitoring budgets
accurately.
2. Concentrates on delivering the agreed service within current budgetary
constraints.
Supervisory
3. Appropriately manages your department’s or area’s resources within
budget.
4. Appreciates how their resource actions can have repercussions and
impact other areas of the organisation.

Assessment Centre
Ability to work co-operatively with others within and outside the

STAKEHOLDER Organisation.
MANAGEMENT Creates sound working relationships from a mutual understanding and
appreciation of both organisation’s goals and culture.
1. Has a proven track record of building good working relationships, both

internal and external.
2. Portrays a cooperative and collaborative approach in their relationships.
3. Actively explores and uses experiences and ideas of others in building
relations.
Strategic 4. Aims to achieve the most appropriate outcomes when working with
partners.
5. Seeks through working relationships to identify ways to improve service
/ delivery.
6. Actively encourages management to involve and develop relationships
within and outside the organisation.
1. Approaches partnerships with a flexible and proactive outlook.
2. Is an effective communicator - sharing concepts and information with
other parties within and outside the organisation.
3. Proactive in seeking opportunities to assist and work with others.
4. Negotiates and consults with affected parties as part of the planning
Management process and allocation of responsibilities.
5. Gains agreement and commitment from all applicable parties (internal &
external) to ensure the success.
6. Actively networks within and outside the organisation.
7. Encourages individuals and team members to network within the
organisation and externally as appropriate.
1. Demonstrates a willingness to share information and knowledge within
team and department.
2. Constructive in how you respond to others ideas requests for information
and help.
Supervisory
3. Cooperatively works with others to achieve shared goals.
4. Focuses on building good relationships with team and others within the
organisation, and known network contacts.
5. Appreciates and recognises the achievements of others.

Assessment Centre
Aware of and understands the organisation’s strategic objectives.

Regularly reviews the ‘market place’ from a strategic viewpoint and its
STRATEGIC potential impact on the organisation.
THINKING Analyses the strategic stance of competitors.
Educates and leads others in their appreciation and understanding of
how they contribute to the organisation’s objectives.
1. Creates and owns the strategic objectives of the organisation, and
division /department.
2. Undertakes regular reviews of the market place and assess their impact
on the organisation’s strategic objectives.
3. Reviews the implication of competitors’ strategic stance and how this
impacts the organisation’s strategic objectives.
Strategic
4. Focuses on the high-level situations impacting the strategic objectives.
5. Communicates the organisation’s strategic objectives in a clear and
precise manner.
6. Ensures that division /department objectives clearly reflect the
organisation’s strategic objectives.
7. Resource allocation is focused on strategic priorities.
1. Contributes to the strategic objectives of the organisation, and division
/department.
2. Researches new opportunities that could contribute to the organisation’s
strategic objectives.
3. Approaches short-term operational issues with a long-term perspective.
4. Regularly gives feedback to the board / management any issues or competitor
intelligence that may impact the organisation’s strategic objectives.
Management 5. Concentrates on identifying and resolving any operational aspects that
may impact the strategic objectives.
6. Ensures that individuals’ and team objectives clearly reflect the
organisation’s strategic objectives.
7. Manages the allocation of the division /department resources in a
strategic manner.
8. Proactively addresses divisional or departmental issues before they
impact on the organisation’s strategic objectives.
1. Is aware of the importance and how they contribute to the strategic
objectives of the division /department.
2. Responsible for determining and implementing Operational resolutions to
avoid any impact on the strategic objectives.
3. Reports any strategic competitor activity and information to manager.
Supervisory 4. Sets and monitors individual and team objectives to achieve division
/department strategic objectives.
5. Recognises how the Organisation’s policies and decisions impact their
specific department / team.
6. Understands the importance of and operational impact of the
Organisations strategies and policies.

Assessment Centre
By using an assessment centre, organisations can see how candidates will actually
behave in real-life situations, which the exercises try to emulate. Those whose behaviours
most closely match the key behavioural criteria (competencies) specified for that role
will achieve the highest scores.
Always remember that the assessment centre exercises are designed to judge how
well you exhibit the required ‘behaviours’ of the job you are applying for.
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. To do this we need to introduce the concept
of KSAs.
The acronym KSA stands for Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes, and is the way
behaviours are ‘broken down’ into more easily measurable metrics. There are other
ways to do it but KSA is the most straightforward. These three separate components
that together make up a particular behaviour.
The assessment centre exercises have been designed to test your ‘behaviours’ and
it is the KSAs you need to portray to ensure you display the required behaviours. This
illustrates to the assessors that you are ready and competent to perform the role. These
competencies are defined by the assessors, and the Human Resources Department
for each particular role. These behaviours and competencies form the foundation of the
scoring sheet to be used during any assessment centre.
To succeed you must understand what KSAs are required for the role and that you can
‘show’ the assessors’ you possess them by exhibiting them appropriately during the
exercises.
You must allocate sufficient time to the task of defining the roles KSAs and the compare
your own KSAs to these and see how well they match. To help you understand how to
do this we have used Sarah, who wants to become a Marketing Manager. (This process
is covered later in this chapter.)

Assessment Centre
Defining K.S.A.s
First, to help you in this process it is essential that you understand how KSAs are defined
and used within this eBook. Lewis Rowe provides us with a very broad definition. Whilst
helpful it is not really very helpful when creating your own or job specific KSAs.
‘Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Attitudes that are required for competency.’
Source: Lewis Rowe, Tina; A Preparation Guide for the Assessment Centre Method;
(2006) Charles C Thomas Publishers Ltd, Illinois, USA.
By looking at the individual dictionary definitions for each of the KSA components it
helps to provide a clearer framework.
• KNOWLEDGE – something that you have learned or discovered.

• SKILL – the ability to do something well.
• ABILITY – being able to do something, a talent.
• ATTRIBUTE – a quality or characteristic.
But whilst clearer, these definitions are still very limited in their use. This is especially
the case when you are trying to decipher exactly how you can display them at your
assessment centre. For example:
Exactly how is a ‘skill’’ something you’re good at; different

from an ‘ability’, which is something you are talented at or in?
The only difference is ‘doing it well’. Once again this is not a very clear and makes
it extremely difficult to work out whether something is a skill, an ability, or an
attribute.
Over the years many other definitions of KSA have appeared and whilst their
overall meanings are very similar, there is not one universal definition or
interpretation of the acronym itself, or the definition of each individual component.
This lack of correlation between the KSA definitions is further complicated by
specific industry sectors having their own KSA definitions reflecting the nature of
their work.
To help you achieve success we have created our own definition of the KSA
acronym. Our individual definitions have been designed so that they
constructively help you prepare so you are able to portray the required
behaviours during the assessment centre exercises.
Assessment Centre
An assessor will be assessing your behaviours in the following three ways:
KNOWLEDGE
• How do you use the knowledge you have?
• Is it appropriate to the role you are applying for?
• Do you make use of more than one type of information – facts / ideas /
principles?
SKILL
• What abilities do you have?
• Are these learned experiences relevant to the required role?
• Can you exhibit these skills at the role's level during the assessment day?
• If you don't have a skill how will you address this?
ATTITUDE
• Through your behaviour do you show the appropriate attitude to the situation
or scenario being played out in the assessment centre exercise?
This is especially important as it includes how you interact with others, and how your
attitude is perceived by them.
Comparing your competencies with that of the Role is the single most important activity
you will undertake as part of your preparation for the assessment centre and your own
personal development to ensure success.

Assessment Centre
This is best illustrated by an example from an assessment centre. You are attending an
assessment centre because you are seeking internal promotion.
Your Current Position: Sales Assistant

You desired Role: Salesman
Exercise: Telephone role-play exercise that is being observed by a team of
assessors.
Background: You work for a company, which sells computer hardware support
contracts.
In the role of Salesman, you will have direct contact with high value corporate
customers and significant autonomy in dealing with them.
You will be provided with information of your customers and their support
contracts.
Scenario: You receive a phone call where you are faced with a customer whose
server has crashed and they want you to send out an engineer immediately.
The customer has called you directly because they have not received an immediate
response from the Customer Services Hotline and you are the salesman who sold
them the maintenance contract.
The customer is very unhappy and is insisting that you arrange to have an engineer
sent out immediately.
Your behaviour when dealing with this scenario can be measured in terms of three
factors: your KSAs:
Your Knowledge
Is the customer being reasonable in It may be that they stipulate a response

expecting the Customer Services Hotline time of one hour.
to respond immediately?
Is the customer entitled to have an This will depend on the service contract
engineer sent out immediately? they have paid for.
These and other ‘matters of fact’ represent the knowledge that you would be
expected to have if you were a salesman in this role.

Assessment Centre
Your Skills
The main skill required here is in verbal communication.
Can you calm the customer Are you able to show empathy with the
down? customer’s problem?
Can you get a full and clear picture If the customer is not entitled to an immediate
of the problem? response under the terms of the contract then
you may need to show your diplomacy skills
when telling them so.
How do resolve the problem? The resolution you propose is appropriate

Is there an implication for the for this customer’s importance to your
organisation? organisation.
Is there an opportunity to show sales and
persuasion skills by trying to sell the customer
an upgrade to a support package, which did
include an immediate response?
Your Attitude
Whether the customer is entitled to an immediate response or not, your attitude

to them over the telephone will be a big factor in determining the outcome of this
situation.
Are you too deferential? Do you promise things that neither you nor
your organisation can deliver?
Is your manner helpful / Do you offer a solution that meets their

constructive? business needs and suits their support
contract?
Are you unnecessarily Do you stick to the letter of the support

antagonistic? contract and offer little help in solving the
customer’s problem?

Assessment Centre
If several salesmen were given the same scenario as an exercise, then it would be
much easier for the Assessor to compare their performances against the KSA’s and
competencies they have defined as necessary for the role.
The assessors can then use these KSAs to ascertain how each salesman candidate did
in terms of displaying the required KSAs. This makes it easier for them to assess each
candidate’s performance rather than trying to measure each of their behaviours as a
whole.
Do KSAs have meaning outside of the Assessment Centre?

It is important to note that, if you were actually a salesman and this was a real-life
scenario then thinking about how to handle it in terms of KSAs would be pointless.
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.
Another important concept to understand about KSAs is that they are only useful if the
Assessor has a clear specification of which KSAs are relevant to a particular role.
In the example above, a salesman might be expected to have:
• Knowledge of the organisations support policies,

• Understand the cost implications to the organisations if the support service is
compromised.
• Be aware of the support limits available in times of crisis.
• Understand how support contracts are constructed.
If this was the case, then the level of knowledge expected would be detailed in the job
description. It is important to remember that it isn’t always set out clearly, you may have
to read and decipher several items to gain the information you need to conduct such a
call. But time would be allowed in the preparation aspect of the exercise.

Assessment Centre
To summarise KSAs:
KSAs are what the assessors are actually measuring as you perform each exercise.
This is true even if the assessors are not explicitly marking knowledge, skills and
aptitudes as separate components of behaviour.
KSAs are specific to each role and are derived from the job description.
KSAs are the most important concept to grasp if you want to succeed at an
assessment centre.
Relating KSAs to Assessment Centre Exercises

Whenever you are considering your approach to a particular exercise you should think
in terms of demonstrating the appropriate KSAs. (You will need to derive these from the
job specification and your own research into the organisation. How this is done is dealt
with in detail later in this eBook).
For example,
Suppose you are given an in-tray exercise in which you have to deal with incoming
correspondence and telephone calls.
The exercise involves you reading through a series of emails and prioritising them
and then responding as appropriate.
You could approach this exercise in one of two different ways.
1. Firstly, the material itself is the focus of your efforts.

a. That is, you work through the material systematically, prioritise it and reply
as appropriate.
b. This is the approach that most candidates would take.
2. Secondly, demonstrating your KSAs is the focus of your efforts and the
material itself is a means to that end.
a. That is, you use each piece of material to demonstrate one or more of your
KSAs.

Assessment Centre
The second approach is used by those who succeed in assessment centres as they use
the exercises as vehicles to demonstrate their KSAs (and by extension, behaviours and
competencies) enabling them to ‘tick more boxes’ on the assessor’s scoring sheet.
One important thing to realise is that you cannot demonstrate all of your KSAs in every
exercise. Some exercises may require you to show leadership behaviour, empathetic
behaviour or whatever is appropriate.
No individual exercise will give you the opportunity to show off all of your KSAs. It is up
to you to determine which KSAs are appropriate for each exercise.
Obviously, you cannot predict exactly how much information you will be given in each
exercise or whether the scenario will be based on a ‘real-life’ scenario or a fictitious one.
Neither can you be sure that you will always be given sufficient information to have a
realistic prospect of making the ‘correct’ decision.
Many candidates are put-off by this unpredictability and lack of realism in the exercises
and perform badly as a result.
These issues can be dealt with by asking yourself the following questions as you work
through each exercise.
• What knowledge does this enable me to demonstrate to the assessors?

• What skill does this enable me to demonstrate to the assessors?
• What attitude does this enable me to demonstrate to the assessors?
Another Example
It can be quite difficult to see how KSAs relate to particular assessment centre exercises.
However, this is such a vital point that it is worth illustrating with another example.
Imagine an in-tray exercise that puts you in the position of a Marketing Manager
for a fictitious company, which produces solar panels for electricity generation. You
are expected to work through a number of items in your in-tray and deal with them
appropriately.

Assessment Centre
To illustrate how you can demonstrate your KSAs we have listed some of the questions
and considerations that pertain to each item. You must actually demonstrate these
either by making notes or in the case of item three by what you say.
Item 1—The first item is an email from an automotive racing team asking if your
company would like to explore a sponsorship deal.
Demonstrate Knowledge
• Does the company already have a sponsorship deal?
• If so, is it exclusive?
• If not, would it fit in with other sponsors, the company’s mission statement and
the overall ethos of the company?
Demonstrate Skill
• Use your judgement to decide if the company’s positioning in the marketplace
is consistent with this type of sponsorship.
• For example, if the main thrust of the marketing efforts were based on ‘green
and environmentally friendly’ messages then it would not be appropriate.
• However, if the marketing messages stress the ‘high-tech’ nature of the
products then it might be a good fit.
Demonstrate Attitude
• Even if the request for sponsorship was entirely inappropriate and you are
under a lot of time pressure in this exercise, your response should still be polite
and businesslike because you are the public face of the company.
Item 2—This is an email from a journalist with GreenLife magazine. It has an attached
article and the journalist is asking if you have any comments before publication.
The magazine describes itself as being aimed at ‘environmentally aware people
who are building or improving their homes’.
Scanning the article you can see that it is generally positive regarding your products,
particularly the technical capabilities, but there are some negative comments
about the fact that the products are made in Indonesia. Specifically the article is
critical of the conditions in the factory and the amount of energy consumed in the
manufacture and transport of the products.

Assessment Centre
• Are the readers of this magazine part of the target market for the products?
• Is the magazine influential? (This will influence how much priority you give this
item.)
• Does the organisation have a full time press officer?
• Is he or she likely to have a working relationship with the journalist?
• Has the company had an environmental audit?
Demonstrate Skill
• You can display judgement by prioritising this item as well as outlining and
ranking the options available to you.
• Your attitude will be apparent from how you deal with this item. Did you approach
it in an analytical way and are your decision options the result of clear thinking?
Item —You will also receive a telephone call from an actor who is playing the
part of a subordinate. He is at a trade exhibition representing the company. He is
upset and concerned because a member of the public has tripped over the
exhibition stand and broken their wrist.
• There is not really any opportunity to demonstrate your knowledge with this item.
• It is exclusively an opportunity to display your skill and attitude.
Demonstrate Skill
• You can display your communication skills by dealing with your subordinate in
such a way as to calm him down.
• Then outline an action plan for dealing with the incident.
• The challenge is to deal sympathetically but efficiently with a subordinate who
is obviously upset whilst you are under time pressure.
As you can see, even simple items like these three examples give you ample opportunity
to demonstrate your KSAs. In fact, if you were to approach them in any other way, they
might seem trivial and pointless.

Assessment Centre
Why Lack of Realism in Exercises Can be a Big Problem?

One factor, which is seldom mentioned when discussing assessment centre exercises
is that you as a candidate may perceive a lack of realism or relevance in some of the
exercises.
For example, if a role-play exercise includes an actor playing the part of a customer
or subordinate then you may find their ‘acting’ difficult to take seriously. This may be
because the actor is being given a comprehensive brief about their role; they may not
have had sufficient time to ‘get into’ their role or they may just be having a bad day.
Other common criticisms of exercises include:
• There is insufficient time for considered decision making

• There is insufficient information for considered decision making
• The exercise scenario appears overly simplistic
• The exercise appears to be unrelated to the role
• Etc, etc, etc
In all of these cases you must not allow the lack of realism to put you off. As soon as
you find yourself mentally questioning the validity of a particular exercise you must stop
that train of thought immediately and concentrate on demonstrating your KSAs. The
exercises are designed that way for two simple reasons.
1. Firstly, they are so that Assessor can easily identify competencies and
behaviours through your KSAs and
2. Secondly so that they can easily compare candidates performance from a
common platform.
This point cannot be over-emphasized. Many excellent candidates destroy their

chances of selection by explicitly or implicitly questioning the validity of a particular
exercise. Not only will this antagonise the people who have put the time and effort into
running the assessment centre it also undermines your own performance, invariably
with catastrophic results.
No matter what you really think of an exercise—think

in terms of demonstrating KSAs!

Assessment Centre
Relating KSAs to Interview Questions

As you can see behaviours are central to the assessment centre selection process and
the assessment centre exercises are designed to let you demonstrate to the assessors
what you are capable of.
However, 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.
You may find that the assessment centre interview is different from other interviews that
you have attended, in that they are usually competency-based.
Competency-based interviews work on the assumption that the best

indication of an individual’s future behaviour is their past behaviour.
This style of interview consists of a number of targeted questions that require you to
describe a specific task or situation. For example, suppose that a required competency
for the role is ‘Managing Change’. A typical range of questions designed to test for this
competency would be:
• Tell me about a time when you had to implement changes to an established

process?
• Talk me through your approach to planning the changes?
• How did you overcome resistance to the changes?
• What was the eventual outcome?
• What did you learn from the experience?
As you can see, the questions require you to describe something that actually happened
and to do so in a lot of detail.
If you want to succeed at a competency-based interview then you really do need to

prepare properly and your preparation needs to be specific to your employment history
and personal achievements.

Assessment Centre
Fortunately, preparation for a competency-based interview is actually easier than

for a traditional interview. This is because you can make a comprehensive list of the
competencies required either from the job specification or the advert and you can then
make sure that you have an example for each particular competency.
The best way to prepare for a competency-based interview is described in depth later in
this eBook. It probably won’t surprise you to know that this preparation involves relating
competencies to KSAs and then answering each question in terms of demonstrating as
many KSAs as possible. This can be demonstrated by looking at a particular example
in detail.
Example:
Imagine that a candidate, let’s call him John, has implemented a project in which the
field sales force held their weekly sales meeting using virtual conferencing software
on their laptops rather than actually attend a physical meeting at the office.
To take one of the example questions above,
“How did you overcome resistance to the changes?”
John could take the interviewer at their word and simply do his best describe the process
or he could frame his reply in terms of the Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes that were
required to successfully overcome resistance.
In reply to the question “How did you overcome resistance to the changes?” John
answers in terms of his KSAs, for example:
Knowledge—“I knew that the main purpose of the weekly sales meeting was to
showcase new products and to give the sales force the confidence to start selling
them as soon as possible. Any new system would have to fulfil this requirement if it
was going to be successful as far as the organisation was concerned.
From the perspective of the sales force, the system also had to allow information
from individual sales people to be properly disseminated to the rest of the team
quickly and efficiently. This involved making sure that the most important issues
were dealt with first and that the time given over each item was directly related to its
importance.”

Assessment Centre
This shows that John has knowledge of:
• The function of the sales meeting and therefore what criteria the new system
would need to fulfil.
• It also shows that he understands the operational needs of the sales team as
well as what the new system needs to achieve if it is to have their support.
This is the trademark of a really effective individual, someone who is capable of seeing
what is important to both the organisation and to the sales team members and
ensuring that the ‘change’ is seen to benefit all of the parties involved.
Skills—“I put together two separate presentations: The first was for the
senior management and described the system in terms of its cost benefits
to the organisation. I knew that I would need their support in the first few weeks
of the implementation as there were bound to be teething problems.
The second presentation was for the sales force, and was designed to
demonstrate how much time they would save during a typical week and how this
would translate into extra sales calls and commissions, which could easily net
them each another $5000 per year.
I also scheduled a comprehensive review for one month after the system went
live, where I guaranteed that everyone who had concerns about the new system
would be given a chance to voice them and that any problems would be dealt
with as soon as possible.”
This shows that John’s:
• Communication skills are well-developed.

• He can ‘tune in’ to what is important to each group.
• Ensure that any presentation he delivers is tailored to their needs.
Note that whilst he may be able to demonstrate the necessary presentation

techniques in a Presentation exercise, this ability to frame messages in terms of
what is most important to the audience is best illustrated
by an example like this one.

Assessment Centre
Attitude—“Most of the resistance came from members of the sales force who liked
to go out together for a drink after the weekly sales meeting. They had been doing
this for years and it had become important for team morale even though it was
‘extra-curricular’ as far as the organisation was concerned. I realised quite early
on that this was the real reason for many of the objections to the new virtual
meeting, even though no one was prepared to come out and say so.
I decided that the best approach would be to re-schedule the monthly product
training session, which everyone was obliged to attend. I moved this from a
morning slot to an afternoon so that it finished at 5pm and everyone could go
out and socialise afterwards. This went a long way to overcoming the spurious
objections to the new system.”
This shows that John can:
• Empathise with people and understand what is important to them even though
they may not make this clear by what they say.
• This is a particularly good example of someone showing a high level of
emotional intelligence.
• Had he not picked up on this, then the implementation of the new system would
have been more expensive and time consuming, as the ‘spurious issues’ would
have had to be dealt with, and this would still not have resolved the underlying
problem.
No doubt John could have forced through the new system without re-
scheduling the monthly sales meeting but by choosing to take a more sensitive
approach he has saved the organisation a great deal of unnecessary pain—
since many of the objections from the sales force were actually a proxy for the
removal of the opportunity to socialise.
It is possible to argue about which aspects of John’s answers’ should be considered

knowledge, skills, or attitude. For example, whether the interviewer considers the
fact that John scheduled a comprehensive review of the new system, to show either
‘communication skills’ or a ‘pre-emptive attitude’ does not really matter. The fact
remains that by answering the questions in terms of his KSAs, John gave himself the
best possible opportunity to show that he had the necessary competency that was
being assessed.

Assessment Centre
To summarise, if you take the KSA approach, you are pretty much guaranteed to tick
more boxes on the interviewers score sheet. This is because your behaviours will
demonstrate that you have the right competencies for the role. Provided that you have
planned and practiced this approach in advance, your answers won’t sound contrived
and you won’t miss any opportunity to demonstrate conclusively that you have the
competency they are looking for.

Assessment Centre
The Assessors
It is vital that you understand what assessors are looking for and how they mark the
individual exercises. So what is an ‘Assessor’?
In her book, Tina Lewis Rowe provides an excellent definition of an assessor.
‘An Assessor is an individual trained to observe, record,

classify and make reliable judgements about the behaviours
of those being assessed.’
Source: Lewis Rowe, Tina; A Preparation Guide for the Assessment Centre Method;
(2006) Charles C Thomas Publishers Ltd, Illinois, USA.
Who are your Assessors?

They are usually 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. They will also have a definite expectation of
how that role assists them in performing their function.
Many agencies have a preferred list of assessors that they like to use. Human Resources
(HR) departments will also have key people that they call upon for the assessment
centre days. Where you are applying for more senior roles, the organisation may choose
to use external assessors if they feel that these individuals bring a broader perspective
to the assessment of candidates.
The training an assessor receives, whether they are internal or external to the organisation,
will equip them with the skills to:
• Observe,
• Classify and
• Record candidates’ behaviour.
They will also have a thorough understanding of the requirements of the role and have
studied the job specification. From this knowledge a list of competencies will be drawn
up, each with a detailed description. This is to ensure consistency among the assessors
when scoring candidates.

Assessment Centre
There are three things you need to remember about the Assessors:
1. They know nothing about you.

2. They can only give you marks for behaviours you show them during the
exercises.
3. They are only concerned with how you display the behaviours applicable to
the role.
Your key objective is to find out what competencies and associated behaviours the
assessors see as essential, desirable, adequate, and a liability. The amount of time you
have before your assessment will influence what you can do in terms of this type of
preparation. At the very least, you need to look objectively at people who perform the
role well and think about the behaviours they exhibit.
If you are preparing for a graduate assessment centre, then this is made more difficult
as you may not have any experience of working directly for anyone in the role you are
applying for. If this is the case then you need to think in more general terms about the
behaviours of people you have met in your personal life, including teachers, lecturers,
sports coaches, team captains, etc.
If you are preparing for an elite graduate assessment centre, then one group that you
should study in detail are the people who the organisation uses to represent it at university
recruitment fairs. You can learn a lot about the demeanour, tone, dress, attitudes and
subtleties of presentation that these people share. This is particularly important as
the elite organisations are often more interested in recruiting people who they believe
will be able to convey the organisation’s values (in the way that they behave) than in
competencies per-se.
If you are working on your long-term preparation you will have sufficient time to approach
someone to whom you’d report to in the new role and agree for them to mentor you.
They will be able to tell you about the competencies they see as essential for the role and
help you in gaining these. Always be mindful that this is one individual’s interpretation
and that you should also be conducting other research so that you have a complete
understanding of what the role entails.

Assessment Centre
Score Cards
The majority of score sheets or cards provide an area for notes to be made by the
assessors’. It is essential that assessors use this area to write down their own notes
even if it takes the form of some personal shorthand. This is the way after viewing
numerous candidates that they can be reminded of your actual performance and how
you exhibited a particular behaviour.
This style of score sheet provides a reminder to your assessors for each required
behaviour, and as well as space for their own notes.
In many organisations the Human Resources department will draw up their own
scoring sheet, which they will modify for the role in question. An example, showing the
competency ‘Influencing’ is illustrated on the next page.
(The scoring is usually from 1-10; 1 being poor or unsatisfactory and 10 being totally capable and
suited to role.)

Candidate: Arthur Brent Assessor: Jan Ng Date: 09/06/20XX
Competency: Influencing
Exercise: Group Discussion
Score
Asks questions and listens carefully in order to understand others’ needs and viewpoints
Tried to ensure that all members of the group received a fair hearing and clarified their positions where 7
necessary.
Anticipates likely objections/risks and responses
5
Pre-empted objections on some occasions when contributing possible solutions.
Uses a range of tactics and/or lines of argument to persuade others

7
Good Knowledge of debating skills – summarised arguments well and kept to the point.
Presents a balanced and reasoned case when recommending a particular decision or course of action
7
Was aware of shortcomings of his preferred solution.
Is constructive when faced with disagreement

8
Always polite & considerate – tried to persuade rather than undermine.
Communicates ideas clearly, persuasively and assertively

7
Robust debater with well practiced public speaking skills.
Page 61
The scores for particular exercises given by individual assessors can then easily be aggregated for a particular competency as shown.
Candidate: Arthur Brent Assessors: Jan Ng, Charlie Farrell, Priti Patel, Antonio Jiminez Date: 09/06/20XX
Competency: Influencing Final Score: 38.8 / 6 = 6.5

Exercise Scores Aggregate Scores
Asks questions and listens carefully in order to understand others’ needs
and viewpoints.
Group Discussion 7,6,7,8 6.5
Role-play 6,6,5,7
Presentation -
Anticipates likely objections/risks and responses.
Group Discussion 5,4,7,6
5.3
Role-play 4,5,5,5
Presentation 5,6,5,6
Uses a range of tactics and/or lines of argument to persuade others.
5.6
Role-play -
Presents a balanced and reasoned case when recommending a particular
decision or course of action.
Group Discussion 7,7,6,7 6.5
Role-play -
Is constructive when faced with disagreement.
7.5
Role-play 8,8,7,7
Presentation -
Communicates ideas clearly, persuasively and assertively.
7.4
Role-play -
Page 62
Assessment Centre
This process is repeated for each of the required competencies of your new role, which
will have been developed from the job specification.
A key part of the Assessor’s training will be to understand the scoring mechanism being
used for your assessment centre. The assessors themselves often perform the exercises
they are going to observe, with half of their group playing the role of candidates and
the other half observing and assessing each other to learn the skills required for their
Assessor role.
In this way the organisation ensures that the assessors are all measuring and marking
behaviours in the same way. It is through this style of preparation that all the assessors
learn to award a score of ‘5’ for similar displays of knowledge, skills and attitudes.
The assessors usually follow each exercise with a discussion. This discussion will give
them all an opportunity to say what they observed and how they’ve marked this behaviour.
This interaction between all of the assessors helps them to reach a consensus and to
award each candidate an agreed final score. This ensures that each candidate is judged
fairly and that the organisation has a complete record of how the final decision was
made. This enables a candidate requesting feedback to receive an objective overview
of their performance on the day.
Some organisations prefer that the assessors use a legal pad to make all their notes on.
These are then used during the discussions and retained by the HR department of the
organisation once the assessment centre is completed.

Assessment Centre
Recording of Exercises
With all the explanations so far it has been assumed that the Assessor will physically
be present whilst you are performing the exercise, but this is not always the case today.
Many companies and organisations make increasing use of the ability to record exercises
and then send off the audio or video recording of your exercise to an Assessor. These
recordings will then be observed, classified and scored as outlined above.
If you have been told this is what will happen during your assessment then you must act
as if the Assessor is really watching you conduct the exercise. You must make the whole
exercise ‘feel real’ to you so that you perform at your best. By acting as if the exercise
is real and that the scenario presented is actually happening to you will enable you to
present yourself in the best possible way to the video camera.
An excellent way to be equipped for this type of recording of your exercises is for you
to use a video recorder during your preparation. When you play these back you will get
a good indication of how you well you come across to others observing you. You could
also ask a friend or colleague to watch the video of your performance and to give you
objective feedback on your performance.
Most importantly for maximising your score, you will be able to see any missed
opportunities, which you could have used to increase your score on the day.

Assessment Centre
Preparing for an Assessment Centre

So that you maximise any potential opportunities your preparation for any assessment
centre should fall into two broad categories. By preparing in this two tiered manner you
will be better able to demonstrate the required competencies of the role and achieve
you career goal.
1. Long-Term—How does the role fit into your existing Career plan?
2. Short-Term—How best to use the time available before your assessment
centre?
By setting yourself a long term career goal any career move or promotion fits into this
overall plan and helps you to assign short term objectives so that your goal can be
realised. In your journey along this career plan you will encounter several Assessment or
Development Centres so it is vital that your preparation is effective and thorough.
An assessment centre will consist of three broad areas and it is these areas that you
need to focus your preparation on.
• Exercises
• Panel interview
• Psychometric Tests
For many people who ignore the long-term preparation fail to achieve their career goals
without ever understanding why they are continually passed over for promotion in favour
of other candidates who appear to be no better qualified. If you only consider the short-
term preparation you will not have a clear understanding of the ‘mindset’ of a person in
your chosen role.
So your preparation for your assessment centre should start with the long-term aspects
and then progress to the short-term aspects.

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Long-Term Preparation
Your long-term preparation is closely linked to your career plan and is something that
you cannot ignore if you expect to progress upwards through the levels of your chosen
occupation or profession. It is worth pausing at this point to consider what a career plan
is and whether you need one.
A career plan is simply a road map which details how you expect your career to develop
throughout your working life. It is not designed to be over-prescriptive or to prevent
you from taking advantages of unexpected opportunities. It should evolve in response
to changing circumstances whilst acting as a tool to help you get to whatever career
destination you are aiming for.
One common fallacy is that career plans are only for the ultra-ambitious and that
Company President is the only worthwhile objective. While it is true that many high-
achievers have planned their careers in detail from the outset, a career plan is something
that almost everyone would benefit from developing whatever stage of their career they
are presently at.
Consider the career plan of a marketing professional – let’s call her Jane. She has been
with the same organisation for four years, joining as a graduate trainee and now working
as a senior marketing executive. So far her career progression has been incremental,
she has progressed from performing certain tasks to performing higher-level tasks. She
has also gradually assumed some supervisory responsibility for a part time member of
staff and a recent graduate trainee.
However, 90% of her working day involves actually producing deliverables – press
releases, advertising copy, etc. For Jane to achieve a management role she will need
to exhibit the behaviours associated with managers and not those of a supervisor. She
will need to show her skills of delegation, timescale setting, prioritisation, evaluation and
decision-making.
The next step in Jane’s career is promotion to the role of Marketing Manager. This
will represent a fundamental change in the nature of her work. As a manager, she will
spend almost all of her time organising the work of other people, managing budgets
and assuring the quality of the deliverables that they produce.

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If Jane is going to be successful in getting the promotion, then the organisation that
employs her will need solid evidence that she can make the fundamental switch in
behaviour from someone who produces deliverables to someone who manages people.
The important point to note is that the organisation does not have that evidence
at the moment.
Perhaps in less competitive times they would have taken a chance and promoted her
anyway. After all, she has been with the company for four years and has shown herself
to be a very competent employee. Perhaps if the organisation was expanding quickly
as it did in the ‘80s and ‘90s then internal career progression would be the norm and
she would have benefited from a structured development program designed to help
employees move up through the organisation.
Unfortunately, neither of these options apply now. The organisation that she works for
has been under intense competitive pressure for a number of years and no longer has
the spare resources to run a meaningful employee development program. They are also
aware that there is a large pool of experienced personnel ‘out there’ and would be quite
happy to poach someone from another organisation who brings all that intelligence with
them, or take someone who has worked at this level but is currently between jobs.
As a result, they have decided to use an assessment centre to select from a pool of
both internal and external candidates. Jane’s problem, and that of many people in
her position, is that she needs to provide evidence that she can display the necessary
management behaviours, the Competencies (Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes), even
though she has not had the opportunity to do so in her career so far.
This is a very common problem for candidates who are seeking their first promotion to
managerial or board level. Fortunately, Jane has had a career plan in place for a couple
of years. She has foreseen this problem and has taken the necessary steps to overcome
it as part of her own CPD (Continuous Professional Development).
Exactly how she did this, and how you can do it too, is dealt with in later in the eBook
when you see how to use the KSA Development Cycle and how to create your own KSA
table for a specific Role, in Jane’s case that of a Marketing Manager.

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Remember, there are many skills that you cannot develop in the space of a couple of
weeks. You need to be realistic about the time it takes to become an accomplished
public speaker or an effective chairperson.
If you are pursuing a career where these sorts of skills are required then you will need to
take the time and make the effort to develop them. This may mean that you have to do
so outside of work. Volunteering for administrative work for charities, sports clubs and
school parents associations can all be excellent ways to develop these types of skill.
Similarly, there may be professional qualifications that will add to your knowledge and
skills, but the time taken to acquire them may be measured in months or years.
Short-Term Preparation
In the short-term you will need to:
• Define the key attributes of the role

• Practise the behaviours required for the role.
• Be aware of the key competitors, issues and threats*
*These factors become more important the higher the role you are aiming for.
However, the more knowledge that you can show of the ‘environment’ in which the
organisation operates the better. For example, if the role is with a commercial organisation
then the least you should know is;
• Who the organisations main competitors are?

• The competitor’s relative strengths and weaknesses.
• An appreciation of any issues or threats ‘on the horizon’.
Awareness of these will also show that you are someone who has taken the time to
understand the industry. These issues or threats are typically things like new legislation
or new technology, which will affect the way the organisation operates in the future.
Remember that most organisations like to think that successful candidates will be with
them for a considerable time. (After all, they are investing a lot of money in the selection
process and your future development.) The more management/leadership potential you
show, the more attractive you are as a candidate—even if the current role does not
demand it.

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An essential aspect of your preparation is in teasing out all of the key attributes and
behaviours you believe that the assessors will be looking for. Many of these will be
described within the Job Specification. Once you have acquired these key attributes
and behaviours, often described as competencies, you can work through the ‘10 steps
of preparation’ outlined below.
You will be able to glean any additional attributes from the organisation's website,
literature and press releases which you should also familiarise yourself with. It is vital to
have at least some awareness of your key competitors and any legislation that impacts
how the organisation operates.
The level of this awareness will vary depending on the level and nature of the position
you are applying for. For example any financial institution must provide evidence of its
compliance with the law and this requirement has a significant effect on many aspects
of its operation and communication.
You will usually be expected to perform between three and five exercises depending on
the duration of your particular assessment centre. During the exercises you must find
every opportunity to show the particular behaviours someone in the position would exhibit.
These behaviours will be described in the job specification and detailed in the research
you have conducted into the organisation, especially its policies and mission statement.
Your short-term preparation will consist of preparing yourself to perform as well as you
possibly can in the specific exercises you will be involved in. This preparation will take
the form of defining the behaviours, planning, visualisation and practicing.
Possible exercise scenarios are outlined later in this eBook with guidelines and
recommendations of how each of the scenarios could develop. You will be able to
add detail to each of these according to the industry you wish to join and your own
experience.
If your interest in this eBook is because you are taking part in a development centre as
part of your promotion or managerial prospects within an organisation, then you need
to appreciate the differences you will encounter. When preparing for the exercises you
will follow the same principles as those for assessment centre, which are discussed
later in this eBook.

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Preparing for a Development Centre

There are some fundamental differences for you, the participant, if you attend a
Development Centre:
• You will actively be involved in assessing yourself.

• You will also be given your results from the centre and expected to own
the development requirements as part of your Continuous Professional
Development (CPD).
• You will be required to assess the competencies of the other participants, or
candidates.
In this instance the assessors would alter the nature of the exercises so that the
developmental aspects required for the role were emphasised. In some of the exercises,
the assessing team might perform the role of facilitators to ensure that the participants
bring out all the competencies required.
Part of your day is likely to include the completing of some of the usual psychometric
tests:
• Abstract Reasoning
• Numerical Reasoning
• Verbal Reasoning
• Personality Tests
If you role is of a more technical nature you may also be required to take a similar tests
on your spatial, and possibly your mechanical reasoning. The results of these tests will
then be discussed with your assessor as to where your future potential lies and where
the main focus of your personal development should be focused (e.g. A Management,
Research or Technical role).
If you take part in a development centre, your role will be one where there is more
emphasis on your abilities to ‘explore’ or ‘brainstorm’ an issue or the potential of a
situation; rather than be expected to display a particular competency.

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Many centres also use a technique called ‘Domain Mapping’. This is where you identify
where you want to be in a particular skill or level of knowledge, e.g. become a Senior
Consultant and then ‘map’ where you are now e.g. line manager. You then work out a
staged plan of how to get there through discussion with your Assessor or your peer
group, These stages are likely to involve both personal and professional requirements.
This means that you are not in a ‘Pass or Fail’ situation, which you would be in an
assessment centre. Throughout the development centre you will have ‘Evaluation
Sessions’ where you will receive feedback on how you have performed and how that
compares to the competencies or Competencies of your potential future role.
It is still important to prepare for this type of centre by having a clear understanding of
what a typical role’s Competencies and competencies are. Many internal candidates
perform below par because they neglect to familiarise themselves with the latest internal
policies, procedures and interpretation of the organisation’s mission statement.
By neglecting to use an internal promotion as an opportunity to review your personnel

file you deny yourself the chance to prepare arguments and evidence of how you have
continued your development. It is also a useful reminder of possible incidents that may
be focused on during the assessment centre that have perhaps been forgotten.
If you are attending a development centre remember that your new boss will use your
personnel file in the same way a potential external employer will use your curriculum vitae
(resume). They will use these items to make an initial assessment of your capabilities. So
you too should review its contents as a key part of your own preparation for the event.
If you want to manage your career within an organisation then you must prepare for all
internal promotions as diligently as you would for any external opportunity. Many people
forget the importance of their preparation when attending internal interviews as they
feel there will be no surprises during the process. Experience often shows that these
interview are equally tough and in some ways more challenging than external ones.
Organisations are obliged to ensure that all recruitment is operated fairly and frequently
incorporate ‘Assessment Day(s)’ as part of their internal promotional. All of the preparation
described in the following chapters is relevant to your internal promotion and you should
follow the same preparatory tasks.

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0 Steps for Your Preparation

There are ten steps to the preparation for any Assessment or Development centre.
Assessment Centre Development Centre
1. Research organisational procedures, policies & 1. Review of your personnel file & appraisals.
mission statements.
2. Familiarise yourself with the organisation’s 2. Re-examine and refresh yourself with company
latest Annual Report. or organisational procedures, policies & mission
statements.
3. Conduct a SWOT on the organisation. 3. Familiarise yourself with latest Annual Report.
4. Research key competitors and their Annual 4. Conduct a SWOT on your organisation.
reports.
5. Review key competitors and their SWOTs. 5. Review key competitors and their SWOTs.
6. Understand how the role impacts on the 6. Understand how the new role impacts your
organisation’s success. organisation’s success.
7. Review press releases & their website. 7. Review press releases & their website.
8. Be aware of any new legislation that has an 8. Be aware of any new legislation that has an
impact on your Role. impact on your proposed Role.
9. Update your CV & Portfolio to reflect 9. Update your CV & Portfolio.

organisation’s culture.
10. Treat assessors with respect & as if you were 10. Treat assessors as if they’ve never met you
in the Role. before & as if you were in the Role.
The time you spend on each of these ten steps will vary according to your role. What
is important is that you are up-to-date on each point and understand how your role
may have evolved over time and its importance within the organisational structure and
culture.

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. Review of your personnel file & appraisals

In reviewing your personnel file you will be able to get some idea of what your potential
new boss may see as your strengths and weaknesses. It is also a useful reminder for
you of possible incidents that may be focused on during the assessment centre that
have been forgotten. Remember your new boss will use your personnel file in the same
way a potential external employer will use your CV or resume, that is to make an initial
assessment of your capabilities. If they feel there is a potential weakness they will want
to test this to ensure it has been resolved.
Once you have reviewed your personnel file as if you were your future boss. Look for
areas marked out as needing training and look for ways in which this need has been
met and refer to the training or experience you have received. Remember this can take
a variety of forms:
• Personal reading,
• Mentoring,
• On-the-job training,
• Shadowing and
• Formal courses.
It is important that you show how you have personally grown and risen to any challenges
referred to in your personnel file.
Look at the career aspirations you have expressed in the past and be prepared to
justify your current choice of promotion if it is different to what you have said before.
Also look for any opportunities to illustrate your own continued personal development
(CPD). Remember it can include achievements in your social and personal life which
can equally illustrate a required KSA.
. Research or re-examine organisational procedures, policies and

mission statements
It is especially important to re-examine all relevant organisational policies and procedures.
This will ensure that you are totally up-to-date with the requirements of your new post.
You may even decide to suggest ways certain procedures could be updated to add
efficiency or cost savings. This could refer to cross-departmental operations and how a
particular procedure doesn’t take differing needs into account.

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Where you are seeking to join a new organisation you will need to analyse the Annual
Report to gain a few of the most important aspects of how they operate. You can gain
a considerable understanding of how an organisation operates by understanding the
skills and expertise of each of the board members.
For example, is the call centre management under the responsibility of the ‘Human
Resources’ director so it is seen more as a resource or is it under the ‘Customer
Services Director’ where it is viewed as a core service rather than merely another of the
companies resources?
Although mission statements are on the whole static, sometimes key words are altered
to reflect changes in the market or to add clarification to the statement. Being conscious
of these often-subtle changes will give you an opportunity to show you are aware of
how your organisation is responding to external forces.
For example, an organisation might alter their mission statement to refer to ‘sustainability’
rather than ‘quality of life’. This shows that the organisation is now actively concerning
itself with the long-term environmental impact of its product or services, whereas this
may have been seen as less important in the past.
. Familiarise yourself with latest Annual Report

The annual report is an excellent source of information on any organisation, especially
for strategic level positions. You will be able to read about the 5-year business plans
that the organisation or company has and what areas it sees as key to its success.
You can then compare this to your job description and tease out how this fits into
the organisation’s long-term vision. You will then be able to refer to this during your
assessment centre exercises.
Useful statistics and market sector facts can be gleaned from the report and readily
brought into many of the exercises. This will be especially useful during such exercises
as Media Interview, In-Tray exercise and Critical Incident.
Depending on the topic of other exercises, for example, role-play, you may be able to
make reference to the annual report facts in this activity and show a key KSA to the
assessors. If you are working in a very short window of time make sure you read at

Assessment Centre
least the ‘Chairman’s report’ as this will provide key indicators as to the organisation
priorities. It will also give you a suggestion of how important the role of shareholders or
stakeholders is to your organisation.
You don’t need to be able to understand all the figures of the balance sheet in depth.
But they will provide you with an overview of the organisation’s financial situation and
it may highlight financial issues between divisions of the organisation. If this is the case
and it allows you to demonstrate a required KSA then you could refer to this knowledge
in the appropriate exercise.
. Conduct a SWOT on your organisation

A SWOT (Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities & Threats) analysis will give you some
clear indicators of how and why the organisation is a success. The degree of detail you
are able to go into will depend on the amount of time that you have available. It will also
reflect whether or not you are working on your short-term or long-term preparation.
Such an analysis will also help you to identify possible future opportunities and potential
risks to the organisation’s future. Scanning through the annual report will help you identify
many of these areas and to create notes to help in your preparation.
Once you have a list of notes under each heading you can then extrapolate from these
how your new role will contribute to each of them. Depending on the nature of your
role it may not have an impact in all areas, but where it does it will demonstrate to
the assessors you are aware of these areas, which will gain you valuable marks. It
shows them that you have a fuller understanding of your role and its impact within the
organisation than other candidates who have not prepared in this way.
. Research or review key competitors/partners and their SWOT’s

An understanding of your major competitors/partners will demonstrate that you see your
role as part of the whole organisation rather than in isolation. You should be aware that
even if you are applying for a job in the public sector, the increasing use of outsourcing
and public/private sector cooperation means that a knowledge of whom the potential
private sector partners are, and their strengths and weaknesses, will be invaluable.
Wherever possible you should bring competitor/partner facts and figures into your
discussions during the exercises as this will enable you to demonstrate more knowledge

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than others who have not prepared in this way or who don’t have your awareness of the
environment in which the organisation is operating.
Many markets today are extremely competitive and companies are frequently being
taken-over or re-branded. Do the best you can in the time you have available to research
these events. Your ability to recognise old names or new alliances will add to your
demonstrable knowledge. This applies as much in the public sector where there has
been a significant amount of creation, re-naming and amalgamation of government
departments.
. Understand how the new role impacts your organisation’s success

If the role has resulted from what appears to be a retirement or promotion of the previous
incumbent, then you should try to find out if the job specification has been altered. Any
additional responsibilities or changes to the job description will provide you with a useful
insight into how management priorities may have changed.
By comparing the old and the new job specification, you will be able to see which
competencies have gained in importance and what new ones are now considered
essential in the new role.
Where the organisation is new to you try to gain an appreciation of how your role fits into
the overall organisational picture. Read industry journals to gain a perception of how
your role operates in the competitors’ organisations and the importance they place on
this type of Role. This will help you assess how your role impacts on the SWOT of your
organisation—e.g. your role does not exist in the competitors as they operate in more
traditional ways. This could mean that your role is key to the innovative approach your
organisation is taking.
. Review Press Releases & their Website

Press releases and websites are some of the most valuable resources available to
you. They will give you a thorough insight into the organisation’s ethos and values. In
particular, press releases allow you to understand the key messages an organisation
wishes its stakeholders to receive. Press releases can also be revealing if you view them
over a period of time as they reflect the changes in what the organisation considers to
be important.

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Most organisations have what is known as ‘Notes to Editors’, which appears at the
end of every press release. These notes are intended to promote key facts and figures
about the organisation and often describe its growth. They also focus on the single
most important message that the organisation wishes to promote through its PR
campaigns.
This single message will provide you with a clear indication of the perception the
organisation has of itself. In the interview or the exercises, you should try to illustrate
this knowledge and how it impacts on your role.
Many companies also list the publications they have sent a press release to, which will
give you an insight into its key market sectors. It will also show you, which markets they
are hoping to break into and you may be able to show how your new role will assist or
can be adapted to suit this growth.
Websites provide a lot of information on an organisation’s customer base or those to

which it provides a service. You will be able to get a feel for the type of customers your
organisation services. Visiting the customers’ web sites and analysing their business or
service priorities can expand on this view. In this way you will be able to illustrate your
customer base knowledge during your exercises at the assessment centre.
After you’ve completed your thorough exploration of the website you will have gained
considerable knowledge of the focus and priorities of the organisation. This may also
provide you with opportunities to show how you would change or amend policies and
procedures to better meet these priorities. It may also give you ideas and suggestions
of how the website itself could be improved as part of their marketing communications
activities to achieve a company objective.
. Be aware of any new legislation that has an impact on the role

In today’s increasingly complex environment many organisations face legal controls
of their activities. They could also be required to demonstrate how they have been
compliant with such laws.

