An assessment-centre exercise
Featured in the The Competencies Activity Pack training manual
By Roger Pattison & Andrea Moffat
Category: Competencies
Credit price: 4 download credits (Single user)
Candidates participating in an assessment or development centre are required to work through exercises that assess their abilities over a range of job-related tasks. One such is an 'in-tray' exercise. In completing this, participants gain a greater understanding about how such an exercise is used in an assessment-centre situation. The primary aim is the demonstration of how the exercise can be used in assessing competency by role-playing the candidates and assessors. This is done under real conditions and fully scored. (See Activity 9 Using assessment centres to recruit, for details on how to prepare for and facilitate an actual assessment centre.)
For this role-play exercise the participants work in pairs, taking the role of either 'candidate' or 'assessor'. They are first briefed all together about the exercise scenario, then the assessors are briefed separately about how to carry out the assessment. After the exercises, the assessors complete their assessment, and all the participants discuss what they found out by doing the exercise, and the benefits of using this kind of exercise. The activity concludes with a plenary session involving all participants in discussing the merits of this exercise in an assessment or development centre.
Who is it for: This training activity is intended for use by trainers with HR staff preparing for an assessment- or development-centre day.
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 20 |
| Typical Duration: | 01:25:00 |
| No of Pages: | 26 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Purpose: This training activity is intended for use by trainers with participants as part of an assessment or development centre, or as a stand-alone activity within a management development programme, such as time management, prioritising and making effective decisions under pressure. It can also be used by trainers and HR staff as preparation for an assessment- or development-centre day, or by managers participating in an awareness-raising workshop in order to gain a fuller understanding of the process for recruiting or developing people by assessing their competencies.
Download the training activity, An assessment-centre exercise as featured in the Fenman training manual; The Competencies Activity Pack