The reason your potential employer has invited you to attend an assessment centre is that assessment centres have a proven track record of finding the most suitable candidates for the job. Assessment centres are not going to go away any time soon, so get used to them! The assessment centre will be attended by a group of other candidates, all of whom will be being assessed. The day you attend is likely to be one of many the employer is hosting so the people around you are not necessarily your only competition.

1) Presentation by the employer
2) Group exercises (including presentations)
3) Individual exercises (including aptitude tests)
4) Interview (technical and personal)
5) Psychometric tests

Throughout the assessment centre you will be examined on a score sheet filled in by the assessor (just like in a driving test). Each candidate at the assessment centre will be examined against their individual sheet and you will not get to see your score sheet; the assessors often complete it when you are out of the room. Skills they are typically assessing at the assessment centre are: communication skills, interpersonal skills, leadership skills, negotiation skills and your 'fit' for the organisation. But obviously each assessment centre will be looking for a slightly different skill set depending on the job role. Don't be put off by the scoring system, it's something which you should be aware of but not afraid of.

Research the Company

This is important for any interview whether you are going to an assessment centre or not. Search the internet for articles and news items about the company you are applying to, and absorb all the information you can from their website. Financial reports are a good way of understanding a company but don’t think you are being unique by talking about them; it is likely every other serious candidate will have done this and the assessment centre interviewer will be used to hearing candidates reel off company account data.

Before the Day

An obvious one, but make sure you know where the assessment centre is and how to get there. Don't risk turning up in a fluster. If you're the kind of person who likes to have a coffee before your assessment centre, bear in mind they usually start with a 15 minute 'meet and greet' session to allow everyone to turn up, during which time they provide tea and coffee.

Know what you will wear. Get a good night’s sleep. Again, common, but good pieces of advice. You should also practice aptitude tests, which of course you can do using the tests on this site! If you have not been asked to take an online aptitude test before your assessment centre, you will probably be required to take one at the assessment centre itself. Taking these tests at the assessment centre is more off-putting than taking them in the comfort of your bedroom. If they do conduct their aptitude tests at the assessment centre, you'd be wise to bring your own calculator, with which you will be familiar.

During the Day

Assessment centre supervisors will be aiming to put a score again the box marked 'interpersonal skills'. Whilst it is wrong to think they will be spying on you all the time (they won’t have time to do that given all the marking they have to do during the day), don’t neglect to engage people outside of the scheduled assessments. This can never hurt and if nothing else will help keep up your positive attitude for when speaking to the assessors themselves.

But never try to be someone you are not at an assessment centre. They are examining your suitability for the job role and if you don't get selected, you wouldn't have been suitable for the job anyway. 

Presentation by the Employer

This is usually one of the first things on the agenda of an assessment centre to get people in the frame of mind, and, to make sure the company you are applying to is the company you want to work for. This is usually a standard affair and nothing to worry about. Some assessment centres will use this opportunity to go round the group and ask probing questions like "tell the group one thing about yourself which people here might not know". A clever answer to this would be to show that you can think on the spot, that you do in fact have a life outside of study or work, and that you are not arrogant. Tough! Go for something memorable but safe in this situation, such as "I didn't always have short hair; I used to be a a bit of a skater boy with hair down to my shoulders".

Group Exercises

Group exercises at assessment centres are measuring your ability to work in a team, participate, delegate and solve problems. Assessors are looking for candidates who can listen to other people's ideas, be positive, and articulate their own ideas.

You may have heard all sorts of stories from other people about what they were made to do, but this is the most difficult task to prepare for at an assessment centre as they vary so much, unless they use the standard presentation or mini project tasks. If the organisers of your assessment centre are not willing to divulge what group exercises are going to occur, you can assume it'll be something different. Stories have included building Lego bridges or towers, acting, opera singing, dressing up and treasure hunts. However, do not be frightened! These examples are rare and everyone will be in the same boat. Much more likely is a presentation, a mini project or a case study.