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For example,
The insurance industry has to show how every communication with customers or
prospects conforms to the laws that govern their industry.
If your new role involved you in the production of any type of insurance literature
you would have to have a very clear understanding of:
• What you were required to do by law,

• How you had to demonstrate your compliance with the law, and
• Which other departments need to be involved in the process.
So, even if you felt that you knew everything it is always worth investigating any proposed
alterations in the legislative pipeline, and any possible international issues, both current
and potential that could have an impact on your role.
Also, by scanning and searching the websites and recent press coverage of the industry's
regulatory bodies will ensure that you have all the up-to-date information of your roles
requirements. This enables you to show the assessors your detailed knowledge of the
market sector and to stand out from the other participants.
. Update your CV & Portfolio

With every career or promotional opportunity you should review and update your CV.
This will give you the opportunity to alter phrases and wording on your CV so that they
are more suitable for the position or industry sector you are applying for.
You may also want to add more details about certain activities you have been involved
in which clearly illustrate the requirements of the job. This is extremely important when
applying in-house for a job as the management of the new department may not have
thorough knowledge of your responsibilities or activities and your CV is one of the ways
you can communicate this.
For example, you may have been involved in organising an exhibition, which included
a customer entertainment event. Previously, your CV may have described only the
organisational element of the exhibition, however, the new role involves a greater
customer element so you would alter the wording of your CV to reflect this.

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The original sentence may have said:
Responsible for the promotion and organisation of the company’s exhibition

presence at the key annual industry conference in Europe. From the design concept
through to post-event lead management.
So you alter the original sentence to reflect your behaviours and competencies in
connection with the customer aspect of your new role.
Introduced and managed the company’s first Customer Hospitality and Sponsorship
activities in addition to their exhibition presence at the main annual industry
conference in Europe; involving our top 10 customers.
By altering this sentence you can see the different impressions anyone reading it would
get of you and the type of competencies you possess. Both sentences accurately
describe your capabilities and activities, but what you have been able to do is tailor
your description of these to display the appropriate competencies and maximise your
suitability for the job.
It also enables you to portray an accurate picture of your skills and abilities to others
within your organisation. This is vital, as many organisational departments do not have
a clear view of what other departments actually do. This means that other departments
may make invalid assumptions, so that without a fuller description of your skills and
knowledge in your CV you will limit your chances of success.
As part of this review of your CV you should create, if you haven’t already got one, a
‘Portfolio’. Simply this is a collection of items of your work that you can use as props
to help you during a verbal presentation or interview. It also enables you to use these
items to illustrate how you have developed your competencies and the competencies
(Knowledge, Skills & Attitudes) to meet the requirements of the job you hope to be
offered.
When collecting these items it is essential that you ensure that you don’t include
anything that will break confidentiality. You may need to neutralise certain items
before you can use them by removing specific company information, a person’s details,
logo’s or sensitive data etc.

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The type of items you can include will vary depending on your work experience. Further
details on what to include in your Portfolio and how it can be used during your assessment
centre day and any interviewing process are discussed later on in this eBook.
0. Treat Assessors as if they’ve never met you before & as if you were in
the Role
Your assessors may already have an impression of your capabilities. What you must do
is show them that you possess all of the behaviours and competencies that the position
requires. So it is even more important to remember to demonstrate on the day (or days);
‘if you know it, you have to show it’, to those watching you.
Your Assessor can ONLY describe or write down those competencies you exhibit during
an exercise. Even if they know you possess a particular competency, they can’t include
it on the marking sheet if you don’t illustrate it.
This situation often occurs for internal candidates. They neglect to familiarise themselves
during their preparation with the latest internal policies, procedures and interpretation
of the mission statement, assuming there’s no need. So during the exercises they don’t
bother to point out or utilise such obvious information as they think the assessors know
that they already know it.
What they are ignorant of is that without saying or demonstrating these things they are
lowering their final mark. This is a crazy thing to do when every point helps to make you
stand out from the other candidates.
By preparing fully and thoroughly so that you have a clear understanding of what is
required you will increase the opportunities you have during the exercises to illustrate
what you know and how that will be reflected in your performance in the new role.

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How to attain the Role’s key Competencies

The amount of time you have to prepare for your assessment centre will vary from a few
days to several weeks, or possibly months. However long you have, you must make
sure that your preparation is focused on those areas that will increase your score the
most.
At an early stage of the recruitment process the personnel or Human Resources

department will have written a job description or job specification in conjunction with
the director or head of department. This description will outline what is expected of the
successful candidate. This specification what you will use to develop the competencies
and behaviours you need to exhibit during your assessment centre activities.
If your assessment centre is using video recordings then you must include this in your
preparation. This will then become familiar to you and you’ll be able to give a quality
performance and maximise your score.
Many organisations like to use multiple assessors, (minimum of three) as part of the
process and they will all be at least one level above the position you are a candidate for.
In these exercises the panel will usually be made up of diverse individuals and some
may be external to the organisation or department. So you will need to be mindful of
assessors who may have different priorities and adapt your behaviours accordingly. You
may be given information in advance about the make-up of the panel, but this is not
usually the case.
Much of what you require for the task of defining the key attributes and competencies
will be readily available to you. It will either:
• Be sent with your letter inviting you to the assessment centre, or

• Be accessible on-line.
You need to work through the following ten questions in order to gauge how well your
competencies match those of the Role and how with the time available you can improve
on this.

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Your initial questions should be:
1. What is the length of the assessment centre?

2. How is the day structured?
3. Is there a dress code for the day?
4. Type of exercises you will participate in on the day?
5. What time has been allocated to each exercise?
6. Are you able to bring in any aids? If yes do they provide a list?
7. Number and type of assessors you will be observed by?
8. How and when will you receive feedback?
9. What is the job description?
10. Do you have an understanding of the organisation's mission statement?
By the time you have the answers to these ten questions you have formed the foundation
of your preparation plan. Now you need to assess how well your competencies match
those of the Role so that you can formulate a plan of how to improve your correlation
with the Role. Once you have your plan you will then be able to work out a schedule of
what and how you can best prepare yourself for the assessment centre day.
From this list of ten questions you will quickly see that from the information you have
received regarding your assessment centre day provides many of the answers straight
away. As we work through each of these questions we will illustrate how you can get an
answer to each question. Not all of these questions will have a full answer but we will
guide you as to how you can obtain the best answer possible for you.
Your first action will be to read your invite letter thoroughly and extract all the important
information from it. This should give you a clear idea of how the day is structured. The
sort of questions you should be thinking of asking are similar to those listed below.
• List of exercises & their length (if not supplied).

• Do you need additional information to perform a task (e.g. Career
Presentation).
• What Aids you can bring on the day—pens, paper, own notes, laptop, food,
drink etc
• Is there a dress code for the day?
• Will any exercises require a change of clothes (e.g. An outdoor group exercise)
• Will your exercises by viewed by assessors real-time, or will they be recorded?

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The best way to do this is via email as this gives your contact in the organisation sufficient
time to get you the answers you need as well as giving you a record of what has been
said.
The following pages show three examples, which demonstrate how to obtain as much
useful information as possible from the initial documentation - Invitation Letter, Agenda,
and Job Specification. The examples are for:
• An Administrative Role
• A Management Role
• A Strategic Role
By reading each of these documents thoroughly you will be guided in how you can get
your answers. The responses provided help to guide you as to the possible scenarios
you could come across.
You will be able to see how much information is given, what considerations you should
give to that information and in which areas you require further details or clarification.
Also you can gain a full appreciation of the likely competencies and KSA requirements
that the exercises will require you to exhibit by thoroughly reviewing the details of the
job specification.

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Administrative Role Documents
Invite Letter
Ms G Jones
3 Acacia Avenue
Little Compton
Cardiff
XX99 9ZY
Date as postmark
Dear Ms Jones,
Assessment Centre for Customer Administrator: Reference ZX093
We are pleased to invite you to attend our assessment centre day as the initial stage of
our interviewing process, which will take place at Reception, High Street, Ridge Offices in
Coventry on Wednesday 23rd April.
Registration and morning refreshments are at 8.30am in the Reception area. You’ll be
welcomed to your day and given an explanation of how it will work before starting your first
exercise at 9am. An agenda for the day is attached for your information. You have an hour
and a half in which to have your lunch.
You will be part of a small group of candidates taking part in a number of exercises.
We look forward to meeting you on Wednesday 23rd April. Please email us at
personnel@ridge.gov or call Tom or myself on 020 7890 5432 if you have any
queries.
Yours sincerely
Mrs Mary Stuart

Personnel Executive

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Agenda for Customer Administrator:
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08.30 Registration & Refreshments Reception
08.45 Welcome & Introduction Meeting Room 1
09.00 First Exercise – 20 mins Room A
09.30 Role-play – 20 mins Room B
10.00 Coffee & Cakes Meeting Room 1
10.30 Second Exercise – 20 mins Room E
11.00 Third Exercise – 20 mins Room C
11.30 Fourth Exercise

Exercise – 30 mins Room D
Justification – 20min
12.30 Lunch
14.00 Interview – 45 mins Room A
14.45 Tea & Biscuits Meeting Room 1
15.00 Feedback – 20 mins Room A

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Job Specification Customer Administrator: Reference ZX093
Department: Customer Services Grade: H (reviewed July)

Location: Castle Ridge Date: 6th April
Key Relationships: Key Contacts:

Reports to: Customer Services Manager Internal: Customer Services, Contact Centre,
Supervisor to: None Production, Delivery and Finance departments and
management.
External: Customers, suppliers and trading partners.
Main Objectives of Role:
The role is primarily concerned with dealing with the Council’s customer’s face-to-face and you
will be expected to:
• Be professional in your manner and attitude at all times.

• Provide efficient administrative services to your internal and external contacts.
• Be capable of working on your own in the absence of your supervisor and provide
information and assistance to all your contacts.
• Listen and empathise with your contacts to establish their requirements.
• Ensure a close working relationship with your team to maintain council standards.
• Your supervisor may require that you work from another council location within a
reasonable distance.
Each application will be assessed against the role objectives and person specification. Each
applicant will be judged by their ability to perform the tasks in order of their importance. Our
selection panel will short list applicants to be invited to our assessment day on how closely they
meet the role requirements.
All our employees must:
• Comply with the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policy when undertaking their duties.
• Conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times.
• Commit to their own continuous personal development.
• Participate in the Council’s appraisal and supervisory processes.
• Adhere to all Council policies and procedures as outlined on the intranet.
• Comply at all times with legislation on the promotion of equal opportunities and health and
safety.

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Person Specification:
This specification describes the key knowledge, skills and characteristics required to perform this
role. The required qualifications and experience are also detailed. These criteria are used during the
recruiting process to establish how selections are made.
The importance of criteria is shown by:

Bold is essential,
Normal text is preferable,
Italics may be developed in your probationary period.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Method Of
Attributes Role Requirements
Assessment
Administrative skills gained from working in a customer
orientated office environment. Application Form
Experience Working within a customer services area. Interview
Collating, processing and monitoring customer data Role-play
experience.
‘O’ level, GCSE or equivalent in English language &
Mathematics. Certificates, or
Qualifications Course
Competency in IT skills and use of windows packages.
Attendance
Knowledge of Access database.
Candidate needs to demonstrate their ability to travel between
Valid
Driving different work locations if the role requires it. This can be by
Full Licence
driving, or by using another means of transport.
Excellent verbal and written communications skills in
English is required. Tests
Language
Presentation
Requirements Fluent English for face-to-face communication and Interview
listening.
Excellent keyboard skills
Working knowledge of MS Outlook – email & calendar.
Competent is the use of Word documents, Excel spreadsheets
Tests
I.T. Skills and Windows Explorer.
Group Exercise
Ability to use an Access database and PowerPoint.
Knowledge of how to research using the Internet and an
intranet.

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PERSON SPECIFICATION
Method Of
Attributes Role Requirements
Assessment
Comfortable as a team player, as well as willingness to
work alone.
Be a good listener and an effective communicator. Tests
Personal
Participate in training and developmental activities. Group Exercise
Characteristics
Flexible in their approach to work and willingness to travel Role Play
between sites.
Shares the beliefs and values of the Council.
Work as an effective member of the Customer Services
team, and under their own initiative.
Excellent communication skills with a wide variety of
internal and external customers.
Appreciate the importance of confidentiality.
Demonstrate the ability to work in a methodical way and
successful management of all aspects of an administrative
process.
Manage an administrative system using both I.T. and manual Tests
systems. Group Exercise
Key Skills
Understand the principles of managing an effective Role-play
administrative system.
Have good verbal and written literacy skills.
Be familiar with the collection, collation and analysis of
customer data. Be able to produce statistical results from this
data.
Ability to operate a wide variety of office machinery - scanner,
copier, fax etc.
Demonstrate knowledge of using the internet and an intranet
within an administrative capacity.

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Administrative Role Question & Answers
What is the length of the Assessment Centre?

You can see from the letter and the agenda that it is only one day. There’s an early start
so you may want to go down the night before if you live a long way from Coventry. It is
best to aim to arrive at least 30 minutes before the registration.
This is really important, as it would look poorly if you arrived late because of traffic. Also
you would not be in a relaxed frame of mind and ready for the exercises so therefore
unable to achieve your best score.
How is the day structured?

In your letter it clearly states that you will be given instructions about how the day will be
structured, but if you want to know more you can always call and ask Mary Stuart. One
thing that is not immediately evident is whether or not you have lunch provided? Nor is
it clear from the letter as to whether or not you can get food at their offices.
By calling and asking Mary Stuart these questions you would be able to establish if their
offices had canteen facilities or not. If there were no food facilities at the location you
could find out how close somewhere to eat or buy a snack was. This may be particularly
important if you are using public transport to get to the interview as may not be able to
afford a 10-15 minute walk, so you may choose to take your own lunch.
Is there a dress code for the day?

No dress code is given and all exercises take place in meeting rooms so it would be
safe to assume that smart dress is appropriate. If you have sufficient time it would be
advisable to visit the offices and see the type of clothing being worn by the customer
services staff on the front desk and to match your attire to theirs.
That is to say if they are in a uniform that is comparable to a smart suit then wear
something similar. It would not be wise to arrive in casual wear or even smart casual
clothes for this interview.
If you have any doubts or worries about what to wear add this question to any others
you may have for when you call Mary Stuart.

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Whilst dress code may sound like a trivial matter, you should ask yourself how you
would feel if you were the only candidate who appeared in casual attire if everyone
else was wearing a suit or vice-versa. Most people would feel distinctly uncomfortable
throughout the day and this would almost certainly affect their performance in the
Assessment centre exercises.
Types of exercises you will participate in on the day?

The majority are quite short exercises and could include some psychometric tests such
as, numerical, verbal and abstract reasoning tests. This is likely because the person
specification states that it ‘is essential’ that the candidate has an ‘O’ Level, GSCE or
equivalent qualifications in English language and Mathematics.
It is probable that one or more of these tests may involve using a computer e.g.
during a numerical test or the 4th exercise as these skills are ‘preferable’ in the Person
Specification. If you have any course or qualification certificates you should take them
along any as these have been stated in the specification as a method of assessment.
Finally the role-play exercise is quite important in the overall assessment because ‘fluent
conversational English’ is also detailed as essential in the specification. So it is evident
that this exercise will test your fluency and communication skills.
Once again if you have time before your Assessment centre day you may want to pose
as a customer at the Ridge Office, or an equivalent office, to see the type of queries
and problems that the customer services team experience. This will then equip you
with a very good basis of the type of scenarios that may be played out in the role-play
exercise.
The agenda gives you a time and length of your interview, but it doesn’t mention whether
it is a one-to-one interview or a panel interview. This is the sort of question you can ask
when you call Mary Stuart.
You should always take your own pad of paper along to an interview. You can then have
some of your own prepared questions listed on the front pages which you can refer to
when asked if you have any questions. This will prevent you from going blank when
asked this simple question!

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You could also take in a small ‘Portfolio folder’ which can contain any items or illustrations
of your computer or administrative skills. For example, a spreadsheet that you have
introduced into previous organisation.
You can also use the Job Specification to provide you with useful information on key
attributes and competencies, which is discussed later on.
What time has been allocated to each exercise?

The agenda shows the allotted time for each exercise and this provides a clear
expectation that you will be asked to do a verbal and numerical reasoning test. You may
also be asked to do an abstract reasoning test. But with the emphasis on IT skills, an
exercise that combines both of these skills is likely.
Because of the format of the fourth exercise (30 minutes for the exercise, followed by a
20 minute justification of what you’ve done) it is probable that this will be a form of ‘In-
tray’ exercise with the emphasis on administration.
When answering this type of question, you will need to demonstrate the ethos and
mission of the council. So this would be an excellent opportunity to show the knowledge
you have gleaned from your research.
This type of exercise will be usually assess your attention to detail—e.g. dates, names
& spelling—and your ability to select what is important and to allocate priorities to the
various items. This is further supported by the fourth essential skill within the ‘Keys
Skills’ section of the person specification, which requires you to work in a ‘methodical
way’ and have experience of ‘all aspects of an administrative process’.
What is important in this type of exercise is not what you actually did, but your reasoning
for what you did within the scenario you have been asked to work in for this exercise.
Remember, there is a 20-minute ‘justification’ period as part of this exercise. If you can
bring in Council values and beliefs into your reasoning your scores will increase.

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Are you able to bring in any aids? If yes do they provide a list?
The letter gives no mention of you requiring or needing any aids during the exercises. It
is always best to clarify this, so adding this to the list of questions you want to ask Mary
Stuart would be a good idea.
It is always advisable to have several pens, pencils, calculator and highlighters in your
bag or briefcase as you may find these useful when performing certain exercises. For
example a highlighter pen will help you identify key information within the in-tray
items.
Number and type of Assessors you will be observed by?

The letter gives no mention of the assessors to be used, but it does say that Mary
Stuart and Tom Black will answer any queries you have. This would be another
item to ask in your email or call. Don’t forget to ask whether or not any assessors
external to the organisation are being used and if so then ask what their
background is.
You may be told that that is confidential in which case there is nothing you can
do other than be aware that it could be an elected Councillor or someone similar. If
they do specify this then make sure that you think about their expectations of the
Customer Administrator role.
How and when will you receive feedback?

In this instance the feedback is clearly shown as being at the end of the day.
Use this opportunity whether or not you are the successful candidate, to ask
about your performance and how it could be improved.
At the end of the feedback session you need to have a clear understanding of why
the successful candidate was selected, how you differed from this person and
what made them stand out from the other candidates.

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What is the job description?

The main objectives of the Customer Administrator’s role are clearly outlined in the Job
Specification. Frequently they are listed in their order of importance, which provides you
with the essential competencies of the job. Your initial preparation should be to quickly
note down how you meet each of these objectives within the job specification and the
person specification.
Remember this doesn’t have to just be through your work experience. You can use
competencies you have acquired in your personal life to illustrate your capabilities
for the post. This is also true when you are working through the details in the person
specification.
This initial run through of the role requirements will quickly identify the roles competencies,
behaviours and Competencies (Knowledge, Skills & Attitudes) allowing you to see how
well you match them.
Do you have an understanding of the organisation’s mission statement?

This is not included in your initial communication, although the organisation’s expectations
of each of its employee’s are clearly identified. You will need to visit the Council’s website
to gain a full understanding of their mission statement and to appreciate their values
and beliefs.

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Management Role Documents
Invite Letter
Mr A Brown
22 Fullers Green
Ashington
ZZ09 1QQ
Date as postmark
Dear Mr Brown,
Assessment Centre for Project Manager: Reference YX0113
We are pleased to invite you to attend our assessment centre day as the initial stage of
our interviewing process, which will take place at The Orangey, Queens Hotel in Coventry
on Monday 3rd March. Registration and morning refreshments are at 8.00am in the side
reception area next to the Orangery.
You will be part of a small group of candidates taking part in a number of individual and group
exercises.
At 8.30am you’ll be welcomed and given an introduction to the assessment centre before
starting your first exercise at 9am. An agenda for the day is attached for your information
and a buffet lunch will be provided (please let us know if you have any special dietary
needs).
As part of your assessment centre day we will ask you to give a 20-minute presentation to
the panel of assessors. The title of this presentation will be ‘My Perfect Project’. There will
be a flip chart, whiteboard, projector and PC connection provided in the room. This
exercise includes a ten minute question and answer session.
We look forward to meeting you on Monday 3rd March. Please email me at ann.dale@abc.
com or call me on 020 7781 6654 if you have any queries.
Yours sincerely
Ms Ann Dale
H.R. Manager

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Agenda for Project Manager,
Assessment Centre
08.00 Registration & Refreshments Reception
08.30 Welcome & Introduction The Orangery
09.00 First Exercise – 20 mins Room 1
09.30 Role-play– 20 mins Room 2
10.00 Coffee & Cakes The Orangery
10.30 Group Exercise – 45 mins Dance Studio
11.30 Second Exercise – Exercise (30 mins) Room 3

& Justification (15mins)
12.30 Presentation – 20 mins The Orangery
13.00 Lunch Carvery Restaurant
14.30 Third Exercise – 20 mins Room 4
15.00 Fourth Exercise – 20 mins Room 5
15.30 Interview – 50 mins Lady Jane Suite
16.30 Tea& Biscuits The Orangery
17.00 Feedback – 20-30 mins Room 1

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Job Specification Project Manager: Reference YX0113
Department: Project Manager Salary: £25-45,000 (dependent on skills & experience)

Location: Mountford Date: 16th February
Business Areas: Technical Services
The Position:
Technical Services division has vacancies for project management professionals who have specialist
knowledge of the engineering arena – mechanical & nautical. The position will be based at our
Mountford site, which works closely with other related teams from the Runcorn, Bletchley, Kildare and
Cardiff sites.
The majority of the customers are based in the private sector with a few specialised Government
contracts mainly with the Royal Navy. From our Mountford site we offer our customers a comprehensive
technical consultancy and project management, including solution recommendation, design, project
implementation and technical assessments.
Experience:
The successful candidates must be able to demonstrate reasonable experience at managing and
monitoring projects, both national and international. They must have the necessary skills to lead and
manage a multi-disciplined team made up from within the organisation’s divisions and consultants.
Expertise in running a number of projects of varying complexity will be advantageous. Our smallest
projects have a budget of £50,000 up to £20 million. Each application will be assessed against the role
objectives and person specification. Each applicant will be judged by their ability to perform the tasks in
order of their importance. Our selection panel will short list applicants to be invited to our assessment
day according to how closely they meet the role requirements.
Responsibilities
You will be responsible for:
• Management of the contract and Customer expectations.
• The management of multi-disciplined technical projects.
• Developing long-term working relationships with Customers.
• Meeting project milestones and budget requirements.
• Compilation of all risk assessment and safety procedures.
• Assisting with the production of business proposals and bids as part of the ongoing business growth.
Personal Specification:
This successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:
• Proven record of delivering projects on time and to budget.
• Strong project management background.
• Excellent inter-personal and conflict management skills.
• Sound knowledge of single and multi-contract management.
• Leadership qualities and good team motivation skills
• Good knowledge of mechanical and nautical engineering and current risk assessment
requirements.
• Knowledge or experience of national and international projects.

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Management Role Questions & Answers

It is quite clear from your letter that it is only one day, but a very full one with an early start.
So depending how far away you are from Coventry will influence whether or not you
stay over-night the day before. It is vital that you arrive fresh and ready for a challenging
day to your assessment centre. You do not want the stress and worry of being held up
in traffic or delayed by a train. So it is important to plan ahead and ensure that you arrive
at the Hotel by 7.30am on the day and give yourself some time to familiarise yourself
with the surroundings and prepare yourself for the challenges of the day.
As the assessment centre is at a Hotel you may want to book the night before into the
hotel, especially as the assessment centre day is on a Monday and traffic is always
heaviest at the start and end of the week.
Staying at the venue provides you with plenty of time to become familiar with the layout
of the Hotel and to get a feel for where you will be performing your exercises the next
day. You will also be able to see how far apart each room is so that you know how long
it takes to get from one place to another.

The day is very full and you will have little time to regenerate your batteries during the
day and that is why arriving fresh is so important, you have a long and arduous day
ahead of you. Any additional instructions you require are clearly going to be provided
on the day in the ‘Welcome & Introduction’.
Arrangements for lunch are outlined in your letter and you will need to get back to Ann
Dale if you have any special dietary needs. You may want to ask if everyone is eating
together or at different times. This will give you an idea as to whether or not this is another
chance for the Assessors to see how you behave in an informal social atmosphere. If
you are in any doubt then you should assume that it is also a time when you will be
assessed on your general manners and sociability, as if you were entertaining clients.
As you have several exercises between breaks you may want to take a bottle of water
with you as some exercises will involve you doing a lot of talking. You may also want to

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have some high energy snacks in your briefcase that you can eat discreetly between
exercises. It is important that you remain as fresh as possible so you can give your best
for each exercise.

There has been no specific dress code detailed but the group exercise taking place in
the Dance Studio provides a good reason to ask. It is also apparent from the agenda
that you have a 15 minute gap between the 45 minutes groups exercise and your next
exercise; can this be used for changing?
It is an important question to ask of Ann Dale. You don’t want to be in your suit trying
to build a human tower or creating one from articles in the room! It is always best to
assume that smart casual is the best option for your day. If you are worried make sure
you have a change of clothes with you or at least a clean shirt for the afternoon so that
you’ll feel fresh for the second part of the day.
Type of exercises you will participate in on the day?

Before you read the agenda it is clearly stated that you have to do a presentation and
that your topic has been set in your letter, ‘My Perfect Project’ so it is vital that you
prepare well for this exercise. You must maintain your audience’s interest and keep to
the time allocated to you.
You must do your best to bring in your knowledge of the organisation into your
presentation and give as many illustrations of why you are the best candidate for the
job. Your letter also states that you will be presenting to a panel of assessors so make
sure you get plenty of practice presenting to groups.
You may also want to call and ask Ann Dale how many people are on the panel and
if they are all internal or external to the organisation. Depending on the answer you
receive it may play a significant part in how you structure your presentation so that it is
of interest and easily understood by a mixed audience.
From the details of the letter you can see that you have a wide variety of media you can
use during your presentation. What you choose to use will depend on what you feel
most comfortable with and which media best suits the message you want to get across.

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But as a guide it is important that you use at least two forms, so that you are able to
illustrate a variety of presentation skills.
One point you must clarify with Ann Dale is, does the 10 minutes question and answer
session form part of the 20 minutes allocated for this exercise or is it on top of the 20
minute presentation. The information that has been supplied is ambiguous and it would
be disastrous to prepare a presentation that was either ten minutes too long or ten
minutes too short. This is a good example of why it is essential to read very carefully
the information you are sent and to be absolutely certain that you understand what is
expected of you.
If you are using your laptop for the presentation, then don’t forget to have an electronic
and hard copy backup just in case something goes wrong. Technical problems do occur
and the assessment centre schedule is very tight, so you won’t have the spare time to
fix them. It also shows good planning skills if you can move seamlessly to a contingency
plan.
The agenda clearly states that you will have a role-play to undertake. It is likely that
this will be in front of one or more observers as you’ve already been told there is a
panel of Assessors for the presentation. By looking at what is most important in the Job
Specification it may give you clues as to the emphasis any scenario could take.
In this example it could be something along the lines of:
You run into problems with the contract and the role-play focuses on how you’d
deal with this situation and what, if any, customer involvement resulted.
OR,
Your outside consultants and one of your teams seem to be at loggerheads with
each other and deadlines are beginning to slip significantly, the assessors would
be looking to see how would you deal with this situation and what would you tell
the customer?

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Obviously, you cannot know in advance exactly what the role-play exercise will
involve but it is usually possible to make some educated guesses by looking at the
job specification. You can then spend some time mentally rehearsing some of these
scenarios.
Following your coffee break you can see that you will be taking part in a ‘Group Exercise’
and that this is in the dance studio. This is an area that is worth asking some questions
of Ann Dale, i.e.
• What clothes are suitable to wear?

• What footwear is most appropriate?
• Does the 15 minutes before the next exercise give you sufficient time to change,
or is this being used for feedback?
• Is it physically challenging?
• If you have a disability how will this be catered for?
What is referred to as 'Second Exercise' is likely to be an 'In-tray' or 'Scenario' exercise.

This is because you have a15 minute justification period following the exercise itself.
This is when you have the opportunity to explain you thought process behind you
actions and reasons for the priorities you have given. This latter part of the exercise may
be Assessor led or they may ask you to lead with your own feedback.
Whichever method of justification it is, you may want to add a small number at the
top corner of each item in the in-tray, or scribble a little note on your pad or notebook,
with a number beside it during the scenario. The number you assign denotes the level
of priority you gave that item. You may prefer to use different coloured highlighters to
signify the importance and another for its priority.
In this way during your justification you provide yourself with a quick and simple tool
by which you can easily recall items and give your explanation in order of priority of
the items you were given. If you don't get the chance to explain all your actions to the
Assessors you have at least had the opportunity to explain those of greatest importance
first.

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The numbers also show them how and why you've done what you've done. If you have
also been allowed to make your own notes either on the items or on separate paper the
Assessors will gain additional understanding of your decision making process.
Your Interview is your very last exercise of the day and gives you an opportunity to
refer to any of the exercises you have undertaken and say how you feel the role-play,
in-tray or scenario exercises enabled you to illustrate your strengths and suitability for
the role.
On your own notepad have a pre-prepared list of questions that you can refer to. You
may feel that this is unnecessary, but it is very easy to ‘blank’ when you have just
completed a challenging day of exercises and you are suddenly asked if you have any
questions yourself.
Your other exercises are likely to include numerical, verbal and abstract reasoning
papers. As part of your preparation or the assessment centre you must ensure that the
skills needed for these tests are also practiced as often as possible. By being familiar
with the type of questions being asked you will greatly increase your final marks.

For each exercise the time allocated is clearly identified and the room it is going to take
place in. You can see that following each exercise you have around 10-15 minutes
between each to refresh yourself.
It is extremely important that you pay strict attention to the timing of each exercise for
two reasons. For two reasons:
1. It shows you are capable of being structured and able to draw a constructive
conclusion to an exercise.
2. You will gain the assessors respect through good time keeping as overrunning
candidates will create headaches for the assessors who will be unable to keep
to their own timetables.

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Are you able to bring in any aids? If yes do they provide a list?
Your letter provides you with a list of available aids you can use if required during your
presentation. From the list given—flip chart, whiteboard, projector and PC connections—
you can quickly select what you are happy to use. There will be ten minutes of question
opportunity by the panel following your presentation.
You may also want to ask Ann Dale if you can bring in certain items of your own.
• Your index cards to each exercise as memory joggers for you or do these cards
have to be left outside.
• Your portfolio of project management expertise, which you'd like to bring into
at least the interview and maybe the presentation to illustrate what you have
done on other successful projects. For example, your portfolio may include a
‘Users’ Newsletter’ you produced to keep them informed of project progress.
• Finally, you may want to create your own hand out to give to the assessors,
if the presentation topic provides an opportunity to demonstrate a specific
competency by using it. This can use details from your presentation and contain
key facts that illustrate you capability for the job and one of the competencies
detailed in the job specification.
This will make you stand out from the other candidates and maximise your score. Be
sure to keep the length and detail appropriate. For example, it could be two or three
forms which you would introduce as part of your project management approach, each
one could be accompanied by a brief explanation of the benefits it would bring to the
organisation.

You are told there is a panel of assessors for your presentation, but you are not given
exact numbers, or any precise details of the individuals, nor do you know if this panel
are used elsewhere. That is you are not sure if they are all part of the organisation or
whether some are external.
You could also ask how many assessors will be watching each exercise, as not all of
them will use a panel. You should add these to your list of queries for Ann Dale. Always
be conscious of the fact that you will only be told information available to all candidates,
you will not be given any information, which could give you an unfair advantage.

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This is not referred to anywhere in the letter or agenda so it is important to ask when
you’ll receive your feedback. You may be told this will all be outlined during the ‘Welcome
and Introduction or you may not. Whatever happens make sure it is down as one of your
questions to ask during your interview or any other appropriate time through-out the
day.
Most organisations will not leave the feedback to candidates more than a working week
as they are aware that the successful candidate will most likely have to serve a notice
period. They will also want to let the unsuccessful ones know that they can continue to
pursue their other opportunities.

It is clearly stated in the attached Job Specification what sort of qualities they require
in the successful candidate and which sites you are likely to work with and from. It
also details what experience is needed and a brief description of the area of work and
knowledge expected.
You can see from the details of the job specification that only applicants’ details that the
panel of a assessors felt closely matched this description were invited to the assessment
centre day. It also informs you that these skills and expertise were assessed by the
applicants ‘ability to perform the tasks in order of importance’.
This means that demonstrating your full array of competencies, and competencies is
essential to ensure that you stand out as the best-qualified candidate for the job.
By systematically working your way through these details you will be able to match
your own experience and qualifications against the specifications. This will give you the
competencies that the company requires for this project manager role. When looking at
all your experience, gained both at work and in your leisure pursuits, you will be able to
see how closely they match.

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From the details received there is very little detail about the organisation’s mission
statement. But you will be able to appreciate from the size of projects discussed that
you would be handling significant projects for this large and successful organisation,
which are mainly in the private sector.
You will need to do quite extensive research into the company’s history and recent
financial details. If you have sufficient time before your Assessment day you may be able
to request details of the latest company reports from the company itself or Companies
House.
A thorough investigation of their website is vital and many, if not all, of the organisation’s
values and beliefs will be evident there. Your research should give you a clear picture
as to how this technical services division fits into the company’s long-term plans and
other areas of the organisation. The more knowledge you can acquire, about how the
company operates, the better.

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Strategic Role Documents
Invite Letter
Mrs H Waters
Lavender Cottage
Little Alnwick
YY08 9YX
Date as postmark
Dear Mrs Waters,
Assessment Centre for Principal Consultant-Environment
Following our discussions with, Michael Pine of the Braithwaite Agency we are pleased to
invite you to attend our assessment centre. This will take place at Allen House, Connaught
Street, London SW1 3ED on 14th& 15th September.
A double room with Internet access has been booked for your over night stay at The Connaught
Hotel, five minutes walk from Allen House. Registration and morning refreshments will be
served at The Connaught Hotel from 9-10am where you will have the opportunity to book
into your room.
At 10am please go to the James Suite where you will be welcomed by Jason Wright and
given an explanation of the next two days activities. An agenda for the two days is attached
for your information. It is advisable that you bring your own laptop and any presentation aids
that you feel you may need along with you as limited supplies are provided for use during
the assessment centre.
Please inform me of any special and, or dietary requirements you may have during
your stay at the Connaught. Please email me at prose@allenassoc.com or call me on
020 8190 2502 if you have any queries.
I look forward to meeting you on Thursday 14th September.
Yours sincerely
Mr Paul Rose
Human Resources Director

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Agenda for:
Principal Consultant-Environment, Assessment Centre
Day One
09.00 Registration & Booking into room Connaught Hotel

10.00 Welcome & Introduction James Suite
10.30 First Exercise – 20 mins Room 1
11.00 Second Exercise – 20 mins Room 2
11.30 Coffee & Cakes James Suite
12.00 Group Scenario – 45 mins Richard Suite
13.00 Buffet Lunch & James Suite
change to Allen House
15.00 Group Scenario Presentations – 1.5 hrs Seminar Room
16.30 Group Exercise briefing Seminar Room
17.00 Group Exercise Preparation time
Connaught
20.00 Formal Dinner
Restaurant
Day Two
09.15 Welcome Seminar Room

09.30 Third Exercise – 20 mins Meeting Room 1
10.00 Fourth Exercise – 20 mins Meeting Room 2
10.30 Role-play– 20 mins Meeting Room 3
11.00 Coffee & Cakes Seminar Room
11.30 In-tray Exercise Meeting Room 1
Exercise – 45 mins
Justification - 30mins
12.50 Media interview – 30 mins Audio Room
13.30 Lunch Restaurant
15.00 Group Exercise Presentations – 1.5 hrs Seminar Room
16.30 Tea& Biscuits Seminar Room
17.00 Feedback – 20-30 mins Meeting Room 1

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Job Specification Principal Consultant-Environment
Department: Principal Consultant Environment Director: £150-200k (dependent on relevant

qualifications & experience)
Location: London Date: 5th September
Role Description:
The role is one of leadership and business development in the environment area, with particular
emphasis on re-cycling. The company provides a wide range of services in waste management
– disposal, storage, recycling and management of contaminated land. Our IT systems are designed to
assist our customers develop and optimise their waste management strategies.
The role is based at our head office in London and you will be responsible for the development
and management of our laboratory services in Gloucester, Durham, Bilbao and Munich. Knowledge
of UK and EC legislation and regulations on waste management is essential. The role offers you
business development opportunities both in the UK and Europe and the chance to contribute technical
developments in waste management.
Experience:
Business development experience and sound technical leadership skills are an essential part of the role
and the successful candidates must be able to demonstrate these attributes. Knowledge of working
with sub-contractors (Commercial & University laboratories) as part of project delivery throughout
Europe is also beneficial. Experience within the field of waste management research is desirable as
this is seen as a key area of business growth.
You must be able to clearly illustrate your expertise in international project management, with particular
emphasis on European contracts within a multi-lingual and multi-disciplined team environment. You will
have at least 4-6 key ongoing projects at any one time, with budgets from £15 million to £1 billion. Each
candidate will be judged on their ability to perform the role and knowledge of waste management.
Responsibilities:
You will be responsible for:
• Design, implementation and delivery of all waste management contracts in Europe.
• International and National contract management.
• Managing several multi-disciplined projects and/or research teams.
• Maintaining profitability of business unit in line with 5-year business plan.
• Promotion and management of the companies press relationships in waste management.
• Development of new business growth according to your annual targets.
Personal Specification:
This successful candidate should be able to demonstrate:
• First class degree in one of the sciences or equivalent qualification or discipline.
• Proven track record in waste management, both in a project and research based environment.
• Evidence of successful delivery of research programmes.
• Experience of bid management and proposal process.
• Excellent inter-personal and conflict management skills.
• Excellent literacy, numerical, technical and computer skills
• Creativity and adaptability.
• Proven track record in a customer orientated environment.
• Proven qualities in leadership, development and motivation of employees.

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Strategic Role Questions & Answers

Your letter and agenda clearly states that the assessment centre will run for two days.
You have been selected by the organisation following your interviews with their agency
Michael Pine of the Braithwaite Agency. Over the two days you will undertake exercises
at the Connaught Hotel and their offices in Allen House. It is natural to assume that this
is probably the head office as it is based in London, but it is essential that you find out
if this is true; by referring to their website or annual reports.
A two-day assessment centre can be very draining you may wish to book the day off
before to do your final preparations and possibly to travel down to the Hotel. You may
choose to book in the night before to ensure that you arrive on time and minimise the
stress of travelling down that morning. By arriving the night before your assessment
centre you will be able to get a feel for the place.

Your two days are well documented and it starts with a Welcome and Introduction by
Jason Wright, with a formal dinner on the first evening. It is worth a quick question to
Paul Rose about the type of evening meal, i.e.: Is it black tie or just suits that should be
worn?
As part of your research on the website you want to find out the background and role
Jason Wright performs in the company and have possible pertinent questions you
could ask him if the occasion arises. If you can phrase your question in such a way that
it illustrates you have some knowledge of him all the better for gaining the attention of
assessors.
For example, you could ask

‘From your experience in local government before joining the company how has
this helped you develop our Environment Division?’…
… rather than,
‘How did you decide the development path of the Environment Division?’

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It would be advisable to have a small brief case or bag that you can keep your laptop
PC, plus any other aids you may require on the day. Flip chart pens are good to have
as well as those for white boards. This way you can make notes during your group
exercise without the hunt for pens that work!
You may want to include other useful items you regularly use during such activities.
This is essential as you will be working from two different locations during the day and
you don’t want to leave something vital behind.

There isn’t one stated, but for this level of job it is going to be suits or even smart casual.
For the formal dinner it is likely that it will be a black tie affair you can always check these
details with Paul Rose to make sure. If you have any doubt about this area or any other
be sure to ask never make your own assumptions.
If you don’t have your own dinner suit or cocktail dress you may want to see if it can be
hired through the hotel itself, that way you haven’t got to transport it. If not you will
have to organise the hire of one locally and take it with you.
For the group exercise preparation prior to the dinner on the evening of the first day
you may want to take some casual clothes to relax in whilst you work. Make sure you
take at least four shirts so that each day you can change during lunchtime into a fresh
shirt. In this way you will always feel refreshed and better able to perform in your
exercises.
Are you able to bring in any aids? What aids are provided?
As discussed before it is essential that you take as many presentation aids with you
as possible—index cards, overheads, marker pens, build-up overhead sheets and any
pre-prepared items you feel could come in useful. These could include organisational
chart, annual report figures or growth plans for the company.
All this information can be obtained from the annual report and/or website. Even if the
situation may have changed the use of company researched data will greatly enhance
your ability to demonstrate the required competencies and behaviours, so increasing
your score for an exercise. It is important to remember to answer any questions poised
in the exercise brief and to use all of the information provided to guide your decisions.

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But by being able to illustrate a broader understanding of the issue raised will improve
your ability to show you have the right skills and knowledge for the role.
Taking your own laptop or a USB data stick can also be useful as it may have old
presentations you have already done which you can easily be modified to suit the need
of the assessment centre exercise e.g. clip art and diagrams. You can also obtain recent
pictures and press coverage of environmental issue in the case of this example that can
be stored on your PC so that this information and research can also be incorporated
into your exercises.
You may also want to ask if the hotel has wireless Internet access or if you need to have
mobile broadband facilities. This will enable you to use the Internet that first night as
part of your preparation and for you to check the press for any breaking news, which
may be pertinent to bring into your exercises the following day.

Each exercise has a specified time, and this time allocation gives you some clues as to
the type of exercise. The four shorter exercises are likely to be your abstract, numerical,
verbal and personality tests scattered over the two days. Practice of these types of
exercises is essential as speed along with accuracy is vital to ensure you maximise your
scores.
For the Group Scenario presentations it is evident from the use of the plural word
‘presentations’ that you will all see each other’s presentations. It is worth asking Paul
Rose how long each of the group presentations are expected to be, as well as how
many groups are taking part. This will then give you a clearer idea of the likely length of
your own group’s presentation. It is wise to take as many presentation type aids as you
feel you may need and that will help the whole group perform as a team.
From the location of the media interview you will be recorded and you may or may not
receive feedback immediately in the ten minutes following the exercise. Sometimes the
assessors get a journalist to write up a small article that could result from your interview
and this article may be used as the basis of the discussion in your feedback session.
If your feedback session is immediately after your media interview it will often take the
form of asking you how well you feel you did and if you felt you made any errors that

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could be picked up by the press. Some assessment centres will use the article that
results from this media interview as part of another exercise. Often it is used for a Critical
Incident exercise, which you or your group will have to say how you would respond to
the situation described.
Your Group Exercise Presentation is the single largest exercise and spans both of the
assessment centre days. This and the job specification, which requires multi-team
working and motivational skills, indicate that this exercise will carry significant marks
as a result. It is essential that you get your team to work well in solving or responding to
whatever scenario you are presented with in this briefing.
You will need to familiarise yourself with the workings of groups and group discussions
so that you are aware of the skills required for this type of exercise. You will also have to
identify which group role you best perform in and then manoeuvre your group so that
you can play to this strength during the exercise. Remember whatever part you play in
the group discussion you must exhibit the level of competencies the role requires.
The group presentations at the end of day two follow a similar format as that of the
group scenario, with each section having one and a half hours allocated to it. So it is
likely that your answers from Paul on the Group Scenario Presentations will apply here
as well, but you can always clarify this point if you need to.
Type of exercises you will participate in over the two days?

One thing is clear from the agenda and that is you will not be having a formal or panel
interview on these days. This part of the recruitment process is likely to be part of the
next stage where the successful assessment centre candidates are short-listed and
asked back for formal interviews.
This is an area you could ask Paul Rose about prior to the event or wait to see if it is
covered in Jason Wright’s explanation. The more information you have entering the
assessment centre the better so it is recommended that you ask the question regarding
interviews.
During the two days you will be taking part in a variety of exercises and in order to
maximise your score a high level of research into the organisation and your own detailed

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preparation will be essential. Whilst you are taking part in the two group exercises the
scenario and then the Group Exercise / Presentation it may be helpful to have supporting
facts and figures on the industry and its current issues which you can incorporate into
these activities if the brief allows.
These details will greatly enhance your ability to demonstrate the required competencies
and increase your ability to evaluate the information and data provided in the exercise
brief. Do not forget that whilst you are taking part in the group exercises you are being
assessed as an individual. So don’t hold back relevant information thinking that you are
giving other candidates the benefit of your own research.
The Group Scenario exercise because it is followed by a presentation is likely to be one

of the following situations.
• A problem to solve.
• A critical incident that you have to respond to.
• A strategic issue to address.
• An organisational issue.
The assessors will be watching you and your group in your analysis, evaluation and
decision making activities. It is possible that you will be videoed during this time, rather
than observed. This allows the assessors to compare the different groups fairly as they
can switch back and forth between them and re-play the videos as necessary.
It is quite common in the Group Exercise that you will be asked to produce a written
document. This could be a proposal, strategy for re-organisation or updating of internal
procedures etc. This exercise is obviously quite weighty in terms of overall scoring
because of the extensive time allowed for the group’s preparation, i.e. the first day's
evening and potentially during the breaks of day two.
The type of handouts, documents etc that you may be required to produce will all be
outlined in the half hour briefing at the end of day one. Make sure that you have a clear
structure to the final document and that it answers or resolves the issue poised in the
brief. Give special attention to the small details such as names being correctly spelt,
timescales clearly displayed and draw out any conflicting facts and figures.

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You will not be expected to produce a definitive document in the time allowed. The
purpose of the exercise is to assess your ability to identify, analyse and evaluate
information as well as to see how you perform as part of a group.
What is vital in these activities is that you exhibit the type of behaviours and competencies
that are listed in the job specification section. Your research will help you to do this as
you will have equipped yourself with the necessary knowledge and you will deliver this
in a way that makes you stand out to the assessors, enabling them to tick off or put a
score in all the required competency boxes on the form.
The role play exercise will relate to the principal activities that you will be required
to perform. So it is most likely to be a situation that relates to one of the top three
responsibilities that are listed in the job specification section.
In the example above you would need to display in this exercise the experience,
competencies, behaviours and competencies you have that relate to:
• European waste management contracts,

• National and International contract management,
• Management of multi-discipline teams.
Remember that you can use skills related to your work and to personal experience to
illustrate all of these competencies. If you are able to do this you will greatly increase
your overall score for the exercise and the assessment centre.
An exercise that many candidates find quite difficult is the In-tray and justification. One
of the key aspects to remember whilst you are doing this exercise is to answer the
paperwork and or phone calls you may receive during such an exercise in the way a
person in the role you're applying for would. NOT in the way your current job would
reply.
So many people seeking promotion forget this golden rule and whilst they may resolve
more of the issues raised in the in-tray, they do not exhibit the necessary behaviours i.e.
delegation, prioritisation and evaluation, required in the new role.

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It is vital when you are practising such an exercise that you put yourself in the mindset of
your boss, or someone who you admire in a similar role and level of responsibility. You
must perform the exercise in the way that you have observed them performing such
tasks.
If you can organise someone to mentor you in the preparation for this exercise you will
greatly enhance your score and you will be exhibiting the required key behaviours and
skills during the exercise. They will be able to bring their own experience to this process
and broaden your knowledge and skills in each of the required areas.
During this assessment centre you are also required to undertake a media interview
exercise. This type of exercise can be quite an intensive and for you to perform it well
you need to ensure that you are very familiar with the:
• Company or organisation:
• Mission statement,
• Press relations messages and priorities &
• Key strategies and objectives.
Much of this information can be gleaned from their website as old press releases and
most likely their press agency will be listed to help you glean the necessary details.
If this is an area you have limited experience in you may wish to find someone who
could guide you about talking to the press. For example, your current PR agency or
alternatively, speak to a freelance journalist in one of the target press publications.
One good tip is to always think about the answers you'd give to the three questions
‘you’ wouldn't want to be asked. If you can do that then all others will seem easier in
comparison. It is essential that you keep your answers to safe and known areas and
away from potential dangers zones or topics.
The more you familiarise yourself with the three question areas you want to avoid being
asked, the more you will be able to steer the answers to the areas where you are happy
to talk and away from sensitive issues.

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If you are unable to find someone to give you personal help or guidance, you can listen
to politicians and observe how they behave when being interviewed on TV. You will then
be able to see how easily they replace the question asked with one of their own they
are happy to answer!
If you wanted to get a more detailed picture of the company’s public relations you could
call the agency and ask to speak to their account manager. This person would be able
to help provide you with a fuller picture of how the company’s PR matches into their
mission statement. They may even be kind enough to provide you with a 'Notes to
Editors', which lists key achievements and objectives. You may also be able to ask for a
list of target press (this may include named journals and freelancers they target).
Some assessment centres will follow this media interview up with a feedback or
justification session. This is where you may be presented with a mock article that
appeared as a result of your interview. You will then be asked about the resulting article
and if you feel it is a true and fair reflection of your interview.
If this is what you experience then do not be afraid to be honest about how you feel (but
do not take it personally), but retain your flexibility as you may be asked how you would
respond to this article. In response you should have your own opinion as to what you
would do next, but it is wise to say you would involve the PR department or agency in
any formal reply made.

