The Best Assessment Centre Exercises

An assessment centre is a good way for companies to get to know the candidate better and see how he or she reacts to various situations that may occur later in the job. Have you ever thought about using assessment centres in your application process?

What is an assessment centre and why is it used?

As the word ‘assessment’ implies, the aim of an assessment centre is to evaluate and better classify applicants.

It is usually a one to three-day process to which several applicants are invited at the same time so that they can demonstrate their personal characteristics and professional skills.

The assessment centre exercises are conducted and evaluated by HR employees and managers from various departments. They are also called assessors.

What types of assessment centre are possible?

Which assessment centre exercise is used when depends on the position advertised. Individual assessment centres are usually carried out for management positions. In group assessment centres, several people can be tested at the same time, making it easier to compare them with each other. This is the most popular type of assessment centre as it is the most efficient with many applicants. If there is a particularly large number of applicants and you would like to carry out a pre-selection, an online assessment centre may be suitable. Personality or knowledge tests are primarily used here. Other advantages of conducting the assessment centre online include time and cost savings.

Course of an assessment centre

In an assessment centre, there should be a good mix of different individual and group exercises. On the one hand, assessors can evaluate applicants' concentration, creativity, logic and personality in individual tests and, on the other hand, applicants can be compared, and their social skills evaluated in group tests.

The typical assessment centre process can be divided into four phases:

1. Self-presentation
2. Exercises (group and individual exercises, interviews)
3. Business role plays (group discussions and case studies)
4. Feedback (self-assessment and feedback from the assessors)

Assessment centre excercises

There is a wide range of exercises that can be carried out in the assessment centre. Below, we present various individual and group exercises that you can use for your assessment centre.

Individual exercises:

• Introduction: The candidates introduce themselves to the group and explain their background. You can pay particular attention to their rhetoric and body language. Before the applicants introduce themselves – show them how it's done! Tell the applicants what they can expect in the coming days and introduce your company. The self-presentation requires no preparation time and should take 5-10 minutes per person.
• Topic presentation: Here, the candidates prepare presentations on given subject-related or non-subject-related topics. Here you can assess the applicants' presentation skills and media competence and test their stress resistance. Give the applicants up to 30 minutes to prepare. The presentation should not be longer than 10-15 minutes.
• Inbox exercise: In this exercise, applicants are assigned many to-dos at once. Emails, notes, calls, documents... They should show that they can prioritise, delegate and organise. After the candidate has sorted their todos, there is an interview in which they explain why they have proceeded in this way.
• Case study: Applicants are given a problem from their everyday work in the company and prepare it. The focus here is on testing analytical thinking. Depending on the complexity of the task, candidates can prepare the case study in advance and bring it with them to the assessment centre.
• Interview: The interview is usually conducted at the end of the assessment centre, when the assessors have already had time to get to know the applicant. Here the candidate can give a self-assessment of how the day went and you can also give feedback on how they performed.

Group exercises:

• Simulated conflict situation: In this exercise, a conflict situation with customers or colleagues is simulated. Depending on the position to be filled, this could be a difficult employee meeting or an argument with an angry customer, for example. The candidates' social skills, empathy, willingness to compromise and ability to deal with conflict are put to the test.
• Role play: Various situations can be acted out in the role play, which will also be important later in everyday life. For example, a sales talk can be simulated, or a motivational talk can be held for employees. In the role play, assessors can see how applicants behave in certain situations and whether this suits the advertised position.
• Construction test: A typical construction test task consists of building a bridge or tower of a certain height or length out of paper, for example. It tests how creative the participants are, but also who is best able to assert themselves, who is a team player or who tends to work in the background.
• Group discussion: In a co-operative group discussion, the participants must agree on a procedure, a sequence or a decision as a group. The aim here is to see who can argue and convince best.
• Presentation or case study: A presentation or case study can also be developed in pairs or as a group. As in other group tasks, the aim is to find out which person is more likely to set the tone, contribute ideas and what the presentation skills of the individual applicants are like.

No matter which exercises you choose for your assessment centre, you should always give the participants detailed feedback at the end of the assessment centre and be sure to get back to them whether they qualified for the job. After all, the candidates have taken a lot of time and probably travelled a long way.

If you need help to choose the perfect candidate, LHH Recruitment Solutions is there to help. Arrange a consultation and let one of our experts support you.