In a mini project, or case study, the group at your assessment centre will be presented with a scenario or a problem. It might be a struggling supermarket that needs a way to survive, it might be a 'Batman and Robin' type conundrum that needs wacky ideas to get out of, it might be a bomb explosion that needs cleaning up and dealing with. Either way, it will require team work and discussion with strangers at your assessment centre.

Sometimes in these assessment centre activities candidates are assigned roles, such as 'co-ordinator', 'scribe', 'client', 'regulator' or 'chairman'. In these cases make sure you stick to your role and try to negotiate the best outcome for your character. Sometimes it is an open discussion. In which case, think of a valuable point to make, make it, and avoid being the one who is either the 'loud and shouty' one or 'quiet and passive' one.

Giving Presentations

It is very common for candidates to be asked to give a presentation at their assessment day. The most common format this will take is separately each candidate will be given a topic or a choice of topics. Each will have 5-10 minutes to prepare a presentation on the subject and present it to the group (which may, or more likely not, involve the use of PowerPoint). The topics can be wide and varied; they might be topical relating to recent news, obscure like 'Smarties', or they might be relevant to the field in which the company operates, e.g. HBOS. These presentations are not meant to be comprehensive (you will be given only something like 5 minutes in which to give your presentation). They are designed to see how to cope with tight timeframes and improvise. It does help of course if you know a bit about what is going on in the news and about your chosen company

It is sometimes the case at the assessment centre that they will ask you to give a presentation on a topic of your choice, so make sure that before you attend any assessment centre you have in your head an idea of what you could present if you find yourself in this situation (and maybe even do a practice run).

Occasionally the assessment centre organiser will ask you to prepare a presentation in advance of attending the assessment centre. In these cases don't spend too long perfecting PowerPoint slides; the assessment centre assessors are so much more interested in you. Pick a topic that will be memorable but you can talk about, perhaps a hobby.

Individual Exercises

Apart from aptitude tests and psychometric tests, individual exercises at an assessment centre could take the form of dealing with an awkward client or, most commonly, an in-tray type exercise.. 

One such exercise is being presented with a pile of print-outs including letters, press releases, meeting minutes, email correspondence and the like. You will be left alone with these, and a series of questions, the answer to which is within the collection of documents. The best way to deal with these exercises is to give yourself a set time to quickly skim-read the entire set of documents, then start on the questions. A typical time limit for this task at an assessment centre would be 1 hour, in which case, give yourself no more than 15 minutes reading the information (you will not be able to take it all in, it must be a very fast skim). During these 15 minutes really concentrate and take in as much as you possibly can. Then start to answer the questions. This should mean you know roughly where to look for the answers (and they will require several pieces of information to be strung together).

An example of this type of 'document assimilation' assessment would be being presented with planning proposals, architectural press releases, resident complaint letters, consultant's emails, laws and regulations, contractor quotes and you will have to answer a series of questions relating to a new building. For example, "If the order for a crane is placed eight weeks before the end of the resident's consultation period, will the building program slip?".

Psychometric Assessment

These are an assessment of your personality, not to be mistaken with aptitude tests which assess your reasoning capacity. You might be asked to take an online psychometric test prior to you assessment centre, or they might ask you to take it at the assessment centre where they know it is really you sitting the assessment. These tests are designed to measure your behaviour and personality There are no right or wrong answers, just answer honestly. These can be one of the few events at an assessment centre that aren't stressful.

After Your Assessment Centre

If you are not successful at your assessment centre, make sure ask for feedback. Most assessment centre organisers are happy to give this and it is extremely valuable for improving and understanding how the scoring works at an assessment centre. Think about your performance and how you think you could improve next time.

So, get a good night's sleep, relax, prepare, and on the day give the assessment centre your unrelenting best-ever performance. We'll keep our fingers crossed for you.