For the shorter exercises it is likely you will have one Assessor or be left alone in a room
to perform the exercises, which may or may not be videoed. But for the group exercises
it will be necessary for there to be more than one Assessor, to ensure that all candidates
are able to be observed fairly and rated during the exercise.
If the organisation is going to such lengths to arrange a two-day assessment centre

then they will want to ensure that they are able to monitor and assess each candidate
accurately. You would be wise to ask Paul Rose if the assessors will be internal and/or
external individuals. If you find out that they are a mixture then keep this knowledge at
the front of your mind when taking part in the exercises.

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At the end of the day you will receive your feedback as detailed in the agenda. An important
question to ask is: What is the remaining recruitment process? During this feedback
session you should take in a prepared list of questions so that you glean as much information
about the next stage as possible and can prepare properly for that too.
During this session make sure you find out as much about how you have performed
compared to the other candidates. So if you are unsuccessful you can learn from the
experience and plan how to add to your current competencies. Don’t be afraid to make
notes of this feedback so that you have an accurate record of what was said to you.
This type of feedback is especially useful as you will also have formed your own
judgement of the other candidates and will be able to assess how well you feel they
performed. If your own judgement and that of the assessors are very different then you
will need to ask a friend or colleague to review your performance in practice sessions
so that you can see if you come across in the way you wish to. The feedback session is
vital and will provide you with objective feedback you can work on to improve how you
portray your behaviours and competencies.
Be Aware of Your Job Description!

You have been provided with a reasonably full description of the job they wish you to
perform. But for this level of position you will need to do further research into how the
department is run and how it fits into the rest of the organisation.
You need to have an awareness of who you’d report to and their background and
expertise. With this knowledge you would be able to see whether you complemented
this person’s skill set or not.
Reviews in the Annual Report also give excellent clues as to the strategic direction of
the company and its divisions. The Report can be especially revealing of a divisions
position in terms of the importance to the overall success of the organisation. If may be
possible to find out from old press releases whether or not the previous incumbent has
left to go to the competition or retired.

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It is also important for you to create the best picture possible you can of the division,
whether it has been integrated following a merger or acquisition. By asking yourself
these types of questions you will be able to understand the history of the organisation
and the division’s part in it. This knowledge will help you to appreciate the opportunities
and threats it faces.

This is not covered in your current correspondence and as with the previous question
regarding the job description you will need to do some more research. At this senior
level you will need to have a thorough understanding of the ethos and values of your
future organisation because you will be playing a key role in the achievement of its
mission.
You can also gain a view of the management style of the organisation by understanding
the histories of the directors. For example, they could all be self-made people who have
worked their way up from the shop floor or they could be the sons and daughters of the
previous CEO.
If you see that a particular style dominates within the organisation you will be able to
quickly assess if you are able to fit easily within its structure. You will also be able to
decide if it is the type of organisation you wish to join.
In summary, throughout your assessment centre the importance of:
Continually reinforcing –
• What you would do, if you were given the job and. ,,,
• How you would demonstrate the required competencies?
This cannot be stressed enough as they are paramount to your success and your ability
to gain the highest score possible.
Where your own work experience is lacking you will need to fill those gaps with other
external experiences that portray the required behaviours and competencies. You
can also call upon your own experiences of what you have seen that was good and
successful to enhance your own.

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Comparing Role Competencies with Your Own

Whether you are using the short-term or long-term approach to your assessment centre
one of the most important steps in your preparation must be the comparison of the
required competencies of the role against your own current competencies.
Your own competencies must be viewed from the perspective of the role requirements
so you will have to convert your current competencies and competencies into that of
the role’s and see how well they fit. This process will then highlight any key areas you
need to develop prior to the assessment centre.
Earlier in this eBook we detailed which behaviours were associated with each of these
twelve competencies. It is these behaviours that you will have to demonstrate (what
you do) during the exercises and the assessors will award you marks according to how
many and how well you display them.
• Change Agent
• Continual Improvement
• Decision Making
• Leadership
• Planning and Organising
• Professional Development
• Stakeholder Management
By understanding how you need to behave you will be able to show the assessors that
you have the appropriate level of competency for the required role. Your score will be
higher the more you can improve your ability to portray these behaviours so it is vital
that you identify the key competencies for your future role.
To help you understand this process you will work through our three stage example of
how Sarah made her competency comparison with that of the advert of her desired

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role of a Marketing Manager and mapping her ‘behaviours’ onto those of each required
competencies.
1. Define competencies of required role

2. Map your own competencies onto that of the role’s
3. Identify gaps and how you can acquire or improve these competencies.
The advert for Sarah’s ‘Marketing Manager’ role details all the requirements of the
Organisation and tells her that she will have to take part in an assessment centre.
From this you will be able to work out the competencies the organisation requires.
Your curriculum vitae will help to remind you of activities and from these you will be
able to detail the behaviours you displayed and then judge at which level you were
operating.
Read the advert below and then look at how the required competencies are drawn out.
Marketing Manager Advert Details

Title: Marketing Manager
Location: New York
Region: East Coast of America
Salary: Negotiable / dependent on skills
Business: Health Services
Experience: At least seven years experience in the area of marketing, public

relations, internal communications and event planning.
Description: You will be responsible for the development of a strategic marketing

plan and its execution throughout the East coast of the States.
The main responsibilities will include, but are not limited to the following activities.
1. Manage and implement all marketing and communications programmes

within the region. This will include the management and development of all
marketing personnel (team of 15), both at the head office in New York and
in the five regional offices.

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2. Review the Regional Strategy and develop a marketing plan, which supports
this strategy and is acceptable to the Business Development Director.
3. Oversee the entire marketing activities for the region and ensure the whole
marketing team are kept up-to-date of any amends and implications of their
activities.
4. Ensure the organisation’s websites (both external and internal) reflect the
corporate identity, company’s mission and business development plans.
5. Develop and maintain the corporate identity that is supportive of the
Mission Statement and is disseminated throughout all sales and marketing
literature.
6. Incorporate the latest R&D announcements into the marketing strategy and
integrate their launch into the strategic marketing plan.
7. Co-ordinate with Professional Development to ensure sufficient training and
education is given to all staff to ensure the success of all new initiatives.
Required Qualifications & Abilities:

• Bachelors Degree in marketing or related field, level 2:1.
• Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, preferably with Chartered
Status.
• At least seven years experience in marketing, public relations, internal
communications and event planning.
• Strong financial and contract management.
• Experience working in health or professional services sector preferred.
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills.
• Substantial problem identification & resolution skills – at both strategic
& tactical level.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.

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Define Competencies of the required Role

Sarah is aware that to be successful she will need to demonstrate in the exercises that
she can operate at a more strategic level, rather than at her current tactical ‘hands-
on’ level. Her behaviours will have to portray someone who operates at a strategic
management level rather than completes tasks.
By working through the complete text of the advert Sarah will be able to map these
requirements into our standard competencies. You will have to adapt this example to fit
your exact role and the specific market sector in which it operates as each sector has
special requirements and standards.
First, split the responsibilities out from the advert details and against each of one list
which competencies are required. For a detailed list of behaviours you will need to
research the organisation’s website, press releases and literature to amend our standard
behaviours against each competency to reflect the organisation’s ethos and mission.
The table overleaf illustrates the type of competencies that Sarah would need for this
marketing manager’s role.

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Job Description Competency
• You will be responsible for the development of a strategic Strategic Thinking

marketing plan and its execution throughout the East coast Resource Management
of the United States. Planning & Organising
• Manage and implement all marketing and communications Resource Management

programmes within the region. Stakeholder Management
Decision Making
• This will include the management and development of all Leadership

marketing personnel (team of 15), both at the head office in Mentoring & Coaching
New York and in the five regional offices Interpersonal Communications
Change Agent
• Review the Regional Strategy and … Continual Improvement

• develop a marketing plan which supports this strategy and Strategic Thinking
is acceptable to the Business Development Director. Resource Management
• Oversee the entire marketing activities for the region and Planning & Organising
ensure the whole marketing team are kept up-to-date of any Leadership
amends and implications of their activities. Mentoring & Coaching
Interpersonal Communications
• Ensure the Organisation’s Websites (both external and Strategic Thinking

internal) reflect the corporate identity, company’s mission Decision-Making
and business development plans. Planning & Organising
• Develop and maintain the corporate identity that is Strategic Thinking

supportive of the Mission Statement and is disseminated Interpersonal Communications
throughout all sales and marketing literature Continual Improvement
Strategic Thinking
• Incorporate the latest R&D announcements into the
Decision-Making
marketing strategy and integrate their launch into the
Resource Management
strategic marketing plan
Leadership
• Co-ordinate with Professional Development to ensure Professional Development

sufficient training and education is given to all staff to ensure Leadership
the success of all new initiatives Mentoring & Coaching

Assessment Centre
However, Sarah will still need to use her experience and knowledge of a marketing
role to make sure that no obviously required competencies have been left out as. For
example, there is a basic assumption that anyone in a marketing role will be Customer
-Focused. Even though the job advert does not explicitly mention ‘Customer-Focused’,
this competency is implicit for a marketing role, especially at this level.
So you will have to add your own common sense to what a table such as the one above
provides you with in terms of the required competencies. From the table itself you can
quickly see by the frequency of each competency and therefore how important it is to
display these behaviours. When you combine your common sense with the table you
would arrive at the following priorities amongst the competencies.
. Customer-Focused
. Strategic Thinking
. Leadership
. Resource Management
. Decision Making
. Mentoring & Coaching
. Interpersonal Communications
. Planning & Organising
. Continual Improvement
0. Professional Development
. Stakeholder Management
. Change Agent
If we look for the top three competencies after ‘Customer Focused’ it is interesting to
see the ‘Strategic Thinking’ aspects of the role are vital and is likely to be an area Sarah
will have to develop considerably to ensure she displays the correct behaviours for this
competency. Finally, the Resource Management competency is of equal importance
and Sarah will have to look closely at how appropriate her current behaviours are for
this role.
For you to gain a fuller picture of the competencies required you would then repeat the
above process for the details supplied under the section of the advert headed Required
Qualifications & Abilities and translate this information into their competency areas.

Assessment Centre
Qualifications & Abilities Competency
• Bachelors Degree in Marketing or related field, level 2:1.

• Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, preferably Professional Development
with Chartered Status.
• At least seven years experience in marketing, public Customer-Focused

relations, internal communications and event planning. Decision-Making
Planning & Organising
• Strong financial and contract management. Stakeholder Management

Resource Management
Decision-Making
• Experience working in health or professional services sector Customer-Focused

preferred. Leadership
• Excellent verbal and written communications skills. Interpersonal Communications
Change Agent
• Substantial problem identification & resolution skills – at Interpersonal Communications
both strategic & tactical level. Leadership
Strategic Thinking
• Excellent interpersonal skills. Interpersonal Communications
You would then adjust your initial priority list of the competencies to reflect the ‘whole’
of the job requirements. You would still leave the customer focused at the top because
of the nature of this particular role and the underlying assumption that someone in
‘marketing’ is customer-focused would add much greater frequency to it than actually
appears from the advert wording.

Assessment Centre
Your list would then look like the right hand side of the table below:
Competencies from Job Description Competencies from Whole Advert
1. Customer Focused 1. Customer Focused

2. Strategic Thinking 2. Strategic Thinking Leadership
3. Leadership 3. Interpersonal
4. Resource Management 4. Communications Resource
5. Decision Making 5. Management
6. Mentoring & Coaching 6. Decision Making
7. Interpersonal Communications 7. Mentoring & Coaching
8. Planning &Organising 8. Stakeholder Management
9. Continual Improvement 9. Planning and Organising
10. Professional Development 10. Continual Improvement
11. Stakeholder Management 11. Professional Development
12. Change Agent 12. Change Agent
From this table you can now see that there are five key competencies (highlighted in
purple in the right hand column) that appear at least five times each reflecting their
importance within the role and would be essential for you to display during your
It is interesting to note how the emphasis on ‘Interpersonal Communications’ has

increased considerably and that Resource Management and Decision Making now
have an equal weighting in terms of competencies.
You take this table with all the role’s competencies and then map your own competencies
onto it. You will then be able to see whether your behaviours are at the required
management level or still at the supervisory level. This then reveals which and where
your competencies require development.
As you work through the top four competencies in our example below it is advisable to
print off the relevant pages of Appendix B that show the Management and Supervisory
behaviours so that you can see how Sarah’s current behaviours map at these two levels.
There is a table for each of the following competencies:

Assessment Centre
• Leadership
Now you have the main competencies this role requires you map your ‘behaviours’ onto
these competencies and assess at which level you are operating. This enables you to
see which of your ‘behaviours’ are at the appropriate level and which ones you need to
develop.
When completing the competency behaviour tables you must remember to include
the behaviours you have gained from both your ‘Work Experience’ and your ‘External
Responsibilities’. This is especially important if you are working within a short timescale,
as you will need to demonstrate as many of the role’s competencies as possible to be
taken seriously for the new post.
It is important to recognise that one item can have many behaviours attached to it.
For example, Sarah has listed the following as one of her current responsibilities:
Production of regular budget monitoring and reporting for local government sector.
This one item can illustrate several competencies:
• Planning & Organising
• Decision Making
What you have to judge is the level at which you are displaying the behaviours of this
competency—Supervisory / Management / Strategic. You do this by matching your
own behaviours to that of a particular level of behaviours and then see where that maps
onto the role’s competencies; in Sarah’s case that of a Marketing Manager.
The competency definition is shown above the table and the standard behaviours are
listed on the left hand side to help you in this process. (Remember, you may need to
add to these standard behaviours depending on the nature of your Role and the ethos
of the organisation you wish to join).

Assessment Centre
Customer-Focused
The definition of Customer-Focused is:
• Understanding and identifying the needs of existing and potential customers.

• Ensure that the main focus and priority is on meeting customer needs.
Management Behaviours Sarah’s Examples
• Customer events used to cross sell services

through customer recommendation.
• Merchandising Campaign offering on-site technical
support & communication.
Proactive in seeking feedback from • Inform & recommend changes to product
customers, which is then actively used development/production following customer
in decisions in all aspects of customer feedback.
service. • Parents Association AGM feedback is used to base
next year’s events on.
• Ask Parents of Under 7’s rugby squad you train
for feedback on where they feel the children need
further skills training.
• Conducts structured post bid interviews (in

both win/lost sales) to gain an understanding of
prospects view of the organisation.
• Merchandising campaign set up to understand
Travel Agent & Tour Operator relationship & its
impact on Sales.
Strives to gain an in-depth understanding
• Following research group product reviews,
of customer needs so that future
recommended product changes – design, build &
recommendations can be made.
sales offers.
• Talk to head teacher about shortfall sin annual
budget & impact has on school & where PA funds
can help plug these gaps.
• Regularly chat to parents at school to assess how
well they feel their child’s needs are being met.
• From structured post bid interviews agree how

& when to respond to feedback from prospects
Where customers have concerns or
&customers.
specific needs agree a timescale in which
• Created & update user literature & POS goods for
they will be dealt with effectively.
Travel Agent staff to ensure they knew which Your
Operators were available.

Assessment Centre
• Diverted budget from travel exhibition to create &

update user literature & POS goods for travel agent
staff.
Have a clear understanding of customer • Altered focus & budget of travel exhibition from
expectations and aim to add value large stand to smaller one, targeted sponsorship
without causing cost implications to the &customer events.
organisation. • Ensure that costs of any PA event are minimal
allowing school to gain most benefit.
• Seek sponsorship or gifts of time for both PA and
Rugby Club.
• Structured post bid interviews.

Deal with customer complaints effectively,
• Merchandising campaign.
understand why they happened and
• Explain school’s budgetary constraints & how this
develop procedures to prevent it happening
has operational implications. Outline how you plan
again.
to address such issues.

Seeks to develop knowledge of • Created local government forum to educated
marketplace so services can be improved. authorities on potential use of outsourcing.
• Seeks advice from other age groups within the
rugby club as to how best train youngest age group.
From the list of activities below we can see that Sarah already possess the necessary
Management level behaviours for this competency. In this case it would be irrelevant
to continue this process and match her actions against her supervisory behaviours, as
they are not what she needs to display at her assessment centre.
She may need to structure her verbal responses to reflect a more strategic aspect of the
various campaigns and activities rather than the tactical and operational aspects she
would be heavily involved with as a Marketing Communications Executive.
Sarah will also need to ensure that her actual behaviours during the exercises display a
more strategic and organisational benefits aspect rather than get bogged down with the
tactical and operational issues she is used to.

Assessment Centre
Strategic Thinking
This competency is extremely important in this organisation’s job specification and as
such is essential that Sarah can display the necessary behaviours in a proficient and
appropriate manner.
The definition of Strategic Thinking is:
• Aware of and understands the organisation’s strategic objectives.

• Regularly reviews the ‘market place’ from a strategic viewpoint and its potential
impact on the organisation.
• Analyses the strategic stance of competitors.
• Educates and leads others in their appreciation and understanding of how they
contribute to the organisation’s objectives.
• Contributes to the divisional strategic objectives

Contributes to the strategic objectives of (Local Government).
the organisation, and division /department. • Actively participates in the annual strategic
objectives for public relations.
Researches new opportunities that could

contribute to the organisation’s strategic
objectives.
• Prospect &customer database creation and

Approaches short-term operational issues
management to ensure meet targets set in 5-yr
with a long-term perspective.
business plan for sector growth.
• Findings of structured post bid interviews

Regularly feedbacks to the board /
presented to board.
management any issues or competitor
• Monthly presentations to travel sector
intelligence that may impact the
management on merchandising campaign &
Organisation’s strategic objectives.
impact was having on revenue.
Concentrates on identifying and resolving • Merchandising campaign’s impact on sales

any operational aspects that may impact revenue and network usage.
the strategic objectives.

Assessment Centre
Ensures that individuals’ and team

objectives clearly reflect the organisation’s
Manages the allocation of the division

/department resources in a strategic
manner.
• Following poor conversion rate in sales bids set up

structured post bid interviews to gain feedback.
Proactively addresses divisional or
• Network usage declined despite 150% growth in
departmental issues before they impact on
Tour Operators so piloted Travel agents & found
the organisation’s strategic objectives.
staff uninformed & needed to be educated. Set up
Merchandising campaign.
Supervisory Behaviours Sarah’s Examples
• All activities in the Marketing Communications plan

& how contribute to Organisation’s targets.
Is aware of the importance and how they
• Monitoring of competitor activity and potential
contribute to the strategic objectives of the
impact on market sector.
division /department.
• Use of Customer Events to ensure satisfaction
exceeded & retained as customer.
• All activities in the Marketing Communications plan

& how contribute to Organisation’s targets.
• Merchandising campaign’s impact on Sales
Responsible for determining and revenue and network usage.
implementing operational resolutions • Maintenance of customer &competitor databases.
to avoid any impact on the strategic • Annual plans for Public Relations (PR) and how
objectives. sector plan contributes to Corporate PR plan.
• As school Governor that is chair of Finance you
have to make choices of how a limited budget is
allocated to ensure delivery of school plan.
• Maintenance of customer &competitor databases.

Reports any strategic competitor activity
and information to manager.

Assessment Centre
Supervisory Behaviours Sarah’s Examples
• For Local Government marketing assistants and

annual placement student ensure their objectives
support Sector plan.
Sets and monitors individual and team
• Regular reports from Subject Leaders on their
objectives to achieve division /department
budget forecasts and actual to determine how
school budget is being spent.
• Agree with other coaches; targets for certain skills
to be acquired by squad & review progress.
• Importance of achieving local government sales in

order that the division achieves its business targets
& profitability.
• Maintenance & monitoring of corporate identity
Recognises how the organisation’s
in all the areas of communications internally &
policies and decisions impact their specific
externally.
department / team.
• Local Authority requirements of budgetary
accountability for Parent Governors.
• Incorporates RFU values and beliefs into training of
Under7’s squad.
• Achievement of Local Government business targets

& profitability.
Understands the importance of and
• Importance of consistent portrayal of Corporate
operational impact of the organisation’s
identity and image in all communications.
strategies and policies.
• Incorporates and displays RFU values and mission
for rugby coaches.
After completing both of these behaviour tables for Strategic Thinking competency
it is clear that she has gaps in her own behaviours. Sarah will need to develop her
behaviours in this competency in order to be a successful candidate for the Marketing
Manager role.
She has to display a more ‘strategic’ aspect to her behaviours and make more references
to the Organisations Strategic objectives in the work she does, how she approaches
and completes the assessment centre exercises.
The role demands knowledge of Internet Marketing which will have a strategic
implication of the Organisation and the exercises will be looking how the role views

Assessment Centre
the strategic impact this will have on the Organisation and how other Organisations
(including competitors) are using Internet Marketing strategically.
For many organisations Internet Marketing is a new initiative and there is likely to be
considerable need to educate other areas/divisions of the Organisation in how it can
be used, the benefits and the need to lead in this area in order for the Organisation to
achieve its objectives and mission. How Sarah could develop this behaviour is one of
the examples used in the later section on ‘Developing Competencies Cycle’.

Assessment Centre
Leadership
In any management role the importance of good leadership cannot be over stated so
Sarah needs to understand how well placed her behaviours are in this competency.
The definition of Leadership is:
• Uses a variety of strategies to persuade and convince others to accept and

commit to their proposals.
• Taking ownership of decisions and their impact on the Organisation.
• Provide direction to and motivate others ensuring an effective and productive
team.
• Through annual objectives of her staff links their

objectives to the divisions.
Ensures their team has a clear picture
• As finance governor knows what school needs to
of the organisations goals and how their
achieve & what objectives need to be met to do
objectives fit into these goals.
this & present a balanced budget.
• Performance review of the head teacher
Accepts responsibility for achieving your • Does so only as part of marketing team.
Organisations goals and portrays personal
commitment for them.
Through careful and detailed questioning • Structured post bid interviews.

gains an understanding of others • Merchandising campaign matching needs of Tour
viewpoints. Operators to organisation’s needs.
• Persuading sales of need for structured post bid

interviews.
Is concise, assertive and persuasive in • Adoption of the Merchandising Campaign to
all communications and gaining others address network usage and Tour Operators
support. disappointment in travel agents use of network
• Parents Association (PA) activities gaining support
for events and delegating the organising.

Assessment Centre
• Formulation of sector marketing communications

plan.
• Persuading Sales of need for Structured post bid
Prepares responses to likely risks and
interviews.
objections.
• Adoption of the Merchandising Campaign to
increase travel agent awareness.
• Performance review of the head teacher
• Persuading sales of need for structured post bid

interviews.
When faced with disagreement is plan.
constructive in trying to achieve consensus. • Adoption of the Merchandising Campaign to
increase travel agent awareness.
• Acceptance of school budget by school and
parents.
When recommending an action or • Adoption of the Merchandising Campaign to

informing others of a decision they use increase travel agent awareness.
a well balanced and soundly reasoned • Defining priorities for PR campaign for sector.
argument.
• Formulates marketing communications plan to

meet sales targets of sector.
Strives to achieve tough targets and goals.
• Understand language & communicate using this
when dealing with School authorities.
Works to meet customer commitments • Adoption of the Merchandising Campaign to

despite obstacles that may occur in the increase travel agent awareness.
process.
Ensures that organisational needs are met • Performance review of the head teacher
in all that they do.

plan.
Stands by their own decisions.
• Parents Association (PA) activities gaining support
for events and delegating the organising.

Assessment Centre
Sarah’s leadership behaviours are well established at a management level. Much of their
development has come as a result of her own personal development and willingness to
take on external responsibilities which develop the behaviours her current role does not
allow her to develop at the next stage of competency. She has done this through:
• Parent Governor (2nd Term) & Chair of Finance Committee with accountability
for sound management of school budget over three-year rolling cycle.
• Chair of School Parents Association—responsible for raising additional funds
for the school in order that they can meet the objectives of the agreed School
Plan.
• Responsible for setting and reviewing (in connection with selected authority
representative) the head teacher’s annual performance against the School
Development Plan.
• Qualified as one of the Under 7’s rugby coaches for local club. Responsible for
first aid within the age group.
Sarah will have to ensure that her behaviours reflect the strategic nature of the Marketing
Managers role in terms of her leadership behaviours. Some of the behaviours will require
her to take a broader role than she has currently been able.
For example,
Sarah has currently been responsible for creation and implementation of her sectors
marketing communications plan and not the whole marketing plan as the new role
will require. This she can easily do through practicing and preparing properly for the
Another key aspect would be her ability to portray the required behaviours of a Marketing
Manager of a multi-site team. Her current experience is of only three people all in one
place and her new team would be fifteen strong over several company sites. You could
assume that she is used to daily face-to-face contact with her team, this would not be
possible with the not post so Sarah would have to exhibit the behaviours of a manager
that is used to a wide variety of forms of communication. It is this sort of aspect that you
can be assured would be tested via the various scenarios presented in the exercises.

Assessment Centre
Interpersonal Communications
The definition of Interpersonal Communications is:
• Builds and maintains good working relationships throughout the organisation

and externally.
• Develops a sound understanding of others and their needs to ensure a good
working relationship.
• Through the marketing communications plan, both

internal and external ‘customers’.
Respects and acknowledges other peoples
• Liaison with school authorities, school
and organisations values and ethos.
management, teaching & support staff and parents.
• Parents &children at rugby club.
Puts forward recommendations and • Marketing Communications Plan activities.

makes decisions based on agreement and • Liaison with external suppliers.
commitment from the other parties.
• Part of Chartered Institute of Marketing’s (CIM)

professional development course & seeking
Is a careful listener to others standpoints
Chartered Status within CIM (reflects more
and concerns and on understanding this
strategic & management skill base).
communication will respond accordingly.
• Within PA meetings and event planning.
• Rugby coach meetings.
• In all commercial and professional dealings.

• In all dealings connected with responsibility as
Is a persuasive and clear communicator.
school governor & PA Chair.
• In all contacts with parents & children at rugby club.
• Marketing Communications Plan actitivies.

Has an understanding of the reasoning of
• CIM professional development course.
other people’s actions and decisions.
• Liaison with external suppliers.
• In all commercial and professional dealings.

• Peer &group feedback as part of CIM professional
Welcomes others feedback on issues and
development course
their own performance in a constructive
• In all dealings connected with responsibility as
way.
school Governor & PA chair.
• In all contacts with parents & children at rugby club.

Assessment Centre
• Internal & external customer within sector and

Treats all those in the organisation with
other areas of organisation she has dealings with.
respect and acknowledges all their
• As school governor & PA Chair.
contributions.
• All contact with parents & children at rugby club.
• Within sector team and liaison with sales team of

Encourages free expression of ideas, sector.
feelings and opinions. • Within PA meetings and event planning.

• Within sector team and liaison with Sales team of
Welcomes with enthusiasm the challenge
sector.
of overcoming obstacles.

• Encouragement of team to work towards CIM
Continually encourages self and others to qualifications.
over achieve and exceed targets. • Within sector team and liaison with Sales team of
sector.
Sarah is able to portray a considerable number of the behaviours of the ‘Interpersonal

Communications’ competency at a Management level. Much of this has been as a result
of her own commitment to her professional development through the CIM professional
development course and her desire to achieve Chartered Status within the CIM.
Both of these activities have a considerable focus on management and strategic issues
and skills, which would be well-known to those assessing her. They will also help fill
the gaps in her ‘management’ skills in budget management and certain marketing
communication activities such as Public Relations. In connection with the latter her actual
work experience has been at tactical sector level but the course will have equipped her
with the knowledge of a strategic approach to PR.
She should closely watch her current Marketing Manager and assess how well they
display the required standard behaviours and emulate those for this Role. This would
enable her to shown the correct level of behaviours in her assessment centre exercises.
Sarah would also be able to create the right opportunities in the exercises in which she
could display the required behaviours and competencies.

Assessment Centre
How to Develop your Competencies

Throughout the whole assessment centre experience you must behave as if you were
already performing the role. In Sarah’s case she has to behave as a Marketing Manager
not as a Marketing Communications Executive who hopes to be a manager some day.
This brings you to the final stage of your preparation and how you improve your existing
competencies to the required level and in some instance acquire new competencies.
It is vital for your success that you alter your thinking, your behaviours and your style. In
Sarah’s case she needs to approach her work like a Marketing Manager rather than as
a Marketing communications executive. How can you do this? You use what is widely
called ‘The Reflective Learning Cycle’ and is commonly used in academic circles for
helping students to develop their reflective learning skills.
By slightly modifying the stages of the reflective cycle you can create and use a
Competency Development Cycle (shown below). This is ideally suited to identifying how
to address your gaps in ‘Competencies and their Behaviours’. It also becomes an ideal
tool to incorporate into your own Continuous Professional Development as it helps you
continue to develop your Competencies.
Competency Development Cycle
1. DESCRIPTION
What happened?
6. ACTION PLAN 2. FEELINGS

If it arose again What were you
what would you do? thinking & feeling?
5. CONCLUSION 3. EVALUATION
What else could What was good & bad
you have done? about the experience?
4. ANALYSIS
What went well &
what didn't?

Assessment Centre
As you learn to use the Competency Development Cycle (Cycle) your will see how you
are able to add more competencies into your area that will then match, or are similar to,
those of the role you are seeking. Your work on each of these competencies will enable
you to seek out and identify, opportunities in your current situation (both at work, in your
leisure and in your outside responsibilities) that will help you to fill in your gaps.
Having completed the behaviour tables for the top four competencies you are now
able to identify and truly assess how to develop the gaps in your behaviour. By using
the Competency Development Cycle you will be able to alter and adapt your current
behaviour so that it is best suited to the new role during your Assessment centre
exercises or as part of your own CPD (Continual Professional Development).
By using this cycle, you will also be able to develop your competencies for a wide
variety of exercises and add the details onto your series of Index cards to assist in your
preparations. The whole process broadly falls into the following segments:
• Reviewing what you did.

• Considering what you could have done,
• What you would do if the situation arises again, and …
• An action plan of how to achieve the required competency.
It is these broad segments that enable you to review your current level of competencies
(knowledge, skills and attitudes) so that you can assess whether your behaviours reflect
the appropriate competencies for the role you are applying for.
From the preparation Sarah has conducted so far she can see that her ability to display
the necessary ‘behaviours’ for the top four competencies for the Marketing Manager’s
role is good. She still needs to prepare and practice these competencies to ensure that
she portrays a manager’s behaviour rather than a communications executive. Now she
must look at the next few competencies to see at what level her behaviours are.
By using the Cycle in the following examples you will be able to see how Sarah could
approach developing her next three competencies and behaviours.

Assessment Centre
• Resource Management—she needs to demonstrate she can be accountable

for large budgets rather than just contribute to the budgetary process.
• Decision Making—in respect of her need to show how she would identify
and creatively respond to the organisation’s need to develop their Internet
marketing knowledge.
• Mentoring & Coaching—in her new role she would have to demonstrate that
she is capable of conducting multi-site appraisals and developing her team.
In each example you are shown how to complete each segment of the cycle, what
conclusions you could draw and how to develop an action plan to attain this required
competency. If you are working on your own personal development and taking a long-
term view you may chose to add a further one or two, minor competencies, but this will
be a very personal decision.
At regular intervals as part of your CPD you will review whether or not you have completed
the cycle for this competency, reviewing the progress you have made and how close
you are to attaining it at the appropriate level.
This aspect of learning to behave as a Marketing Manager is vital to Sarah’s success.

This is because the assessors will ONLY be able to award her marks where they
observe that Sarah has exhibited such behaviours. This final part of the process will
help illustrate how you can achieve your goal by adapting your behaviours to those
exhibited in management or the level of role for which you wish to apply.
When she has completed each of these she would then have to prioritise the required
action plans. Sarah would need to decide which actions were the most important for
her to address improving in the required timescale before her assessment centre.
Tip:
Adapt your behaviour and you will achieve your goal

Assessment Centre
Resource Management Competency

As a part of Resource Management Competency this will be one of the key aspects
to Sarah’s job as a marketing manager. She will be responsible for creating the initial
budget to be submitted to your management and ultimately to the board for approval.
To do this she will need to have an appreciation of other departments’ needs, especially
sales and production.
Sarah will then be able to evaluate each marketing activity in terms of its ability to
generate revenue, accurate forecasts and provide a quality service for the organisation.
She will have to negotiate and bargain for what you need, whilst at the same time
having a contingency plan for when and if things change as they so frequently do in
organisations.
It is essential that Sarah acquires the knowledge of how the marketing budget will
influence the profit and loss (P/L) statement of the company. She will also have to
understand the proportional aspects different business sectors generate of the overall
revenue and how alterations to marketing spend should be allocated to reflect this.
Her current skills in this arena are limited. She has been involved in the budgetary
process but only at her level. Sarah has not been involved in the organisation’s wide
aspects of budget planning and in ensuring that ‘value for money’ is achieved. She has
also only had to look at the budget for her area for the coming year, she has not had
been expected to consider the long-term organisational plans are part of her budgetary
process.
In the position of Marketing Manager the long-term view of business or organisational

needs will have to be taken into account when defining and allocating the marketing
budget across the Organisation. This is especially important when wishing to enter
a new market or develop a new service. She will also need an awareness of where
different products and services are within their product life-cycles as this is likely to
further influence how budgetary spend is determined.
Negotiation of her marketing budget will be influenced by business issues at their

broadest level, rather at the level of planned marketing activities. Her behaviours will
need to demonstrate this in order to be a serious candidate for the Marketing Manager
position.

Assessment Centre
BEHAVIOUR(S)
a. Have a keen awareness of both short & long-term business objectives and
targets.
b. Demonstrates effective use of organisational funds providing value for money
to stake/shareholders.
c. Ability to show knowledge of long-term business plans and how this effects the
allocation of revenue between services / products.
d. Competent & confident in expressing the marketing budget in business financial
terms and in relation to the P/L statement.
e. She will need to demonstrate that her budget requirements and its impact of
revenue have been well researched.
f. Ability to put forward a well presented argument for marketing money when
competing for organisational funds.
g. Ability to demonstrate accurate monitoring of all marketing budgets and
manage unexpected events within current funds.
EVALUATION
a. Knowledge of her sector is good, but she is likely to have minimal or no
knowledge of other specialised sectors.
b. Her current management of budgets has been excellent and she has never
over spent.
c. Marketing plans she has managed are related to the sales revenue so there is
some partial awareness of business issues, but from a very narrow spectrum.
d. Sarah’s current experience has been very narrow (local government sector) and
she has not had the opportunities to take into account business implications
of her spend.
e. Her knowledge of financial statements and how to interpret them is lacking. But
she can use her experience within education as a school governor to illustrate
her knowledge of forward planning. This still leaves a gap in her competencies
in terms of commercial financial knowledge (e.g. P/L statements).
f. She has been negotiating SLAs and service contracts, but her appreciation of
other internal pressures and desires for budgets is limited.
g. Her own monitoring of budgets has been excellent (never having over spent) but
she has no experience of monitoring others spending of allocated budgets.

Assessment Centre
JUDGEMENT
• Sarah has shown consistent and effective management of marketing budgets
that have meet the sector needs.
• She needs to plug lack of knowledge of business finance and the interpretation
of P/L statements.
• Experience as a governor is helpful for long term planning, but research into
business issues and how they relate to budget is essential.
• She can show her skills and experience of presentations, which have been
well-received and her negotiation skills with third parties. But she will need to
demonstrate that her knowledge encompasses the wider financial business
issues when presentations as a Marketing Manager.
• She will need to show that she has the ability to manage wide scale monitoring
of the marketing budgets within her department. This is an area she will need
to develop the right behaviours in.
CONCLUSION
This area is weak for Sarah, but with self-study and searching out a mentor it can be
strengthened.
She has some sound budget management skills but in order to be considered seriously
for a management position she will need to exhibit more business awareness from a
financial aspect. She will also need to be able to demonstrate that she her behaviours
are based on the allocation of her proposed budget on how each area would impact the
long-term business considerations and goals.
Monitoring of the multiple budgets and what processes and procedures she would use
needs to be addressed so she can exhibit the correct behaviours. Finally she will need
to look at how she can gain the necessary skills to be able to confidently interpret P/L
statements.

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ACTION PLAN
1. Become well-versed in the business issues of the organisation.

2. Gain the skill and knowledge needed to be able to interpret P/L statements,
whether through a mentor or formal courses.
3. Practice answering budget questions from a business perspective. It may
be useful to find a manager at a similar level how they justify their budgets
from a business perspective and if they could guide you as to how to attain
this knowledge and skill.
4. Sarah would need to broaden her knowledge of the business issues facing
other sectors and how these needs are prioritised in terms of the long-
range business plan and therefore reflected in her budgets.
5. Research self-study options or formal courses, which she could attend to
gain this knowledge.
6. Speak to other managers who have to monitor multiple budgets within their
departments to understand how they conduct this and what is appropriate
to delegate.
For Sarah, the Resource Management competency will take her time to acquire fully.
She can work on filling the gaps but is only through formal training or mentoring that she
will succeed in her ability to display the correct behaviours.
These behaviours and skills are part of an annual process so it is likely that she will
have several months to acquire these skills once in the position depending where the
organisation is in its budget cycle.
As she is already under taking the formal marketing qualifications with the Chartered
Institute of Marketing she does have a ready source of information, possible training
and access to a suitably qualified mentor to help her achieve this in a relatively short
period of time.
Now you will see how the cycle is applied to improving her decision-making competency
in connection with her ‘Knowledge of Internet Marketing’ and how this can benefit the
organisation.

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Decision Making Competency

Internet marketing and being successful in this arena requires a new approach and
acquisition of this specific knowledge for Sarah. It is not a widely available skill within
marketing and few are able to demonstrate a sound understanding and knowledge
within this rapidly changing environment.
Many claim to have it, but few actually keep pace with its development or understand
the different driving forces in this entry to market and how best to master these new
opportunities. They stick to adaptations of the usual traditional marketing activities,
without realising that this is not the required behaviour, nor is it the most effective use of
their time or resources.
For Sarah to be the successful candidate she needs to attain this knowledge and be
able to persuade others that she knows how best to harness the Internet potential for
the organisation. She will need to clearly identify the important facts and figures to use
in her arguments and reasoning for her chosen course of action for the organisation.
BEHAVIOUR(S)
a. Show she has up-to-date knowledge of successful Internet marketing
strategies.
b. The ability to interpret the organisations and their main competitors’ web-
based activities.
c. Demonstrate decisive decision making based on well researched statistics,
including web-based data.
d. Competently describe and illustrate the behaviours required for successful
Internet marketing within the organisation.
e. Describe how the Internet marketing fits into the overall marketing plan and
how her team will stay up-to-date.
EVALUATION
a. She has no mention of any Internet marketing ability or knowledge in her C.V.
b. She has not brought out any Internet marketing skills gained as part of her
degree or the marketing diploma.
c. There are no details of any knowledge of using and interpreting web-based
statistics.
d. Sarah is unable to demonstrate this skill in any of her external responsibilities.

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JUDGEMENT
• There is little correlation between the candidate and the requirements of the
mangers role of the necessary skills in this competency area.
• Examples of knowledge of, or use of, Internet marketing must be added to
her C.V. if she is to attain a Marketing Manager’s role. She must draw out any
aspects contained within her academic studies or external responsibilities of
Internet based skills.
CONCLUSION
This is a vital competency for Sarah to develop the appropriate behaviours and be able to
demonstrate them. This will be seen as a considerable weakness by such organisations
and may prevent her from being the successful candidate.
She needs to do some considerable self study and reading on this topic in order to bring
herself up to a competent level for the assessment centre. She must revisit her C.V. and
check that she has brought out any use of such skill, whether through her academic
studies, external responsibilities, or at work.
As part of her CPD activities this should be a key focus. By reading relevant literature
and scanning the Internet for quality sites that provide explanations of such information
in this specialised area and how to make informed decisions using such data.
ACTION PLAN
1. You may want to alter your C.V. to show that you have some Internet
marketing skills and web-based statistics, even if it is purely from an
academic viewpoint.
2. You can source some excellent books and research, on & off-line, to
improve your knowledge and expertise in this area.
3. Meeting with any of your current suppliers, possibly customers, informally
to gain knowledge of how they use the Internet in their business.
4. Find several good examples of successful Internet marketing to have in
your portfolio to which you can refer and illustrate as to how you would do
things a Marketing Manager.
5. Give some thought as to how you would keep up-to-date with such rapidly
changing technology and its impact on marketing.

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Sarah will have to demonstrate the correct behaviours showing that she has a sound
understanding of how to maximise the potential from Marketing on the Internet. For
many organisations this will require considerable education internally and she will have
to be able to rise to this challenge. (She could make comparisons with convincing
people to undertake the merchandising campaign and the behaviours that her manager
used to gain acceptance of this campaign.)
Being able to accurately interpret the wide variety of extensive web-based statistics will
provide her with the necessary data to inform her decisions. She will need to be able
to react swiftly using such knowledge to ensure effective use of the budget. Without
this ability she could rapidly spend considerable portions of your marketing budget on
fruitless campaigns.
She will also need to demonstrate how by having clear guidelines she monitors the
organisations own and their major competitors’ websites making full use of this major
source of market intelligence.
You can be sure that at least one of the exercises will test this type of marketing knowledge
so she will need to work extensively on this competency in order to achieve a satisfactory
score. As this is very important within the Marketing Manager role description it may well
feature in several exercises. Without such knowledge you would considerably reduce
your overall score and dramatically reduce your chances of success.
Sarah needs to look at how her academic training can help her in this arena of Internet
Marketing. She could also utilise existing relationships with her suppliers to further
her understanding and awareness of how other organisations are using the Internet
to their advantage and incorporate this into her own thinking and activities. This will
also provide her with an opportunity to observe the behaviours of others who have this
knowledge and incorporate them into her own.
Finally you can see how the cycle is applied to improving her ‘Mentoring and Coaching’
competency with particular emphasis on the management of her multi-site team’s
appraisals and development.

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Mentoring & Coaching Competency

This is a vital skill of any manager to be able to develop and grow their staff so
that they become a more effective and productive team. Whilst there will be a
large element of communication and good listening in this area it is more about
how well you know and execute the process.
You must also be mindful that a key part of the definition connected to ‘Mentoring and
Coaching’ includes a quality and timely aspect to them. Sarah will have to illustrate
these aspects through her behaviours in the exercises. It is also important that your
own, and all your staffs’, objectives are linked to and enable you to contribute to those
of the organisation. The cycle below shows you how this KSA has been reviewed.
BEHAVIOUR(S)
a. Your management style should enable all resources at your disposal to be
highly productive.
b. Knowledge of the appraisal process and how it fits into the organisation’s value
set.
c. Work with staff to get their agreement to the benefits of the process and on
their own objectives.
d. Combine the needs of the organisation with staff development.
e. Be aware of staff SWOT’s & how best to develop them to meet the needs of
the organisation.
f. Seek feedback from others on your own and your staffs’ performance.
g. Lead by example in terms of quality and timely produced work.
EVALUATION
a. Some knowledge of the process, but Sarah is not really fully aware of all HR/
Board aspects of this process.
b. She does appraise a placement student but this is done under the students’
university process and not he organisations.
c. Sarah needs to portray behaviours that show she is mindful of and has high
expectations of quality and timely aspects in her departments activities
d. Limited knowledge or experience in assessing her staffs’ performance and
setting objectives.
e. Be ever mindful of future opportunities and activities, which would serve as
opportunities for you to help develop staff.

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JUDGEMENT
• A more thorough knowledge of the Appraisal System is required, especially the
organisational issues.
• You need to have a method of monitoring and identifying development
opportunities and needs of your staff.
• What methodology is currently being used to match organisational requirements
to staff development needs?
• Broaden your management style so that your behaviours become more
strategic, rather than being purely task orientated.
• Develop a wide network of other managers, both internally and externally, so
that you get feedback on other projects and how they were managed.
• Understand how others view your performance.
CONCLUSION
Sarah has limited ability to demonstrate this Competency in Mentoring and Coaching.
Her behaviours in this area will need to be developed to show she can behave correctly
in a management position.
Sarah will need to change her behaviour in this competency from her current short-term
project based one to that of a longer-term view. Her behaviours will need to reflect a greater
knowledge of strategic and organisational issues in respect of developing her team.
She must be able to illustrate when setting her teams objectives that she is truly
developing their individual retention and maximising the Organisation’s invest in
these individuals. Marketing Managers must demonstrate through their own personal
productivity their focus on maintaining high standards and delivering on time. Finally
any successful candidate for this sort of position will need to be able to illustrate how
they will develop and use their own network to develop themselves.

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ACTION PLAN
1. Research the pros & con’s of effective appraisals on the Internet and by
liaising with your HR department and other experts in this field.
2. Expand what you do with your student. You could include HR in the process
so they gain an understanding of your skills in this area.
3. Increase your interaction with the college or university staff involved in the
student appraisals part of course. You may chose, if it brings value to your
development to become involved in the careers advice students are given.
4. Within this research find a good definition of how a ‘good’ manager
will handle all aspects of an appraisal -- i.e. Objective setting, Progress
Monitoring and addressing under-performance.
5. Define how you would build rapport with other managers to gain feedback
and assist in your development.
6. Develop an appreciation of the wider perspective of your own objectives
and how they impact the organisation.
7. Look at and discuss best ways to record and monitor staff behaviours and
development.
8. Understand how to allocate your training budget amongst your team to
maximise the development of each person.
Sarah would be able to address some of these issues reasonably quickly but for others
such as developing her own ‘Network’ would require more time if she is starting from
scratch. In the short-term she could create a more informal network with one or two
individuals, which may be in or outside her department /division. Even with a short
amount of time available to her before her assessment centre Sarah could actively seek
out those who could help her, (i.e. College and the CIM mentors,) she could acquire
adequate knowledge to perform well in the assessment centre.
Taking a long-term view of her overall objective she would have to invest a significant
portion of her CPD focussing on increasing her knowledge, skills and abilities in this
competency of mentoring and coaching.

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Summarising Your Preparation

By preparing in this way Sarah can quickly identify which competencies she needs
to work hard on in order to bring them up to the required standard for the Marketing
Manger role. The Cycle has allowed her to review her current competencies and to
assess how well they match up to the competencies of the Marketing Managers role. It
is unlikely that Sarah, or you, would be able to work effectively on developing more than
two competencies cycles at any one time that is why prioritising the action plans is so
important to success.
So after reviewing all the areas you need to develop you would prioritise them according
to their importance and complexity. In some instances you may need to identify and
attend specific courses to help you gain a true perspective of the terminology and its
use at the relevant management level.
As part of your CPD, it should now include regular reviews of your competencies. You
would work through each of the action plans and remove any completed items and
ensure that the priorities previously set still reflect your needs. It is through this reviewing
process that you will easily be able to identify new job opportunities for yourself and
illustrate to your manager, or potential employer, that you are ready for that promotion
during.

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Creating and Using Your Own Tools

One of the keys to your success in the assessment centre relies on you being able
to recall quickly and easily the competencies of the role and then be able to display
them in what you do, what you say and how you act during the exercises. This needs
you to be familiar with what is required of the position in terms of the Behaviours and
Competencies so that you can easily and naturally display them.
Once you are familiar with how well you portray the required competencies of the
position you need to practice your behaviours so that anyone watching you can easily
identify them. This practice should become a natural inclusion in your own professional
development. This will enable your assessors to give you high marks within each of the
exercises.
You can achieve this by using the index cards. By utilising these tools during your
preparation for your assessment centre you will increase your effectiveness and overall
score on the day.
There are two basic ways you can record your information on the index cards to assist
in your preparation. All you need to do is to buy a card index box, dividers and index
cards.
Behaviour Index Cards

Make each ‘Behaviour’ you have identified as needing development a title per card
and then add bullets of how you have displayed this behaviour with examples.
Remember these examples are from both your professional and external activities.
You can also use the behaviours of good role models you have encountered to
illustrate how you would behave.
Exercise Index Cards

For each exercise you have on your assessment day, or for all of them if you are
planning for a long-term career move, put the type of exercise as a title and then
list the competencies the position you have applied for would exhibit.

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With these simple items you will create your own quick and easy reference guide to the
competencies and behaviours of the role you require. (Appendix B has all competencies
by the different management levels.) By following the examples shown later in this
chapter you can see how to create your own index cards to further your career.
This simple and effective method will form one of the key aspects of your Continual
Professional Development (CPD) and enable you to plan how to fill in any gaps or
deficiencies you may currently have.
Initially these behaviour cards may be for a standard industry role description and form
one of the foundations of your CPD or Career Plan. These initial cards will then be
enhanced and adapted each time you apply for a new position to take into account the
individual role specifications and organisational ethos which will form the basis of the
behaviours and competencies for that position.
As you define the behaviours for each role you apply for, or that form part of your career
plan, you will identify three areas:
• Your areas of strength,

• Those requiring improvement, and
• Any possible skills or knowledge gaps.
You will use all your experiences, both personally and professionally to complete these
cards and you will see how many gaps disappear or begin to fill up. By including this
process in your CPD you will quickly observe how your general preparation reduces.
This will enable you with each successive application to spend more time on developing
specific knowledge for and researching the current opportunity and therefore maximising
your overall assessment centre score.
How you would use these index cards is dependent on the amount of preparation time
you have available. The amount of research you are able to conduct will be directly
reflected in whether you have several weeks (short-term), or months (long-term)
available. The type of card, or cards, you would create are shown below and discussed
in full in the next section of this chapter.

