based on the results of psychometric tests, which do not relate to the actual skills/ aptitudes being tested Training for assessors and purchase of exercises can be fairly costly Role play where an Allows assessors to observe This exercise requires a willing – is used to simulate the candidate’s behaviour in the role-player ‘actor’ a situation that could be situation and assess some of The role play is a false experienced within the role the skills that it can be difficult situation, which can put (e.g. angry parent) to assess in interview (e.g. candidates under undue listening skills, resilience, pressure and embarrassment problem solving etc) can affect the candidates performance negatively Can provide a fairly realistic situation for the candidate to The success of the exercise deal with can be dependent upon the ability of the ‘actor’ In-tray exercise where Gives candidates a useful Can be time-consuming to – candidates are provided picture of what can be expected prepare and assess with a number of items within the role that could be found in the in-tray of the post and asked to demonstrate the priority order of the tasks, and how each item would be dealt with Group problem-solving Good for identifying how Candidates can their exercise, where all candidates may respond in a performance within the group candidates are given a team environment setting, providing the assessor task to resolve as a group with what they believe the assessor wants to see, cf The Apprentice Professional discussion in Good to test ability to respond May have different areas of a panel without any set to a and discussion with different ‘conversation’ questions communication skills candidates favouring one over – another.
based on the results of psychometric tests, which do not relate to the actual skills/ aptitudes being tested Training for assessors and purchase of exercises can be fairly costly Role play – where an ‘actor’ is used to simulate a situation that could be experienced within the role (e.g. angry parent) Allows assessors to observe the candidate’s behaviour in the situation and assess some of the skills that it can be difficult to assess in interview (e.g. listening skills, resilience, problem solving etc) Can provide a fairly realistic situation for the candidate to deal with This exercise requires a willing role-player The role play is a false situation, which can put candidates under undue pressure and embarrassment can affect the candidates performance negatively The success of the exercise can be dependent upon the ability of the ‘actor’ In-tray exercise – where candidates are provided with a number of items that could be found in the in-tray of the post and asked to demonstrate the priority order of the tasks, and how each item would be dealt with Gives candidates a useful picture of what can be expected within the role Can be time-consuming to prepare and assess Group problem-solving exercise, where all candidates are given a task to resolve as a group Good for identifying how candidates may respond in a team environment Candidates can their performance within the group setting, providing the assessor with what they believe the assessor wants to see, cf The Apprentice Professional discussion in a panel without any set questions Good to test ability to respond to a ‘conversation’ and communication skills May have different areas of discussion with different candidates – favouring one over another.