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• Short-term approach
• Behaviour Index Cards only
• Long-term approach
• Behaviour Index Cards,
• Exercise Index Cards.
In the case of Sarah, our marketing communications executive she would be creating
both types of index cards as she would adopt a long-term approach to help her achieve
her personal goal of becoming a Marketing Director.
Short-term Approach
In the short-term you can focus your attention to creating Index cards just for the
competencies of the role you wish to attain as these provide you with the Behaviours
you will need to show during your assessment centre. (If Sarah was just applying for a
Marketing Manager’s role without her long-term goal she would adopt this Index card.)
As part of your preparation for the assessment centre creating your own Behaviour
Index Cards becomes your most important aspect to focus on – understanding how you
compare to, and how you can illustrate, the required competencies and behaviours.
You will know from your preparation what behaviours are expected of that role so that
you can show that you possess them during your Assessment day. The most important
thing to remember is that a ‘Competency’ is a description of how one should perform
something, rather than just a word or statement.
From the preparation you have done so far you can now easily identify which of the
required behaviours you need to develop. From our example with Sarah you will need
to add to, or amend her list according to the type and level of role for which you are
applying. In some circumstances there may be certain bullet points that are not relevant
to your role and therefore should be deleted.

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Example
Looking at her gaps in the ‘Strategic Thinking’ behaviours you will have the following
index cards for this competency. The card title is in bold and the description of the
behaviour in brackets.
• New Opportunities (Researches new opportunities that could contribute to

the organisation’s strategic objectives.)
• Organisation / Team Objectives (Ensures that individuals’ and team objectives
clearly reflect the organisation’s strategic objectives.)
• Strategic Use of Resources (Manages the allocation of the division /
department resources in a strategic manner.)
• Operational Impact on Strategy (Concentrates on identifying and resolving any
operational aspects that may impact the strategic objectives.) (Merchandising
campaign’s impact on Sales revenue and network usage.
On each of these cards you would break down each of these behaviours into its
component parts specific the role’s requirements. Then you would divide the card
into two halves, one for the role requirements and the other for your evidence of your
behaviours. This could be from a knowledge, skills or attitude (KSA) perspective. After
the next section of this chapter you are taken through a worked example of ‘Financial
Management’.
Long-term Approach
As your experience increases and with each opportunity you apply for you will be able to
add to your index cards. Your Index cards, whichever type, become a ‘work in progress’
aspect of your CPD where you manage and monitor you achievements.
You will set your own deadlines and regularly review your progress and attainments. Each
time you review them you are building up your range of competencies and examples of
good supervision, management or directing.
For your long-term approach you would review each of the behaviours within each
of the Standard Competencies at your desired level and ascertain whether or not
you were operating at the required level. Below is the alphabetical list of Standard
Competencies:

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1. Change Agent
2. Continual Improvement
3. Customer Focused
4. Decision Making
5. Interpersonal Communications
6. Leadership
7. Mentoring & Coaching
8. Planning & Organising
9. Professional Development
10. Resource Management
11. Stakeholder Management
12. Strategic Thinking
For the behaviours of each of the standard competencies (not just those where you
need to improve) you would create a ‘Behaviour Index Card’ at your desired for career
goal level.
This would give you in the region of ninety index cards tailored to meet your circumstances.
As an opportunity arose you would select the most relevant ones that best match the
current opportunity you wish to apply for and tailor these Index cards to meet the
specific Competency and Behaviour requirements for that role.
It is important to be flexible and to respond to new opportunities and challenges as they

arise, this may have an impact on your deadlines and action plans. You can easily amend
or change them to meet any new circumstances or requirements you may have.
For your long-term approach to your Index card system you will need to provide greater
detail to each card if you are to attain your goal. You will need to display far more depth
to your behaviours—knowledge, skills and attitudes and your use of the Exercise Index
cards will help you.
For example, Sarah’s long-term goal is,

‘To become a marketing director before she is years old.’

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To achieve this she will need to have all necessary competencies of a marketing director,
but this will not be sufficient on its own. She will also have to display the behaviours
attributed to these competencies in each of the exercises she has to undertake on
her Assessment day. It will also be vital that through her research she demonstrates a
breadth of understanding of the environment her future organisation operates in.
For her to achieve this she will need to set herself certain milestones and be ruthless in
her pursuit of her goal. This may mean in order to attain the opportunities she needs to
gain the right competencies she may;
1. Need to move organisations to take advantage of and achieve the promotions

she requires to become a marketing director.
2. She may also wish to select a certain industry or market sector in which she
wishes to achieve her goal.
In this way her competencies and behaviours will mean that she performs at the required
level and shows the necessary degree of specialism.

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Index Cards
This section details a working example of the short and long-term index cards showing
the greater detail required for the latter option.
Behaviour Index Cards—Short-term

Using our example of Sarah a necessary competency for her Marketing Manager’s
position is Resource Management. In her current role she has limited experience at the
required level with more her experience in operational budgets and not at a strategic
organisational level.
From the advert details she has received you can see that ‘Good Financial Management’
is a required competency. The behaviours associated with this competency are:
• Responsible for managing their devolved budget in a manner appropriate to

the organisation.
• Ensures accurate forecasts of expenditure (short-term & long-term) for area of
responsibility.
• Negotiates and plans resource allocation to ensure delivery of services.
• Is aware of the impact of their resource changes at an organisational level.
• Conducts regular monitoring of resources and provides accurate reports to
management.
• Commits to identify potential resource development or procurement
opportunities.
In addition to these, Sarah has also researched what ‘Financial Management’ means
for this position and as a result she has created the following Behaviour Index card with
the behaviours above and additional ones below. This list is not exhaustive but provides
you with an indication of what behaviours Sarah would need to demonstrate throughout
her exercises to show the assessors she possesses this competency and is capable of
performing the role.
Each organisation will have its own interpretations of what ‘good’ means to them. You
can glean their standpoint on the word ‘good’ from their literature and website as they
will describe what they deem important and successful.

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Then Sarah would add all her evidence from both her professional and personal
experience onto her index card. This would clearly identify areas she needs to gain
KSA’s in and those that require improvement be able to see any gaps or deficiencies
that she has.
From this Index card you can see that Sarah has a sound base of financial knowledge
but her wider management aspects are weak. She has considerable experience at an
operational and sales target level and can demonstrate an excellent track record, but
her experience lacks strategic business perspective.
Sarah would also need to be able to demonstrate that the can cope with the resource
management aspects of a reasonably large and multi-site based team. Her behaviours
would need to alter in her approach to problems to reflect this. She could use her ability
to manage the various teams she has both in and out of the work environment (Local
Government team, School finance committee & Parents Association) to show that she
has the correct behaviours.

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Behaviour—Financial Management
Behaviour Evidence
Managed sector (not full marketing one) budget &
Responsible for managing their devolved
involved in planning aspects.
budget in a manner appropriate to the
New product launches to budget.
Organisation.
School Governor – Finance committee work
Ensures accurate forecasts of expenditure Production of regular marketing reports – needs
(short-term & long-term) for area of more strategic & full marketing department
responsibility. viewpoint.
Negotiates and plans resource allocation to Telemarketing contract & SLA’s, Exhibitions &
ensure delivery of services. seminars. More operational than strategic.
Is aware of the impact of their resource
changes at an Organisational level.
Managed sector budget & involved in planning
Conducts regular monitoring of resources and
aspects. New product launches to budget.
provides accurate reports to management.
Merchandising campaign – but needs more
Commits to identify potential resource
strategic perspective as latter very operational in
development or procurement opportunities.
focus.
Managed sector budget & involved in planning
Track record of prudent financial management. aspects. New product launches to budget.
Exhibitions, Seminars & marketing communications
Planned activities met out of your budget. activities as per Annual Plan.
Adaption of marketing communications activities
to respond to market forces e.g. Merchandising
Unexpected activities met out of your budget.
campaign.
Effective contract management and Telemarketing contract & SLA’s, Exhibitions &
monitoring. seminars.
Knowledge of Profit & Loss accounting
Understanding of strategic business issues Only in relation to Marketing Plan & sector not from
and their influence on the organisation. complete business aspect.
Understanding of economic issues and their
influence on the organisation.
Expenditure of the budget enables business Awareness of sector sales targets not from strategic
strategic objectives to be achieved. business objectives.

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In order for Sarah to be considered a serious candidate for this position in her career plan
she has to fill in the gaps above by acquiring and developing the necessary behaviours.
During her assessment centre exercises she will have to ensure that her behaviours
demonstrate her capability to work at a more strategic business level than her current
role has enabled her to do. In this short-term approach she could address these issues.
The following suggestions present one way in which she could prepare and do her best
to address this shortfall.
. Finding out the basics elements and what they mean of a Profit & Loss
statement e.g. Profit, Loss, Debtors, Creditors, Overheads etc., would
be essential for Sarah to portray in her exercises.
a. This would enable her to be familiar with any likely terms that could be used
during an exercise to test a candidate’s ability in this area. Where possible
she can highlight the work she is doing to gain chartered marketing status,
which are equipping her with these skills.
. Look at her current organisation’s annual statement or report and gain

an appreciation of how her sector’s activities and targets fit into the
overall business picture.
a. When she is taking part in exercises she can make a mental note to always
ask ‘How will this impact the business?’ This will illustrate that she is not just
thinking of the activity in hand but is taking into account how the activity will
impact on the business.
b. Sarah would also be able to illustrate that she was aware of the differing
levels of importance each market sector held for the business and would
use this knowledge when making marketing decisions.
. Awareness of the economic implications to the organisation.

a. By undertaking some basic research on the Internet or in respective sector
journals Sarah could quickly gain an overview of economic climate of the
market sector(s) by reviewing industry reports.
b. She could also look at any current or proposed legislation or regulations
and gain an appreciation of how that would impact the marketing team. An
element of this she can show from her chartered marketing status studies.

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She would bring, where ever, possible examples of what she finds into her assessment
centre exercises.
By creating your own Behaviour Index cards you will quickly be able to identify the
areas you need to improve. You will also highlight any behavioural aspects of the new
role that you need to acquire some knowledge and/or skill of before your assessment
centre day. By preparing in this way you will ensure that you maximise your overall score
and increase your chances of being the successful candidate.

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Behaviour Index Cards—Long-term

If you are preparing your Competencies and Behaviours as part of your Career Plan
you will be able to be more thorough in the way you acquire new skills and knowledge.
You will also be able to attach a level of priority to the Behaviour gaps which will greatly
enhance your ability to gain promotions.
By working with a long-term personal objective you will be able to select and choose
certain tasks, training and activities that further enhance this Career Plan. These
opportunities can be both within your current work environment, or you can seek out
external responsibilities that can fulfil these objectives and targets.
Sarah does have a long term plan;

‘To become a marketing director before she is 35 years old.’
This means she will use her Behaviour Index cards to help her develop the necessary
behaviours, skills, knowledge and attitudes that will enable her to achieve this personal
goal. She would use both types of Index cards to help her do this and review them on a
regular basis as part of her CPD (Continuous Professional Development) to ensure that
she was still on target for her personal goal.
To gain an understanding of what competencies a marketing director must have to

succeed Sarah can use the following sources.
• Professional Information
By accessing the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s website she will be able to
gain an understanding of what Competencies a Marketing Director is required
to have and review a job specification.
• Industry & Professional Advertisements

By looking at adverts and their role descriptions you can discern what
Competencies are required by that organisation or market sector. This allows
you to refine your role description so that it more closely matches your needs
Once she has completed these activities she will then be able to combine the finding of
both sources and create her own the job specification for a typical Marketing Director.

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Sarah will then break this down into the Standard Competencies and their associated
Behaviours as described earlier, adding unique ones for her particular field and market
sector. This is the process you would follow for your own profession.
Whilst her behaviour index cards will follow similar lines as to that of the short-term
cards she wants to make them a more active development tool. You do this by adding
a column to the existing card which details the action(s) required for you to attain this
competency.
You use this third column to describe what type of activities, tasks or training you need
to undertake to be able to demonstrate the required Behaviours. It is essential that you
allocate a deadline for each activity, task or training so that you can monitor your own
progress.
To illustrate how you would create your long-term Behaviour Index cards we return to
Sarah. Within her job specification for a typical Marketing Director it is highly likely that
she would be required to show and behave with a:
‘Thorough understanding of business management.’
It is unlikely that she would be able to acquire all this knowledge through her professional
experience alone within her desired timeframe. So to achieve her personal goal she will
need to look for external opportunities to help her develop the necessary behaviours.
It is probable that she would enrol on a Masters or Doctorate in business management.

Such a qualification would enable her to acquire and behave at the required level of
expertise. This would be in addition to any external responsibilities she undertakes to
also develop her competencies.
By considering just three key aspects of this essential behaviour for a Marketing Director
you will appreciate how you can use these cards as part of your Continuous Professional
Development (CPD).
In the table below Sarah’s current competencies and behaviours for her understanding
of business management are shown in the ‘Evidence’ column. As we have already

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mentioned that it is highly likely that in order for her to achieve her goal before she is
35 years old she will undertake a Masters or PHD that has been included in the ‘Action
Plan’ column.
Behaviour—Understanding of Business Management

Behaviour Evidence Action Plan
Is aware of business plan & annual targets &

Strategic business
how her marketing is going to help achieve
management.
these targets.
Understands financial management of a junior Attain MA or PHD in

Understand and
school. Business Management
interpret Profit & Loss
Limited knowledge of department budget by 20XX
accounts.
planning.
Business Development
expertise
Then Sarah would identify the Behaviours within that she needs acquire to be able to
illustrate these behaviours correctly to be considered a serious contender as a Marketing
Director.
The next table illustrates how Sarah’s final long-term Behaviour Index card could look.
She has added in blue (under the ‘Evidence’ column) additional behaviours and evidence
she needs to attain for her ultimate role. This method makes it easy for her to update
and add entries as she acquires new skills in this area.
For Sarah attaining a MA or PHD is likely to be a complex and time consuming activity
whilst working so may be her only action for this Index card. This will not always be the
case for other Competencies and Behaviours so to help you appreciate the other type of
‘activities’ she could undertake as an alternative or in conjunction with the qualification
some other actions have been added to the ‘Action Plan’ column.

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Behaviour—Understanding of Business Management

Evidence Action Plan
Is aware of business plan & annual targets &

how her marketing is going to help achieve
these targets.
Strategic business Need to understand marketing strategy & how Attain MA or PHD in Business
management. this fits in with business plans. Management by 20XX
Aware of economic aspects.
Become familiar with Strategic marketing • Finance Training or
terms & analysis. courses.
• Seek out secondments
Understands financial management of a junior
in product development
school.
or at local Education
Limited knowledge of department budget
Dept.
planning.
• Find a Strategic or
Understand and Need to acquire skills to interpret P&L
business development
interpret Profit & accounts.
Mentor.
Loss accounts. Acquire broad financial management skills.
• Create reading list
Be able to present at this level of detail e.g.to
• Seek out promotional
Board.
opportunities that fill the
Have an understanding of how business plans
gaps.
form the basis of budgets.
• Seek external challenges
Have a greater understanding & work with (possibly Rugby club) i.e.
other business areas e.g. product mgmt, belong to a Local Trust or
business development. Charity at senior level.
Business
Understand the process of making decisions in
Development
this area.
expertise
Have a sound research and analytical skill.
Be familiar with and able to use the
terminology of this discipline.
As shown in the example Behaviour Index card above some of the actions will be task
orientated, whilst others can be activity based and from any area of your life.
The second action for your long-term approach is the need for you to develop your
exercise index cards. These will further enhance your abilities at the assessment centre
and help you to become the successful candidate. These index cards help you to move
away from focussing on the individual competencies required and look at how you would
be able to portray these competencies in each exercise you are likely to encounter in
your assessment centre day.

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Exercise Index Cards

By reviewing which of the competencies required for your role are most easily
displayed during certain exercises you will be able to discern how best to illustrate
them. Many competencies will be relevant in more than one exercise and you must
ensure that you display the associated behaviours during that exercise.
Just because you have shown certain behaviours in one exercise does not mean that
it carries across to the other exercises. You have to depict these competencies in
your behaviours, actions and words at every opportunity provided in the exercises.
Assume that each exercise is a new beginning and that you have to show all your
applicable competencies every time.
When you do this your assessors will see each relevant behaviour and competency in
the appropriate exercise and be able to give you a greater number of marks
accordingly on their score sheet—‘if you know it, you have to show it every time’.
Initially, Sarah would create an exercise index card for the most popular
assessment centre exercises. As her career progressed she would create new
Exercise cards to cover the whole spectrum of exercises.
For example, the most likely exercises at supervisory and managerial with respective
levels of responsibility would be:
• In-tray, including justification

• Role-play
• Problem Solving or Critical Incident
• Verbal Career Presentation
• Flip-chart Presentation
For many candidates the most unnerving of this list is the In-tray or In-basket. So to help
you create your own exercise index cards this is the chosen example that illustrates the
key behaviours Sarah would need to display during such an exercise. The card would
also help her display the correct competencies and behaviours to the assessors if she
had to justify or discuss her reasoning as part of this In-tray exercise.

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To help your understanding a typical In-tray or In-basket exercise will consist of an

Exercise Overview or Brief that describes:
• Who you are to portray in the exercise,

• Your role within the organisation,
• The current situation of the organisation.
These will outline key organisational issues, a full or divisional organisational chart
appropriate for your role level and a brief on your direct reporting staff, their skills and
recent history. This information is the only basis you should use when making your
decisions in this exercise. You do not need to solve all the problems presented in the
scenario that would be impossible during the time available.
The purpose of the exercise is to test whether or not you have the necessary
competencies, behaviours, skills and knowledge of someone in that role to handle the
scenario presented.
These have been outlined in the table below along with the most pertinent behaviours
you need to show during your exercise.

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In-tray Exercise
Behaviours Required Behaviours How to Behave
Identify key issues
Set priorities
Planning
Organise resources
Progress monitoring
Ability to define clear goals
Setting
Assign a level of importance to an item
Priorities
Define an items importance within the scenario
Appropriate use of delegation
Pertinent use of others in team
Delegation Maximising the use of skills & experience of
others.
Maintaining motivation of others
Evaluate key information
Decision
Alternatives / Contingencies
Making
Action plan which meets objectives
Identify required data requirement
Analysis Assess accuracy of data & information
Communication dissemination methods
Time Timely progress monitoring & adaptability
Management Personal motivation & effective time management.
Then acting as the main character of the Exercise Overview you would work your way
through a mixture of communications—emails, letters, voice mails and phone messages.
In most instances once you have read through all the items of communications you will
be presented with 12-25 multiple-choice questions.
The column ‘How to Behave’ is highlighted and within this column you will explain why
you must be attentive to small details reported in the information you have been given
and assessing how well your in-tray items match these details. This keeps you focused
on the purpose of the exercise, rather than get caught up with trying to solve the issues
and management problems presented in the exercise.
All you need to do is show how you would deal with the issues and problems you
are questioned on. For each question you must select an option as your answer and
endeavour to answer all the questions in the time provided. Making your own notes on
the In-tray items will be extremely helpful in refreshing your memory and helping you to
work efficiently during the exercise.

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In-tray Exercise
• Prioritise details of in-tray contents
by issues outlined in background
• Identify key issues
info.
• Set priorities
Planning • Always add a note about resources
• Organise resources
& your follow-up action(s).
• Progress monitoring
• If simply items can be quickly
solved, do it i.e. rearrange training.
• Base your thoughts on business
• Ability to define clear goals issues you face.
• Assign a level of importance to an • Be clear about whether an item is
Setting
item URGENT, IMPORTANT or BOTH, & act
Priorities
• Define an items importance within accordingly.
the scenario • Outline how you’ll inform superiors,
peers and your staff of decision
• Make use of delegation
appropriately.
• Appropriate use of delegation
• Delegate to someone with equal
• Pertinent use of others in team
knowledge.
Delegation • Maximising the use of skills &
• Provide a good brief when you
experience of others.
delegate.
• Maintaining motivation of others
• Use delegation as an opportunity to
develop or recognise a person’s skill.
• Use a highlighter to mark out the
most important information & key
People.
• Evaluate key information • Note down the key stages of your
Decision
• Alternatives / Contingencies action plan with timescales.
Making
• Action plan which meets objectives • Be decisive in your decisions.
• Base your decisions ONLY on
information provided, don’t make
assumptions
• Identify gaps in data & how you’d
aim to fill them.
• Identify required data requirement • If a decision needs more information
• Assess accuracy of data & or more time to consider say so if
Analysis information you have the option.
• Communication dissemination • Detail any concerns you may have
methods re-data.
• Outline how you’ll inform superiors,
peers and your staff of decision

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In-tray Exercise
• Look out for double bookings,
incorrect dates and name spelling.
• Define type of, and time of, any
• Timely progress monitoring & feedback you require to achieve
Time adaptability goal(s).
Management • Personal motivation & effective time • Aim to have read all items and
management answered all questions.
• Don’t linger over how to solve a
problem, all you have to do is decide
how to respond to that item.
By looking at each of the behaviours you create a list of what you need to do to exhibit
this behaviour and that is how you complete this final column. You will also be able
to add to this column as you gain more experience in assessment or development
centres.

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Assessment Centre Exercises

Over the many years that assessment centre’s 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. For some for the exercises you may know
them by slightly different names and phrases, but for simplicity we have used the term
most commonly for each exercise.
The majority of assessment centre exercises you will encounter fall into one of the
following categories.
• In-Tray & Justification
• Presentations
This includes such exercises as:
• Flip-chart
• Group Exercise
• Impromptu
• Prepared
• Verbal Career
• Group Exercises
This includes such exercises as:
• Critical Incident
• Organisational Issue
• Problem Solving & Simulation
• Written Output
• Role-play
• Media Interview
You may also encounter that several of the above exercises are combined together
under one exercise e.g. a presentation or written activity may be combined with a
Problem Solving exercise. This can be an exercise undertaken by you on your own or
as part of a group. Some Assessment centres also include a ‘Justification’ aspect within
an In-tray, Media Interview or Group Activity exercise. This can be to a single or panel
of Assessors.

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Any written aspects of the exercises will not be extensive reporting writing but used as
another method to assess your ability to demonstrate the required Competencies. The
written element of any exercise is not covered in detail within this eBook, as there are
many specific and well presented aids which focus on this topic.
You should not make any assumptions or try to read more into it than is actually supplied
for each exercise. Assessors will want to see how well you evaluate the information
supplied and the appropriateness of your decision based on the scenario. The exercise
is not designed to test your knowledge of a particular aspect but to assess how well you
exhibit the required ‘Competencies’ and ‘Behaviours’ of someone in that role.
How can you ensure that you maximise your final score? The most effective way is
through careful preparation and a thorough understanding of how you exhibit the
roles Competencies and Behaviours. You must remember at all times to display the
behaviours of someone already in that role, rather than those of your current level.
This is going to be most critical as you reach major points in your career:
• Your first real job,

• Your first Managerial role,
• Your first Executive or Director post.
By looking at the opportunities each type of exercise gives you to display certain
Competencies and Behaviours will help you identify where best to focus your own
preparation. You must always keep in the forefront of your mind that each exercise
will test how you will actually behave at that role level if the scenario were a real-life
situation. In your behaviours you must make certain that you:
• Exhibit the correct level of knowledge,

• Display the right type of skills, and
• Demonstrate the essential attitudes of the role.
The more you are able to practice the exhibiting the right behaviours the greater your
final score will be at the end of your Assessment centre. There are some exercises that
are easier to emulate than others but any preparation you are able to do will greatly

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enhance your success as specific competencies are being tested in several exercises.
You must remember that the scenarios used in any of the exercises will be based on
real-life situations. Experience has consistently shown those using Assessment centre’s
that those individuals who score well in such exercises will perform well when they are
working in the role. In fact the exercises are designed to see how you ‘behave’ in a certain
situation and whether or not your exhibit the Organisation’s required competencies for
that role.
Such exercises are also excellent at measuring an individual’s capacity to adapt their
behaviour to different situations e.g. internal issues, external problems, working alone
or within a group.
Obviously, you cannot predict exactly how much information you will be given in each
exercise and if it will be sufficient for you to make the ‘correct’ decision. Nor will you
know whether it’s based on a ‘real-life’ scenario or a fictitious one. This uncertainty or
lack of realism causes many candidates problems are as a result they perform badly.
So you must focus on using displaying the required Competencies and Behaviours for
your Role and you can do this by asking yourself three simple questions as you read
the brief.
What Knowledge ..... enables me through my

What Skill Behaviours to demonstrate this
What Attitude to the Assessors?
As with all tests and exercises you can greatly improve your scores through diligent
practice, you can’t afford to leave anything to chance. You should also keep in mind that
if you are applying for a more technical or strategic role you can expect the exercises
to reflect this need in the nature of the exercise and should prepare or review your
knowledge in this area appropriate to the position you are applying for.
This is extremely important because the exercises are your only opportunity to show
the Assessor’s that you can behave appropriately for the role. The research you
do as part of your preparation into the Organisation is processes and values will be
invaluable when deciding the Competencies your future role requires.

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For all of the exercises it is vital that you use your time most effectively and the behaviours
you portray illustrate this skill and how it ensures that you achieve the assigned task. So
ask if you can take in post it notes, highlighter pens or a calculator to help you efficiently
perform the required task. If you can do nothing else make sure that you ask for some
scrap paper to make your own notes on.
Whatever method is available to you use it to minimise time wasting activities of

continually thumbing through the handouts. For example, you can use post-it notes
to jot things down on, and to help you prioritise the items in the in-tray exercise. Other
useful items are:
• Several different coloured pens

• Pencils rubber
• Highlighters
• Post-it notes
• Scrap paper
• Calculator
• Geometry set if technically orientated role
Finally, be wary of falling into the trap of making a hasty decision or selecting any answer
just to provide an answer. If you feel it is appropriate for the nature of the question to
select an answer such as
‘None of the above’ or,

‘I’d want to delay my decision till I had more time.’
Then do so if you feel the other answers are inappropriate behaviour for a person in
that role and that you would want more detailed information before making a decision.
Remember the assessment centre exercises are assessing how well you’d perform in
the role not how well you currently work so it is vital that you think and act like someone
in the role throughout the day.
For each of the following exercise chapters a certain level of awareness and knowledge
is assumed on the general nature of each exercise prior to reading this section. There
are a large number of books and websites which provide you with a greater depth of
knowledge and instruction, as well as, hints and tips, for each topic area.

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As you work through each of the exercise descriptions below you will be reminded of
situations you have been involved with or seen, which you will be able to add into your
Portfolio as an example of how an issue was dealt with. It will serve to remind you of the
correct behaviours to exhibit when you are faced with a similar situation. It is important
that you take every opportunity to expand your portfolio.
Similarly, as you work through each exercise description you may see or
become aware of new behaviours required in circumstances. As you review your
performance you will be able to add the necessary details to your Index cards,
which become an evolutionary learning aid, bringing you ever closer to your goal.
In this way you will more easily be able to show the assessors that you possess
the required competencies and behaviours.

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In-Tray or In-Basket 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
(KSA’s) that can be tested as part of this exercise.
For example the main behaviour’s that you will need to demonstrate in this exercise are:
• Planning,
• Prioritisation,
• Decision making,
• Management style,
• Evaluation of situations,
• Analysis of information,
• Speed & Accuracy,
• Effective use of Time.
It is therefore vital that you master this exercise, as it will form a substantial part of your
final score. This is often the type of exercise many candidates struggle with so if you
have participated in this type of exercise before you may need to discover ways to
improve your score.
By practicing In-tray exercises you will become familiar with the type of question and
learn how best to respond to the problems or issues raised in the items improving
your marks and chances of success. This will help you to recognise which types of
behaviours you most need to demonstrate in such an exercise to achieve success. The
particular behaviour, skills, attitudes or knowledge that are being tested for will vary
according to your job specification and your type and style of Organisation
Your In-tray exercise will usually form two parts, first will be reading and understanding
the variety of ‘in-tray items you are given with the brief. Secondly, after you’ve read
through all the In-tray items you will then have to answer questions on how you would
respond to the situations each question presents. The most popular formats are
• You are given between 12-24 in-tray items, which you have to priorities and say
how you’d action by answering a series of 15-30 multiple choice questions.

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• You are given between 12-24 in-tray items, which you have to priorities and say
how you’d action. This is then followed by a ‘Justification’ with an Assessor or
as a group discussion on why and how you came to your decisions.
• You are given up to an hour to read through 15-35 in-tray items, prioritise and
decide possible courses of action. Then you would have a gap before you
either:
• Answer a set of 12-24 multiple choice questions (often more complex
in nature); and / or,
• Justify your proposed actions to an assessor or through a group discussion
for up to another hour.
The complexity of the issues you are presented with and the nature of the questions
you have to answer will be directly related to the nature and level of position you are
applying for. For the higher level positions some In-tray exercises can last up to three
hours, but if this is the case the exercise is often split into several parts as described in
the last type of popular format.
For the majority of In-tray exercises you will be presented with an emergency situation
or one in which you have very little time to deal with your scenario presented. It is
these sort of situations that will show the assessor the type of behaviours you exhibit in
pressured and reactive situations.
The most popular type of scenarios you are likely to be presented with will be along the
lines of one of the following:
• You’ve just started a new job and pop into your new office on Saturday to
familiarise yourself with things before starting on Monday and you receive a call
from your new boss saying they want you to stand-in for them for the next two
weeks.
• It is you last day before a week’s break and your boss’s secretary calls you to
say that due to a family emergency your boss has had to go at once and wants
you to manage things during their absence.
• You’ve been in your job for a short while and your boss asks you to manage
your department’s strategic project over the next two weeks as they have been
called immediately up to head office.

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In addition to this scenario description, you will also be several pieces of information.
The more familiar you are with analysing this type of information the greater your score
will be.
• A description of your role.

• Background information on the situation.
• Organisational chart or description of responsibilities.
It is really important to only use the provided information in your decisions, you will
not gain extra marks by bringing in additional knowledge from your own experience—
remember it is your behaviour they are testing.
As you practice this type of exercise you will be able to see the most appropriate
behaviour’s in yourself and more easily display them. You will continually update your
portfolio and Index cards to help support you in your quest for your career goal. In this
way you will more easily be able to show the assessors that you possess what they
require and have an awareness of the wider picture.
If you are applying for top-level management, or strategic roles, you will find that your
In-tray exercise is longer and has a greater intensity contained within its items than
those on lower grades. The type of issues you will be asked to review and action will
reflect the nature of the role you have applied for.
If you are applying for a strategic role then it is likely that you can expect a significant
number of your in-tray items to test this aspect. Whereas, if you are hoping for a
management role, your In-tray items are more likely to raise issues about team building,
coaching and motivation.
You may find that you are required to produce written responses to items, e.g. emails,
letters or memos. Remember you being assessed on how you deal with these items not
on the quality of your responses (but make sure you don’t make silly typing or spelling
errors as this will lose marks).

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If you need to write a response then you must be mindful of the following and ensure
your response is appropriate.
• Your style should match that of the In-tray item.

• Your tone should reflect the level of importance / priority of the In-tray item.
• You should be mindful of who is to receive your response e.g.
• Member of your staff,
• Director or
• External person or Stakeholder.
• Incorporate the style of your Organisation e.g.
• Use of bullet points or text,
• Acronyms or descriptions,
• Formal or informal language.
As the intensity of the exercises increases the likelihood of being able to complete the
whole exercise in the allocated time diminishes. It is how you respond to an issue that
matters more than being able to complete the whole exercise. The latter should always
be your goal as this aspect of the exercise is never known and the more you are able to
do will improve your ability to have a ‘true’ understanding of the issues presented.
Your assessors will score you on the following; the importance given to each point will
vary according to the behaviour’s required for the job.
• How well you identify the ‘Key’ issue of the item.

• Your interpretation of the information provided.
• Ease and speed with which you arrive at your decision.
• The way in which you evaluate the information.
• How effective your actions / decisions are in dealing with the presented
problem.
During your preparation for the In-tray exercise it is important to keep in mind the
Behaviour’s your Assessors will be looking for you to exhibit and scoring you on. You
will want to maximise your score and by focusing your activities on the following points
you will concentrate on completing the task rather than getting draw into the minute of
the problems posed.

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By taking each of the eight typical behaviours that will be tested in an In-tray or In-basket
exercise you will be able to ascertain how well you currently perform each behaviour
and see any areas where you could improve your effectiveness.
Planning Behaviours
The nature of this exercise is heavily biased to assess your planning abilities. The
scenario is usually one of where you have just been told you are taking over your boss’s
or a colleague’s work load because of some emergency or unplanned event.
Frequently the scenario gives you only have 30-40 minutes in which to decide how to
action the whole set of items. It is important that you plan sufficient time to read, or at
least scan, each item before you have to attend a new meeting or leave for a business
trip as outlined in the supplied brief.
This exercise will test your ability to manage your diary and plan your time to ensure all
‘important’ tasks are completed on time. The Assessor’s will want to see how you cope
with the sudden and large influx of in-tray items, additional meetings or presentations.
They want to see if your behaviours—how you think and act—match that of the role you
are applying for, or do you still operate at a more operational and lower level. For example,
do you make use do you make of your team and their individual skills and expertise?
Through the multiple choice questions you will be presented with different scenarios that
need to be addressed. In your answer the Assessor’s will be looking for the following
planning qualities:
• Have you been able to read all items?

• Have you grasped the important issues that need your immediate attention?
• How do you deal with the double bookings that have resulted from this influx
of workload in your diary?
• What strategies did you adopt to prioritise items for action?
• What tactics did you use to ensure all your existing and new actions were dealt
with timely?
• Did you get distracted by minor items or important but non-urgent items?
• How well do you respond to pressure and the unexpected?
• What use do you make of the Organisational focus and issues in your actions
and decisions?

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Many In-tray exercises will provide you with a weekly diary showing your current actions,
meetings and commitments. It is important that you familiarise yourself with this and
have it close at hand when going through the items. You may also be given a 3-month
calendar which may be blank or have key events marked on it.
As you read through the items have the Diary and Calendar sheets next to you so that
you can jot down existing meetings and new ones which cause you to make changes
or react to. This is especially useful as dates extend past the week it would be easy
to miss key deadlines or dates as they often appear in potential answers to questions
concerned with another issue or what may appear unrelated items.
For example,
Asking for a finance meeting where one of the dates is also the launch day of a new
project you now have to organise.
These two items are your best asset to help you quickly and efficiently plan and identify
potential problems. If you are not supplied these then you must create your own. It is
essential that you don’t try to do it all in your head there’s not enough time to do this, nor
does it help you refresh your memory if you have a gap between your multiple choice
questions and / or the justification.
You can also use these sheets to show how you’d request essential reports needed
for a meeting, monitor certain actions, or delegated tasks. In this way you provide the
Assessor with a written record of how’d operate in the job, you can’t assume anything
and can be especially useful in a ‘Justification’ or Group Discussion. It could be the one
thing only you do at your Assessment centre helping you to stand out from the others
and substantially increase your score.
Your In-tray exercise will give you information on the Organisation you find yourself
in it is essential that you bring this detail out for easy reference. This information may
be provided as an actual chart or as a list of others in the fictious Organisation along
with their responsibilities. If you find that the latter is the case then you need to quickly
sketch out an Organisational chart.
By creating your own Organisation Chart detailing responsibilities you will be able
to easily identify the position and status of an individual that you receive an email or

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message from which may affect how you respond. It will also enable you to recognise
if a name referred to in another item should affect the way you deal with this particular
item. As you read through the items you can add further details on specialist knowledge
and personal priorities of individuals onto this chart.
Within your Organisation chart you should also allow space to add any external people
onto this chart. You then have a visual representation of any links these external personnel
have with people in your Organisation. You will quickly have a record of who the external
person is involved with and how to set a value against their input.
By having this visual record of both the internal and external workings of the Organisation
you will be able to plan more clearly and succinctly so you are able to address all the
important issues the items appropriately.
Finally it allows you to see at a glance the skills and availability of your staff and others
within the organisation that you can call upon to help you address and resolve the
issues raised in the In-tray exercise. This Organisational chart you have created will
become an invaluable tool saving you much needed time as you read through the items
and answer the multiple choice questions.
Prioritisation Behaviours
A key aspect of your planning is naturally the priority you give to each item. It is vital
that you show the correct level of prioritisation to reflect the situation correctly and the
level of the position you are applying for. The Assessors will be evaluating you on how
well you comprehend and absorb the organisational priorities into your answers and
decision making.
The In-tray exercise is designed to send you several small items which could easily
distract you from the main purpose of your role and position within the scenario.
For example:
Tuesday afternoon was down as you attending a key training session, but now you
also have a new meeting that has been added to your responsibilities. How do you
respond?
A. You could attend the course and send a subordinate in your place to the
meeting.

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B. You could attend the course and miss the meeting.

C. You could attend the course and rearrange the meeting.
D. You attend the meeting and cancel the training.
E. You attend the meeting and postpone the training.
F. You attend the meeting yourself and send a subordinate to the training.
But this meeting has been called at the request of one of the senior managers or
directors who are the level above the role you take on in the exercise!
So in terms of priority you should attend the meeting because of who has called
the meeting which you now have to attend in place of your boss, for example. How
you deal with the training will depend on the scenario presented it may be best to
postpone it or send someone else. In this example there is insufficient information
to really know how best to answer that issue
Your ability to quickly take hold of the full implications of your actions re—the training
course, for example, reflect your ability to prioritise In-tray items appropriately for
the Organisation. The key behaviours you need to show your assessors is that you
assess each item in terms of its importance and then in terms of its urgency or need for
attention.
The work you have done as part of your planning with the diary, calendar and organisational
chart will be invaluable in revealing the priorities against the Organisational objectives
and your time constraints. As you assess the level of importance and urgency for each
In-tray item many may seem equally urgent in nature. The assessors will be looking to
see through your answers to the question what behaviours you felt best dealt with this
situation.
• Did you delegate it?

• Did you try to do everything yourself?
Where possible you will also want to ensure that any delegated work has clear deadlines
and tasks. If you have a free format answer remember to be concise in your reply and
you may even choose to bullet point your actions so that you are able to illustrate the
required behaviour’s.

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For example,
Where you have selected to delegate a presentation to another manager (who has
equal knowledge to you)
In your free-form answer add the following notes:
1. To call or email this colleague that day or the next day to see how it went.
2. To call those who requested the presentation to ensure their own objectives
were met.
Your Assessor’s will be looking for how you addressed the issues below in your answers
to the multiple choice questions regarding your prioritisation:
• Did your action reflect the same priorities of the Organisation?

• Did your appreciation of external factors influence your priorities
appropriately?
• How well did you deal with the increased number of top priority items?
• Did you make sufficient use of others and their skills to help you achieve all that
was asked?
• Did you become distracted or too involved in non-essential or unimportant
items?
• Where your priorities the same as those expected on the role?
• With the increase of the pressure to achieve did it have any detrimental impact
on your decision making? (This may be something that comes out during the
Justification.)
• Was your assessment of operational issues appropriate?

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Decision Making Behaviours

The majority of organisations require that senior level employees are extremely competent
decision makers. The In-tray exercise is designed to assess your behaviours in respect
of:
• Commercial insight,
• Your use of creativity in problem resolution and decision making.
Your assessors will want to see you displaying the appropriate behaviours that show you
are able to place the correct level of importance on items with respect to the company
goals and objectives in your decision making
They will want to see how you gauge the impact on the organisation, both at a strategic
and operational level, of your decision or action. The assessors will want to understand
what implications you took into account as part of your decision making process with
regard to resources on other situations or projects.
Your assessors want to see how concise and with what clarity you make decisions. Your
analytical abilities of drawing out the pertinent points from any item of correspondence
will have a direct correlation with the type of decisions you make. The exercise is
formatted in such a way that your lucidity of thought can be accurately assessed and
judge as to your suitability for the position.
Your answers will directly reflect your decision making qualities to your assessor’s. They
will assess these behaviours on how well your answers addressed the following.
• Did it match the Organisational objectives and ethos?

• Did you make appropriate use of other resources as part of this process?
• Was your thought pattern clear and concise?
• How well did your decisions match the requirements of the scenario?
• Could you discern the difference between urgency and importance?
• How well did your style of decision making match that of the organisation?
• How well did you perform under this pressure?
• Could you assess potential risk to yourself and the organisation succinctly?

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As part of this decision process assessors will also be judging you on what you chose
to do with an item once you’ve read it.
For example:
You have a paper memo reminder sent regarding some corporate training.
Due to a new meeting you must attend the question you are asked is how would
you deal with this memo? Would you:
• File it
• Circulate it
• Copy it
• Discard it
• Shred it.
Whilst your answer to ‘shred it’ may seem insignificant it shows the assessors how
your understanding of the organisation influences your decision making and does
form part of your overall score. For example, a legal firm may require you to keep
a hardcopy of ALL correspondence, whereas an IT company may judge this as a
poor quality.
Management Style Behaviours

An essential part of your preparation and research for your assessment centre must be
on the prospective organisation you wish to become part of. From thorough analysis of
their literature, website and press coverage you will pick up the main elements of their
management and operational style.
It is this style and its associated behaviour’s that you must emulate during your exercises
and in particular the In-tray exercise to be the successful candidate. During the In-tray
exercise you are likely to display several different management styles and will probably
include the following ones:
• Supervisory,
• Mentor,
• Delegator,
• Customer orientated,
• Organisationally orientated,
• People orientated.

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Your judgement as to which style you use to address a certain situation will be influenced
by your understanding of the behaviours of your potential role and how this relates to the
management style most appropriate to the position and culture of the organisation.
For instance,
From several In-tray items you become aware of a problem with one of your
members of staff.
The problem could be of a personal or behavioural nature i.e. inappropriate manner
with a customer.
In selecting your answer to a question based on this problem you will display your
management style and that needs to be appropriate to the positions levels and
match the ethos of the Organisation.
If you choose to speak to the individual personally about the feedback you have had
and give him or her, the opportunity to respond and put across their interpretation of
the events. You are displaying several behaviours to your assessors. For example,
• You are illustrating your analytical skills of situations

• As well as being supportive of a member of your staff.
The problem may be due to lack of knowledge or experience on the employee’s

part and not belligerence.
You are showing that you don’t jump to conclusions about issues before speaking to all
parties. The urgency with which you speak to this individual may be influenced by the
details of the exercise, but will definitely be dependent on the management style of the
organisation.

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Evaluation Behaviours
The In-tray exercise is designed to gauge your ability to extract the pertinent information
from the numerous In-tray items and then how you use this knowledge to aid your
decisions and choices. Your assessors are then judging you on the way you prioritise
the different issues raised and how well your actions match that of someone in the role
and the organisation’s culture.
The majority of In-tray exercises use a fictious scenario this ensures a more fair
comparison between candidates. The knowledge each candidate will have is the same
so the exercise tests how well you depict the ‘behaviours’ required for the role rather
than your knowledge of how to deal with it.
This exercise quickly measures your ability to draw out key information and assesses
how you act on it, as well as how appropriate these behaviours are.
Your assessors will be looking to judge how well you:
• Use the snippets of information contained in one item to add substance to

another item.
• How you measure the importance of an issue or problem in terms of
Organisational values and beliefs.
• What aspects of the communications contained in the In-tray items do you feel
appropriate to circulate this amongst your colleagues?
• What use do you make of monitoring and setting timescales for tasks to assist
you in achieving on item’s objective?
• How quickly do you interpret a situation from the information supplied and
have the confidence to act upon this?
• From the information supplied in the exercise how well have you understood all
the nuances raised and been able to prioritise your actions?
The former example of the training session and your choice to postpone it would reflect
your recognition of the importance of this corporate training (this information was
included in the item itself as a footnote). If you’d chosen to cancel it this aspect would
have been overlooked and would reduce your marks.

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An equally important Behaviour that works in conjunction with evaluation is analysis and
you will have to be able to demonstrate both these behaviours to achieve a high score
in this area.
Analysis Behaviours
For each In-tray or In-basket exercise you will be provided with an Exercise Overview
this normally consists of 500-800 words. In this overview it will describe the situation
you find yourself in and what is required of you. It also details the time limit that you have
to perform these tasks.
You will also be provided with a list of others in the organisation and your team which
will either be in the form of a description or organisation chart. Finally you will be given
a dairy sheet detailing or your current arrangements.
During the exercise the assessors will be looking to see how well you use the information
provided in these documents. They also want to see what behaviours you display and
how you interpret this information based knowledge in order to make your decisions
and respond to the questions asked.
Your assessor’s will be able to see from your resultant behaviours how you analysed
the ‘training reminder memo’ and will judge your performance on the following types of
questions.
• How thoroughly do you examine the items?

• What issues do you investigate further and glean information from other items
to help you be more informed?
• Can you drill down to find the nub of a problem?
• Do you test the importance of an issue or problem by comparing different
items?
• Are you able to discern between importance and priority?
All these behaviours need to be shown in the short space of time you have for this
exercise. You do not have the luxury of time! This is another crucial element that In-tray
exercises test—your use of the time available.

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Speed and Accuracy Behaviours

For the majority of In-tray or In-basket exercises the situation you are presented with is
one where you have to deal with your own and another person’s (usually your boss or
equivalent) in-tray items. The scenario is one of an emergency so you could not have
prepared for it and what the exercise is judging how you behave when dealing with this
unexpected situation.
Although the situation may be ‘unrealistic’ it does display how you would deal with
the unknown and unexpected in a limited timeframe. The assessor’s can see how you
respond and behave in such a situation.
For example, sometimes important dates or priorities appear as small

comments and can easily be missed.
The common thread to all of these types of exercises is the need for you to deal with
things quickly and efficiently. The scenario usually presents you with around 30 minutes
in which you have to decide how to deal with all the emails, phone messages, memos
and meetings that are presented before you.
Your behaviours must display to the assessor’s that you can work well and accurately
under tight time pressure. This is where the amount of practice at such exercise will
enable you to perform above average in this exercise and gain valuable points. The
importance of this cannot be emphasised enough.
It will be especially significant if you have a ‘Justification’ aspect to your in-tray exercise
as this particular behaviour can be tested more thoroughly in a discussion.
You will need to show:
• You spot double bookings and deal with them appropriately.

• You have read all items and understood its meaning.
• You have considered all the supplied facts when making your decision.
• You make good use of others within the organisation or your team to help
resolve issues. This may be in either performing a task or gathering data to help
you make a decision.

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• You have identified any errors contained in the items. E.g. this may be a miss
spelling of a name, incorrect date or wrong location of a meeting.
• You are able to resolve all issues presented in the questions.
• You can present a concise and well thought out argument during your
Justification.
You use of notes in a consistent part of the In-tray item, post-it notes or highlighted
aspects of the item are all things that will help illustrate you accuracy and speed
behaviours in a ‘Justification’ and also in the percentage of the exercise you are able to
complete.
Whilst you may be quick and spot all the mistakes you must be effective in how you
use your time. There is little point in reading all items thoroughly and then only having
sufficient time to answer half the questions.
Even though you may be able to provide a reasoned argument for the unanswered
questions you may not have the opportunity and as a result will lose a significant
proportion (this will vary according to the role) of the total marks for this exercise.
Effective Use of Time Behaviours

Your final score for this exercise will be influenced by how effectively you allocate the
time available to you to perform all the tasks they ask. Whilst many exercises have the
time for reading and the time to answer questions denoted separately, other do not. So
you will be assessed on how well you deal with and the behaviours you exhibit when
being overloaded with information.
You need to ensure that your first task is to understand how much time you have
available and divide this up appropriately between the exercise tasks:
For example:
You have 45 minutes to complete your In-tray exercise.
Do you spend more time reading or answering questions?

Reading the items 20 or 25 minutes
Answering items 20 or 25 minutes

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It would be the most effective use to spend 15-20 minutes reading and then 25
minutes answering the questions as this is the aspect you will need more time to
make a judgement on the question asked.
So by allocate your time in this manner you will ensure that you have read everything at
least once and have absorbed all the key information contained within the items so that
you illustrate the required behaviours through your answers to the questions.
To ensure your effectiveness you should use the 80-20 rule, once you have gone through
each item and ascertained its importance, according to the role you are playing. This
means that you will use 80% of the time available to work on the most important items
and then 20% on the less significant and mundane items.
The assessors are looking to see and assess how you deal with the items and how
it mirrors the required behaviours, the ethos and values of the organisation. In some
exercises you will be told to complete the whole exercise or to do as much as possible.
Whatever instructions you receive then you must work in a way that maximises the
score you can achieve.
It is also key that you don’t try to guess about information not supplied, you must only
use what is provided and not be afraid to say you would require further details on an
issue before arriving at your decision. Always keep in your mind how much time you
have in the scenario to perform these tasks;
For example:
Jamie Wong only has 30 minutes before he has to go to the first meeting, so he
can’t afford to pontificate over all the items.
Your assessors will also be observing in your behaviours whether or not:
• You spend time on key issues that have a significant impact on the organisation
• You are easily distracted by important items that are not urgent?
• You focus you time resolving the more trivial items because they are easier or
not?
• Your willingness and appropriateness to delegate.
• Whether or not you set a deadline for the activity.

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During your justification, if you have one, it is vital that your behaviours show you make
effective use of this time to answer as many of the questions the assessor’s have so
your answer should be concise and reflect your knowledge of the facts and figures
involved. You do not want to get side-tracked on a minor element of a question and run
out of time to answer the others reducing your final score.
The Justification or Discussion aspect of In-tray exercises

For many of you, all you will have to do once you have completed the timed element
of the exercise where you read, digest and respond to the items is answer a series
of multiple choice questions. But for some and especially for those of you who are
seeking jobs at the highest levels you will have the opportunity to explain your decisions.
This can immediately follow the exercise, or be at a pre-arranged time later on in your
assessment centre.
It is vital that you remember during this discussion, or justification, that you are also
continually being assessed in terms of how you handle yourself under ‘interrogation’ of
your work. Your behaviour’s at this time must reflect those required by the role and the
Organisation.
You must be concise and decisive in your answers as you’ll only have about 5 minutes
per question if you are asked a dozen questions during your hour’s justification. It is
essential that you put yourself in the mindset of your boss, your mentor or someone
more senior this will allow you to exhibit the behaviours of someone at that level.
The Assessor will be observing your behaviours and interaction with them and others
within the group if the Justification is done as part of a Group Discussion. They will
assess and score you according to:
• How you respond to criticism.

• Do you become defensive when your arguments is scrutinised?
• How easily persuaded you are in altering your decision.
• Can you be flexible?
• How well reasoned was your decision.
• How did you determine priorities?
• What use did you make good use of the information provided?

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• How well you explained your decisions.

• Did you miss any key issues or data?
• Are you a people, or results, person?
They will want to see how you deal with this type of situation where you may have
to justify your decisions. The justification provides you with an excellent opportunity
to explain why you prioritised things in the way you did and display the behaviours
required. You will also have the opportunity to show how your reasoning matches the
values and beliefs of the organisation so that you can increase your overall mark for this
exercise.
By spending time at the end of the exercise to put all the in-tray items into orderly
piles, with clear notes to help you, you’ll easily and quickly be able to refresh your
memory if your justification follows a break from the initial in-tray exercise You will also
be able to show how other items in the in-tray supported or influenced your decisions.
This will illustrate your behavioural aptitude and skills in organisation and evaluation of
information and raise your marks with the assessors.
One of the most important things you will need to demonstrate is that your decisions
match what you are saying and describing in the justification. You must be able to show
that you have a clear understanding of the main issues raised in the items and of how
you arrived at your decision.
A favourite question which can come at the beginning, or the end, of the justification,
is:
‘If you were doing this exercise again would you do anything differently?’
If the question is used to open the discussion then you can reply that you are happy with
your decisions and you feel that the exercise went well. But if you are asked at the end
then your answer will be influenced by how well the discussion has gone.
What is important is that you reply honestly. Just be aware that if you respond by saying
that you may do some things differently; be ready for the next question of ‘Why didn’t
you do it this way in the exercise?’ You may then use some of the feedback you have
received during the discussion to back this decision up.

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Hints and Tips

It is important to check whether you can write on, or jot notes on, the in-tray items
themselves. If you can, then make full use of this option. Be mindful to be consistent
in where you write your notes so that you can easily review them, i.e. always in bottom
right-hand corner. Remember that everything you do must maximise and efficiently use
the time you have available.
Whatever instructions you receive then you must work in a way that maximises the
score you can achieve. The assessors are looking to see and assess how you deal with
the items and whether or not it mirrors the ethos and values of the organisation.
It is vital that you don’t try to guess information that is not supplied; you must only use
what is provided and not be afraid to say you would require further details on an issue
before arriving at your decision. Always keep in your mind how much time you have in
the scenario to perform the tasks and respond accordingly.
Each individual exercise will have its own instructions and outline the parameters within
which you should work. You will also be given additional information needed for a
particular exercise e.g. a calendar for the in-tray exercise or critical incident.
For many of these exercises it will be important and ensure you use your time most
effectively to have some scrap paper to hand so that you can make your own notes and
avoid having to continually thumb through all the handouts. You can also use post-it
notes to jot things down on, and to help you prioritise the items in the in-tray exercise,
for example.
Useful Items to take to your assessment centre
• Calculator
• Different coloured pens
• Geometry set if technically orientated role
• Highlighters
• Pencils rubber
• Post-it notes
• Scrap paper

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It is important to make your decision from the information provided. You should not
make any assumptions, or try to read more into it, than is actually supplied for each
exercise. Assessors will want to see how well you evaluate the information supplied and
the appropriateness of your decision based on the scenario.
So be wary of falling into the trap of making a decision, or selecting an answer, at your
assessment day that normally you’d want more detailed information before deciding.
If it is appropriate for the nature of the question—your answer could be ‘None of the
above’ or, ‘I’d want to delay my decision till I had more time.’
If you are applying for top-level management, or strategic roles, you will find that your
in-tray exercise is longer and has a greater intensity contained within its items than
those on lower grades. You will more frequently find that you are required to produce
written responses to items.
As the intensity of the exercises increases the likelihood of being able to complete the
whole exercise in the allocated time diminishes. It is how you respond to an issue that
matters more than being able to complete the whole exercise, but the latter should
always be your goal as this aspect of the exercise is never known.
For some candidates their in-tray exercise could be up to three hours in length. This is
frequently done in two or three sections, which are fitted around the other exercises you
will undertake during the assessment centre. You can rest assured that all candidates
will have the same experience, so that you can all be scored fairly.

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Presentation Exercises
The presentation exercise is a great opportunity for you to stand out from the crowd.
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. Firstly, you don’t need to consider other participants,
as you would in a group discussion or role-play exercise. Secondly, you do have control
over how you present your given topic or theme.
So if you are asked to give a presentation, be prepared to make the most of this
opportunity to show what you can do and have to offer.
The most obvious competency that you are being asked to demonstrate is ‘interpersonal
communication’, especially your ability to communicate a message in a clear and
persuasive way. This covers three separate areas:
• How you organise the material.

• How you actually present it.
• How you handle and answer questions.
However, there are two other areas that are often tested implicitly during the presentation
exercise. These are:
• Enthusiasm for the Role

Do you sound as though you really want to be there delivering the message?
This aspect of job selection is often overlooked by candidates but most
employers want someone who has a genuine enthusiasm for what they do.
You need to deliver your presentation with a certain amount of passion—don’t
go over the top but you must engage the audience of assessors. They may be
listening to a whole series of presentations on the same or similar topics so
don’t underestimate how much energy you need to put in if you are going to
capture and hold their attention.
• Organisational/Strategic Interpretation
Try to demonstrate that you can add value beyond that which the employer
expects from the role.
This is easier in some presentations than others, it depends on the topic you’re
given, but it is often this ‘added value’ that marks out the successful candidates.

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Format
The presentation exercise can take several formats:
1. You are given a topic in advance of the assessment centre and told how long
a presentation you need to prepare. You will also be told what visual aids you
can use and whether you can use PowerPoint.
If your assessment centre spans two days, then the preparation can sometimes
be set as an exercise at the end of the first day. The idea being that you work on it
in the evening and give the presentation the following day. These presentations
are usually scheduled to last at least 30 minutes.
2. You are given a topic on the day along with some relevant data and a set time,
typically 30 minutes to prepare. The duration of this type of presentation is
usually 10-20 minutes.
3. The presentation can be linked to other exercises, usually the group discussion.
In this instance each candidate is expected to make a presentation detailing
the group’s findings or conclusions. The duration of this type of presentation is
usually 10-20 minutes.

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The Six Point Plan

Whichever format a presentation is going to take you can give yourself a huge advantage
by knowing how to prepare properly. It does not matter whether the preparation time is
several weeks or half an hour, if you have a system that you have practiced using you
will have far more chance of success than a candidate who just improvises and hopes
for the best.
This also demonstrates another competency to the assessor how well you plan and
organise your presentation. For example, depending on the nature and topic of your
presentation you need to show how your role contributes to the overall objective i.e.
implementation of a new system or procedure into your department. You will also need
to illustrate how you plan to communicate and monitor progress to all involved parties
in your presentation. IN some instances you may have to also demonstrate another
competency—how you will manage resources.
The six-point plan detailed below is both logical and flexible. It is designed to make
sure that you don’t waste time thinking about what to do, and that you spend whatever
preparation time you have as efficiently as possible. There are some qualities that a
coherent presentation simply must have and by following this plan you can be confident
that your presentation will have these qualities.
This plan will work just as well whether you have three weeks or thirty minutes to prepare.
Obviously, with only half an hour to prepare you really can’t afford to waste any time and
using the six-point plan below will ensure that you make the best use of every minute
that you have. The six stages are:
1. Identifying the Aim

2. Identifying the Key Points
3. Planning the Structure
4. Planning the Content
5. Preparing Visual Aids
6. Preparing for Questions
We will illustrate each of these in turn. Remember that even if you only have 30 minutes
to prepare, sticking to this way of doing things will make sure that you are making
the best use of every minute that you have and will be able to illustrate the required
competencies.

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Identifying the Aim

Business presentations are designed either to inform the audience about a particular
topic or to persuade them of a particular conclusion.
• What does the audience want from this presentation?

• What is the purpose of your presentation?
This may be clear from the brief or it may not. If not, then you will need to ask yourself
“What is the aim of this presentation?”
For example,
If you have been told to deliver a presentation on your career achievements to date
(which is a common topic), then the aim would be;
‘To persuade the audience that I am the ideal candidate for this role.’
If you had just completed a group discussion exercise in which you had to decide which
company you were going to outsource the organisation’s IT support to, then the aim
might be;
‘To persuade the audience that Micro-Hocus should be awarded the IT Support
contract.’
If the group discussion had not been about a topic which resulted in a recommendation,
maybe something like ‘Discuss how new compliance legislation will affect our marketing’,
then the aim might be;
‘To inform the audience how new compliance legislation will affect the organisation’s
marketing.’
Note that the aim statement does not need to be ‘snappy’ or memorable. The purpose
of the aim statement is simply to help you to decide what to include in the presentation
and just as importantly—what to leave out.

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Identifying the Key Points

The next stage is to identify the key points that you need to communicate to the audience
to support your aim statement. The best way to think about this is to imagine that the
aim statement is a destination and the key points are the places that you need to visit
to get to that destination.
This is more difficult than identifying the aim of the presentation. There is usually a lot
of information that could be presented to the audience and the task is almost invariably
one of deciding how many key points to make, what they are and in what order to make
them.
It is generally accepted that you need between three and five key points. This may
sound somewhat arbitrary but the fact is that people are very comfortable with three
points and even though you may think that ‘more is better’, your audience can easily
lose interest if you give them too much information.
As a rule of thumb, only consider making more than three key points if you are presenting
for more than twenty minutes and there is a compelling reason to do so. You need to
demonstrate that you can quickly and efficiently draw out the salient points from any
topic and persuade others of their validity.
Planning the Structure

Your presentation should consist of an introduction, a main body, a conclusion and
finally a question and answer session.
A good guide for the breakdown of a presentation is:
• Introduction 10%
• Main body 70%
• Conclusion 10%
• Questions 10%
This formula can be applied to any length of presentation. The question and answer
session is one part of the presentation that you can be most easily lengthened or cut
short as needed. The assessors will be particularly interested in how you manage this
aspect of the presentation.

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Your next task is to divide the presentation up so that the correct amount of time is
allocated to each of your key points. Most presentations at an assessment centre will be
about 20 minutes so this allows 14 minutes for the main body in which you will describe
your three key points. You could divide it into:
• Two three minute and one eight minute segments for your key points.
Or …
• Three equal segments for your key points.
In either case it will depend on the relative importance you have given to each key
point. Don’t worry about the introduction, conclusion and the questions at this stage.
These can all be dealt with quickly once the main body of the presentation has been
completed.
It is often useful in such a short presentation to include in your introduction the request
that you ask your audience to save their questions till the end.
Planning the Content

Once you have allocated sufficient time to each key point your next step is to plan
the content in detail. The best way to plan your content is by creating your own cue
cards. The best cards to use are about 5 x 7 inches in size, and are available from most
stationers. It is a good idea to take some of these cue cards with you to the assessment
centre for just this purpose.
These cue cards are widely used and it is perfectly acceptable for you to hold them
in one hand and refer to them as you need to during your presentation. The important
thing is that you only put enough information onto each card to enable you to keep track
of where you are in your presentation.
To prepare your cue cards write one of your key points at the top of each of your three
cards. Then place the information that supports each key point on these separate cards.
Avoid the temptation to put so much information onto a card that you find yourself
reading it out.

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Key words and phrases are all that is required to enable you to present in a natural and
spontaneous style. If you have too much detail you will either end up reading from the
card or continually referring to it. This will be distracting and will also reduce your eye
contact with the audience.
As you work through producing these cards it may become clear that you need to
change the order of the main part of your presentation. This often happens and is one
of the main advantages of using the cue card system as opposed to writing your cues
on a sheet of A4 paper. The cue cards also give you a quick and easy way to change the
order should you find this necessary, giving you great flexibility with your presentation.
When you are happy with the order of your presentation then write the numbers on the
top right of each card so that you can quickly re-arrange them into the correct sequence
if necessary. Only write on one side of each card as this avoids the distracting behavior
of turning over cards and confusion as to whether or not you have addressed both
sides.
It may be worth adding timing points, which will help you to pace yourself properly
and stick to the allocated time frame. If you don’t have sufficient time to rehearse
your presentation use items written in different colours or highlighted to identify this
information as non-essential so that could be dropped if find yourself overrunning. This
will be extremely helpful and will not be perceptible by your audience.
Once you are happy with these cue cards for the main body you can then produce a
card each for the introduction and the summary. The information on these cards should
be very quick to produce as it falls naturally out of the main body of the presentation.
The use of natural conversational language assisted by pre-prepared cue cards will help
you to sound natural and spontaneous, which in turn creates an informal and relaxed
relationship between you and your audience.

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Preparing Visual Aids

You should design your visual aids once the content planning phase is complete. The
quickest solution is to produce a series of slides with bullet points to back up your cue
cards. If you are really short of time then this may be all that you can do. However, this
approach is not going to make you stand out from the crowd.
Audiences like to see diagrams, charts and pictures—bullet points should be a last
resort, use them only when time constraints prevent you from doing anything more. You
could also store famous quotes that you have found useful in your other presentations
to illustrating key aspects. So create a file on your own PC or memory stick that you can
use on the day to support your key points in these ways.
Your visual aids should be used to:
• Reinforce stated facts

• Aid the understanding of ideas
• Clarify relationships or physical layouts
• Introduce the audience to a new topic area
When composing your visual aids, try as much as possible to use alternative phrases
to the ones you’ll use on the day. This avoids you giving the impression that you are
just reading the visual information and it also avoids your audience switching off from
you and just reading the aids. By carefully planning your visual aids you can use this
invaluable tool to help drive home your message.
You may also want to use different types of visual aids to assist you in communicating
your message to your audience. Make sure you use them appropriately and not just
because they are there. Your use of visual aids must enhance the behaviours you
display. In addition to your electronic presentation you could use:
• Flipchart to detail your agenda or key points.

• Whiteboards can be used to create an interactive element to your presentation.
• Overhead projectors (OHP) can be used to display a project plan you may want
to refer to several times in your presentation for example. (Remember to turn it
off when not being used.)

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Ultimately the amount of time you have to prepare and the complexity of your message
will dictate what visual aids are the most effective for you to use to ensure you display
the required competencies.
Preparing for Questions

When you reach your ‘conclusion’ cue card, step forward so that you are asserting
yourself as the center of attention and deliver your summing up with confidence and
authority.
For example, you could say something like:

“Now to sum up briefly before I answer any questions you may have”
Your conclusion is the last impression you make on the audience and may be the best
remembered—so always plan to finish strongly. Reiterate the main points from your
presentation and try to create a memorable final statement or visual image.
The key to being confident in dealing with questions is preparation and show in
your behaviour the competencies that the role requires. Obviously, you cannot know
in advance exactly what questions you will be asked but if you read through your
presentation carefully it is often possible to make some educated guesses.
Often, when you have finished giving your presentation there is a feeling of relief which
can cause you to momentarily lose your concentration. This coupled with the sudden
change in focus from your cue cards to the audience/assessors can cause you to rush
your answers and say something that you’ll later regret, or misunderstand the questioner
and answer a question that was not even asked.
For this reason, whenever you are asked a question you should go through exactly the
same five step process to answer it.
. Listen to the entire question.

Force yourself to listen to the entire question and make sure you understand it.
Not waiting to hear the entire questions can result in you providing a response
which had nothing to do with the question.
. Repeat the question so that all of the assessors can hear it—This serves two
purposes;

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a. Firstly, your answer may not make sense to some of the assessors if they
were not paying full attention when the question was asked.
b. Secondly, repeating the question allows you some additional time to
evaluate it and formulate a response.
. Pause take a few moments to think

a. Always pause to think before answering any question, even if you feel that
you have a good answer readily to hand.
b. It’s often very useful to have a glass of water close by as by taking a sip of
water before you answer gives you the opportunity to compose yourself
and your answer.
Responding too quickly to those questions you are comfortable with will
bring attention to those questions where you cannot answer so quickly and
it can cause the pace of the question and answer session to speed up.
This whole exercise is stressful and you can find yourself quickening the
pace as you realise the end is in sight. This can have the effect of making
you rush to answer questions without giving them due consideration.
. Respond to the question

Do this honestly especially if you are giving a career presentation, don’t make
things up or enhance your involvement as the next question may ask you to
expand on this aspect!
If you don’t know the answer then say you don’t. You can always add what
information you would want to have before making your decision if you were
faced with the situation again.
. Bridge to the next question—This is done by asking the previous questioner

something like:
“Does that answer your question?”
This gives them or one of the other assessors the opportunity to either clarify
their question by asking it again or to ask for more information.

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Six-Point Plan—Example
By using the six point process to show you how Sarah, our Marketing Communications
executive, would present the highlights of her career at her assessment centre you will
gain an appreciation of what is involved for you.
You can see from Sarah’s preparation that this exercise is testing the fourth required
competency ‘Interpersonal Communications’. It is essential that she gives an excellent
presentation and communicates clearly and easily with her audience. She knows that
she is presenting to a panel of assessors but she has not been told who they are, nor
has she been informed of their backgrounds. Therefore she must be mindful of using
marketing language or acronyms without explanations of their meanings.
She could quickly assess the knowledge of her audience by asking before she starts
her presentation if everyone is familiar with marketing terminology. She could also ask
them to stop her if she uses any terms that they are unfamiliar with so that she can
explain them.
For example
Sarah has been told that she should create a 20 minute presentation on her best
marketing achievements, which she will deliver to a panel of assessors.
. Identifying the Aim—Sarah’s aim of her presentation is:
‘To illustrate how her best marketing achievements show that she is the ideal
candidate for the Marketing Manager role.’
. Identifying the Key Points. She needs to identify the key achievements, which
will demonstrate that she is the ideal candidate for the role. To do this, she
looks at the top three competencies of the Marketing Manager which she has
identified in her preparation (discussed in an earlier chapter).
• Leadership

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Then she selects the best things that illustrate these competencies from her
career history (this can be from her Curriculum Vitae/Resume or Mind Map).
Her order will match the above priorities as this will help her to show she’s the
best candidate.
Due to the short time available Sarah will select an activity that illustrates her
‘Strategic Thinking’ and then her ‘Leadership’. Within both of these she can
illustrate her competency of being ‘Customer Focused’ as this is an integral
part of any marketing professional.
. Planning the Structure—Sarah’s structure has to fit into a 20 minute

presentation and she has allocated this time as shown below.
• Introduction - 2 Minutes
• Main body - (14 Minutes)
• Strategic Thinking example - 7 Minutes
• Leadership example - 7 Minutes
• Conclusion - 2 Minutes
• Questions - 2 Minutes
. Planning the Content—the following examples show you what Sarah’s cue
cards for the main body would look like. Below each card is a short explanation
of what Sarah would say so that you can gain an appreciation of how the cards
can work.
Strategic Thinking Card

To illustrate the correct level of behaviour in connection with Strategic Thinking
competency Sarah has chosen the work that came from the creation of a
competitor database.
Background Notes—the company had set strategic targets for each business
sector in connection with the value of Outsourcing contracts. Some business
sector units were having problems meeting targets although they were winning
contracts.
Marketing lacked sound research on the contract values within the differing
sectors so Sarah began to keep details gleaned from press cuttings, websites
& post-sales meetings of all contracts. By entering these onto a spreadsheet

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the marketing department began to have a more informed picture of contract

value and numbers of contracts by sector.
Along with her manager Sarah monitored the market and as part of the business
planning process she presented her findings to the board. The company
realised they had a marketable and saleable asset in these research findings
which they could maximise through public relations and achieve their strategic
objective of being an industry spokesperson.
From the research (illustrated in the pie chart below) it became clear that the
company’s strategy should change to take advantage of the most profitable
sectors:
• Finance sector contracts were most profitable (half number of Local
Government)
• Local Government contracts accounted for nearly 50% of the market so
had great strategic importance.
• Divisions focused independently on Health, Services and Manufacturing
sectors needed resources to be restructured to ensure profitability.
Sarah would use the pie chart in point 5 to describe the above in the 7 minutes
she has allocated to this section.
Her cue card would look like:
As you look at this cue card you can see how each point emphasises her
competency in strategic thinking. She would describe her strategic behaviours
in each point and not what she actually did, as this is not how a Marketing
Manager would behave.

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Leadership Card
Sarah chooses the Merchandising Campaign to illustrate her leadership
competency and behaviours.
Background Notes—the company provided network services, which tour

operators subscribed to and paid according to how many holidays Travel
Agents booked using this network link.
The sales target for network revenue was £38,000, but despite having four times
as many tour operators subscribed to the service the revenue had reached a
plateau that was around 50% of the target.
Business unit needed to understand why the travel agents weren’t using our
network to book the tour operator’s holidays. Sarah got her managers agreement
to go and visit their local travel agents so that she could see which network they
used to book holidays and carefully question agency staff on this issue.
From this pilot the key findings were that:
• Very few of the travel agents’ staff knew how to enter the network numbers
(limited to only five numbers) into their machines so the Company’s number
was not on the screens.
• The managers were aware of being able to access the company’s network,
but the staff was not.
• Almost no-one in the travel agencies knew about the new tour operators
they could access over the company’s network
These issues came as a surprise to the company. No one had suspected that
agent staff’s would be unable to enter new network numbers into their screen.
Nor had they anticipated that the communications (of new tour operators on
the network) with the travel agents’ head offices would not be filtered quickly
to the branches and from there to the front desk staff.
The only way to guarantee the company’s network number was entered in the
travel agents screen was to go and do it as Sarah had done with the pilot. The
quicker this could be achieved the happier tour operators would be and the
more chance the company had of achieving its target.
Sarah’s task was to set up and manage a team to go and do this for the major
and smaller travel agent groups (about 80% of all agents)—the 8month long

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Merchandising Campaign. This enabled her to develop the following leadership

skills.
• As a result of the pilot she understood the issues travel agents faced.
• Persuaded two placement students that this was an excellent development
& dissertation opportunity for them.
• Took on the personal objective that by the end of the campaign 72% of
travel agents would have the company’s network number on their screen.
(Achieved 78%).
• Designed and gave students the training required (both technical & building
relations with agency staff), explaining the importance of their own targets
and monitored their progress through regular reports and meetings.
• Created and produced suitable presentations for students and
documentation for agency staff.
As a result of the Merchandising Campaign the business unit’s sales target
was exceeded by 50%. The tour operators were so pleased with their resulting
business from this campaign that the company became the leading network
supplier to the travel trade.
Her cue card would look like:
This cue card clearly shows you that she didn’t focus her seven minutes on why
the Merchandising campaign came about, but on how the campaign helped
develop her leadership behaviours. It also shows her abilities to deal with a
dispersed team and she could highlight how this would help her in managing
the multi-sited marketing team.

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. Preparing Visual Aids—for the two cue cards above Sarah’s visual aids would
look as below. The background and what behaviours she would draw out are
described in the background notes in point 4.
Strategic Thinking Visual Aid
Leadership Card Visual Aid

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. Preparing for Questions—the most likely questions will focus on what

happened as a consequence of the campaigns. The sort of questions that
could be asked are shown in the table below along with the contents of Sarah’s
reply.
Potential Questions Content of Answer

• Established company as Industry spokesperson.
• How did you maximise the Report that • Focused sales and marketing activity to exploit
grew out of the Competitor Database? gaps.
• Identified areas least likely to use outsourcing.
• Through your research you would identify whether
or not there was potential for the same type of
• Do you see an opportunity to create
report.
a similar report for our Organisation
• You would also have identified what was required
/Industry?
in order to produce it and say if the ‘resource’ cost
was prohibitive or not.
• Tour operator numbers increased so within 12mths
company had 85% coverage of all operators & all
10 major ones.
• What effect did the merchandising
• Sales revenue was 50 % over target.
campaign have on revenue?
• Became top network provider.
• All major travel agent groups had our network in
one of top three slots on front-desk screens.
• Necessity for a reliable network focused company’s
development spend.
• Needed to regularly update travel agents to
• What were the long term marketing
maintain position on front-desk screens.
implications of the merchandising
• Through use of promotional items kept on front-
campaign?
desk staff aware of operators on network.
• Train our support desk on how to enter or replace
network numbers on front-desk screens.

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Presentations Summary
These presentations need to be kept fairly short as the same assessors will observe
all of the candidates to make sure that the assessment is fair. You will be given a topic
or possibly a choice of topics in advance and will also be told the duration of the
presentation, often around 15-20 minutes with five minutes at the end for questions.
You can also expect to receive a list of the presentation equipment that is available,
usually an OHP. There may be the opportunity to use a flipchart and/or a whiteboard.
Research Thoroughly
Identify Key Points
Prioritise Key Points
Giving a Add Supporting Facts
Presentation Develop Intro & Summary
Rehearse
Edit if Necessary
Pre-empt Questions
The assessors are expecting you to demonstrate the following competencies and
behaviours:
Quality of Research
You will need to research the topic carefully. Make sure that your sources are all credible
and up to date. The Internet is probably the easiest way to research a topic but remember
to check any information that you want to use for accuracy and currency.
Planning & Organisation

Having gathered all of the facts you need to make your presentation, you will need to
put them into some kind of order. The best way to do this is to use cards, about 3” by
5” is ideal. Write one fact on each card, spread them out and then try to sort them in the
most appropriate order.
It is best to put the most important facts first and avoid trying to get too much information
across in the limited time that you have. If the presentation is scheduled to last for ten
minutes then you will need to allow one minute at the beginning to introduce yourself
and the topic and one minute at the end to summarize your arguments. This means that

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you only have 8 minutes to get your points across. You may therefore need to discard
some of the less important information.
Persuasiveness
You need to structure your delivery to ensure that your ideas are well organized, logical
and convincing. Practice to ensure your pace and tone of voice is appropriate to the
audience and organisation you wish to join. The best way to do this is to support each
point that you want to get across with just enough information, before moving on to the
next point.
Again, you can use cards for this. Write the ‘point’ at the top and summarize the
supporting information underneath it. You should end up with between 5 and 10 cards
for a ten minute presentation.
Presentation Skills
The only acceptable way to make a presentation is to speak naturally using cue cards to
prompt you. You must not simply read a pre-prepared script – this will not be acceptable.
As part of your preparation for your Assessment centre you must make sure that you
practice mock presentations thoroughly so they are fluent and keep ones attention.
In order to be able to present in this way you need to rehearse the whole presentation
at least three times. This will enable you to refine your cue cards so that they hold the
minimum amount of information needed to prompt you and you will not be tempted to
just read out your notes.
Remember to speak at a steady pace and with clarity so that you can be heard. Keep
eye contact with the observers and try not to refer to your cue cards other than when
strictly necessary. Many organisations are now using videoing of presentations as a way
to reduce cost and minimise Assessor’s involvement, plus expense (the Assessors will
watch all the presentations together, possibly after the day has ended). If this is the case
for you then ensure that you practiced in front of a camera and come across in a natural
manner. You may also be asked to present to a video camera.

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Handling Questions
At the end of your presentation the observers will ask a few questions. Think about
the sort of things that might be asked and try to have good answers ready. If you don’t
understand the question don’t be afraid to ask for clarification. If you don’t know the
answer, then be honest.
If an Assessor disagrees with one of your points then you will be expected to defend
your reasoning but remember to be polite and constructive in your response so that you
display the appropriate behaviours.
Use of Time
The Assessors will also be checking that you stay within the allocated time frame. This
is another reason why you must rehearse your delivery. Even experienced presenters
cannot make an accurate measurement of how long a presentation will take to deliver
just by looking at their notes. There is no excuse for overrunning your time slot or for
running out of material when you have been told how long your presentation should
take.
If you are given an unplanned or impromptu presentation at your assessment centre

then ask if one of the assessor’s could give you a signal when you have 5 minutes left
so that you keep to time accurately. If this is not possible then make sure you have a
watch or phone that is easy to read at a glance whilst presenting. In this way you will be
able to be mindful of your time restraints as you present.

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Group Exercises
The group exercise is a central and crucial element in the assessment centre. 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.
This type of exercise is often the only one that explicitly examines your behaviours with
regard to group work, for example:
• Your ability to work in a team

• Your social skills
• Your ability to take initiative and influence others
• Your manners and emotional intelligence
• Your independent mindedness
In addition to these, the exercise may also require you to demonstrate: planning,
organising and strategic thinking skills. However these are usually secondary to the
interpersonal communication and social skills shown above.
It is very rare for someone in any job to work alone so interpersonal skills and teamwork
are absolutely essential to almost every role. This may be the only opportunity during
your Assessment Day to show the assessors your competencies in these areas. It is not
easy to practice this type of exercise, but you can ensure that you are familiar with all
the appropriate behaviours you need to exhibit.
You can also make sure that you have a thorough understanding of your new
organisation’s ethos and the values it considers important. This is dealt with in detail in
earlier in this eBook.
The majority of group exercises are done with a group size of 4-8 people as this will
give everyone the opportunity to contribute. It also makes it possible to assign one
assessor to each candidate, which makes detailed observation and marking easier.
Some Centres’ do have groups larger than 8 but it is rare for the group size to be much

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larger than this because of the problems of creating a unified group within the timeframe
of the exercise.
There are three basic formats that can be used at your Assessment Centre:
Free Format—The structure of the group is left entirely to the group itself to work out. The
group will be given a problem to solve or a situation to resolve within a set time frame.
Advantages—You can choose your own role within the group, which best displays
your strengths. Your contribution to the group is totally under your control.
Disadvantages—depending on the group of people you find yourself with you

could spend more of your time competing for certain roles or an over politeness in
deciding how to progress. Either of these could result in your group rushing into a
decision or not achieving the required goal of the exercise.
Partially Structured—Each candidate is set a specific task on which they must lead
the discussion. This task forms part of the problem or solution. For example, each
candidate is assigned a role within a special project team who have been ask to report
to the board of the testing of a new product.
Advantages—The clearer terms of reference make it easier to know when you can
contribute to the overall decision or solution.
Disadvantages—The task you have been given may not play to your strengths so
that it is more difficult for you to illustrate them. Each candidate may become so
absorbed with their specific task that the overall group objective is forgotten or
neglected and a hasty decision is the final outcome of the exercise.
Structured—A role is assigned to each member of the group and is the role they perform
during this exercise. For example: chair person, secretary, finance controller, personnel,
sales, public relations or production. These roles may be assigned at random or there
may be some logic to it. For example, if your experience lies in the financial area and you
are assigned the role of personnel officer, this may be done deliberately to assess your
man-management skills, which are an important aspect of the new role.

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Advantages—You know exactly who and what you need to do within the group.
From the outset you are aware of the other candidates’ roles and how you should
interact with them as if you were in the new job already.
Disadvantages—Being assigned a specific role may limit your contribution if most

of the discussion time is spent on areas other than your own.
Types of Scenario
The type of scenario used in group exercises vary from physical problems, for example:
how to build a bridge over a stream using materials provided, to purely theoretical
problems which can be solved by discussion. The letter inviting you to the assessment
centre will make it clear if you need outdoor clothing or not. The agenda may also
provide so clue as to your type of group exercise by its location e.g. meeting room,
sports studio, the woods, etc.
The main themes of a ‘Group Discussion’ exercise often take one of the following forms:
Critical Incident
The group will be presented with a critical incident that has occurred and be asked
to respond to this event. It could be an operational issue that needs to be resolved
i.e. your supplier has just doubled the price of your product’s raw materials or new
legislation will affect tha way that you do business in the future. The group have to
decide how this change impacts on the business or organisation and present their
findings.
The scenario may be more strategic, for example: There has been a leak to the
press on your organisations future direction, or your share price has seen a dramatic
fall. You are asked to present or prepare your groups response and show how you
would minimise the impact on the organisation.
Organisational Issue
You will be provided with a full brief on what the Organisational issue is and a
clear objective you have to meet. Your group may have to address the personnel
issues of a re-organisation, the financial implications of a merger or the operational
impact of an acquisition. The exact nature of the issue you will have to address

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will be directly related to the nature of the role, for example: technical, strategic,
operational etc.
The group will have to assess what impact this particular change will have on the
organisation and put forward suggestions as how to address this issue in the best
way for the Organisation. The level of position you are applying for will influence
whether or not you prepare a presentation or a report.
Problem Solving & Simulation

You will be given a detailed description of the problem you face and as a group you
will have to agree on a form of action to resolve the problem presented. The type
of problem or simulation will have a direct correlation with the role for which you
are being assessed. So technical roles will be faced with problems of a technical
nature to solve, management will have a resource issue to address etc.
Your group may be asked to address a particular aspect of a prospective business

venture e.g. transfer of staff, or to assess the appropriateness of a possible future
strategy. Whilst for certain high level positions a written proposal may be the required
outcome it is more likely that your group will have to present their findings.
The majority of the scenarios you will be presented with during your assessment
centre are too complex to be solved within the time frame allowed for the exercise.
Don’t be put off by this—you don’t have to solve the problem or issue presented.
What you are being assessed on is how you deal with it, how you behave within the
group and how you ensure that an outcome is arrived at.
Whilst you are preparing for your group exercise it is important to keep in mind the
behaviours that the assessors will be looking for.

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Team Player Behaviour

Your ability to work as an effective member of your group is essential. The assessors will
be looking to see whether you demonstrated the following behaviours:
• Focused on the group objective

• Made good use of the time available
• Motivated and supported others to achieve this objective
• Listened well to others contributions
• Communicated your messages well
• Able to persuade others to remain focused on objective
• Took the lead if required
It is important to remember that your will be assessed on how well your behaviours
assist the group in achieving the objective. If your group is asked to decide which
distribution plant should be selected for redevelopment, then your group must agree on
one plant and be able to demonstrate how and why it arrived at this decision. Whether
you select the ‘right’ distribution plant is not what is being assessed here, it is how each
individual group member performed against the required behaviours of the role during
this exercise.
You must be able to show that you can listen and then put forward well thought out
arguments. Being aware of how you voice tone, speed and volume alters during
different situations is extremely important during such an exercise. You may find that
in a situation that makes you nervous or frustrated you inadvertently increase your
speaking volume or alter your tone so it sound more authoritative—which may or may
not be appropriate.
But what is vital for your success is that you are aware of how and when you alter
your voice in such situations. This is because you may demonstrate an undesirable
behaviour when this happens.
Once you are aware of this type of behaviours you can learn to modify the effects it has
on others according to the situation you are in. An excellent way of doing this is for you
to make several different recordings of your voice. In each one you act out a different
emotion by reading a relevant piece of prose i.e. frustration, anger, sarcasm, arrogance
etc. As you play back each recording you will be able to see how your voice sounds to

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others and from this you will learn to control the amount of any emotion displayed in
your voice.
A good team player will ensure that everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the
discussions. You will need to be aware of the activities and contributions of others in
the group. Just because someone is quiet does not mean that they have nothing to
contribute, they may just need some encouragement.
Communications Behaviours
Communication is not just about talking it is about two-way communication. This can be
on a one-to-one basis or it can be one-to-many. An essential part of any communication
is the sending and decoding of your message. You need to ensure that what you
have said has been received and understood in the way it was intended. This is often
confirmed by the response you get back which is relevant and fits into the context of
your initial message.
You may have experienced this misunderstanding when talking to an elderly relative
who is going deaf. You ask a simple question such as: ‘Do you want a cup of tea?’ and
you get back ‘Doris is in Greece’! The elderly relative’s response bears no relation to
your question so it is obvious they have not heard you properly.
These misunderstandings can also occur when the language used in the first
communication has a different meaning to the recipient; the language may appear to
be used out of context or when those involved in the communication have different
levels of knowledge. The more experienced person may leave out a vital element of the
communication because they assume it is known by the recipient.
For example, if you have ever taught someone to learn to drive it is very easy for this
to occur. The experienced driver tells the learner to ‘let out the clutch’. The first-time
learner does just as they have been asked by bringing their foot straight off the clutch
so that they stall the car. This happens because the instruction given whilst accurate
did not allow for the first-time learner’s lack of knowledge in how to let out a clutch i.e.
let it out slowly!
You must develop an awareness of this so that you are able to pick up these subtle
differences, in terms of language, industry jargon and knowledge. This is especially

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important when working in unfamiliar groups. It is likely that within your group there will
be people with different levels of knowledge or experience, so establishing a common
level is important. You don’t want to patronise anyone but sorting this out early on in
your discussion can avoid your group wasting time and effort.
You can illustrate your communication skills by:
• Using clear and concise language.

• Appropriate use of the tone and volume of voice.
• Different ways to communicate the same message.
• Check your meaning has been understood.
• Use eye contact with everyone in the group.
• Ensure each member of the group has the opportunity to contribute.
• All communication is referenced to the objective or task.
Goal Setting Behaviours

It is important that you remember that this main objective will have several minor goals
that must be accomplished as part of the complete process. The assessors will be
observing how the group breaks down the overall objective into its constituent parts
and how well each of these is attained.
As essential part of this will be judged by the behaviour each group member displays
and how they interact and arrive at a consensus to enable them to achieve the Group
Task objective. For example, if the task was—‘Using the material supplied, the group
have to build a bridge across the stream. The group must then cross the stream using
the bridge without getting wet. Time allowed 30 minutes.’
If you consider the stages a group would have to undertake in order to build a bridge
they are likely to include most if not all of these minor goals:
1. Plan main tasks and assess key skills of group

2. Discuss practical solutions for building the bridge
3. Agree on best approach
4. Test ideas actually work
5. Build the bridge
6. Cross the bridge

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Knowing this, you could allocate these sub-tasks the following amounts of time:
1. Plan main tasks and assess key skills of group 2 minutes

2. Discuss practical solutions for building the bridge 5 minutes
3. Agree on best approach 2 minutes
4. Test ideas actually work 3 minutes
5. Build the bridge 15 minutes
6. Cross the bridge 3 minutes
Even if your group did not successfully complete the task such as building the bridge
and all cross over it but your group worked well together in terms of use of the different
skills within the group and you use of time you would individually score well for this
exercise.
You will need to demonstrate that you are able to adapt how you work depending on
the situation you find yourself in. In most exercises, time is a key factor and if you can
demonstrate an awareness of this by making the best use of the allocated time and
keeping the group to some sort of schedule then you will score higher marks.
Organisational Skills
Closely aligned with your group’s ability to set goals for each stage of the exercise
will be how well you organise yourselves in achieving these goals. Many of the group
exercises are designed in such a way that completing your task within the allocated
time is extremely difficult.
Within your group you need to do your best to ensure that the following issues do not
disrupt your group’s chances of success and your personal ability to score well during
this exercise:
• Arguments prevent the formation of good ideas.

• Dominant individuals destroy the group’s cohesion.
• Sub-groups develop weakening the ability to complete the task.
• Focussing on detail prevents progress.
• Lack of leadership hinders the development of positive group dynamics.

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Whatever role you are assigned, or take on yourself, you will have several opportunities
to display the appropriate organisational behaviours. For example:
• Present your arguments clearly and concisely.

• Appropriate reminders to the group of time plans.
• Collating information for group discussion.
• Referring back to the exercise brief in a constructive way to move a discussion
to conclusion.
• Summarising discussion items succinctly so that decisions can be made.
Your behaviour should be designed to show that your own personal organisation is
good and that you are able to organise others within the group and keep them on track
to achieve the task objective.
Analysis Behaviours
It is crucial that you don’t go beyond the information that is supplied to you and the other
group members. This is especially important when you have been given a problem to
solve or you have to respond to a defined situation.
It is all too easy for you and others to get distracted by trying to second guess what has
happened or the likely consequences of a particular action included in the exercise brief.
But you must keep the group focused on the specific task and use only the information
supplied to help you do that within the defined timeframe.
Simulation type exercises, whether as part of a group or one-to-one, sometimes have

an ‘Information or Resource Officer’ to help you during the exercise. This person is
not part of your group and is only there to answer the questions that you ask them.
In this type of exercise you will be given some basic information and you then have
the opportunity to question this person in order to find out additional information you
require to make your decision.
Your behaviours in a simulation or problem solving exercise need to show that you are
able to:
• Assimilate the facts presented to you.

• Explore all facets of an issue.

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• Suggest a rational approach take.

• Avoid repetitive questioning.
You need to demonstrate that you have developed a clear rationale for addressing the
issues and are decisive in your actions and decision-making process.
Your evaluation of the information provided is an essential aspect of any group discussion
or problem solving type exercises. It is this aspect of your decision-making that will
clearly demonstrate to your assessors your suitability for the role.
In many instances you will be given too much information so that you need to sift through
what is provided and judge how relevant each piece is to the task assigned to you. You
may also be given superfluous details, which are designed to trap you into diversions
and areas that are completely irrelevant.
In group exercises, this is often an aspect where the group members struggle to develop
cohesion. As a result much time is spent discussing and debating the importance of a
particular item or items of information. So much so that many groups rush this aspect of
the discussion in their desperation to arrive at some decision by the deadline.
To avoid losing makes from your score in this exercise you need to ensure that:
• The importance of data or information is decided in relative to the task

assigned.
• You select the most significant aspects which help resolve the problem.
• Each item is judged according to the context of the task you’ve been set.
You must display behaviours, which show that you are being constructive in your
questioning and challenging of proposed solutions. Do not come across as antagonistic
or belligerent as these are not qualities many jobs require.

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Negotiation Behaviours
In many group discussions the negotiation aspect will be obvious as it may well be
that your groups has to negotiate with another group for resources or a contract. In
this type of discussion it is easy to identify what and how you need to negotiate. But it
is important to remember that all group interactions have elements of ‘negotiation’ and
in many instances this is deciding amongst the group on what and how to solve the
problem or issue presented.
Whichever situation you find yourself in, there are a few basic preparation guidelines
you should consider as part of your preparation for this type of exercise which are part
of any pre-negotiation activity.
• What type of cultural environment are you working in?

• Who are the other Stakeholders?
• What motivates them?
• What expertise have you been given?
• How does this match your exercise opponent’s knowledge?
• What are the timing issues?
• Are any critical to the completion of the assigned task?
• How much risk are you willing to take to achieve your task?
• What are the expectations of your organisation?
• Which aspects of your agreement are you willing to concede?
• Which ones are you not?
You must also understand the basics of negotiating and be aware of the tricks of the
trade. For example, straw man arguments, non-credible openings etc, etc. If you don’t
have much experience in this area then read a good negotiating book. Most negotiating
tactics are easily countered once you know about them and can recognise them for
what they are.
The key negotiating behaviours in this area you should find as many opportunities to
display as possible are your ability to:
• Listen actively to other parties.

• Ask meaningful questions.

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• Clarify and check the information.

• Open from a credible position.
• Recognise and counter negotiators gambits.
• Trade concessions, not give them away.
• Look for win/win outcomes.
In any aspect of negotiation, which you may encounter as part of the Group Discussion
or any other exercise, you should find the common ground each party holds and work
from that basis and ensure that no party loses face. An indispensable quality of any
good negotiator is the ability to stay silent when required. All too often during such
exercises candidates are so keen to show how well they are suited to the role they
forget to listen effectively to others in the exercises.
You should also be mindful of steering the negotiation into a potentially emotional issue
for either yourself or another group member. Emotions will only divert energy and waste
valuable time, try to back track to common ground and explore another avenue.
Decision Making Behaviours

Your group exercise presentation will often be the single largest exercise during your
assessment day and will therefore carry significant marks as a result so it is essential
that you get your team to work well together in solving or responding to your scenario.
Often your group discussion exercises may be videoed rather than watched by an
Assessor. So it is extremely important that you are always mindful of this and ensure
that you behave appropriately for the role. These videos of the different groups’ activities
will be assessed later by all the assessors and scores given first individually by each
assessor and then a final score for each candidate will be awarded following an assessor
discussion where a consensus is gained for that individual.
Whether your exercise is watched by assessors -- or videoed -- you and all the other
candidates will be marked on the following:
• The role adopted by the candidate within the group.

• What part did you play in the analysis and evaluation aspect of the discussion?
• How well the group achieved a solution.
• What contribution you made to the decision making process?

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Group Exercise Tips
Remember, the assessors will be looking for evidence of:
• Your ability to work in a team.

• Your social skills.
• Your ability to take initiative and influence others.
• Your manners and emotional intelligence.
• Your independent mindedness.
It is vital that:
• You are not overbearing.

• You are clear, concise and confident.
• You ensure that everybody in the group has an equal opportunity to speak.
• If criticised, you are prepared to stand up for yourself and argue your case.
Be inclusive, try to “work the room”, involving everyone and motivating other people. If
available, use the white board and try to establish a lead role early on. Bring other people
into the discussion by passing ideas around, stay focused on the objective and make
it known that you are aware of the amount of time left and that there is a deadline. Try
to keep the discussion moving along, be confident, be enthusiastic and think carefully
about your ideas before you voice them.

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Role-Play Exercises
This is one of the most popular exercises you will come across in your assessment
centres. This is because it enables your prospective organisation to see how well you
behave with others and is applicable to almost every employee, from a supervisor to
senior management.
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. So your ability to perform well in this exercise will have a direct correlation with how
familiar you are with the role’s required competencies and behaviours.
As part of your preparation you need to discern from the advertisement, job specification
and your knowledge of the organisation the key competencies the role requires. With
this knowledge you can then ascertain which behaviours you will be required to show
and which ones are most likely to be part of the role-play exercise.
The scenarios will be based on the sort of situations that are very difficult to emulate
in any other sort of test or an interview. They usually take a one-to-one format with an
Assessor observing the interactions. For example:
• Handling a difficult customer or complaint.

• Disciplining or appraising a member of staff.
• Negotiating a contract or project delivery.
• Meeting to discuss your company’s ‘equality’ record.
• Discussing an aspect of your company merger.
Many assessment centres in the interest of efficiency and cost now conduct these
exercises over the phone and record the interactions to be assessed later on. This sort
of detail is often not known until you are about to take part in this exercise. It is important
to be aware that your role-play exercise has to be homogenous in nature so that each
candidate faces a similar number of challenges and experiences.
In some instances organisation will use a specifically trained individual or consultant

to conduct the role-play, whilst others prefer to use well briefed actors. If the role-play

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requires a detailed knowledge of the organisation’s policies and procedures it is often

better for someone with in-house knowledge to perform this role, as an actor may have
to resort to such answers as ‘I’ll get back to you on that’.
You must keep at the forefront of your mind that this role-play is about you exhibiting
the required behaviours and not necessarily providing the ‘best answer’. As part of
your own preparation you should ensure that you have both face-to-face and over
the phone interactions with a colleague or your mentor. This will ensure that you are
not temporarily disconcerted by the style your role-play exercise takes allowing you to
display the desired behaviours.
For the majority of role-play’s you will have about 10minutes in which to read the briefing
information and then between 20-30 minutes in the actual exchange. This limited time
doesn’t usually offer you the opportunity to explore issues in depth so keeping control
of the dialogue and reaching your required conclusion or outcome should focus your
line of communication and questioning. Your ability and speed with which you come to
the main issue will be a direct reflection of your planning and analytical abilities to the
assessors.
The most popular behaviours assessor’s are looking for in this exercise are listed below.
You must review this list in the context of the actual role and organisation you are applying
for so that you can add or amend this list accordingly. Many of these behaviours are
best illustrated through your preparation and evaluation of the situation presented to
you to handle.
The key behaviours you need to show are:
• Excellent Verbal Communications

• Planning & Adaptability
• Decision Making
• Evaluation & Analysis
• Change Agent

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The last three behaviours in this list will be more applicable to certain situations as
shown below and may not always be appropriate in your scenario.
• Change Agent
You are asked to spearhead a new project and as part of this new procedures
and policies have to be worked into the project plan. You have been asked to
talk to a colleague or team member that is not responding well to this change.
Your role-play would be assessing how your behaviour helps others to accept
and support the new changes. You’ll also be required to exhibit the competencies
that encourage an openness and willingness to listen to improvements from
the team based on benefits to the organisation.
You work on the front desk at Bella Italia Travel Agency and they currently have
a push on Sicilian holidays that you have a weekly target to sell. You are given
all the necessary information of the holiday and resort and you objective is to
sell one of these holidays to the next caller.
In this role-play it will be essential for you to listen to the customer’s requirements
and see if they can be matched to one of these holidays or if you can persuade
the customer to go to Sicily instead.

This role-play could be adapted to a more managerial level by you having to
persuade and motivate your team to sell these Sicilian holidays. This scenario
would enable you to demonstrate your mentoring and coaching behaviours.
It may also require you to explain why this strategy, which may be new to the
organisation, has been adopted.
The role-play exercise provides the assessors with an opportunity to watch candidates
play the role that is necessary to address the situation they have created. You may need
to make a conscious effort to overcome your natural responses in these exercises and
to adopt those behaviours of your new role. For example, the assessors are looking to
see whether you can exhibit the appropriate level of sensitivity or toughness of someone
in that role and situation. They are not assessing whether you are a naturally sensitive or
tough person.

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Another key aspect to your preparation is the acquisition of information on the

organisation’s ethos and values so that you can easily communicate this to others. By
carefully reading much of the human resources information on their website, in their
annual report and press coverage you will be able to ascertain the type of language the
organisation favours and therefore how you should communicate.
Preparation will be a benefit to you.
This research will equip you with the organisation’s own language, which you can
practice using so that it becomes your natural language to communicate in. The impact
of your verbal communication should never be underestimated -- as this is an excellent
indicator of how well you’ve listened to the dialogue and also reflects your appreciation
of the situation in your responses.
Many studies refer to the fact that interpersonal communication consists of 7% verbal
and 93% non-verbal (38% by tone & 55% facial expressions) but Professor Max
Atkinson in his book Lend me your Ears, shows that this belief has come about because
of inappropriate usage and understanding of Albert Mehrabian’s research.
Dr. Mehrabian & Weiner first published their research in 1967 and it was based on
their findings from communications of feelings and attitudes and say that the above
percentages cannot be used unless the communication is about their feelings and
attitudes. (Atkinson, 2004 Vermilion, Edbury Press, London pages 342-344.)
So you as part of our preparation for the role-play you should focus equal attention to:
• Your actual words used

• Your tone and facial expressions
You should also remember that the ‘words’ used by the other person in the role-play are
likely to give you hints of any underlying meanings or issues they have in equal measure
to their attitude and tone and they should not be ignored. This importance increases if
you are involved in a role-play exercise that involves more than one other person, i.e.
contract negotiation or staff disciplinary.

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As with all other exercises you will receive a brief on your role, some background on the
company and information required for the meeting. To be successful in your role-plays
you have to focus on two key aspects.
1. Identify the ‘problem’ as soon as possible

2. Use an approach that you are comfortable with
In many cases, you will be presented with one or more ‘symptoms’ and have to identify
‘why’ the underlying problem has occurred quickly and efficiently. Once you have
identified the underlying problem,you can begin to define possible remedial action.
Identify Underlying Problem

Don’t Over-Act
Role Play Remain Sensitive
Exercise Suggest Options
Make Recommendations
Give Reasons
Role-play situations lend themselves to candidates approaching them in a wide variety of

ways. Your preparation will help you in this identification process and through practicing
role-plays you will become more familiar and comfortable with certain approaches. For
you these are the ones that enable you to demonstrate the required competencies
and behaviours to your assessors. By practicing you will enhance your evaluation and
analytical skills through your behaviours.
For the majority of roles you will need to show your adaptability and be able to resolve
issues whether dealing on a one-on-one basis or with a small group. Your behaviour
must show that you are persuasive and retain control of the situation you find yourself in.
Always keep in mind that at the end of the exercise you will need to have delivered
your required action or solution.
So it is important to keep focussed on your required deliverables and not get diverted
or start a line of argument that you can’t finish. You will be able to show your assessor’s
such behaviours through you ability to demonstrate your decision-making behaviours:
• Dissect the problem into manageable junks.

• Identify any long-term issues.

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• Discuss potential solutions to this problem.

• Incorporate appropriate Stakeholder interests.
• Set up monitoring of agreed actions
It is also a good strategy to push the company line during the role-play exercise. You will
benefit by seeking opportunities to convey the organization's ethos, values or mission
statement during the role-play exercise. In your efforts to be sympathetic, don’t whatever
you do, end up agreeing with the perspective of a role-player who does nothing but
complain about the organization.
In most role-play exercises you will be expected to deal with someone who is displaying
‘difficult’ behaviour of some kind. This can take several forms and you need to practice
how you feel best dealing with each of them and ensure that they are appropriate to the
role you are seeking. In such circumstances you may benefit by starting the meeting in
a positive and non-confrontational way in order to build an initial rapport, but must not
divert you from your main purpose.
You can think of these behaviours as being on a continuum, which ranges from ‘negative
aggressive’ to ‘negative passive’ behaviour. We will look at these two extremes and how
you can deal with them in your role-play.
• Negative Aggressive
At the extreme, this is typified by a raised voice and accusing tone that may
be coupled with pointing and other intrusive body language including a lot of
direct eye contact. This is the behaviour of the archetypical ‘Angry Customer’,
someone who has had a series of problems with the organisation and who has
lost control.
In the case of ‘negative aggressive’ behaviour, the problem is essentially that

there is so much ‘noise’ that it is difficult to work out what the important issues
are. You can select from the list below how best to deal with the situation and
individual you are presented with during your exercise.
• Remain calm and speak at or below normal volume.

• Acknowledge that there is a problem.

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• Use positive body language (lean in, nod your head, maintain eye contact).
• Ask them to describe it in detail.
• Take notes as it helps you look as though you are taking things seriously.
• Stay neutral, neither agree nor disagree.
• Clarify the underlying issue by repeating it back to them.
• Only then use your judgement to seek a solution.
• Negative Passive
At the extreme, this is typified by a lowered voice and injured tone, which is
usually coupled with folded arms and other signs of withdrawal including minimal
eye contact. This is the behaviour of the archetypical ‘Disaffected Subordinate’,
someone who has a long series of grievances with the organisation and who
has lost hope of them being resolved.
In the case of ‘negative passive’ behaviour the problem is trying to get any
relevant information at all. There are a variety of ways you can approach this
type of behaviour if this is what you are presented with in your exercise.
• Use positive body language (lean in, nod your head, maintain eye contact).
• Ask open questions that require more than a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
• Ask them to describe why they are annoyed/impatient/etc.
• Tell them that their opinion matters to you.
• Don’t interrupt once they start talking.
• Stay neutral, neither agree nor disagree.
• Clarify the underlying issue by repeating it back to them.
• Only then use your judgement to seek a solution.
The role-player may begin anywhere between these extremes and then move along the
continuum during the course of the role-play, although it is very unlikely that they will go
from one extreme to the other. In all cases, you will need to overcome the negativity and
establish some sort of constructive dialogue.
Often the most valuable methods of dealing with difficult behaviour is to utilise ‘effective
listening’ skills and behaviours. This is because poor listening is usually the cause of the
majority of communication problems and the role-play exercise is frequently designed
to test this particular behaviour.

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Effective Listening
Listening is not just a matter of ‘hearing’ what is said, but about ‘understanding the
real meaning of what a person is saying and is not just about the words they have
spoken’. This means allowing the other person to finish what they are saying so that you
can ‘understand’ their real concern or point of view.
For example:
You are talking to a friend and they describe how frustrated they are with the rising
prices of health insurance.
A poor listener will interrupt at this point and begin to empathise and express
their view on this issue. They may even divert onto the poor track record of
the insurance companies.
But…
… An effective listener will continue to listen, or ask a simple question so that

they understand that the friend’s real concern is that they feel they don’t have
enough money to continue paying the health premiums.
As you read that example you may recognise which type of listener you are. Whichever
one you are you can improve your ‘effective listening behaviours’ by using the ‘E.M.U.’
method. You can start this straight away by putting the behaviours described below
into every conversation you have—whether at work, in your leisure or with family and
friends.
E listen with your ears, not your mouth, to hear the words.
M listen for the real meaning behind the words.
listen to understand the real emotion behind the words,

U not just what is said.
By using the EMU method you will begin to listen to the real meaning and emotion behind
their words and not just hear the words they are saying. This is what you must do during

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your role-play exercise to ensure that you address the key issue the scenario presents,
build rapport with the role-player and that you are able to achieve your assigned task.
By incorporating EMU into your preparation for this type of exercise you will greatly
improve your chances of success through effective listening.
Ears
• Don’t interrupt speaker
• Won’t divert conversation with own thoughts / views
• Want to hear their experiences (don’t give yours)
• Don’t get distracted by anything even your own thoughts
Meaning
• Slow the mind down so it can focus on what is being said (the mind is 7 times
faster than speech)
• Ignore irrelevant thoughts
• Paraphrase what they’ve said to show you understand their meaning
Understand
• Use questions to check you have heard what they are saying
• Want to know how they feel about the subject they are talking
about
• Show you empathise with the speaker
Finally your listening behaviour scan be improved in two further ways, but you will need
to use your own personal judgement in relation to your role-play scenario. Firstly, taking
notes improves your listening behaviours, but it is essential that you ask the other person
if it is OK for you to do this. This may be appropriate if your scenario is an employee
disciplinary or a contract negotiation.
Secondly, you may want to mirror the posture of the other person to show you otherwise
it will have a negative effect on the speaker and will distract you from listening. Your
ability to do this will reflect your emotional intelligence (your EQ), which has becoming
increasingly important into today’s work place. This concept was popularised by
Daniel Goleman in his book, Emotional Intelligence—Why it can matter more than IQ
(Bloomsbury Publishing, 1996).

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As Goleman states in his book:
“The criteria for success at work are changing. We are being judged by a new
yardstick:
• Not just by how smart we are, or
• By our training and expertise, but also by
• How well handle ourselves and each other.
This yardstick is increasingly applied in choosing who will be hired and who will not,
who will be let go and who retained, who passed over and who promoted…”
Recent organisational changes—fewer levels of management that is more democratic and

more autonomous customer focused roles—reflect the growing importance emotional
intelligence has as an emerging element of workplace success. The behaviours that
reflect good emotional intelligence are not measured effectively by either aptitude tests
or interviews.
Hence the growth in the use of assessment centre exercises, which are designed so that
assessors can see how well a person performs a task that requires the use of emotional
intelligence in a real-life situation, which is the best way to assess an individual’s EQ.
The example of a role-play exercise outlined below illustrates how you should prepare
for this type of exercise. As you work through the scenario of this example, you will be
able to envisage the type of emotions that you may encounter in this role-play.

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Example
Your Role
You are Barrie Hook, KJE’s new UK Marketing Manager who joined the company a
week ago. Today, Monday 7th November. You are responsible for the development of the
UK Market and telemarketing forms the key strategy for the UK & Europe’s growth.
You manage the UK Marketing Team, which consists of two marketing executives (Clara
Treaty & Rod Walter) and an administrative assistant (Rhys Evans) reporting to you.
You currently have a vacancy in your team for an additional marketing executive. The
marketing department has recently been moved into a long thin office space, formerly
a storage area with a few windows at either end.
Company Personnel
• Andrew Scott your boss reports to the Managing Director Harriet Lance.
• Other Board members are:
• Charles Ton (Finance),
• Will Allen (Production) and
• Carlo Olvera (Human Resources). (The whole board is attending the annual
AGM in Boston.)
• Sarah Kiln, a marketing executive is one of the European Marketing team
reporting to one of your management colleagues. The UK and European team
often work together on joint projects and customers.
Company background
KJE Ltd, a traditional gifts manufacturer, has set up a confidential project called ‘MILLIE’
to expand into the techno gifts sector. (Your previous experience is in technology Gifts
and is the main reason for your new appointment.)
The project has strategic importance for the company and is a critical part of its long-
range growth plans. The project has been divided into four key stages and you are
about to start the second stage.
Your Marketing Director, Andrew Scott, has briefed you on the progress of Project
MILLIE to date and the importance of maintaining good working relationships between
all parties. The company is working with three key strategic partners (listed below) and
is about to start the second stage of this four-stage project.

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• Wei Qi Corporation, China—number one manufacturers of quality technology

Gifts.
• Health & Safety Executive.
• KJE User Group—chair Sam Merlin. It plays a key role in KJE’s product
launches.
Your brief
Below you will find the related communications you have received in connection with
Rod Walter. You have called a 20-minute meeting with Rod to discuss the issues that
your communications have highlighted. At the end of the meeting you must agree an
action plan with Rod.
Your related communications
To: Barrie Hook [Barrie@KJE.com]

From: Human Resources KJE
Date: 7 November
Memo Subject: Personnel Details
Barrie,
Please find the details below that you will need to conduct your staff appraisals. Can I remind you that
all appraisals have to be completed by the end of November?
Pay Grade Years of Service

Clara Treaty H 6
Rod Walter H 10
Vacancy F-J
Rhys Evans E 8
In connection with filling your vacancy I have put down the grade range usually offered to marketing
executives. I want to finalise the advert details by Friday 11th to get it in before year-end. I’m also
conscious that Clara’s time is increasingly being taken up with project MILLIE.
I look forward to discussing this with you on 10th Thursday at 1pm. I’m free until 4pm that day so I can
brief you on how our appraisal system operates if that’s convenient.
Regards, Carlo

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From: Sarah Kiln [Sarah@KJE.com]
Date: 1 November Time: 17:30
Email Subject: Confidential
Hi Barrie,
I know you’ve only just joined the company, but I feel that you need to be aware of how one of your
team, Rod Walter, has been behaving. I’m not sure if there are personal problems, but I felt you ought to
know what happened last week. This is not the first time such things have occurred.
Rod and I were both due to meet with the telemarketing agency, Peter’s, in York at 10am, last Thursday.
I arrived at their offices and waited outside till 10.15 and felt I had to go in and start the meeting. I sent
Rod’s apologies and conducted the meeting on my own.
Mary at Peter’s will be sending you both a copy of the programme review. Several urgent sales leads
require action.
Sarah

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To: All Management [mgmt@KJE.com]

From: Human Resources KJE
Memo Subject: Continual Professional Development (CPD) - URGENT
As you are all aware KJE have a commitment to offer each of its employee’s 25 hours of CPD throughout
the year. On finalising my year-end figures I have become aware that the following CPD training is still
available. (Details of your staff training to date is attached)
• Dealing with Press Interviews

• Advanced Marketing Skills
• Enhancing ‘Your’ written communications
• Finance for non-finance personnel
• Developing interpersonal skills
If you have any of your staff who would benefit from such training please send me their names. You can
do this by email or call me on ext 548 by close of business (COB) 8 Tuesday. Any names received after
this date will be unable to take up this training.
Marketing Personnel – Training Hours

Cost Code: J035 to date
UK Team
• Clara Treaty 20
• Rod Walter 24
• Rhys Evans 12
Europe Team
• Kathy Steam 23
• George McNeal 20
• Sarah Kiln 19
• Tim Dugdale 20
• Sonni Tamin 22
Regards, Carlo

From: Rod Walter [Rod@KJE.com]
Date: 7November Time: 07:55
Email Subject: My Expenses
Please find attached my expenses for last week. Can you let me know when it’ll go into my bank
account?
Thanks, Rod

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From: Will Allen [Will@KJE.com]
Date: 7NovemberTime: 07:50
Email Subject: Weekly Production Figures
Barrie,
I need to meet with you about Rod as soon as you can. As you know I require weekly production figures
every Wednesday. I’ve been having considerable problems getting regular and accurate production
figures from Rod.
Currently this has not impacted the business as Rhys has kindly pulled together the figures for me each
Thursday when I’ve chased for figures. He’s an excellent admin assistant and I feel has great potential
and is a valuable asset to your team.
I would prefer at this stage to keep this between ourselves, but a solution needs to be found.
Will
From the information above you can see that there are several key issues. You have to
decide what the key issue is that you want to focus on during your role-play? The list
below highlights the issues raised in your communications. From this list you will decide
which you consider to be the most important and the purpose of your meeting with Rod
and what course of action you wish to achieve by the end of the meeting.
Issues concerning Rod Walter in each of your communications:
• Memo from Carlo (HR Director) re-appraisals

In this memo you are informed that you have to arrange an appraisal date with
each of your team by the end of the month. Your meeting today can’t become
his appraisal—there was too little notice and Rod has had no time to prepare
himself. But you can use this requirement in your meeting if you wish.
This shows Rod is your longest serving team member. What you need to find
out is where he has worked within the organisation during that time. If he has
stayed in the same role this could be the reason for his boredom, he needs
stretching. This could be worth investigating in your meeting.

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When you see Carlo in a few days you could ask him about Rod to gain a
management perspective. You could also ask about the organisations policy on
this then and not concern yourself with this issue during your meeting with Rod.
Finally Carlo highlights that Clara’s time is mainly focussed on ‘MILLIE’—could

this provide an opportunity to spread the workloads and reduce risk of ‘MILLIE’
being understood by just one of your team? Could you possibly use Rod on
such a strategic project?
• Confidential email from Sarah (Euro Mktg Exec) re:telemarketing agency

meeting
This email refers to a meeting with one of your strategic partners, Peter’s
telemarketing agency (outlined in ‘Your Role’ description) at which Rod never
turned up, nor did he send any apologies to his KJE colleague or the Agency
which reflects badly on his ability to communicate effectively with others.
Sarah says this isn’t the only time it has happened and that from this meeting
action needed to be taken with important sales leads. You can check in your
meeting with Rod who is responsible for doing this, as it is easy to presume it
is him!
His recent behaviour doesn’t reflect competency in Stakeholder Management—

telemarketing agency. Nor does it show a sound competency in ‘Strategic
Thinking’—telemarketing is a strategic activity. Therefore is it appropriate for
Rod to be involved in ‘MILLIE’ as this is designed to achieve KJE’s strategic
objective of growth?
• Memo from Carlo (HR Director) re-CPD opportunities

In this memo you can identify that Rod has received the most training of
the whole team and is only one hour below the corporate target for each
employee.
You may want to ask what training he has received and how this has contributed
to his personal development. Does he have skills that can be utilised on the
‘MILLIE’ project? Would it be appropriate to send him on the ‘Developing
interpersonal skills’ course, especially when others have less training hours?

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• Voice Mail from Rod himself re-Christmas soft toy designs

In this voice mail the words he uses (probably his tone too) and the actions he
asks are not suitable when talking to a manager. With only three days before
the meeting he expects his new manager to go and look at the designs the
team’s assistant is holding.
These actions show a lack of competency in Interpersonal Communications,

Resource Management, Leadership, Planning and Organisation.
• Email from Rod himself re: expenses

In this email the tone of his words are inappropriate and he asks his manager to
perform a task he is fully able to do himself and probably knows better because
he has been there much long.
These actions show a lack of competency in Interpersonal Communications

and Resource Management.
• Email from Will (Production Director) re: weekly production figures & Rods
recent performance.
In this email you are told of several occasions when Rod has not provided the
figures required of someone in his role. This is becoming serious but Will wants
to give you the opportunity to sort this out as his new manager.
You are not told why this has occurred only that Rhys the assistant has been
able to provide them to Will and this has avoided impacting the business. You
need to understand the history behind this and to hear Rod’s explanation of
these events and the lack of resource management behaviours.
What is essential is that you define the action that you want Rod Walter to agree to at
the end. If you select an issue that others feel may not be the main one, don’t worry
remember your brief is to ‘agree an action plan with Rod.’ And if you achieve this at the
end of your role-play you have achieved your objective.
There is a common thread throughout each of your communication and that is:
Rod’s poor Interpersonal Communications competency and behaviours.

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This situation described here may be very different to one you would encounter in your
role, your organisation and its culture. What this example show you is how to assess the
importance of the issues raised and achieve your brief.
You must be mindful not to get diverted by items or information included in the brief that
isn’t essential for you objective. In the case of Barrie Hook the two emails from Carlo are
useful in terms of the information they provided on Rod but they do not add to or assist
in your brief objective.
Also, the content of the voice mail and email from Rod himself do not add real weight
to your discussion with him. They serve to add weight to the issue of Rod’s poorly
developed interpersonal communication behaviours.
You must not get sidetracked from the main issue, even if the communications is from
one of your director’s. You must keep focussed on the importance of content that helps
you achieve your exercise task and in your role your personal objective. In the case of
Barrie Hook the latter is:
You are responsible for the development of the UK Market and telemarketing
forms the key strategy for the UK & Europe’s growth.
With this key fact Barrie must address the two instances that directly affect his personal
objective. During his role-play he must spend some time asking Rod why he acted the
way he did towards Peter’s telemarketing agency and Will Allen, his Production Director.
It is essential that Barrie keeps this time spent in this explanation to a minimum because
if he lets Rod give a long explanation he is in danger of running out of time to achieve
his action plan.

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Potential Approach to Issue

The first thing Barrie must do in his role-play as the manager is set out a clear objective
of what he wants them to agree on by the end of the meeting. A meeting plan you could
use to help you with this exercise may look like the one below—Barrie’s details are
shown in italics. You will have to adjust this to suit your role in the scenario your Role-
play exercise presents you with.
1. Set out meeting objective—‘Agree a personal development plan for Rod Walter
with particular emphasis on Interpersonal Communications.’
2. Describe key issue—‘Outline to Rod Walter with content of the communications
you’ve received from Sarah Kiln & Will Allen. Tell him after he’s given his
explanation (ensure this is kept to a few minutes each.) on these instances you’d
like to agree a way forward with him.’ (You must keep control of the time) Listen to
3. the reply—‘After the explanation sum up what they’ve said and feed this back to
them & get their confirmation.’
4. Integrate what you’ve been told with your objective—‘Suggest ways the issues
could have been avoided and outline how you want to help Rod.’
a. He should have called the agency reception and asked them to tell Sarah
Kiln and the agency staff that his car had broken down/ he’d had to take his
child to hospital and would be unable to attend the meeting.
b. If he’d collated the production figures before going on holiday why didn’t
he forward them to Will Allen copying Barrie and possibly Ricci Ross before
leaving the office.
5. Gain agreement for your action plan or outcome—‘Agree what actions you
require Rod to complete and what you will do to help him with dates to help
him improve his Interpersonal Communications competency.’
You want Rod to:

a. Apologise to Sarah Kiln today.
b. Contact Peter’s and discuss the programme plan by COB Tuesday 8th
November.
c. Have responded to all urgent sales leads by Wednesday 9th November
d. Fix up a meeting by the end of the week with Will Allen to understand the
format he requires the production figures in.
e. Set a date for his appraisal & ask him to include his own development plan
and what he feels he can bring to the ‘MILLIE’ project.

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For Rod you will:

a. Review his personnel file and put together a competency development
plan for him by his appraisal date.
b. Provide him with a date next week to arrange a meeting with Peter’s to
support the telemarketing programme and address the issues he raised in
your meeting.
c. Personally commit to update the marketing team on the ‘MILLIE’ project
and how it fits into the KJE’s corporate strategic objectives.
You will personally:

a. Email Will Allen & Sarah Kiln today asking them to confirm that Rod has
contacted them. (You need to be able to monitor he actions.)
b. Fix up a meeting by the end of the week with Carlo Olvera to discuss the
past history & development opportunities for Rod.
All this preparation will help you to listen more effectively to the arguments Rod puts
forward and build a rapport with him so that an action plan can be agreed upon. Finally,
the more understanding you have of your own emotional intelligence will help you to
exhibit the required competencies and behaviours in relation to how you handle yourself
and interact with others.

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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 role-play exercise designed to
assess how well you perform with the press.
If you are likely—as part of your role—to be involved with talking to journalists or have
to field-press enquiries, then you must be aware of how to tackle this sort of exercise.
You must also ensure that you display the appropriate competencies and behaviours
your role requires.
For the majority of ‘Media Interview’ exercises the behaviours you need to show are:
• Excellent Verbal Communications

• Awareness of Corporate Strategies
• Manages Stakeholder expectations
• Confident Decision Making
• Leadership
• Evaluation & Analysis
Interaction with the press and acting as a spokesperson for your organisation is most
likely to be stated in your job specification, but be aware of subtle inferences that you
may perform in this activity. The more senior your position within an organisation, the
more likely you will have some dealings with the press.
For example, you may seeking a role as ‘Finance Director’ and think this doesn’t apply
to you, but consider who the press may call to ask about the latest annual report or
performance reports. You could find yourself the organisation’s spokesperson, even if
the occasion is rare.
When you look at the likely scenarios that will come up in this type of exercise you will
appreciate that a wide variety of job positions could find themselves in the situation
where they are required to represent and speak for the organisation to the press or a
journalist. The most probable scenarios are:

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• Following a merger or acquisition

• Staff redundancies
• Office/ Plant closures
• Poor financial results
• Environmental issues
You can quickly see that all of these scenarios have a negative aspect which the majority
of journalists will exploit. This exercise is designed to test how you respond to a ‘crisis’
and unexpected situation. Also to see how well you portray the Organisation under
pressure from a journalist to get a ‘good’ story a possible front page headline!
Be investigative…
Research the organization’s ethos first.
To perform well in this exercise your preparation is vital. You must research the
organisation’s ethos thoroughly to give you a clear understanding of its mission and
how to communicate this to others. This will include you giving careful consideration to
exactly what words you would use to express this ethos.
The more familiar you can become with your organisation’s ethos and values the more
easily you will be able to communicate as if you were already part of the organisation.
You will be able to glean much of this information from the following types of sources.
• Press Releases & actual coverage

• Strategic priorities from annual report & statement
• Website & Marketing literature
• Industry press & Editorial
As you go through the press releases and any resulting coverage you will be able to
see how the press interpreted and portrayed your organisation. If you wanted to get a
more detailed picture of their public relations you could call their Public Relations (PR)
agency and ask to speak to their account manager who may be willing to provide you
with a fuller picture. They may even be kind enough to provide you with a ‘Notes to
Editors’, which lists key achievements, strategic objectives, target press and journalists
they focus on in their PR activities.

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In addition to these preparations focused on the organisation and its activities, you
should also source a host of supporting industry facts and figures. You would then be
able to appreciate any key issues that your journalist may focus on during this exercise
from both the organisation’s and industry’s perspective.
If this is an area you have limited experience in you may wish to find someone who could
mentor you on how to handle the press. This may not be possible with the timescales
you have before your assessment centre and if this is the case then you should focus
on the following three aspects when answering questions:
. What 3 things would your organisation not want you to be asked?

Examples have been taken from the main themes of a media interview could
be based on.
a. Does this merger and acquisition now make you a Monopoly?
b. Can you guarantee the staff are secure or is this like Plant A all over
again?
c. How secure are your other offices /plants following this closure? Will it be
like 20XX?
d. Are you close to bankruptcy?
e. How do you intend to rescue your share price?
f. What guarantee’s can you give the locals that this sort of leakage won’t
occur again?
g. How will you compensate those affected by this disaster?
. How could a journalist steer the conversation into a ‘danger zone’?

A few examples are listed below to illustrate how this might occur.
a. Now you have acquired Smith & son what will happen to your employees
in this town? How can you sustain this activity?
b. These 500 employees made redundant in this round bring your total loss of
work force to over 60% of the workforce you had at the beginning of this
year? Are you facing financial ruin?
c. As the sole employer in this area aren’t you concerned about the impact
this closure will have on the local economy?
d. This is your fifth year in which you’ve made a substantial loss, should we
read anything into this?
e. Your support of the local junior schools in this area has been extensive. Is
this your attempt to repay the community for your past actions?

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. How can you bring in your organisation’s key message into your replies?
You can see below some ways that you could respond to the journalist questions
asked in point 2 and how you can bring key Organisational messages into your
answers.
a. This merger /acquisition enable us to offer our customers a greater level
of service as we are now able to take full advantage of the economies of
scale.
b. The loss of any employee is a tragedy, but our extensive partnership with
local colleges has seen a 50% growth in the number of apprenticeships
/ internships for the area and offers real and prosperous future to these
youngsters?
c. The economic situation has forced our hand in this instance and we feel
deeply for those affected it will not alter our commitment to the local
projects, which help develop new skills and opportunities for the local
communities.
d. Over the last five years we have made considerable investment in
modernising our operations and the cost of this has had implications for
our shareholders, but now we will be able to show the markets the benefits
of this investment.
e. Our involvement in school programmes is part of our long-term commitment
to increasing awareness of the benefits of our services and out continual
improvement in quality.
From the above responses you have got a glimpse of what type of questions you could
face and how you could construct your answer. Your preparation must ensure that you
are very familiar with the type of issues and questions a journalist could ask you. By
having thought of possible responses to the key issues your organisation and industry
face you are better able to recognize the typical traps a journalist’s line of questioning
can take you into. You will also be better prepared of how best to answer such a question
so that you display the correct competencies to the assessors.

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Format
Although this exercise has some similarities with that of the role-play exercise it is
extremely unlikely that you will be performing this in a face-to-face situation. The cost of
hiring a suitably qualified actor or a freelance journalist will prohibit most organisations
conducting it in this way.
The majority of organisations are likely to use their PR agency as the journalist and
conduct the interviews over the phone. You may feel this is not ‘real’ enough but in fact
it is an accurate depiction of what happens day-to-day. The majority of journalist will
be searching for ‘facts’ or a ‘hook’ for their stories right up to their copy deadlines. This
makes phone interviews the most effective way for them to operate so this style actually
emulates much of journalist contact with organisations.
Assessment centres will either record or video your conversation and review all the
candidates Media interviews together and come to a consensus on your final score
for this exercise. Frequently you will receive your feedback at a later stage in your day.
Some assessment centres incorporate a ‘justification’ aspect to this exercise where you
are questioned on why you think the article was written the way it was and how you
would now respond to this article.
Sometimes this article can be used as part of a critical incident exercise in which you
or your group have to say how you would respond to the resulting press coverage and
what actions you would take. You will discuss the potential impact or damage you feel
this would have on the organisation.
You now can appreciate why your preparation and fact gathering is so important in
helping you to display the required competencies and behaviours. Without solid
ground work before this exercise many people will be unable to exhibit the appropriate
behaviours.
The following example helps to give you a flavour of what you can expect. Of course the
organisation you are hoping to join, its culture, its market place and its stakeholders will
all influence how this example can be adapted to fit these needs.
You will be given an overview, which will tell you about the organisation, explain the
background to the situation and define your role. You will have 10-15 minutes to read

Assessment Centre
and digest all this information and then you will be told to expect a call from the journalist,
in this example Peter Keynton.
You will also have all the facts and figures you have researched on the organisation, its
culture and values, as well as the market place it operates in. As with all other assessment
centre exercises be mindful to keep to the brief they have supplied and only use the
information you have been given. Remember, the exercise is designed to assess
your behaviours in this type of situation.

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Example
Your Role
You are Barrie Hook, KJE’s new UK Marketing Manager. You started a week ago and your
boss, Andrew Scott (Marketing Director) has called you earlier this morning (Monday 7th
November) to say due an emergency he will be out of the office for at least a week. He’s
asked you to answer his emails, his calls, attend his meetings and run the office whilst
he’s away.
Company background
KJE Ltd, a traditional Gift’s manufacturer has set up a confidential project called ‘MILLIE’
to expand into the techno Gifts sector. (Your previous experience is in technology Gifts
and is the main reason for your new appointment.)
The project has strategic importance for the company and is a critical part of its long-
range growth plans. The project has been divided into four key stages and you are
about to start the second stage.
Your Director, Andrew, has briefed you on the progress of Project MILLIE to date and
the importance of maintaining good working relationships between all parties. The
company is working with three key strategic partners (listed below) and is about to start
the second stage of this four-stage project.
• Wei Qi Corporation, China—number one manufacturers of quality technology

gifts.
• Health & Safety Executive.
• KJE User Group—chair Sam Merlin. It plays a key role in KJE’s product launches.
Company Personnel
• Andrew reports to the Managing Director Harriet Lance.
• Other Board members are:
• Charles Ton (Finance),
• Will Allen (Production) and
• Carl Olvera (Human Resources). (The whole board is attending the annual
AGM in Boston.)
• KLE’s Public Relations department consists of Emmie Allison (PR Mgr)
andRicci Ross her PR Assistant.

Assessment Centre
Your brief
To manage Peter Keynton’s request and ensure that the interests of KJE are protected.
A leak in the press at this stage of project MILLIE could be disastrous for KJE. As you
work through the emails and messages you come across the one below from Peter
Keynton, editor of ‘Gifts Gazette’ the most influential journal in your industry.
To: Andrew Scott [Andrews@KJE Ltd.com]

From: Peter Keynton [Peterkeynton@Giftsgazette.com]

Subject: Give me a call today.
Hi Andrew,
I’ve just heard through the grapevine that your new chap, Barrie Hook, was formerly at Quasi (No. 2
player in technology Gifts). Is there something I should know? Are KJE Ltd moving away from traditional
Gifts? What a front page that’ll make! (Don’t ask how, or who, because you know I won’t divulge my
sources!)
I’ll call you at 8.30am to see what you have to tell me. Don’t forget my deadline is 3pm today so it goes
into December’s publication.
Regards,
Peter Keynton,
Editor,
Gifts Gazette –The Number 1Journal in the Gifts Sector
From reading all the above you are faced with several questions and what you have to
do is decide which are the most critical. Should you worry about …
1. The fact that Peter Keynton refuses to provide you with his sources.
2. That he has a 3p.m. deadline today for December’s publication.
3. The Editor neglected to copy Emmie Allison, the PR Manager in.
4. The implication that Peter will make this his front cover story in December.
5. Peter Keynton’s insinuation that KJE are moving into techno gifts.
6. No board members are available as they will all be in the AGM at Boston.
7. Can you gauge what impact this will have on KJE’s strategic objectives.
8. Could there be implications for the relationships with your partners.

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This list is not exhaustive but it is quite extensive when you only have 10-15 minutes in
which to make you decisions and chose a course of action with all the implications that
this could have for your organisation. Your choices will indicate your behaviours and
show whether or not you act as a Marketing Manager is expected to.
In addition to the obvious behaviour you will need to exhibit during this exercise of
excellent interpersonal and verbal communications others are indicated by the choices
you make as discussed below. Although you have never spoken to Peter before you will
very quickly need to establish a good working relationship with him and explain why he
was talking to you and not Andrew.
You will need to show that you understand his needs and be willing to negotiate with
him as if you where Andrew. In reality you would give yourself time to prepare your
argument properly and gain as much background information on Andrew’s and Peter’s
relationship as you can, but in this exercise this isn’t possible so you have to be confident
in your decisions and portray this in your answers, their fluency, and tone.
In an ideal world you would want to talk to Emmie Allison before your call from Peter
but this isn’t possible. So you would base you responses to his questions on public
information that was available from the website or, annual report.
In the time you have to prepare you would write down a few of these types of statements
and have them in front of you whilst you were on the call. This would help you to keep
focused and not get distracted into disclosing information Peter really wants to have so
he can create his front-page story.
• In KJE’s annual statement they pledge to continue to provide their customers

with quality gifts for all occasions.
• KJE will continue to be at the forefront of gift development.
• Our User Group performs a critical role in all aspects of our product
development.
By selecting point 4 as your most critical issue and one that needs immediate
consideration illustrates your awareness of KJE’s corporate strategies and objectives.
The fact that he is considering it as a front cover story for the next month’s edition
implies that he has substantial information on MILLIE already.

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This is further substantiated by the fact that although his deadline is 3p.m. (not unusual
when working with Journalists), which doesn’t leave him much time to put something
together it suggests he is not working from scratch. This means that somewhere—
within KJE or one of the partners—there is a leak as MILLIE has not yet had any press
coverage or been discussed outside this platform.
The implications of such a story at this point in time would be catastrophic to KJE’s
long-term plans and its relationship with its partners. This awareness reflects an
appropriate stakeholder management competency that is likely to be explored if you
have a ‘Justification’ aspect to your media interview.
In this and many exercises it is vital that you show leadership behaviours. For your
media interview your ability to select a course of action to deal with Peter’s request and
to ensure through your behaviour that Peter accepts your decision is essential. You
must first establish just how much information he has and whether or not his is bluffing
about his level of knowledge.
If this knowledge is substantial and potentially damaging to KJE and their partners you
will have to come up with a proposal. It is essential that you persuade Peter that by not
publishing the MILLIE project now, he will gain greater advantage and more coverage
later on.
Your proposal could be that you guarantee him exclusive press publishing rights on the
whole of the MILLIE project. You would explain that this would be a series of articles that
you would agree together to maximise the benefits to the Gifts Gazette. This course of
action also maintains the good relations he has with Andrew and offers KJE a controlled
and structured way to launch MILLIE.
By handling such a brief in this way you achieve your primary objective of avoiding a
potentially damaging front-page story on MILLIE. Your behaviours would show that you
have the organisations requirements for the Marketing Manager’s role.

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Hints & Tips

During your Media Interview you must be consistent with your messages, persuasive
with your arguments, your ability to control the conversation and how decisive your
actions are in this type of scenario. The assessors are looking to see and assess how
you deal with the situation you are presented with and the limited access to information
and help that you have. They will want to ensure that your behaviours mirror the ethos
and values of the organisation.
With solid preparation you will display all the behaviours the assessors are looking
for. Remember that everything you do must maximise and efficiently use the time you
have available. You must always view your actions in the context of the role you are
performing in this exercise. Whatever instructions you receive then you must work in a
way that maximises the score you can achieve.
It is vital that you tape and listen to your practice media interviews so that you become
familiar with how your use of emphasis, tone of and volume of voice come across. You
will then have the opportunity to alter any one of these aspects so that you portray the
behaviour you wish and avoid giving unwanted messages to the assessors.

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Assessment Centre Interviews

Irrespective of the role or the organisation, there are three fundamentals that the
interviewer is always seeking answers to. These are often referred to as the 3 ‘C’s.
They are:
• Commitment – Will you do the job?
• Capability – Can you do the job?
• Compatibility – Will you ‘fit in’?
Every question you are asked will be seeking an answer to one or more of these three
‘C’s.
Capability all about whether you are able to do the job. The fact that you have been
invited to the assessment centre means that the interviewer already believes that you
can. Their task is to check and validate this belief during the interview. Examples of
generic questions that try to determine—‘Can you do the job?’ include:
• What key skills would you bring to the role?

• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• What are your key accomplishments so far?
To answer these questions, imagine what your objectives would be if you were in the
role, and orientate your answer towards meeting them. Focus on the priorities and
requirements of the role as well as the working style of the organisation.
If you are asked about your strengths, then pick three that are relevant to the requirements
of the role and answer these in terms of KSAs.
For example:
“I am a very competent project manager, I have extensive knowledge of the
PRINCE methodology and I’ve used it on three projects over the past four years.
This experience has taught me that it must never be applied over-proscriptively
without considering the characteristics of the particular project. In addition, I
believe that going the extra mile to make sure that all of the project staff are kept
motivated is always essential to success.”

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If you are asked about your weaknesses, simply stating that you have none, or that you
used to have several but now you are perfect is not an option. This is one area where
you will need to communicate some negative information and the way in which you do
it can be key to the outcome of the interview.
The following approach is recommended:
1. Select from your skills an area that you have improved on.
2. Illustrate how you identified and then addressed this weakness.
3. Clearly show that it is no longer an issue, using an example.
Adopting this approach has the benefit of showing that you were self-critical enough
to identify or acknowledge a problem. You then took ownership of the weakness and
successfully sought to correct it.
Commitment
Questions about commitment explore your motivation to do the job and to remain with
the organisation. Employee turnover is expensive and disruptive so most organisations
want evidence of loyalty although most are realistic about this and don’t expect you to
promise that you’re going to stay with them until you retire.
This means that you do need to exercise some judgement when answering commitment
questions. You don’t want to give the impression that you’ll be looking for another job
after a few months. On the other hand, you need to appear sufficiently ambitious that
they don’t feel that you’re going to stagnate in the job until you retire. Examples of generic
questions which try to determine ‘Will you do the job (and for how long) ?’ include:
• How ambitious are you?

• What are your career plans?
• Where do you see yourself in five years time?
• If you got this job, how long would you stay with us?
Some of these questions are very difficult to answer with any degree of certainty,
because you simply don’t know what the future holds or whether the job itself will live
up to your expectations.

Assessment Centre
The best way to answer this type of question is to tailor your reply to fit the culture
of the organisation bearing in mind your own age and where you are in your career.
For example, if the culture is not particularly entrepreneurial (for example insurance,
government, public utility, etc.) and you are in your forties, then indicating that you are
considering this to be your final job move would be quite reasonable.
On the other hand, if you are in your twenties and the organisation’s culture is dynamic
(high-end financial services, management consultancy, leading edge technology, etc)
then implying that you are looking for a ‘job for life’ is likely to give the impression that
you are not sufficiently self-motivated or ambitious.
Some people think that saying that you will be happy to stay as long as you are
developing new skills or facing new challenges is the best answer. The down side of this
approach is that it implies that you see organisation as being responsible for your
personal development and that you may become dissatisfied if it does not meet
your expectations. The truth is that most jobs are fairly routine and the opportunities
to develop new skills and face new challenges come second to making a profit and
ensuring that the customer’s needs are met.
For most people and roles this type of question is best answered in terms of the sort of
situation you’d like to be in, which should reinforce all the other positive things about
you.
For example:
“I’d like more responsibility, because that’s a result of personal growth and
progression, and it’s important for my personal satisfaction.”
“I have no set aspirations about money and reward—if I contribute and add
value to the organisation then generally increased reward follows—you get out
what you put in.”
“Long term I want to make the most of my abilities and if possible to build a
serious career. I’ll do my best and believe that opportunities will arise which will
enable me to keep contributing, increasing my worth, and developing my ability
in a way that benefits the organisation and me.”

Assessment Centre
Employers will respond well if they see that you appreciate the fact that reward (financial,
promotion, responsibility, etc) will always be based on the quality and value of your
input.
Compatibility
Compatibility is concerned with whether or not you will fit into the organization. Most
employers are looking for people who will fit the prevailing organisational culture
and image. An important point here is that if you find yourself at variance with your
potential employers value system then you really should look elsewhere as it can be
very stressful to work day after day in an organisational culture that does not reflect your
own values.
Typical compatibility questions include:
• Tell me about the culture at your last employer?

• What is your ideal job?
• What do you think it takes to be successful in this organization?
• What do you really want out of life?
• What kind of environment do you work best in?
• Among many qualities you own, which qualities do you consider important?
• How would you fit in with our culture?
• What do you think the most important qualities for this job are?
There are actually two components to compatibility: Job compatibility refers to the
degree to which your competencies and behaviours are relevant to the job. Organizational
compatibility refers to the degree to which your competencies and behaviours are
relevant to the organization.
There are no right or wrong answers for compatibility interview questions. The best
approach is to answer each question with whatever values, behaviours, and norms you
are most comfortable with.
Note that compatibility does not relate to gender, ethnicity, political beliefs or religious
beliefs and any questions that attempt to investigate these areas would be illegal.

Assessment Centre
Competency-based Interviews
So far, we have talked about ‘behaviours’ as being central to the assessment centre
selection process. This is true as far as it goes, after all the assessment centre is all
about demonstrating what you are capable of rather than saying what you can do. This
is hardly surprising since the assessment centre evolved due to the shortcomings of the
job interview process, as every employer knows how easy it is for candidates to talk up
their achievements and experience in an interview.
However, 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 (Cb) interviews.
This style of interview consists of a number of targeted questions that require interviewees
to describe specific task or situation. The assumption being that the best indication of
an individual’s future behaviour is their past behaviour.
This type of interview is typically a more structured version of a normal job interview and
there are usually between three and six assessors on the panel. The assessors ask each
candidate the same primary questions, although secondary questions will depend on
the individual candidate’s responses to the primary questions.
For example, all candidates may be asked the following question:
“Tell us about an occasion where you have shown leadership”
Your response to this primary question will then determine which secondary questions
you are asked. These secondary questions usually ask for more detail in the area that
the panel find the most ‘interesting’.

Assessment Centre
For Example,
Interviewer: “Tell us about an occasion where you have shown leadership”
Candidate: “I was captain of the university basketball team and my respon-

sibilities included organising the weekly training sessions. This was actually the
toughest part of being team captain, once the game actually started everyone
was sufficiently self-motivated to give their best performance, but persuading
people to turn out to the weekly training sessions, so that we could win, was
the most difficult part.”
Interviewer: “Go on...”
Candidate: “I found that the best way to motivate players to train was to agree
with the coach which particular skill each individual player needed to work on
most—we would discuss this after each game. I’d then approach the players
individually and ‘sell’ the training session based on that. I found that when players
believed that the training session was going to address their own needs, rather
than being just general training, they were much more motivated to show up.“
Interviewer: “Interesting, can you give me an example of how you would ‘sell’ a
training session? What type of thing would you say to a player?”
As you can see from the example, the interviewer has used the second question to elicit
more information about a particular aspect of the competency ‘leadership’ that was
demonstrated in the first answer.
You may occasionally find yourself in a Cb interview where all of the candidates are
asked exactly the same primary questions and no secondary questions are asked. The
reasoning behind this is that it supposedly removes any subjectivity by giving each
candidate an identical opportunity to show their competencies. Unfortunately, it makes
it much easier for candidates who are prepared to exaggerate their achievements or who
have pre-prepared themselves with model answers, as they know that the interviews
will not be able to use follow-up questions which could expose weaknesses in these
model answers.

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Preparation & Techniques for Competency-based Interviews

It is important to identify what competencies will be assessed. Some employers will
provide this information before interview and some will not. If possible, you should ask
as this will save you a lot of guesswork. If this information is not provided explicitly then
you will need to work out the likely competencies required from the job description and
the information that you have about the organisation. This is described in the section
‘How to Prepare Yourself’ earlier in this eBook.
There are three approaches that you can take to answering competency-based interview
questions.
1. No preparation—just answer spontaneously.

2. Try to Prepare a model answer for every possible question.
3. Use the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result.
Approach 1—If you are under a lot of time pressure then you may feel that preparation
for the interview should be at the bottom of your to-do list. This is a common reaction
because for most candidates interviews are something that they already have experience
of, whereas role-play exercises and group discussions are less familiar and therefore
more intimidating. Consequently many candidates feel that they need to prepare for
these exercises rather than the more familiar interview.
If you have attended a couple of traditional interviews recently then it can be quite
tempting to think ‘Well, I can remember most of the things I was asked and the interviewer
seemed OK with my answers, so I’ll just wing it.’ Unfortunately, this approach does not
work very well with Cb interviews. This is because you are expected to reply to questions
in terms of a specific example and because you are under a lot of time pressure, you
don’t always have time to pick the best one. This means that candidates often start
describing a particular situation because it is the first thing they thought of which seems
appropriate. They then realise that the example that they are using is either not the best
one or that is not really suitable. However, they have now committed themselves and
can’t go back. This has the effect of undermining their confidence as well as failing to
illustrate convincingly the competency in question.

Assessment Centre
Approach —Try to Prepare a model answer for every possible question. There are
a lot of publications on the market that claim to provide you with ‘Great Answers to
1001 Interview Questions’ or some variation on that theme. Even if it were possible to
memorise most of these ‘ideal’ answers, there are two problems with this approach.
Firstly, they don’t sound sincere. Remember, human beings are very adept at spotting
insincerity and professional interviewers are actively looking for any sign of dishonesty.
Secondly, even if you are a talented dissembler and you are able to make these ‘off the
shelf’ answers sound convincing, they won’t usually be consistent with the information
on your CV or resume.
This approach really cannot be recommended because it often ‘blows up’ on the
candidate particularly if the interview is being conducted by more than one assessor.
Approach —Use the STAR method. This method is designed to deal with the problem
of preparing for Cb interviews. This method will provide you with answers which illustrate
convincingly the competency in question as well as being consistent with your CV/
resume. The STAR method is described in detail later in this section.
The Risks of Exaggerating Your Achievements

There can be a strong temptation to exaggerate your achievements when answering
interview questions. Because this does not usually involve out-and-out lying, doing
so can be quite an appealing idea. The word ‘bullshit’ is commonly used to describe
statements made by people more concerned with the response of the audience than
in truth and accuracy. As such, it is probably the best word to encapsulate the sort of
exaggeration that happens in job interviews.
Wikipedia has this to say on the subject:

“The ‘bullshitter’ generally either knows the statements are false, exaggerated,
and in other ways misleading or has no interest in their factual accuracy one
way or the other. ‘Talking bullshit’ is thus a lesser form of lying, and is likely to
elicit a correspondingly weaker emotional response: whereas an obvious liar
may be greeted with derision, outrage, or anger, an exponent of bullshit tends
to be dismissed with an indifferent sneer.”

Assessment Centre
This neatly summarises what usually happens in an interview when one or more of the
interviewers detect bullshit. Very often there is no big showdown in which the interviewers
try to nail the perceived lie. The most common response is that the interviewer just
switches off and spends the remaining time going through the motions, having decided
that the candidate is basically untrustworthy and not someone that they want in their
organisation.
Serial ‘bullshitters’, that is candidates who make a habit of overstating their achievements
often don’t realise what is going on. They attend one interview after another and on
the occasions that they compare post-interview notes with other candidates, they are
surprised and flattered that their own interview seemed to go so well in comparison.
Other candidates relate how they were grilled and asked to justify their answers. In
fact, as the interview progressed the questions became ever more penetrating and the
interviewers themselves more probing. In contrast, the serial bullshitter thinks that their
own interview went really well. After the first couple of questions the interview seemed
to get easier and easier. The reason for this of course is that the interviewers lost interest.
They had a long afternoon ahead of them and just wanted to get this one over with as
soon as possible because the candidate was obviously ‘full of it’ and they just couldn’t
be bothered with the effort required to sift the truth from the bullshit.
Whatever you do, never forget that the interviewers are human and that human beings
have evolved an uncanny ability to spot when someone is not telling the whole truth.
Answers which contain a large helping of bullshit might sound plausible when you’re
preparing for the interview, but they may not seem such a good idea when you have to
look the interviewer in the eye whilst delivering them.
Remember, it seldom matters what other positive attributes the candidate has -
dishonesty is the ultimate show-stopper.

Assessment Centre
Panel Interviews
The nature of panel interviews means that you are outnumbered and the psychological
effect of this must not be underestimated. It makes it much easier for the panel to adopt
a more aggressive interviewing style than would be normal in a one-to-one interview.
This in turn, makes it much more difficult for you to gloss over any weaknesses in your
experience or abilities. Remember, whilst one of the panel is actively engaged in asking
you the question, the other panel members are watching how you react.
It also makes using ‘off the shelf’ answers to interview questions very risky. If your
preparation to the panel interview has been restricted to reading “1001 Answers to Tough
Interview Questions” or a similar publication then you may be in for a rough ride. You
can bet that at least one member of the panel is not going to be satisfied with your
well rehearsed ‘answer’. This is because these answers invariably sound contrived and
the assessor has probably heard it many times before, or because these ‘off the shelf’
answers are seldom backed up by the information in your resume or your career history.
If one member of the panel suspects that you are being at all disingenuous, then they
are likely to begin a more probing and aggressive style of questioning. This is made
much easier for them because they are part of a group and you are not. Furthermore,
other members of the panel are likely to pick up on the tone of the questioning and join
in. Once this situation is reached it is very difficult for you to stay cool and to retain your
credibility. This is not something that panel interviews are designed to do – it is simply
a factor of group dynamics which means that in any sort of confrontation in the panel
interview you will come off badly.
For these reasons, it is vitally important that you can give truthful and straightforward
answers to the assessor’s questions. These answers should be unique to you and not
taken verbatim from an interview techniques book. Furthermore these answers must be
backed up by the information on your resume and your career history.
This brings us back to the STAR method which was mentioned earlier.

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The STAR Method

This acronym stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result. These four words each
describe how you will actually phrase your answer to each Cb interview question.
Define a situation which illustrates the required competency /

S ituation
behaviour.
Identify tasks you have performed which demonstrate that you

T ask
have the required competency / behaviour.
Describe a specific action you have taken which best illustrates

A ction
the individual competencies / behaviours of the Role.
Summarise the results of your actions and the outcome of the

R esult
situation
Using this method does require some serious preparation, but most people could
complete this in one or two evenings of concerted effort and the results will be well
worth the investment because:
1. You will probably face several interviews in your career and most of the
preparation work that you do will remain valid for future interviews.
2. The answers to Cb interview questions that you will be able to give will be
powerful, unique to you and backed up by the information on your resume and
your personal history.
The preparation stage is quite involved and consists of 5 steps.
Step . Make a list of the competencies required for the role.

Step . The Personal History Mind Map.
Step . Print One Copy of the Mind Map per Competency.
Step . Pair Up the Competency/Behaviour sheet and a Copy of the Mind Map.
Step . Work Through the Competencies/Behaviours.
The best way to describe it is by using examples working through each step at a time.
The example candidates show two very different individuals.

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Graduate Example
Richard, a university graduate with no full time work experience who is attending
an assessment centre for entry on to a graduate/management programme.
Work Experience Example

Helen, a Project Consultant with 12 years experience of which the past five have
been in a management role. She is attending an assessment centre for promotion
to a Senior Management role.
Use the list of competencies that you have developed that are specific to the role and
that you can therefore expect to feature in the interview. Advice on how to compile this
list is given earlier in this eBook.
For each competency that you identify, make up a competency/behaviour sheet as

follows:
• Write the competency at the top as a title

• Create a question for each behaviour
Remember that competency-based questions usually start with something like::
• “Tell me about a time when...”

• “Describe a situation where...”
• “Provide an example of an occasion where...”
Some but not all of the required behaviours will translate into interview questions. For
example, the statement:
“Respects and acknowledges other peoples and organisations values and ethos.”
Translates well into the interview question,
“Describe a situation where you needed to respect and acknowledge other people’s
or an organisation’s values and ethos.”

Assessment Centre
In fact it would be very difficult to design an assessment centre exercise which would
allow you to demonstrate this behaviour.
In contrast, the statement:
“Is a persuasive and clear communicator.”
Cannot really be made into a competency-based interview question,
“Describe a situation where you needed to be a persuasive and clear communicator.”
Not only is this a very weak question, but the behaviour can easily be demonstrated in
any one of several exercises including the presentation exercise, the group discussion
and the role-play. Therefore, this behaviour is very unlikely to be the subject of a CBI
question.
You will need to use your own judgement when deciding which behaviours are likely to
form the basis of interview questions. As a general rule, these will be behaviours which
cannot be easily demonstrated in exercises.
Graduate Example
Richard, a university graduate with no full time work experience who is attending an
assessment centre for entry on to a graduate/management programme.
Step
In this example, we have used a graduate called ‘Richard’ who has only part-time
work experience to add to his personal, sporting and academic achievements. He has
produced a list of associated behaviour questions for the competency ‘Interpersonal
Communications’ at the ‘Management’ level.

Assessment Centre
Builds and maintains good working relationships throughout

INTERPERSONAL
the Organisation and externally.
Management Level ensure a good working relationship.
1. Describe a situation where you needed to respect and acknowledge other people’s and
organisation’s values and ethos.
2. Describe a situation where you needed to puts forward recommendations and make decisions
based on agreement and commitment from the other parties.
3. Is a careful listener to others standpoints and concerns and on understanding this communication
will respond accordingly.
5. Has an understanding of the reasoning of other peoples actions and decisions
6. Welcomes others feedback on issues and their own performance in a constructive way.
7. Treats all those in the Organisation with respect and acknowledges all their contributions.
8. Encourages free expression of ideas, feelings and opinions.
9. Welcomes with enthusiasm the challenge of overcoming obstacles.
10. Describe a situation where you needed to encourage yourself and others to over achieve and
exceed targets.
As you can see, there are really only three likely questions as the others are all behaviours
that can actually be demonstrated in the assessment centre exercises. These are 1, 2 and
10.
Step
Creating your own mind map should take you no more than twenty minutes to complete
and is going to help you to link your competencies to your work experience and personal
achievements.
Suitable things to put on the mind map include:

• Part-time Jobs
• Full-time Jobs
• Sports
• Clubs
• Societies
• Charities
• Trips/Expeditions
Richard’s mind map of his personal experiences and achievements is shown on the
next page.

Richard—Mind Map
McDonalds
Final Year Project
Course
Student
Representative
Joe's Diner
Basketball
Debating Society
University Richard
Ecuador Trip
Accommodation
Climbing
Basketball
Jazz Quartet
Football
High School
Orchestra
Prom
Page 276
Assessment Centre
As you can see, his mind map is dominated by High School and University along with a
couple of places where he has had part-time jobs. He has also included a three month
backpacking trip to Ecuador as this was a significant experience for him.
When you are creating your own version of this mind map then you will need to use your
judgement as to what to put in and what to leave out. Remember, interviewers are most
interested in things that you have done recently, so you don’t want to go back too far in
time. However, if you are in doubt about something then it is best to include it.
You can use either a diagramming program like SmartDraw or you can use a pen and
paper. The main advantage of using a program is that you can update it and rearrange
the elements within it more easily. You are also going to need multiple copies, so if you
do draw it by hand then you will need a means of copying it.
Step
When you are happy that your mind map is complete then you will need to print out one
copy per competency. The reason for this is that you are going to make notes on the
mind map and if you try to use one copy for all of the competencies then it will quickly
become illegible.
Richard has chosen to look at the competency ‘Interpersonal Communications’ first

and his mind map would look like the one on the next page.

Richard—Interpersonal Communications
Interpersonal Communication McDonalds
Final Year Project
Course
Student
Representative
Joe's Diner
Basketball
Debating Society
University Richard
Ecuador Trip
Accommodation
Climbing
Basketball
Jazz Quartet
Football
High School
Orchestra
Prom
Page 278
Assessment Centre
Step
Now Richard will work through each of the listed behaviours for that competency and
refer to an aspect of his personal history mind map. In our example Richard knows
building good working relationships is essential and so has selected the behaviour
listed below.
INTERPERSONAL
COMMUNICATIONS Richard
Management Level
Respects and acknowledges other peoples and organisations values and ethos.
2. Describe a situation where you needed to puts forward recommendations and make decisions
based on agreement and commitment from the other parties.
3. Describe a situation where you needed to encourage yourself and others to over achieve and
exceed targets.
Now he has two sheets per competency—one copy of the Personal History mind map
and an associated competency/behaviour sheet.
Step
With the two documents in front of you, as shown on the next page, consider the first
behaviour on the list. In this example, Richard needs to consider the question
“Tell me about a time where you had to respect and acknowledge other peoples
and organisations values and ethos”
which is the first behaviour listed under the competency ‘Interpersonal Communications’.
To do this as efficiently as possible and to make sure that he is choosing the best
example, Richard works systematically through his mind map considering this behaviour
in relation to each of the places he has worked or studied, the clubs, teams and societies
he has belonged to and the expedition he undertook to Ecuador.

Richard—Interpersonal Communications linked to Mind Map
INTERPERSONAL
COMMUNICATIONS Richard
Interpersonal Communication 1,2,3
Management Level McDonalds
Final Year Project
Respects and acknowledges other Student

Course
peoples and organisations values and Representative

Joe's Diner
ethos.
3 Basketball
1. Describe a situation where Debating Society

University Richard
you needed to respect and Ecuador Trip 1,2
acknowledge other people’s and Accommodation
organisation’s values and ethos. 3 Climbing

2. Describe a situation where Basketball 3
you needed to puts forward Jazz Quartet
recommendations and make Football 3

decisions based on agreement High School
and commitment from the other Orchestra
parties. Prom 2
3. Describe a situation where you
needed to encourage yourself
and others to over achieve and
exceed targets.
Page 280
Assessment Centre
After a few minutes consideration and having made some quick notes on the mind
map, he decides that there are two occasions where he has had to go out of his way
to accommodate other people’s values and culture. The backpacking trip to Ecuador
obviously required it because of the difference in the way of life there, and this could
be used as a good example in an interview. The second occasion was working in
McDonalds which also has a culture and ethos of its own—one which Richard initially
found quite difficult to adjust to.
Richard marks both of these as possible examples and then tackles them one at a time.
He imagines the interviewer asking first question:
“Tell me about a time when you had to respect and acknowledge other people’s or
a organisation’s values and ethos?”
He mentally answers the question using the Ecuador trip as an example. He then
repeats the process using the McDonalds example. Thinking about it, he decides that
the McDonalds example works better. It is work related, it represented a culture and
ethos that he really had to ‘buy into’ for 40 hours per week rather than just admire from
a distance, and the strict hierarchy and prescriptive nature of the work represented a
significant challenge to someone with a liberal arts background like himself.
Having decided to go with this example, Richard now needs to frame his answer
according to the STAR acronym. This stands for Situation, Task, Action and Result.
By framing his answer in this way, Richard ensures that his answer is clear and logical,
but most importantly that it includes the all important ‘result’ or ‘pay-off’ which is what
distinguishes a great answer from an indifferent one.
Situation or Task—Define the situation or ‘set the stage”.
“I worked in my local McDonalds for three months to help pay for my final year at
university. Initially I found the strict hierarchy and prescriptive nature of the work
alien to anything I’d experienced up to that point in my life and I did wonder if it was
really necessary to have such inflexible procedures for everything.”

Assessment Centre
Action—Describe the action that you took/initiated. This response should illustrate
the specific skills you used.
“However, I accepted that their way of doing things had evolved for a good reason
and I did my best to do everything the ‘McDonalds way’ even when I couldn’t really
see why they did it like that.”
Result—Summarize the outcome.
“When I’d been there for a few weeks, it all started to make sense. Their way of doing
things has been developed to take account of a high staff turnover in a business
that prides itself on the consistency of its products and services. When I did make
some suggestions to improve efficiency, I made sure that they took full account of
the prevailing culture. As a result, these suggestions were taken seriously and some
of them were implemented.”
This answer would demonstrate that whilst Richard is has the intellect to question the
values and ethos of others, he also has the maturity to reserve making a judgement
until he is in possession of the full picture. This answer definitely ‘ticks the box’ and
would count positively towards the competency ‘Interpersonal Communications’ at
‘Management’ level.
The other vital attribute that this answer has is that it is based on THE TRUTH and
will survive any amount of scrutiny. If the interviewer decides to ask a series of quick
supplementary questions to verify this, for example:
“What suggestions did you make?”

“Which were implemented?”
“Were they implemented outside of your own branch?”
Richard will not hesitate or dissemble when answering them. As has been pointed out
earlier in this section, if the interviewer has doubts about your honesty then you are very
unlikely to be successfully selected—no one will employ a person that they don’t trust,
no matter what other skills they may have.

Assessment Centre
Work Experience Example

Helen, a Project Consultant with 12 years experience of which the past five have
been in a management role. She is attending an assessment centre for promotion
to a Senior Management role.
Helen is also a graduate but she has chosen to exclude her University competencies
and behaviours because they have been superseded by higher level competencies
gained during her working life.
In this example follow the same procedure as with the previous one by creating your
competency/behaviour sheets.
It is important to remember that competency-based questions usually start with

something like:
• “Tell me about a time when...”

• “Describe a situation where...”
• “Provide an example of an occasion where...”
Some but not all of the required behaviours will translate into interview questions. For
example, the statement:
“Respects and acknowledges other peoples and organisations values and ethos.”
Translates well into the interview question,
“Describe a situation where you needed to respect and acknowledge other people’s
or an organisation’s values and ethos”
In fact it would be very difficult to design an assessment centre exercise which would
allow you to demonstrate this behaviour.
In contrast, the statement:
“Is a persuasive and clear communicator.”

Assessment Centre
Cannot really be made into a competency-based interview question,
“Describe a situation where you needed to be a persuasive and clear communicator.”
Not only is this a very weak question, but the behaviour can easily be demonstrated in
any one of several exercises including the presentation exercise, the group discussion
and the role-play. Use your own judgement to decide which behaviours are most likely
to form the basis of interview questions.
Step
In this example, Helen has attempted to produce a list of associated behaviour questions
for the competency ‘Interpersonal Communications’ at the ‘Strategic’ level. There is
only one of the behaviour’s (1.) which could form the basis of an interview question.
All of the others could be better demonstrated in the assessment centre exercises.
Remember to pick the associated behaviours that are applicable to the level of the role
you are applying for and to produce one sheet per competency.
Builds and maintains good working relationships throughout

INTERPERSONAL
the Organisation and externally.
Strategic Level ensure a good working relationship.
2. Gains the respect and attention of others (internal & external) whom they deal with.
3. Is always approachable and acts in an honest manner and with integrity.
4. Shows empathy towards others so that a free exchange of ideas and views takes place.
5. By actively listening to the views and opinions expressed by others can make a full appraisal of
any situation.
6. Their behaviour and communications reflect their understanding of and respect for others needs
and objectives.
7. Is assertive but constructive in their dealings with people.
8. Accepts that they are responsible for their own decisions.
9. Welcomes others feedback on issues and their own performance in a constructive way.

Assessment Centre
Step
Now Helen produces her mind map. It should take you no more than twenty minutes to
complete and is going to help you to link your competencies to your work experience
and personal achievements.
Suitable things to put on the mind map include:
• Part-time Jobs
• Full-time Jobs
• Sports
• Clubs
• Societies
• Charities
• Trips/Expeditions
Helen’s mind map is dominated by the two full-time jobs that she has had over the past
five years and includes the names of the projects she has worked on. She has also
included two significant activities which she has been involved with outside of work.
Remember, interviewers are most interested in things that you have done recently, so
you don’t go back too far. By using a program you can easily reproduce and update
your mind map.

Helen—Mind Map
Theatre Trust
Chairman
Fast Payments
Project SCORM Project
Jaguar ARES Project

Project
Hewlett Packard
Health Authority Payments Project

Project
AXIS Consultancy Helen
XALTO Project
FLAME Project
SUMO Project
Samaritans
DISCO Project
Drama Group
Treasurer
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Step
Now that your mind map is complete, print out a copy per competency so that you can
make specific notes on each one. If you try to use one copy for all of the competencies
then it will quickly become illegible.
Like the previous example, Helen has chosen the competency ‘Interpersonal Comm-
unications’ and her mind map is shown on the next page.
Step
Helen has to focus on her listed behaviour for that competency and refer to any aspect
of her personal history mind map. Helen appreciates that her ability to demonstrate that
she can build good working relationships is essential.
INTERPERSONAL
COMMUNICATIONS Helen
Strategic Level
Builds and maintains good working relationships throughout the Organisation and externally.
1. Describe a situation where you needed to respect and acknowledge other people’s or an
Now she has two sheets for this competency—a copy of her Personal History mind
map and her associated competency/behaviour sheet.

Helen—Interpersonal Communications Theatre Trust
Chairman
Fast Payments
Jaguar ARES Project

Project
Hewlett Packard
Health Authority Payments Project

Project
XALTO Project
FLAME Project
SUMO Project
Samaritans
DISCO Project
Drama Group
Treasurer
Page 288
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Step
In this example, Helen is dealing with the same competency/behaviour—‘Interpersonal
Communications’—so she imagines the interviewer could ask her the same question:
“Tell me about a time when you had to respect and acknowledge other people’s or
a organisation’s values and ethos?”
Working through her own mind map, she is drawn towards the ‘Health Authority’ project
that she was involved with a few months ago. She remembers quite clearly that the
client was a public health authority whose ‘values and ethos’ were very different from
those at her own organisation.

Helen—Interpersonal Communications linked to Mind Map
Theatre Trust
Chairman
INTERPERSONAL
Strategic Level
Fast Payments
Builds and maintains good working
relationships throughout the
Organisation and externally. Jaguar ARES Project
Project
Hewlett Packard
1. Describe a situation where
you needed to respect and Health Authority Payments Project
acknowledge other people’s or an Project

XALTO Project
FLAME Project
SUMO Project
Samaritans
DISCO Project
Drama Group
Treasurer
Page 290
Assessment Centre
By using the ‘Health Authority’ as an example, Helen can now frame her answer
according to the STAR acronym.
Situation or Task—Define the situation or ‘set the stage”.
“The Health Authority project was the first time that the company had any dealings
with a health authority and I was brought in half way through the project because
the senior management felt that there was a serious problem developing but they
couldn’t get a handle on the underlying cause. I realised very early on that there was
a major cultural difference between our company and the health authority.”
Action—Describe the action that you took/initiated. This response should illustrate
the specific skills you used.
“I spent a weekend studying the health authority’s mission and vision statement as
well as the documentation that they had produced for the project. It was very clear
to me that whilst many of their expectations were actually being met, the problem
was in communicating this to them in the language and terms that fitted with their
culture as a public service, and in the relative importance that they gave of different
parts of the project which were different to ours.”
“I reprioritised various project elements and ran a training day for some of our
technical staff to make sure that they understood the importance of treating the
health authority differently to our usual clients who were all for-profit businesses.”
Result—Summarize the outcome.
“The result was that a lot of perceived problems melted away as the working
relationship between our staff and theirs became much more amicable. The health
authority is now one of our reference clients and they have helped us to expand into
that particular sector.”
This answer would demonstrate that Helen had the emotional intelligence to look beyond
the purely technical aspects of the project to find the root cause of the problem. She
then took positive action to reprioritise elements of the project in line with the client’s

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expectations, as well as to make sure that the company’s staff were made aware of
the cultural differences and given an indication as to how best to overcome them. Her
answer would positively show her ‘Interpersonal Communications’ competency at a
‘Strategic’ level.
If the interviewer decides to verify this, for example by asking:
“Give me an example of the differences in language?”

“Describe something that was reprioritised?”
“What was the biggest difference in priorities initially?”
Helen will be able to answers would be convincing as they are based on a real and
well thought out example. Now she could update her competency/behaviour sheet as
follows:
INTERPERSONAL
Strategic Level
Builds and maintains good working relationships throughout the Organisation and externally.
1. Describe a situation where you needed to respect and acknowledge other people’s or an
Axis Consultancy > Health Authority > Training Day & Reprioritization.
Writing down the outline of this example makes it much easier to remember and she can
refer to these competency/behaviour sheets as part of her preparation for this interview
and also for any interviews that she attends in the future.
You should also note that this example could be used to answer other questions that
refer to the competency ‘Interpersonal Communications’, for example:
“Describe an occasion when good interpersonal skills contributed to the success

of a project.”

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“Tell me about a time when you had to see a situation from someone else’s point
of view.”
“Can you describe a situation where you had to ‘win’ someone over—someone
who wasn’t being very responsive to you?”
“Can you describe a situation where you had to deal with a dissatisfied client?”
“Describe a situation when you ended up making good sales with a customer who
started out initially being very uncommitted.”
As you can see, Helen can use the ‘Axis Consultancy/Health Authority’ example in
response to any one of a wide variety of ‘Interpersonal Communication’ competency
questions.
The Advantages of this Approach

It is important to point out that the advantage of using the mind map and competency/
behaviour sheet is that it puts all of the information you need to select your own examples
right in front of you. This makes it a much faster way to work than starting with a blank
sheet of paper. Most people will have something like 30-50 individual behaviours to
find examples for. Don’t be put off by this because some of these behaviours are very
similar to others and the same example with a slightly different spin will work for more
than one.
Also, as you work through the list; jobs, projects, activities etc. that you have not thought
about for months are being brought to the front of your mind and this makes the task
easier as it progresses. Having said that, it is a good idea to take a break every half-hour
or so to avoid becoming stale.
You will need to practice framing your answers in these STAR terms as without practice
your answers will tend to sound forced and a little awkward. However, with practice
your answers will sound natural, be unique to you, and be supported by your resume
and personal history.

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Inappropriate Questions
One thing that you have no control over is the scope of the questions you are asked.
Experienced HR personnel should make sure that the questions are appropriate for the
experience of the candidates and for the level of the role in question.
Occasionally, you may be asked a question for which you simply don’t have a good
example of a previous behaviour. Rather than making something up, the best approach
is usually to justify why you don’t have a suitable example and then to treat the question
as hypothetical.
In this example, the candidate is a recent university graduate who is applying for their
first full time job, whilst the interviewer is asking a question which would be more suitable
for someone with a few years full-time work experience.
Interviewer: “Tell me about an occasion when you have missed an

important project deadline.”
Candidate: “I have never missed a deadline, I’ve always taken deadlines

very seriously and so far I’ve never suffered from an illness or anything else
beyond my control that has caused me to miss one. I always try to plan for the
unexpected and I don’t leave things to the last minute. I realise that this could
happen in the future where I don’t have complete control of all of the elements
that make up a project. In these circumstances I would ...”
Arguably, the candidate is running the risk of seeming a little arrogant but this may be
better than trying to make something up on the spot which is not actually true. Even
if you prepare thoroughly for the interview you may still be asked about an example
behaviour that you cannot provide. This does occasionally happen but it is unlikely to
affect your marks too badly if you can justify the reason and answer the question in a
way that shows that you have an appreciation of the competencies involved.

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Questions to Ask at the Interview

It is as important for you to prepare questions to ask the interviewer as it is to prepare
answers for the questions that you will be asked.
Many candidates make the mistake of asking about routine details that they think
they ought to know, or which they think of on the spur of the moment, but which will
probably be provided in due course in documentation about terms and conditions. For
example:
“How much holiday do I get?”

“What sort of car do I get?”
“What other perks are there?”
“What are the pension arrangements?”
“What expenses can I claim for?”
These questions suggest to the interviewer that the candidate is mostly interested in what
the organisation can give the employee, rather than the other way around. Employers
will usually explain all this in written terms and conditions which are compiled by the HR
department. They are not suitable topics for an assessment centre interview.
Try to prepare and ask questions that make the interviewer think to themselves, “That’s
a good question—this candidate has really thought about the role, and understands the
sort of issues we need them to handle and the sort of responsibilities we want them to
take.”
The background research that you have done for the assessment centre should give you
an insight into the sort of challenges the organisation is facing, and how this affects the
role you’re applying for. Do your research so that you understand as much as possible
about the priorities of the role and the issues that face the organisation. Then think
about the ways that the role could be extended to provide greater support towards
achieving organisational challenges.
It is possible to think of impressive questions just by using what you know of the role
and the sort of issues that face modern employers. Either way, you need to think about
these things and prepare beforehand.

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Here are some examples of the type of questions that you could ask. In all cases you will
need to adapt the wording and the specific topic to suit the role and your own style.
“If the you were to name the three most important priorities for the successful
candidate to achieve in the first six months, what would they be, and how would
they be measured?”
“Communications, internal and external, are clearly extremely important in this

organisation; what are the related priorities for this role?”
“I understand that government policy has changed recently with regard to the
organisations impact on the environment. What do you think are the main ways
that the successful candidate can help the organisation deal with this?”
“ What are the issues for the successful candidate in terms of developing effective
inter-departmental relations?”
“What are the priorities and challenges facing the organisation relating to the
role?”
“What is the balance of priorities for this role; short-term efficiencies or longer-term
planning and organising?”
These types of questions are appropriate for an interview for a management role. For
more strategic roles you’ll need to change the perspective of the questions to a more
suitable level.
Organisations want to recruit people into all roles who can come in and make a positive
difference. By asking well-prepared and thoughtful questions, you can demonstrate
that you are one of these people.

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Portfolio
Your portfolio is likely to be of the greatest use during your interviews for a position
where its contents can be used to show how you addressed a business problem or
incident which illustrates that you are able to perform at the required level of the role.
Each item contained in your Portfolio must fulfil one or more of the Competencies
detailed within the job description and it is often useful to file or reference each item
accordingly.
You can also use your Portfolio during certain exercises at the Assessment centre, but
you must gain approval of the organisers of the day that this is acceptable. Your Portfolio
could be extremely useful in helping you, or your team, achieve the set goal.
For example,
You are asked to respond to a fictitious scenario or business problem. Your portfolio
contains press cuttings which appeared after a similar style incident. You could use
this to show your Assessor’s a possible outcome if certain action is taken or use it
to persuade your group how to respond.
Every item contained in your Portfolio must help you illustrate your total or partial
capability of a Competency. It is not like a photo album, a trip down memory lane it is
an evolutionary collection of your Competencies. So deciding what to include in your
Portfolio is critical to how useful it will be in helping you attain your desired position.
By following the examples shown later in this chapter you can see what to include in
your own Portfolio. It also discusses how you can, even with a short period of time,
make effective use of these tools to further your career.
Your Portfolio is another preparation tool and provides you with something tangible that
you can use to show the assessors that you have the required competency. An important
part of your preparation and personal development is the creation and maintenance of
your portfolio.
Deciding what to include in your Portfolio is critical to how useful it will be in helping
you attain your desired position. Each item contained in your portfolio must fulfil one or
more of the competencies detailed within the job description and it is often useful to file
or reference each item accordingly.

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So what is a portfolio? It is simply:
‘A collection of items and illustrations that represent your personal development

and skills.’
Your portfolio is not just a preparation tool it is something that you can use actively
during your interview and at your assessment centre day. You will be able to use the
items, depending on your exercises and interview questions, to assist you in displaying
the required competencies. How you physically collect all your items will depend largely
on your profession, for some a large ring binder with several dividers is sufficient and for
others a box file might be more appropriate.
By separating your items into competencies you can easily and quickly locate the item
you need to best illustrate that you have the required competency. If an item fulfils more
than one Competency you can put a little sticker on the item to remind you of this so
you can highlight to the assessors that this item illustrates several competencies.
Your portfolio is especially useful during any interviews as you can pull out an item
to show how you addressed a business problem or incident and performed in an
appropriate manner and at the required level for the role you wish to attain. It may be
useful to have several copies of any literature, seminar invites, photographs etc., so that
you can distribute these amongst the interview panel.
Some Assessment centre’s may allow you to use the contents of your Portfolio during
some of the exercises, but you must gain the approval of the organisers first.
For example,
You are asked to respond to a fictitious scenario or business problem. This is similar
to one you have experienced directly or indirectly and your Portfolio includes copies
of the actual press cuttings which appeared at that time.
You could use these to show your Assessor’s a possible outcome if certain action
is taken or use it to persuade your group of the best way to respond and avoid the
mistakes of the example you have.

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How much time you have to prepare before your assessment centre will dictate how
and what you include in your Portfolio. If you are working to a short deadline you can
quickly gather specific items you’ve produced yourself or which you took an active
role in producing of, so that you can constructively show the assessors you have the
required Competency.
Each item you have in your portfolio tells its own story of how you learnt, were taught or
saw a behaviour that has influenced your own development. For Sarah her portfolio will
consist of readily available marketing items such as literature, invites, service or product
briefs and photographs.
You must ensure that nothing within your portfolio is, or contains, highly
confidential or sensitive data. Any information of such a nature must be removed
before putting it into your portfolio, remember the purpose of the ‘item’ is to help you
illustrate a competency in a required situation. You can also use any ‘items’ that is
available publically or that has no commercial value to your present employer.
You will have the time to modify otherwise confidential documents so that you can
use them to illustrate a competency, without compromising confidentiality i.e. blot out
company name, or a person’s details, remove logo’s or sensitive data.
When using the portfolio as part of your long-term career development you would
expand the range of items it would contain. The type of items you can include will vary
depending on your work experience. It is important to remember to collect items from
both your professional and personal experiences.
For Sarah from her personal experiences her long-term portfolio is most likely to include
the following items.
• Parents Association communications to parents & staff.

• Parents Association planning of events along with hoped for funds to be raised.
• Copies of the pertinent Finance procedures & processes used in her School
Governor role.
• Copy of Rugby coach guide lines & RFC objectives.

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From her professional experience she would be advised to incorporate the following
items in her long-term portfolio. For many items she will have to remove aspects that are
confidential, but using a table of contents from certain reports can be used to illustrate
the competency you require.
• Marketing Communications Plans—including business objectives.

• Select press releases which were used for a specific purpose i.e. during a crisis,
announce merger, product or service launch.
• Brief for telemarketing agency—including objectives and targets.
• Seminar programmes, presentations & photos.
• Reports—table of contents, management summary & recommendations only
• Exhibition photos & organisational plan.
• Modified copy of staff member’s appraisal.
• Customer event letters, objectives and photos from the day. Include any thank
you letters received afterwards.
• Literature—sales & training—used during the merchandising campaign.
• Samples of product volume sales & forecasts to explain how you used it.
• Competitor SWOT’s
• New product launch plans.
When creating a long-term Portfolio you can include items you have seen, used, or come
across that you felt had particular merit, or not. When you see how a good manager dealt
with a situation, make a note of what it was you thought was good, and keep it within
your Portfolio, it will remind you of this behaviour and you will be able to incorporate it
as how you would perform as the successful candidate. This will help you to illustrate
a Competency to the Assessor which you may not have personal experience of, but
shows you know what is required of the role.
Your Portfolio is yours and it is there to help you recall instances and experiences that
have helped to form your Competencies. By using of such illustrations you will have a
greater opportunity to maximise the number of matches you have to the role you want.
So, you should always be on the look-out for any opportunity or item to add to your
Portfolio.

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Aptitude and Ability Tests
Multiple Choice
Aptitude &
Ability Tests Exam Conditions
Strictly Timed
Aptitude and ability tests are designed to assess your logical reasoning or thinking
performance. They consist of multiple choice questions and are administered under
exam conditions. They are strictly timed and a typical test might allow 30 minutes for
30 or so questions.
Verbal Reasoning
Numeric Reasoning
Abstract Reasoning
Aptitude &
Spatial Reasoning
Ability Tests
Mechanical Reasoning
Data Checking
Work Sampling
There are at least 5000 aptitude and ability tests on the market the most common ones
can be classified as follows:
Verbal Ability Tests—Includes spelling, grammar, ability to understand analogies and

follow detailed written instructions.
Numeric Ability Tests—Includes basic arithmetic, number sequences and simple

mathematics. In more complex numerical critical reasoning questions, blocks of
information are provided that require interpretation.
Abstract Reasoning Tests—Measures your ability to identify the underlying logic of

a pattern and then determine the solution. They are deliberately designed so that the
visual problem-solving strategy will work better than any other approach.
Spatial Ability Tests—Measures your ability to manipulate shapes in two dimensions

or to visualize three-dimensional objects presented as two-dimensional pictures.

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Mechanical Aptitude Tests—Designed to assess your knowledge of physical and

mechanical principles.
Data Checking Tests—Measure how quickly and accurately errors can be detected in
data and is used to select candidates for clerical and data input jobs.
Work Sample Tests—Involves a sample of the work that you will be expected do.
These types of test can be very broad ranging. They may involve exercises using a
word processor or spreadsheet if the job is administrative or they may include giving a
presentation or in-tray exercises if the job is management or supervisory level.

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Question Types and Scoring

You may be asked to answer the questions either on paper or using a PC or palm-top,
as online testing is becoming increasingly popular. The advantage of online testing is
that once the test is completed, an analysis of the results can be calculated straight
away. This means that the organization can continue with the selection process with the
results ‘in hand’ rather than keep you waiting or send you home and call you back in at
a later date. Another advantage is that you can take the test at a recruitment agency or
even in your own home. Online testing is particularly suitable for initial screening as it is
very cost-effective.
Some of the advantages of online testing are:

• Increased cost-savings—no printed material is needed.
• Increased security—test data can be easily encrypted.
• Increased speed—scoring and interpretation are done immediately.
• Increased standardization—question presentation is uniform.
Whichever type of test you are given, the questions are almost always presented in
multiple-choice format and have definite correct and incorrect answers. As you proceed
through the test, the questions may become more difficult and you will usually find that
there are more questions than you can comfortably complete in the time allowed. Very
few people manage to finish these tests and the object is simply to give as many correct
answers as you can.
Compared to
Test Scores Control Group
Examples
Other Graduates
Current Job Holders
Population Sample
Ideally, your score should then be compared with the results of a control group which
has taken the tests in the past. This control group could consist of other graduates,
current job holders or a sample of the population as a whole. Your reasoning skills can
then be assessed in relation to this control group and judgments made about your
ability. This does happen sometimes. Often however, your score is simply compared to
the other candidates. After all, the control group are not applying for the job.

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Speed and Power Tests

The types of question you can expect will depend on which aptitudes and abilities that
are needed in the job you are applying for. Aptitude and ability tests are classified as
maximum performance tests as they test what you can achieve when you are making
maximum effort. There are two different styles of maximum performance test; speed
tests and power tests.
Aptitude &
Ability Tests
Speed Tests Power Tests
In a speed test the scope of the questions is limited and the methods you need to use
to answer them clear. Taken individually, the questions appear relatively straightforward.
Speed test are concerned with how many questions you can answer correctly in the
allotted time. For example:
Q. 139 + 235 =
A) 372 B) 374 C) 376 D) 437
A power test on the other hand will present a smaller number of more complex questions.
The methods you need to use to answer these questions are not obvious, and working
out how to answer the question is the difficult part. Once you have determined this,
arriving at the correct answer is usually relatively straightforward.

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For example:
Below are the sales figures for 3 different types of network server over 3 months.
Q. In which month was the sales value highest?

A) January B) February C) March
Q. What is the unit cost of server type ZXC53?

A) 12 B) 13 C) 14
In summary, speed tests contain more items than power tests although they have the
same approximate time limit. Speed tests tend to be used in selection at the administrative
and clerical level. Power tests tend to be used at the graduate, professional or managerial
level. Although, this is not always the case, as speed tests do give an accurate indication
of performance in power tests. In other words, if you do well in speed tests then you will
do well in power tests.

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Verbal Ability Tests

These tests usually involve grammar, analogies and following detailed written instructions.
They can also include spelling, sentence completion and comprehension. Because they
depend on understanding the precise meaning of words, idioms and the structure of
the language they discriminate very heavily towards native speakers of the language in
which the test has been developed. If you speak English as a second language, even if
this is at a high standard, you will be significantly disadvantaged.
You will usually find questions on all of the following:
• Spelling
• Grammar
• Sentence Completion
• Analogies
• Word Groups
• Instructions
• Critical Reasoning
• Verbal Deductions
These tests are widely used since most jobs require you either to understand and make
decisions based on verbal or written information or to pass this type of information to
others. In practice, the more straightforward types of question (spelling, grammar and
instructions) tend to be more applicable to administrative roles and the reasoning and
deduction type of questions to management roles.
Spelling
Questions where you have to identify incorrectly spelt words are common in all levels of
verbal ability tests. The test designer needs to choose words which are fairly common
and in regular usage but which are often spelt incorrectly. There would be little point in
using obscure words which only a small percentage of candidates could be expected
to know. This means that you will almost certainly have heard of the word and know
its meaning. This requirement to use words which are in everyday use but which are
commonly miss-spelt means that the test designer has a relatively restricted list of words
to choose from. This makes improving your performance on these spelling questions
relatively straightforward.

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Example Questions
1. Which of the following words are incorrectly spelt?

A) separate B) ordnance C) obviously D) sucess E) none of these
2. Choose the pair of words that best completes the sentence

The -------- of the timetable caused some ----------
A) rivision B) revision C) revission D) revition
A) inconvenience B) inconvenince C) inconveneince D)inconveniance
3. The following list of 20 words contains 10 that are incorrectly spelt. Write the letter
that corresponds to each incorrectly spelt word in the answer box
A) occurence H) batallion O) yield

B) dissipate I) dispair P) existance
C) weird J) irritable Q) independent
D) accommodate K) accidently R) insistant
E) embarassment L) liaison S) excede
F) ecstacy M) memento T) privilege
G) repetition N) millenium
Answers
1. D
2. B A
3. A E F H I K N P R S
In most cases the longer that you have been out of the education system the more your
spelling will have deteriorated. Most people now use word processors with inbuilt spell-
checking software and it is very easy to forget how words are spelt as we don’t physically
write them down and often rely on the software to correct them for us. Many people
find it quite embarrassing when they realize how much their spelling has deteriorated—
this is one area where remedial action is straightforward and is guaranteed to produce
positive results.

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Missing Word
These questions are designed to measure your vocabulary, specifically your under-
standing of precise word meanings. You will usually be offered a choice of four or five
words, any of which could complete the sentence.
Example Questions
4. Which of these words completes the sentence in the way that makes most sense?
A spirit-level should be used to ensure that the surface is -----------
A) straight B) flat C) horizontal D) parallel E) aligned
He avoided --------- because he was ------------
A) redundency B) indispensable C) redundancy D) indispensible
The plan must be --------- to make the project ------------
A) feasible B) revised C) rivised D) feasable
Answers
4. C
5. C B
6. B A
These questions are relatively straightforward but because more than one of the options
will complete the sentence satisfactorily you must read it carefully and choose the best
word. Note also that some of these questions are testing your spelling ability and some
are testing your understanding of precise word meanings.

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Related Word
To answer these questions you need to understanding of precise meaning of the words
in the question and establish what exactly the relationship is between them. You should
then look at the answer options and decide which one is the most appropriate. These
questions test your reasoning ability as well as your vocabulary.
Example Questions
7. Which of these is the missing word?

kick, -----------, walk
A) throw B) toes C) shin D) feet E) hand

key, -----------, walk
A) lock B) stand C) board D) fob E) stone

water, -----------, over
A) ice B) drive C) wet D) flow E) fall
Answers
7. D – Feet are used for both kicking and walking.
8. C – Board forms the words ‘keyboard’ and ‘boardwalk’
9. E – Fall forms ‘waterfall’ and ‘fall over’
There will usually be more than one possible answer, so it is important to read the
question carefully and pick the best option.

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Synonym and Antonym

These are words which have either the same or opposite meanings. Once again, these
questions test your vocabulary—you need to know the precise meaning of the words
given in order to select the appropriate synonym (same meaning) or antonym (opposite
meaning).
Example Questions
10. Which of two of these words are opposite in meaning?

A) lose B) winner C) victor D) loser E) vanquish
11. Which of these words is the odd one out?

A) swindle B) harass C) provoke D) annoy E) pester
12. Which of these words is the odd one out?

A) verify B) authenticate C) confirm D) ask E) substantiate
Answers
10. B D – are exact opposites.

11. A – The others are synonyms
12. D – The others are synonyms

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Word Pair
These questions take the form A is to B as X is to Y. Firstly, you need to establish the
relationship between the ‘A is to B’ words before you can arrive at the answer. You may
find it helpful to mentally express the relationship before you look at the answer options.
This can short circuit the process of considering and rejecting each option because you
know in advance exactly what you are looking for.
Example Questions
13. Dog is to canine as wolf is to ---------

A) vulpine B) ursine C) piscine D) bovine E) lupine
14. Sadness is to happiness as defeat is to ---------

A) joy B) victory C) tears D) victor E) none of these
15. Paper is to timber as --------- is to hide

A) tree B) seek C) ox D) animal E) leather
Answers
13. E – lupine means ‘relating to the characteristics of wolves’

14. B – The word pairs are opposites
15. E – Paper is made from timber, leather is made from hide

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Comprehension
These questions consist of a short passage and some related questions. They will
often be about a topic which is unfamiliar to you, but this is an advantage rather than a
disadvantage because you need to answer the questions based only on the information
that you are given—not using any knowledge that you already have. Most people find
that the best way to tackle these questions is to scan the text fairly quickly to get the
general idea and then to attempt each question in turn, referring back to the appropriate
part of the text.
Example Question
16. Read the following short passage and say whether or not the statements are true.
There are seven species of deer living wild in Britain. The Red Deer and the Roe Deer are
native species. Fallow Deer were introduced by the Romans and, since the seventeenth
century, have been joined by three other non-native species: Sika, Muntjac and Chinese
Water Deer which have escaped from parks. In addition, a herd of Reindeer was
established in Scotland in 1952. Most of the Red Deer in Britain are found in Scotland,
but there are significant wild populations in south-west and north-west England, East
Anglia and the north Midlands. Red deer can interbreed with the introduced Japanese
Sika deer and in some areas, hybrids are common.
16a. All of the Red Deer in Britain are found in Scotland.

A) true B) false C) can’t say
16b. Red Deer can interbreed with Fallow Deer.

16c. The Fallow Deer is not native to Britain.

16d. There are no Reindeer in England.


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Answers
16a. B
16b. C*
16c. A
16d. C
* Note that you must answer the questions using only the information supplied. Red Deer
cannot interbreed with Fallow Deer but, because this is not stated in the text, you must
answer ‘can’t say’ even if you know that the statement is technically false.

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Verbal Reasoning
These questions are not concerned with measuring your facility with English.
They are designed to test your ability to take a series of facts expressed in
words and to understand and manipulate the information to solve a specific
problem. These questions are usually restricted to graduate and management
level tests.
Example Question
17. Working together, Tom, Dick and Harry need 9 hours to paint a 400 meter long
fence. Working alone, Tom could complete the task in 18 hours. Dick cannot work as
fast and needs 36 hours to paint the fence by himself. If Tom and Dick take the day off,
how long will it take Harry to paint the fence by himself?
A) 9 B) 12 C) 18 D) 36
Answer
17. D – In 9 hours Tom would have painted half of the fence and Dick would have
painted one quarter of it. This leaves one quarter to be painted by Harry who must
therefore work at the same speed as Dick.

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Summary—Verbal Ability
Verbal ability tests can be divided into tests of simple verbal ability, for example; spelling,
grammar, synonyms and antonyms etc. These tests usually consist of 30 to 40 questions
which need to be completed in 15 to 20 minutes. They are speed tests in that they don’t
require very much reasoning ability. You either know the answer or you don’t.
Verbal reasoning tests, on the other hand, are designed to measure your problem solving
abilities. These questions may take the form of comprehension exercises, which are
straightforward (as long as you remember to read the relevant part of the text carefully)
or more complex statements where the best tactic is to make notes about what you
can deduce from each part of the text. These tests usually consist of 10 to 15 questions
which need to be completed in 20 to 30 minutes and are designed to test your reasoning
ability rather than your facility with the language.
Verbal Reasoning questions assess your ability to use words in a logical way. The
questions measure your understanding of vocabulary, class membership and the
relationships between words. Some questions measure your ability to perceive and
understand concepts and ideas expressed verbally. While these questions are designed
to measure reasoning ability rather than educational achievement, it is generally
recognized that your verbal reasoning test score will be influenced by your educational
and cultural background.

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Numerical Ability Tests

The first type of numerical ability test covers basic arithmetic (addition, subtraction
multiplication and division), number sequences and simple mathematics (percentages,
powers, fractions, etc). This type of test can be categorized as a speed test and is
used to determine your basic numeracy. Obviously you will not be allowed to use a
calculator.
Arithmetic
1. 139 + 235 =
A) 372 B) 374 C) 376 D) 437
2. 139 - 235 =
A) -69 B) 96 C) 98 D) -96
3. 5 x 16 =
A) 80 B) 86 C) 88 D) 78
4. 45 / 9 =
A) 4.5 B) 4 C) 5 D) 6
5. 15% of 300 =
A) 20 B) 45 C) 40 D) 35
6. ½ + ¼ + ¾ =
A) 1 ¾ B) 1 ¼ C) 1 ½ D) ¾
Answers
1. B
2. D
3. A
4. C
5. B
6. C

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These questions are directly applicable to many administrative and clerical jobs but can
also appear as a component of graduate and managerial tests. The speed at which
you can answer these questions is the critical measure, as most people could achieve
a high score given unlimited time in which to answer. You can therefore expect 25-35
questions in 20-30 minutes.
Number Sequences
These questions require you to find the missing number in a sequence of
numbers. This missing number may be at the beginning or middle but is usually
at the end.
7. Find the next number in the series

4 8 16 32 --
A) 48 B) 64 C) 40 D) 46

4 8 12 20 --
A) 32 B) 34 C) 36 D) 38
9. Find the missing number in the series

54 49 -- 39 34
A) 47 B) 44 C) 45 D) 46
10. Find the first number in the series

-- 19 23 29 31
A) 12 B) 15 C) 16 D) 17
These number sequences can be quite simple like the examples above. However, you
will often see more complex questions where it is the interval between the numbers that
is the key to the sequence.

3 6 11 18 --
A) 30 B) 22 C) 27 D) 29

48 46 42 38 --
A) 32 B) 30 C) 33 D) 34

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These simple number sequences usually consist of four visible numbers plus one missing
number. This is because the test designer needs to produce a sequence into which only one
number will fit. The need to avoid any ambiguity means that if the number sequence relies
on a more complex pattern then there will need to be more visible numbers. For example;
13. Find the missing number in the series

4 3 5 9 12 17 --
A) 32 B) 30 C) 24 D) 26
14. Find the missing numbers in the series

5 6 7 8 10 11 14 -- --
A) 19 B) 17 C) 15 D) 16
15. Find the missing numbers in the series

1 -- 4 7 7 8 10 9 --
A) 6 B) 3 C) 11 D) 13
Answers
7. B – The numbers double each time
8. A – Each number is the sum of the previous two numbers
9. B – The numbers decrease by 5 each time
10. D – The numbers are primes (divisible only by 1 and themselves)
11. C – The interval, beginning with 3, increases by 2 each time
12. B – The interval, beginning with 2, increases by 2 and is subtracted each time
13. D – Each number is the sum of the previous and the number 3 places to the left
14. C A – There are 2 simple interleaved sequences 5,7,10,14,19 and 6,8,11,15
15. A D – There are 2 simple interleaved sequences 1,4,7,10,13 and 6,7,8,9
To solve these number sequence questions efficiently, you should first check the
relationship between the numbers themselves looking for some simple arithmetic
relationship. Then look at the intervals between the numbers and see if there is a
relationship there. If not, and particularly if there are more than 4 numbers visible, then
there may be two number sequences interleaved.
You will occasionally find multiplication, division, or powers used in these sequences,
but test designers tend to avoid them as these operations soon lead to large numbers
which are difficult to work out without a calculator.

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Letters of the Alphabet as Numbers

Another type of sequence question which appears in these tests involves the
substitution of letters of the alphabet for numbers. For example A=1, B=2 etc.
It may seem strange to consider these as numerical reasoning questions but
they actually work in the same way once you have changed them back into
numbers.
16. Find the next letter in the series

B E H K --
i) L ii) M iii) N iv) O

A Z B Y --
i) C ii) X iii) D iv) Y

T V X Z --
i) Y ii) B iii) A iv) W
Answers
16. iii – There are two letters missing between each one, so N is next
17. i – There are 2 interleaved sequences A,B,C and Z,Y, so C is next
18. ii – Miss a letter each time and ‘loop’ back, so B is next
Because arithmetic operations cannot be performed on letters there is less room for
ambiguity in these questions. This means that interleaved sequences can be used with
fewer visible letters than in questions that use numbers. Question 17 for example can
use 2 interleaved sequences even though only four letters are visible. This would be
very difficult to achieve with numbers.
It is implicit in these ‘alphabetic sequence’ questions that the sequence ‘loops’ back
around and starts again. See question 18. It is important to recognize this as it is not
usually stated explicitly—you are just expected to know it.

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If you see more than one of these questions in a test then it is almost certainly worth taking
the time to write out the letters of the alphabet with their ordinal numbers underneath.
You can then treat these questions in a similar way to number sequence questions. This
can save a lot of time overall and avoids simple mistakes.
Data Interpretation
Information is provided that requires you to interpret it and then apply the appropriate
logic to answer the questions. Sometimes the questions are designed to approximate
the type of reasoning required in the workplace. The questions will often use very specific
illustrations, for example the question may present financial data or use information
technology jargon. However, an understanding of these areas is not required to answer
the question.
10. Below are the sales figures for 3 different types of network server over 3 months.
19a. In which month was the sales value highest?

A) January B) February C) March
19b. What is the unit cost of server type ZXC53?

A) 12 B) 13 C) 14
19c. How many ZXC43 units could be expected to sell in April?

A) 56 B) 58 C) 60
19d. Which server had its unit price changed in March?

A) ZXC43 B) ZXC53 C) ZXC63

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20. Below are some figures for agricultural imports. Answer the following questions
using the data provided. You may use a calculator for this question.
20a. Which month showed the largest total decrease in imports over the previous
month?
A) March B) April C) May
20b. What percentage of rice was imported in April?

A) 17% B) 19% C) 21%
20c. What was the total cost of wheat imports in the 5 month period?
A) 27,500 B) 25,000 C) 22,000
Answers
19a. C
19b. B
19c. A – There has been an increase of 8 units per month.
19d. C – The unit price changed to 18.88
20a. B – April, 12 tons
20b. C - 21%, 30 tons out of a total of 141
20c. A - $27,456 made up of 176 tons at an average of $156/ton

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Summary—Numerical Ability
Numerical ability tests can be divided into tests of simple numeracy, where
you are told which arithmetic operations to apply, and numerical reasoning
tests where you are presented with some data and questions but the methods
required to answer the questions are not specified. In all cases you need to
prepare by practicing your mental arithmetic until you are both quick and
confident. Your score in the simple speed tests will be very much influenced by
your ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide quickly and accurately.
Even though you will need to do fewer arithmetic operations in the reasoning tests, there
is no point in working out how to arrive at the answer if you make a simple mistake when
calculating it. Although you are allowed to use a calculator for some questions, you
should make a habit of mentally estimating your answers as a way of checking them.
Numerical Reasoning questions assess your ability to use numbers in a logical and
rational way. The questions require only a basic level of education in order to successfully
complete and are therefore measuring numerical ability rather than educational
achievement. The questions measure your understanding of such things as number
series, numerical transformations, the relationships between numbers and your ability
to perform numerical calculation.

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Abstract Reasoning Tests

The aptitudes and abilities measured by verbal and numeric reasoning tests can easily
be related to real world tasks and jobs, as many jobs require some degree of skill with
words and numbers. Abstract reasoning tests on the other hand, seem to consist of
questions which have little or no application in the real world. Yet these types of question
appear in most graduate and management aptitude tests. Why is this?
Abstract reasoning tests date back to research done by the psychologist Charles
Spearman in the 1920’s. Spearman used a statistical technique called factor analysis
to examine relationships between people’s scores on different tests of intelligence. He
concluded that people who do well on some intelligence tests also do well on others (e.g.
vocabulary, mathematics, spatial abilities). Conversely, if people do poorly on a particular
intelligence test, they also tended to do poorly on other intellectual tests. This led him to
believe that there are one or more factors that are common to all intellectual tasks.
As a result of this research Spearman developed a two-factor theory of intelligence.
s
Mechanical
s s
Verbal g Spatial
Numerical
g - General Ability
s
s - Specific Abilities
As the diagram shows, Spearman said that intelligence is mainly made up of ‘g’, with
bright people having a lot, and dull people having less. People may also vary according
to their specific abilities, ‘s’, i.e. one person might be better at maths, while another
would be very good verbally. However, Spearman placed much more importance on ‘g’
and believed that the most important information about someone’s intellectual ability is
an estimate or measurement of ‘g’. Even though Spearman’s research was done many
years ago, his theory of ‘g’ is still widely accepted by psychologists and a great deal of
research has supported it.

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Spearman defined ‘g’ as:

“the innate ability to perceive relationships and educe co-relationships”
If we replace the word ‘educe’ with ‘work out’ then you can see why abstract reasoning
questions are seen to be a good measure of general intelligence, as they test your
ability to perceive relationships and then to work out any co-relationships without you
requiring any knowledge of language or mathematics.
Abstract reasoning tests use diagrams, symbols or shapes instead of words or

numbers. They involve identifying the underlying logic of a pattern and then determining
the solution. Because they are visual questions and are independent of language and
mathematical ability, they are considered to be an accurate indicator of your general
intellectual ability as well as being ‘culturally fair’.
Questions tend to involve the repetition or change of the following:

• Shape
• Size
• Color
• Pattern
These questions use symbols arranged in a straight line or in a pattern and you are
required to identify the missing symbol or the next in the sequence. You can expect to
be given slightly longer for these questions than for verbal and numeric ability questions.
Thirty minutes to complete 20 questions would be typical.

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Shapes & Patterns
1. Which symbol in the Answer Figure completes the sequence in the Problem Figure?
2. Which of the Answer Figures belongs in neither group?
3. Which of the Answer Figures belongs in neither group?

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4. Which of the Answer Figures fits the missing space in the Question Figure?
Answers
1. C - The question figure is rotated clockwise through 90 degrees each time.

2. D & E - Group 1 shapes are all straight lines, group 2 shapes are all curved.
3. A, B & D - Same color shapes are diagonally opposite (Group1) or above/below
(Group 2).
4. D - Each row and column contains one line of each type.

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Answer
4. B—Function ‘M’ inverts color (black > white and white > black). Function ‘S’ rotates
shape anticlockwise through 90 degrees.

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Summary—Abstract Reasoning
These tests are of particular value when the job involves dealing with abstract ideas or
concepts as many technical jobs do. However, as they also provide the best measure of
your general intellectual ability they are very widely used and you will usually find some
questions of this type whichever particular tests you are given.
These tests are particularly valued where the job you are applying for involves:
• A high degree of problem solving

• Dealing with complex data or concepts
• Developing strategies or policies
• Performing non-routine tasks where initiative is required
Abstract Reasoning assesses your ability to understand complex concepts and

assimilate new information beyond previous experience. The questions consist of items
which require you to recognize patterns and similarities between shapes and figures. As
a measure of reasoning, it is independent of your educational and cultural background
and can be used to provide an indication of your intellectual potential.

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Spatial Ability Tests

Spatial Ability can be defined as ‘The ability to interpret and make drawings, form
mental images, and visualize movement or change in those images.’ Spatial ability
tests measure your ability to manipulate shapes in two dimensions or to visualize three-
dimensional objects presented as two-dimensional pictures. These tests are usually of
20-40 minutes duration and contain 20-30 questions.
Spatial ability questions often involve the visual assembly and the disassembly of
objects that have been rotated or which are viewed from different angles or objects that
have different markings on their surfaces.
Shape Matching—Two Dimensional

Spatial ability questions may test either speed or power. Generally speaking, if the
questions involve the manipulation of 2 dimensional objects then they are probably fairly
straightforward, but you will be challenged to answer them all in the time you are given.
Example Question
In this example, you are asked to look at two groups of simple, flat objects and find pairs
that are exactly the same size and shape. Each group has 25 small drawings of these
2-dimensional objects. The objects in the first group are labeled with numbers and are in
numerical order. The objects in the second group are labeled with letters in alphabetical
order. Each drawing in the first group is exactly the same as a drawing in the second
group. The objects in the second group have been moved and some have been rotated.
1. Which shape in Group 2 corresponds to the shape in Group 1?

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Answers
1. X 2. P 3. M 4. V
5. G 6. A 7. D 8. T
9. C 10. B 11. W 12. E
13. U 14. Y 15. F 16. S
17. H 18. K 19. J 20. L
21. O 22. N 23. Q 24. R
25. I
This is very much a speed test as you will be given far more of these questions than
you can comfortably answer in the given time. These questions use a large number of
shapes that are presented close together. Some people find this very distracting and
find it easier to work through the shapes in the second group systematically rather than
trying to look at the whole group at once.
In some questions of this type there may not be a one-to-one match and some of the
shapes in the first group may not appear in the second. The way that the question is
worded will make this clear. If this is the case then you should be especially careful to
look out for reflections in the second group. These are often put in by the test designers
to trap the unsuspecting. For example:
The shapes in Group A are rotations of each other. The shapes in Group B are also
rotations of each other. However none of the shapes in group A are rotations of those
in Group B.

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Visual Comparison—Two Dimensional

In these types of question you will be presented with a number of objects only
two of which are identical. Once again these are speed questions and you will
need to work quickly and attempt to answer as many as possible in the given
time
Example Question
26. Which two pictures are identical?
Answer
26. C and E are the only two pictures which are identical
The best strategy for these types of question is to begin with the shape on the left and
work through the shapes to the right of it systematically looking for an exact match. If
there isn’t one then move on to the second shape and repeat the process. It can be
quite difficult to discipline yourself to adopt this systematic approach to these types
of question, as you may think that it is quicker just to look at all of the shapes until the
answer’ jumps out’ at you. The problem with this is that if the answer doesn’t ‘jump
out’ fairly quickly then panic sets in and you usually resort to the systematic approach
anyway.
When you are confronted with a large number of similar types of question on a single
page, the questions other than the one you are trying to answer can be distracting. It is
much easier and less mentally tiring to cover the other questions and concentrate only
on the two shapes that you are comparing.

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Group Rotation—Two dimensional
This is slightly more complex than the rotations in the two-dimensional shape matching
question.
27. Which of the Answer Figures is a rotation of the Question Figure?
Answer
27. C
Once again, you need to be careful that you don’t identify reflections. The best strategy
is to choose the most asymmetrical shape in the group—in this case the arrow. Then
determine the shapes ‘clockwise’ and ‘anticlockwise’ and opposite. Thinking in these
terms is more logical than ‘right’, ‘left’, ‘above’ or ‘below’ as ‘clockwise’ etc are constant
even when the figures are rotated.
In the example above, the white square is clockwise from the arrow. This means that A,
B and D cannot be rotations of the Question Figure. This leaves only C as a possibility
which can quickly be checked element by element.

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Combining Two–Dimensional Shapes

These questions show you a series of 2-dimensional shapes. One of the shapes has
been ‘cut up’ into pieces. The questions presents you with the pieces and you are
asked to work out which of the shapes has been ‘cut up’.
Example Question
28. Which of the Complete Shapes can be made from the Components shown?
Answer
28. B – is the only shape that can be made from the components shown.
The best strategy for answering these questions is to look at the Complete Shapes
and see if there are any distinct features that would make it impossible to construct
such a shape from the components. In the example above, this is not very obvious but

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sometimes there are one or two shapes that can be immediately discounted on the
basis of size alone.
One thing to remember is that if the Complete Shapes don’t have any bits ‘sticking out’
(they usually don’t) then the components must fit together so that sides of the same
length are together. This reduces the number of combinations considerably.

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Cube Views in -Dimensions

These questions show you several (usually 3) views of a 3-dimensional cube with unique
symbols or markings on each face and then asks you a question about it. For example,
which symbol is on the opposite face?
Example Question
29. Three views of the same cube are shown above. Which symbol is opposite the X?
Answer
29. D
Some people seem to have a natural talent for imagining objects in three dimensions
and find these questions straightforward. However, if you’re not one of them and you
find thinking in three dimensions difficult, there are other ways to get the answer.
In the question above for example, you can simply use a process of elimination. If
you can see a symbol on the same illustration as the ‘X’ then it cannot be opposite.
The second and third cubes eliminate A, B and C. This leaves only D and ‘other’ as
possibilities. D has edges shared with A and B, which would be consistent with the third
cube illustrated. Therefore D is correct.
Although it is not usually specified in the instructions, it is almost always true that in
these questions each symbol is used only once. This means that even in cases where
elimination is not possible, it is sometimes quite easy to see the solution without mentally
manipulating the cube too much.
In the example above, you can simply compare the first and third illustrations. The third
illustration shows a 90-degree anti-clockwise rotation (looking at the cube from above)
of the first illustration. Therefore D must be opposite the ‘X’.

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Cubes in and Dimensions

These questions show a flat (2-dimensional) pattern which can be folded to make a
cube and a number of 3-dimensional cubes (usually 4). The pattern and the cubes have
symbols or marking on each face. You need to look at the pattern and decide which of
the cubes, if any, could be made from it.
Example Questions
30. Which of the cubes shown could be made from the pattern?
Answer
30. A - The key to these questions is to remember that only three faces of the cube can
be shown in the illustration, this means that you need only to consider the relationship
between the three visible elements on each cube and see if the same relationship exists
in the pattern.
The best strategy for this type of question is to call one face of the cube the ‘front’ and
then to name the other faces of the cube in relation to it. For example:

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This is obviously an arbitrary decision as you could look at a cube from any side.
However, thinking of the problem this way makes it much easier to ‘see’ the relationship
between the faces of the cube. You can then: look at the front of the cube, find that face
on the pattern, use the pattern to identify the ‘top’ and eliminate any options that do not
match, use the pattern to identify the other face that touches the ‘front’ (in this example
LHS) and eliminate any options that do not match.
Another type of question poses the problem the other way around. Here you have a
single 3-dimensional cube and a number of 2-dimensional patterns, only one of which
when folded, will make the cube.
31. Which of the patterns when folded will make the cube shown?
Answer
31. B—The same strategy can be used to solve these questions. Remember don’t be
intimidated by these problems even if imagining things in three dimensions does not
come easily to you. The problem can always be reduced to the relationship between
three elements, which you can then try to locate in the answer figures.

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Other Solids in and Dimensions

These questions are similar to the cube questions above, but rather than cubes they use
other solid shapes which may be irregular. In some respects, these questions are easier
than the cube questions as there are more relationships to work with. In other words,
each face of the solid shape has a shape of its own rather than just being square.
Example Question
32. Which of the solid shapes shown could be made from the pattern?
Answer
32. D is correct. Shape A can be eliminated because is shows an un-shaded face below
a triangular face, both of these faces (below the triangular face) are shaded on the
pattern. Shape C can be eliminated for the same reason. Shape B can be eliminated as
it has a shaded roof above the shaded side, which does not appear on the pattern.
Once again, you can reduce these problems to the relationship between the visible
elements on the 3-dimensional picture. This makes things easier because even though
the solid shape may have more faces than a cube, it is unusual for more than four faces
to be shown. This means that you need to consider the relationship between the four
visible faces, paying particular attention to shading or other patterns on them.

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Summary—Spatial Ability
All spatial tests rely on you being able to imagine what would happen in your mind’s
eye. Unfortunately, about 5% of the adult population find it impossible to imagine two-
dimensional shapes being moved through a third dimension. This is thought to be
because there is a genetic factor involved in spatial reasoning ability.
Spatial ability is required in production, technical and design jobs where plans and
drawings are used, for example; engineering, architecture, surveying and design.
However, it is also important in some branches of science where the ability to envisage
the interactions of 3 dimensional components is essential.

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Interpreting Aptitude & Ability Test Results

Aptitude & Ability tests are used to make inferences about your competencies,
capabilities, and likely future performance on the job. But what do your test scores
mean and how are they interpreted?
Aptitude
Test Scores
Criterion Norm
Referenced Referenced
Interpretation Interpretation
There are two distinct methods that employers use to interpret your scores. These are
called criterion-referenced interpretation and norm-referenced interpretation.
Criterion-Referenced Interpretation
In criterion-referenced tests, your test score indicates the amount of skill or knowledge
that you have in a particular subject area. The test score is not used to indicate how
well you compare to others—it relates solely to your degree of competence in the
specific area assessed. Criterion-referenced assessment is generally associated with
achievement testing and certification.
A particular test score is chosen as the minimum acceptable level of competence. This
can either be set by the test publisher who will convert test scores into proficiency
standards, or the company may use its own experience to do this.
For example, suppose a company needs clerical staff with word processing proficiency.
The test publisher may provide a conversion table relating word processing skill to
various levels of proficiency, or the companies own experience with current clerical
employees may help them to determine the passing score.

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They may decide that a minimum of 50 words per minute with no more than two errors
per 100 words is sufficient for a job with occasional word processing duties. Alternatively,
if they have a job with high production demands, they may set the minimum at 100
words per minute with no more than 1 error per 100 words.
Norm-Referenced Interpretation
In norm-referenced test interpretation, your scores are compared with the test
performance of a particular reference group, called the norm group. The norm group
consists of large representative samples of individuals from specific populations,
for example, undergraduates, senior managers or clerical workers. It is the average
performance and distribution of their scores that become the test norms of the group.
This illustration shows both the distribution and mean scores for a variety of groups for
a specific test. A score of 150 on this test would be average for someone working for
the organisation at an administrative level but would be below average compared to the
organisations graduate trainees, where the average score was 210.

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Clearly, people vary markedly in their abilities and qualities, and the norm group
against which you are compared is of crucial importance. To make sure that the test
results can be interpreted in a meaningful way, the test administrator should identify
the most appropriate norm group. This is done by comparing the educational level,
the occupational, language and cultural backgrounds, and other characteristics of the
individuals making up the norm group and test group to establish their similarity.
The Third Way

Criterion referenced and norm referenced interpretation are both useful and statistically
valid ways of interpreting your test scores. However, they both rely on the test provider
supplying appropriate proficiency standards and norms and the person administering
the test understanding how these should be used. If you are applying for a job with
an organization that uses well established tests supplied by reputable companies
and which has properly trained HR staff administering them, then your test scores will
probably be interpreted in this way.
There is a third way in which test results are interpreted. It is not endorsed by reputable
test providers and it is not statistically valid. Your scores are simply compared with the
other candidates for the job and the selection decision is made partly on that basis—
this is often done using percentile scores.

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Percentile Scores
A percentile score is a type of converted score. Your raw score is converted to a number
indicating the percentage of the norm group who scored below you. For example, a
score at the 60th percentile means that your score is the same as or higher than the
scores of 60% of those who took the test. The 50th percentile is known as the median
and represents the middle score of the distribution.
Percentiles have the disadvantage that they are not equal units of measurement. For
instance, a difference of 5 percentile points between two individual’s scores will have a
different meaning depending on its position on the percentile scale, as the scale tends
to exaggerate differences near the mean and collapse differences at the extremes.
This is the score most often used by organisations when comparing your score with that
of other candidates and because they are so easily understood they are very often used
when reporting results to managers.
The characteristic way that test scores tend to bunch up around the average and
the use of percentiles in the interpretation of test results, has important implications
for you as a job candidate. This is because most aptitude tests have relatively few
questions and most of the scores are clustered around the mean. This means that a
very small improvement in your actual score will make a very substantial difference to
your percentile score.

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To illustrate this point, consider a typical aptitude test consisting of 50 questions. Most
of the candidates, who are a fairly similar group in terms of their educational background
and achievements, will score around 40. Some will score a few less and some a few
more. It is very unlikely that any of them will score less than 35 or more than 45.
Looking at these results in terms of percentiles is a very poor way of analyzing them and
no experienced statistician would use percentiles on this type of data. However, nine
times out of ten this is exactly what happens to these test results and a difference of
three or four extra marks can take you from the 30th to the 70th percentile. This is why
preparing for these tests is so worthwhile as even small improvements in your results
can make you appear a far superior candidate.
Making Selection Decisions

The rank-ordering of test results, the use of cut-off scores, or some combination of
the two is commonly used to assess the test scores and make employment-related
decisions. There are essentially three approaches that can be taken.
Rank Ordering
Aptitude
Test Scores Cut-off Score
Candidate Profiling

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Rank Ordering
Firstly the organization could simply select the top scorers. This would seem to be the
most obvious approach, but is does have a major drawback, at least where ‘ordinary’
jobs are concerned. In times of high unemployment the job is likely to attract some
candidates who are too ‘high-powered’ and who will probably get bored quickly and
move on as soon as they can. Alternatively, if unemployment is very low then all of
the candidates may have poor scores and may not be up to the job. Neither of these
represents a successful outcome for the organization.
Cut-off Score
The second option is to shortlist candidates who achieve more than a minimum
acceptable score. This is more flexible than the above approach as it ensures that
candidates who are not up to the job are excluded whilst giving the interviewer or
decision maker the option to exclude candidates they feel are too high powered.
Profiling
The third option is to use a minimum acceptable score in conjunction with profiling.
This approach first excludes unsuitable candidates on the basis of minimum score
and then takes into account the relative strengths of each suitable candidate in all of
the areas in which they have been tested. This is then used to produce a profile map
which can be compared to the ‘ideal’ profile for the job. This profile should be based
on a job specification compiled by an occupational psychologist, or qualified personnel
professional.

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The Social Event

If you are invited to an assessment centre then it will probably involve at least buffet
lunch or in some cases an evening dinner. This is the part of the recruitment process
that is not formally assessed and is meant to be an informal way for you to find out more
about the organisation and its values.
However, these social events do provide the assessors with an opportunity to see how
you engage with your peers and to see what questions you ask incumbent managers
and recent graduates. They also provide 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.
No one is expecting you to display the wit of Oscar Wilde or the etiquette of a Victorian
courtier, but the ability to engage in polite conversation with strangers and to behave
socially within the conventional norms is essential.
It is all too easy to disparage small talk and etiquette as being irrelevant, out-of-date
and at odds with modern notions of unbridled self expression. This attitude is fairly
common among people who have not spent much time outside of their own peer group
and who therefore fail to see the relevance of a more or less universally agreed ‘code of
behaviour’ which transcends age, background and social class. Whatever the merits of
this argument, the fact remains that employers want people who know ‘how to behave’
socially.

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Approaching Other People

If there is a coffee break or buffet then your main aim is to chat with as many people as
possible in order to show off your social skills.
If you are being introduced to someone, first look at the introducer and then at the
person you are meeting and if offered shake hands. Listen carefully to their name and
repeat it in conversation as soon as possible to help you remember it.
If someone approaches you, then you should give them your full attention. Listen for any
information that you can use to formulate a question and get the conversation going.
If you wish to approach someone or a group of people, do it from front so that they can
see you coming. Say the other person’s name if you know it; if not, smile put out your
hand and say ‘Hello I’m ………’ then add some information that will identify you and /or
outline the reasons for presenting yourself.
Moving On
If you want to move on to another individual or group then you need to do this politely
and take into account that the people you are with should be acknowledged before you
move on.
It is a good idea to indicate your empty coffee cup or glass and say ‘I think I’ll go for a
refill, it was nice speaking to you’ or something similar.
If others have joined your conversation and it is not possible to move on without
interrupting things it is still important to make eye contact and leave with a smile or a
wave.

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Conversation Skills
If you are being selected for a management or graduate level position then it is a good
idea to brush up on your knowledge of current affairs and global news. The international
publication ‘The Economist’ is probably the most useful publication to study for this
purpose. It is published weekly, is widely available and covers world & business news
in an appropriate level of detail.
Political & Industry

Business News Specific News
Enable You To...
Lunch
Discuss At
Topical Issues Coffee Break
Panel Interview
You should also read the most recent copies of any relevant industry specific magazine
or newspaper. This will enable you to discuss any topical issues that crop up over lunch
or coffee. You may feel that this level of preparation is ‘over the top’. If so, then try to
imagine yourself engaged in a discussion where you don’t have the faintest idea what
the other participants are talking about, and knowing that the assessors are listening
critically to your contribution. At the very least, this kind of experience will undermine
your confidence and cause you to under-perform, even on exercises that you have
prepared for.
In addition to being up-to-speed on the latest industry and world news, being good at
small talk is an impressive asset. It creates the impression that you are a relaxed and
confident person and that you would be a good representative for the organisation,
especially if your future role involves client contact.
Being perceived as a brilliant conversationalist is surprisingly easy. Most people want to

talk about themselves and their own experiences—so let them.

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1. Ask open ended questions that cannot be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or
‘no’.
2. Use positive body language—look at person, lean forward slightly, nod or say
‘I see’ or ‘really?’
3. Listen carefully to the answers.
4. Make a short observation about your own opinion/experience/etc.
5. Ask a supplementary question (based on what they have said).
You don’t want to come across as an interrogator, which is why it is important to make
a positive contribution yourself, rather than just ask questions. But, you should let them
do most of the talking. This gives you the opportunity to learn as much as possible as
well as appearing to be a very adept conversationalist. Never underestimate just how
much people like talking! This applies to managers, assessors and recent graduates as
well as other candidates.
There are some things you should definitely avoid.
• Interruption—if you have something to contribute, wait for a pause.

• Appearing Distracted—give the speaker your full attention.
• Jokes—there is just too much to lose if it does not go down well.
• Unnecessary Jargon*—it can make the listener feel intimidated if they don’t
understand it.
• Disparaging Comments—about anything including: the assessment centre
and your own performance in any of the exercises.
* There can be some debate about whether a word is jargon or not. If you are absolutely
certain that the other person will understand it, then you are OK to use it. If not, then
avoid it.
Remember, you need only be interested, considerate and a good listener.

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Buffet Etiquette
• Be patient and wait in the queue along with everyone else.

• Use the time to chat and introduce yourself.
• Turn off your mobile.
• Use the serving utensils to put food on your plate.
• Never pick up food unless you have a napkin or plate to hold it on and eat
from.
• Avoid putting too much food on your plate.
• Don’t start eating whilst still in the queue.
• Try to eat your courses in an acceptable order.
• Never scrape and stack your plate when you're finished.
Formal Dinner Etiquette
• Remember that drinks are placed to the right side of your place setting, salad
and bread plates are placed to the left. Use the cutlery in the order in which you
find it, working from the outside in towards your plate.
• Once you have picked up a piece of cutlery never put it back on the table.
• Avoid waving or thrusting your cutlery to emphasis a conversational point.
• Your napkin belongs unfolded on your lap. If you leave the table put the napkin
on your chair and push the chair close to the table.
• People dining together should start and finish at roughly the same time so pace
yourself as you don't want to finish ahead of everybody else or lag behind.
• Keep all belongings such as keys, glasses, notebook off the table—If it isn’t
part of the meal it shouldn’t be there.
• If eating bread first put a piece of butter on your plate then break off a bite-size
piece of bread and butter this eating one piece at a time.
• If you are asked to pass the salt or pepper, always keep the two together and
set them down on the table within reach of the person making the request.
If you feel that you need more comprehensive information on etiquette then you should
read ‘Debrett's Correct Form’ (available from Amazon) which has recently been updated
to reflect contemporary manners.

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Summary
While the assessment centre process is intensive and commonly viewed as stressful,
it does provides additional opportunities for you, if you feel that you are not able to
demonstrate your abilities fully during an interview. The process also enables you to
obtain a first-hand idea of what the employer expects, and will provide opportunities for
you to interact with other participants during group exercises.
Be Extroverted
Be a Team Player
You Be Adaptable
Must... Fully Commit to the Tasks
Express Your Views Clearly
Encourage Participation
Many candidates underachieve on the day as they are unsure of what to expect. At the
very least you need to have good background knowledge of the sector, the organization
and its products and services. Creating the right impression when everyone else is
attempting to do the same can be difficult. Just remember that the observers are usually
looking for candidates who show evidence of being team players and who fully commit
to the tasks they are set. You can’t afford to appear too introverted, but you must avoid
interrupting others or taking over the discussion. Also, don’t try to outmanoeuvre other
candidates or dismiss opposing points of view in a negative or aggressive way.
Always, try to express your own views clearly and concisely and make an effort to
encourage participation from quieter candidates. Be adaptable in your thinking and
recognize other candidates’ good ideas but remember that talking people round to your
point of view will demonstrate good leadership skills. Above all, remain positive, team
oriented and focused on the accomplishing the task at hand.

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Appendix A—Reflective Learning Cycle

‘The Reflective Learning Cycle’ and is widely used in academic circles for helping
students to develop their reflective writing and learning skills.
It works by starting at step 1. ‘Description of an event’ and then reflecting on how you
felt about the event, what you felt was good & bad about it and then you look at what
you did well & not so well.
Then you broaden your thinking by reflecting on what else you could have done and
then finally by considering how you would act if and when the event occurred again.
The whole process falls into the following actions:
• Review and Evaluate what you did

• Consider what you could have done and
• What you would do if the situation arises again.
It is these broad segments that lend themselves so easily to the development of your
competencies and Competencies and your behaviours for your new role. It is only be
reviewing your current level of knowledge, skills & attitudes that you can assess whether
your behaviours reflect the appropriate competencies and Competencies required for
the role and that assessors will be marking you on.

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Reflective Learning Cycle
1. DESCRIPTION
What happened?
6. ACTION PLAN 2. FEELINGS

If it arose again What were you
what would you do? thinking & feeling?
5. CONCLUSION 3. EVALUATION
What else could What was good & bad
you have done? about the experience?
4. ANALYSIS
What went well &
what didn't?

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Appendix B—Competency Sheets

The following competency sheets will help you to make your own assessment of your
competencies before you take part in a development or assessment centre. The first
page is a list of all the definitions and then each competency and behaviours listed for
the required management level.
Competency Definitions
The work environment should be stimulating and enable people to

be creative so that new ideas can be generated adding value to the
CHANGE AGENT
organisation.
Their flexibility welcomes change and assists in its implementation.
CONTINUAL Showing commitment to the maintaining of high standards.

IMPROVEMENT Always seeking ways to improve the service offering.
CUSTOMER Understanding and identifying the needs of existing and potential

customers.
FOCUSED Ensure that the main focus and priority is on meeting customer needs.
The ability to identify and respond creatively to actual and potential

problems and opportunities.
DECISION MAKING
Decisions made from a structured analytical approach to the collection and
examination of data based on organisational needs.

INTERPERSONAL organisation and externally.
COMMUNICATIONS Develops a sound understanding of others and their needs to ensure a
good working relationship.
Uses a variety of strategies to persuade and convince others to accept and

commit to their proposals.
LEADERSHIP Taking ownership of decisions and their impact on the organisation.
productive team.
Manage all your resources, including personnel so that all tasks assigned
MENTORING & to you are delivered on time and to the required standard.
COACHING Proactively create an environment where your team members can develop
themselves personally and in their contribution to the organisation.

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PLANNING & developing strategies for creating your own, your teams and resource
plans.
PROFESSIONAL Take ownership of one’s own personal development and training

DEVELOPMENT requirements as appropriate to your individual role and development plan.
Ensure the most effective use of organisational resources.

RESOURCE Commit to providing ‘value for money’ by ensuring that your budgets are
well managed and accurately monitored.
MANAGEMENT
Ensure that both a short-term and long-term perspective are continually
maintained.
Ability to work co-operatively with others within and outside the

STAKEHOLDER organisation.
MANAGEMENT Creates sound working relationships from a mutual understanding and
appreciation of both organisation’s goals and culture.
Aware of and understands the organisation’s strategic objectives.

Regularly reviews the ‘market place’ from a strategic viewpoint and its
STRATEGIC potential impact on the organisation.
THINKING Analyses the strategic stance of competitors.
Educates and leads others in their appreciation and understanding of how
they contribute to the organisations objectives.

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Strategic Competencies
1. Questions traditional ways of doing things to see How do I display

if change can improve it. this competency?
2. Creates an environment that encourages
innovation and experimentation.
3. Leads by example embracing change with
energy and conviction.
4. Recognises and anticipate how market forces
(regulations, legislation, technology, competition
etc) can initiate change.
Change Agent 5. Plans and prepares for potential and real
changes within the organisation.
6. Provides formal and informal methods of
communicating such changes at all levels of the
organisation.
7. Generates new opportunities by bringing
together people with different backgrounds and
viewpoints.
8. Identifies and implements new business
processes and structures into the organisation.
1. Leads by example ensuring their own work is of How do I display

the highest standards. this competency?
2. Oversees that standards throughout all parts of
the organisation are maintained and developed.
Continual 3. The focused on quality is not at the expense of
Improvement completing a task on time.
4. Oversees that any errors are rectified efficiently
and speedily.
5. Strives for improved efficiency and continual
improvement.

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1. Owns the identification and development of How do I display

strategies, so that the organisation meets this competency?
customer needs.
2. Bases decisions on a long-term view of customer
satisfaction rather than ‘quick fixes’.
3. Creates an in-depth understanding of customer
Customer
needs, so that the customer receives what
Focused they ‘need’ rather than what ‘best suits’ the
Organisation.
4. Educates others to think and feel as if they were
the customer.
5. Searches for opportunities, within operational
constraints, to ‘add value’ for the customer.
1. Identifies and presents coherent arguments for How do I display

the root cause of issues or problems. this competency?
2. Decisions are made based on well reasoned
judgements and within required timescales.
3. Presents well reasoned background to decisions
with conviction.
4. Is proactive in communicating potential issues
Decision Making and opportunities.
5. Seeks out information from the most respected
and appropriate sources.
6. Takes a direct, but appropriate, approach when
making or faced with awkward decisions.
7. Shows a willingness to alter a decision if in the
light of fresh information this is appropriate.

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1. Respects and acknowledges other peoples and How do I display

organisations values and ethos. this competency?
2. Gains the respect and attention of others (internal
& external) whom they deal with.
3. Is always approachable and acts in an honest
manner and with integrity.
4. Shows empathy towards others so that a free
exchange of ideas and views takes place.
5. By actively listening to the views and opinions
Interpersonal expressed by others can make a full appraisal of
Communication any situation.
6. Their behaviour and communications reflect their
s understanding of and respect for others needs
and objectives.
7. Is assertive but constructive in their dealings with
people.
8. Accepts that they are responsible for their own
decisions.
9. Welcomes others feedback on issues and their
own performance in a constructive way.

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1. Has developed effective and suitable strategies How do I display

for acknowledging the diverse interests of others. this competency?
2. Communicates clearly and precisely
the organisation’s goals and divisional
responsibilities.
3. Through their energy and commitment
implements organisational strategies and
decisions.
4. Has the ability to persuade others by reasoned
argument and influencing strategies to achieve a
positive outcome.
5. Effective use of third party experts to support
their own arguments.
6. Continuously builds and uses networks as a
means to influence others.
7. Convinces others of the value of plans and
Leadership actions and drives it forward.
8. Adapts style of leaderships to suit different
people and situations.
9. Selects and prepares individuals required for
a project or to resolve an issue to gain their
commitment.
10. Is an effective and persuasive communicator.
11. Takes measured risks when making difficult
decisions and ensures tasks are completed
whatever difficulties may have to be overcome.
12. Provides direction to all reportees (both direct &
indirect).
13. Is recognised for exceeding expectations and
taking on challenges.
14. Is respected and recognised for their knowledge
and expertise.

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1. Actively involves and encourages reportees How do I display

through your personal support and commitment. this competency?
2. Makes full use of participative decision making.
3. Consciously creates a strong identity amongst
the organisation/ division.
4. Leads by example and encourages others to
actively develop themselves personally.
5. Through regular reviews of individual’s
performance identify opportunities to develop
capabilities.
6. Allocates time and thought to developing
Mentoring the team and individuals for their own and
& Coaching organisational needs.
7. Actively uses the art of delegating a wide variety
of tasks to expand and develop your reportees.
8. Acts as a mentor to individuals as part of their
development and to address any performance
issues.
9. Makes sure that proper reviewing process exists
to assist individual’s development.
10. Ensure you take the time to praise achievements
and successes.
11. Actively listens to and responds to reportees
feedback or comments.
1. Converts organisational long and short-term How do I display

goals into concise and deliverable divisional this competency?
objectives.
2. Develops strategies that meet both long and
short-term organisational objectives.
3. Continually assessing the implications of
changing market forces and altering priorities
to ensure that the ‘plan’ will still produce the
Planning & required results.
Organising 4. Ensures regular monitoring of, and feedback on,
the progress you and divisions achieve against
these objectives.
5. Devise action plans and policies from these
strategies with assigned responsibilities.
6. Define clear objectives which enable results to be
delivered against them.
7. Through your example encourage others to set
time aside for reviewing and planning activities.

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1. Responsible for developing and promoting a How do I display

learning culture within the organisation. this competency?
2. Seeks opportunities to maximise your own
personal development.
3. Has an awareness of their motivation, strengths
Professional and areas for development.
Development 4. Capitalises on the value of the learning
opportunity that different perspectives provide.
5. Utilises their own and the learning experiences
of others.
6. Seeks constructive feedback and responds
accordingly.
1. Ensure long-term implications of budgetary How do I display

pressures are accounted for and alternatives this competency?
planned.
2. Achieve organisational goals (including
divisional & departmental objective) by securing
appropriate financial, operational and human
resources.
3. Ensure that you establish a sound system for
identifying resource allocation and needs (short-
Resource term & long-term).
Management 4. Monitors the management of all budgets to
ensure best value is achieved.
5. Anticipates potential changes to resources and
plans accordingly to ensure best value.
6. Ensures that the diversity of resources (talents,
technology, materials etc.) are maximised to
guarantee work is delivered in a timely fashion
and to budget.
7. At all times when allocating resources ensure
that ‘value for money’ is maintained.

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1. Has a proven track record of building good How do I display

working relationships, both internal and external. this competency?
2. Portrays a cooperative and collaborative
approach in their relationships.
3. Actively explores and uses experiences and ideas
of others in building relations.
Stakeholder
4. Aims to achieve the most appropriate outcomes
Management when working with partners.
5. Seeks through working relationships to identify
ways to improve service / delivery.
6. Actively encourages management to involve
and develop relationships within and outside the
organisation.
1. Creates and owns the strategic objectives of the How do I display

organisation, and division /department. this competency?
2. Undertakes regular reviews of the ‘market place’
and assess their impact on the organisation’s
3. Reviews the implication of competitors’ strategic
stance and how this impacts the organisation’s
Strategic
4. Focuses on the high-level situations impacting
Thinking the strategic objectives.
5. Communicates the organisation’s strategic
objectives in a clear and precise manner.
6. Ensures that division /department objectives
clearly reflect the organisation’s strategic
objectives.
7. Resource allocation is focused on strategic
priorities.

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Management Competencies
1. Provides a positive and enthusiastic attitude How do I display

to team in all communications connected with this competency?
change.
2. Through their own acceptance and support of
change provide well reasoned statement to gain
team’s acceptance and deal with any concerns.
3. Seeks new opportunities by bringing together
people with different backgrounds and
viewpoints.
4. Provides encouragement for team to suggest
Change Agent new approaches and implements those that offer
benefit to the organisation.
5. Adds value to the organisation by researching
and introducing new ideas and practices.
6. Investigates the practical implications of
integrating new practices into the existing
structure.
7. Reviews traditional practices and recommends
changes to bring improvement.
8. Offers support during the implementation of new
opportunities.
1. You are the role model within your department How do I display
/division for maintaining high standards. this competency?
2. Ensure your own work shows your attention to
detail and promote this within the organisation
3. Use regular monitoring and reviews to
encourage and support individual adherence to
organisational standards.
4. Ensure that processes set in place to monitor
service delivery meet organisational standards.
Continual
5. Undertake regular audits of these processes and
Improvement maintain this information.
6. Responsible for monitoring errors, finding their
causes and setting procedures to address poor
quality.
7. Recognises success and acknowledges
achievements as part of continual improvement
in standards.
8. Adopts a proactive approach to the promotion
and support of continual improvement.

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1. Proactive in seeking feedback from customers How do I display

which is then actively used in decisions in all this competency?
aspects of customer service.
2. Strives to gain an in-depth understanding of
customer needs so that future recommendations
can be made.
3. Where customers have concerns or specific
needs agree a timescale in which they will be
Customer
dealt with effectively.
Focused 4. Have a clear understanding of customer
expectations and aim to add value without
causing cost implications to the organisation.
5. Deal with customer complaints effectively,
understand why they happened and develop
procedures to prevent it happening again.
6. Seeks to develop knowledge of marketplace so
services can be improved.
1. Approaches problem resolution by dividing it How do I display

into its component parts and basing a resolution this competency?
appropriately.
2. Researches several potential resolutions to
problems before making a firm decision.
3. Through constant monitoring is able to identify
issues and opportunities as their outset.
Decision Making 4. Aims to identify what the roots cause of any
problem is.
5. Bases decisions by considering all stakeholders
interests appropriately for the organisation.
6. Decisions are made after acquiring adequate
information from a variety of reliable sources and
in a timely fashion.
7. Endeavours to resolve long standing issues.

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2. Puts forward recommendations and makes
decisions based on agreement and commitment
from the other parties.
3. Is a careful listener to others standpoints
and concerns and on understanding this
communication will respond accordingly.
5. Has an understanding of the reasoning of other
Interpersonal
peoples actions and decisions
Communications 6. Welcomes others feedback on issues and their
own performance in a constructive way.
7. Treats all those in the organisation with respect
and acknowledges all their contributions.
8. Encourages free expression of ideas, feelings
and opinions.
9. Welcomes with enthusiasm the challenge of
overcoming obstacles.
10. Continually encourages self and others to over
achieve and exceed targets.

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1. Ensures their team has a clear picture of the How do I display

organisations goals and how their objectives fit this competency?
into these goals.
2. Accepts responsibility for achieving your
organisations goals and portrays personal
commitment for them.
3. Through careful and detailed questioning gains
an understanding of others viewpoints.
4. Is concise, assertive and persuasive in all
communications and gaining others support.
5. Prepares responses to likely risks and objections.
Leadership 6. When faced with disagreement is constructive in
trying to achieve consensus.
7. When recommending an action or informing
others of a decision they use a well balanced and
soundly reasoned argument.
8. Strives to achieve tough targets and goals.
9. Works to meet customer commitments despite
obstacles that may occur in the process.
10. Ensures that organisational needs are met in all
that they do.
11. Stands by their own decisions.

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1. Bases discussions with individuals regarding How do I display

training and their development on their annual this competency?
reviews and ensures appropriate resources are
available.
2. Requires members of the team to regularly
conduct staff appraisals.
3. Makes use of delegating specific tasks and
responsibilities within clear authority limits.
4. Adapts their management style according to the
people and situation involved.
5. Conducts regular performance reviews, agrees
clear goals with and provides constructive
Mentoring
feedback to the individual.
& Coaching 6. Actively encourage individuals to come forward
with ways to address performance issues.
7. Allocates time to identify training and
development needs for team and its members.
8. Through appropriate support and resources
ensure individual are able to take up
development opportunities.
9. Provides constructive and open communications
in situations of poor performance or improper
behaviour.
10. Recognises and offers praise for team or
individual successes and achievements.

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1. Responsible for delivering all or part of the How do I display

divisional /departmental plan. this competency?
2. Contributes own knowledge to the compiling of
the divisional /departmental plan.
3. Details exactly how their section of the divisional
/departmental plan will be delivered.
4. Identifies and allocates all types of resources
that are required in delivering the divisional
/departmental plan.
5. Produces a communication plan that ensures all
Planning &
involved parties are aware of their responsibilities
Organising and kept informed on progress throughout its
length.
6. Establishes appropriate targets for each stage of
the divisional /departmental plan.
7. Sets up proactive monitoring of all aspects of
their section of the divisional /departmental plan.
8. Regularly reviews progress of the plan and
recommends potential and required adjusts to
ensure delivery of the divisional /departmental
plan.
1. Identify opportunities that will develop your skills How do I display

and knowledge (both internal & external) in line this competency?
with your career development plan.
2. Own your own career development plan.
3. Seeks potential training and development
opportunities which meet the role requirements
Professional and future organisational developments.
Development 4. Through continuous self assessment maximises
the opportunities to learn new competencies.
5. Incorporates reflective learning into their own
development to improve competencies and learn
from ones mistakes.
6. Welcomes new ideas with an objective and open
mindset.

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1. Responsible for managing their devolved budget How do I display

in a manner appropriate to the organisation. this competency?
2. Ensures accurate forecasts of expenditure (short-
term & long-term) for area of responsibility.
3. Negotiates and plans resource allocation to
Resource ensure delivery of services.
Management 4. Is aware of the impact of their resource changes
at an organisational level.
5. Conducts regular monitoring of resources and
provides accurate reports to management.
6. Commits to identify potential resource
development or procurement opportunities.
1. Approaches partnerships with a flexible and How do I display

proactive outlook. this competency?
2. Is an effective communicator, sharing concepts
and information with other parties within and
outside of the organisation.
3. Proactive in seeking opportunities to assist and
work with others.
4. Negotiates and consults with affected parties
Stakeholder as part of the planning process and allocation of
Management responsibilities.
5. Gains agreement and commitment from all
applicable parties (internal & external) to ensure
the success.
6. Actively networks within and outside the
organisation.
7. Encourages individuals and team members to
network within the organisation and externally as
appropriate.

Assessment Centre
1. Contributes to the strategic objectives of the How do I display

organisation, and division /department. this competency?
2. Researches new opportunities that could
contribute to the organisation’s strategic
objectives.
3. Approaches short-term operational issues with a
long-term perspective.
4. Regularly gives feedback to the board /
management any issues or competitor
intelligence that may impact the organisation’s
Strategic strategic objectives.
Thinking 5. Concentrates on identifying and resolving any
operational aspects that may impact the strategic
objectives.
6. Ensures that individuals’ and team objectives
clearly reflect the organisation’s strategic
objectives.
7. Manages the allocation of the division /
department resources in a strategic manner.
8. Proactively addresses divisional or departmental
issues before they impact on the organisation’s

Assessment Centre
Supervisory Competencies
1. Has a clear understanding of changing policies How do I display

and procedures. this competency?
2. Encourages discussion and new ideas amongst
team members on current processes and
procedures.
3. Welcomes change within the organisation.
4. Contributes and supports organisational initiative.
5. Adopts the use of successful processes and
procedures from elsewhere in the organisation to
Change Agent improve performance.
6. Presents initiatives which offer improvements or
put forward prospective changes.
7. Assists with and supports the implementation of
new initiatives that add value to the organisation.
8. Encourages team to have a flexible approach to
change.
9. Actively prepares and supports those affected by
any aspect of the change.
1. Ensure that external bodies minimum standards How do I display

(including legislation) are achieved. this competency?
2. Appreciate why accuracy and attention to detail
help to maintain high standards.
3. Appreciate the need for continual improvement
Continual in services.
Improvement 4. Procedures to monitor and assess quality of
service and work are maintained.
5. Double checks work to avoid unnecessary and
minimise errors.
6. Aim to achieve all your departments Service
Level Agreements (SLA’s).

Assessment Centre
1. Manages the implementation of customer How do I display

feedback strategies. this competency?
2. Responsible for keeping the customer informed
and up-to-date on the service.
3. Strives to understand the real needs of the
customer.
4. Helps to clarify and balance customer
Customer
requirements with their expectations.
Focused 5. Responds to both internal and external
customers within agreed timescales.
6. Provides input into developing customer service
strategies.
7. Monitor service to ensure customer needs are
being met and takes appropriate measures if
necessary.
1. Researches and records data relevant to the How do I display

problem. this competency?
2. Seeks to identify the main issue and potential
resolutions.
3. When an issue is highlighted uses a variety of
techniques to make a decision based on the
information gathered.
4. Seeks out other people or resources that can
help resolve a problem as appropriate.
Decision Making 5. When a solution has been identified discusses
this thoroughly before making a final decision.
6. Provides clear guidelines as to the limits of
team members’ authority or responsibility when
making decisions.
7. Takes a proactive role in anticipating potential
issues.
8. If a senior person is unavailable then they
make decisions taking into account future
organisational plans appropriately.

Assessment Centre

2. Has an appreciation and understanding of others
views.
3. Demonstrates their empathy with customers and
others internal to the organisation.
4. Through the use of effective questioning gains an
understanding and checks this is correct.
5. Expresses and communicates ideas well.
6. Displays and instils enthusiasm at all times.
7. Acknowledge when they or their team have
Interpersonal made an error and learns from this in a positive
Communications manner.
8. Is able to keep calm and present a reasoned
argument to those in authority in demanding
situations.
9. Recognises, acknowledges and responds to
others needs thus gaining their support.
10. Is aware of their own communication style
(including body language) and how this can
impact the clarity of the message.
11. Has the ability to interpret and communicate
others concerns or views up the organisational
structure appropriately.

Assessment Centre
NOTES

Assessment Centre
NOTES

Assessment Centre
NOTES

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Assessment

Management Role Documents 94

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Presentation Exercises 198

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Panel Interviews 271

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Cube Views in 3-Dimensions 335

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Introducing the Assessment

What is an Assessment Centre?

The First Users of the Assessment Centre

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The successful officer needed to show the following qualities:

Dr. WJ Morgan in his book clearly illustrates:

That it is how you performed your tasks, whether as an individual

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Competency A group of behaviours that are specific, observable and verifiable,

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Who Uses the Assessment Centre

• As a graduate applying for your first ‘real’ job.

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The expense of conducting an assessment centre is usually somewhere between

The assessment centre method is utilized in a variety of settings including industry

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s survey on

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The Four Types of Assessment Centre

The four types are:

1. The Elite Graduate Assessment Centre

The Elite Graduate Assessment Centre

There is no universally-accepted agreement of who these elite organisations are, but

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• They recruit exclusively from top universities*

• They are all aged between 21-25 (most will be 21-22)

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The Graduate Assessment Centre

Many of these organisations mimic the marketing messages of the elite

The Management Assessment Centre

The management assessment centre differs from the graduate assessment

Management assessment centre candidates have much to gain from analysing

The Development Centre

This is reflected in the definition of a Development Centre:

‘A Development Centre is a day or number of days where the participants

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The fundamental differences for the participants are:

• They will actively be involved in assessing themselves.

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What format will an Assessment Centre take?

Initial Assessment Selection

• What you can do?

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An in-tray or in-basket exercise asks to assume a particular role as an employee of a

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Use of Psychometric Aptitude Tests

How are Exercises Conducted?

During each exercise, a group of observers will rate you on a range of

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Competencies and Behaviours

Competencies are general descriptions of the behaviour and underlying characteristics

Customer Focused = “how” an individual meets

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