When you are working through the items in an
in-tray exercise
always try to be as logical and systematic as possible in the way
that you work. The information may be presented in a haphazard
way, but you don’t want to be seen to work in a haphazard way. Be
mindful of how your desk or working area looks during and at the
end of the exercise. Always try to present an organised appearance
and try and avoid looking as if you are in chaos. Using post-it
notes to identify items and clearly annotating items will greatly
enhance your efficiency and help you to keep things under control.
Firstly, you should scan through each of the in-tray exercise
items quickly and sort them into chronological order. At the same
time, look out for items which are interdependent or items which
make a previous item redundant. This is an important step as you
don’t want to waste time with items which have been superseded and
which don’t need to be auctioned. Also, you may think you have
quickly solved one problem only to find that a memo sent three
days later has added a further complication which makes your
original decision unworkable or impractical.
For example, you may want to put his items into three piles using
a post-it to identify each one – Urgent, Important & Routine. For
each of these piles you may then segregate them further by who is
to deal with them – Myself, Delegate (Name) & File, or it could be
based on a time frame – Next Hour, Today, Tomorrow & Later. If you
are using a time frame as a method of prioritising then you may
wish to use the calendar provided or create your own to make notes
on so that you can easily see and overview of the situation.
Use your highlighter to identify key information you have been
given:
- Who you are,
- Your function,
- Type of organisation (government, industrial or
non-profit),
- Recipient & how they relate to you,
- Date on the item in relation to ‘today’s’
- Dates of meetings & deadlines.
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Sometimes details contained in your role overview may consciously
try to limit your ability to respond so that they can assess how
you deal with such a situation. If your response to an item is to
delegate a task to one of your staff, the
assessment centre
assessors will want to observe how you perform this and how well
it matches the organisations expectations. Do you provide a clear
brief of the task requirements, details of the desired outcomes
and a deadline. The assessors will also want to see how you would
monitor progress. This could take the form of a note in your diary
or planner.
An
in-tray exercise item may say that you or your boss are
un-contactable for a week. This infers that you, or your boss are
unable to make or receive calls, but it doesn’t necessarily mean
that you can’t call in or contact them either by phone, text, fax
or email. You will need to carefully read the brief and make sure
of exact meanings. Don’t be put off by minor diversions created in
the brief.
Other items can be used to assess your attention to detail. For
example, do you make a connection to an individual in the
organisation who is known to everyone by a nickname, or who has
recently changed their name following a divorce, or marriage? As
you read through each of the in-tray items you must always be
mindful of the minor details it contains and check that they are
accurate. You must check that names are spelt correctly and that
dates used are real e.g. 30 February, 31 November.
If you are asked to assess some financial information make sure
that all details you’d need to respond are detailed on your
in-tray item. For example, you may be asked to solve a problem
with an invoice, but the date of the order and/or the order number
are missing; which makes your job difficult. You would need to
ensure that the invoice you had in your in-tray was actually the
one that created the problem.
Watch out for bulk filler! These are attachments, brochures and
reports that are included within an in-tray item, but do not
really add further information or clarity to the issue raised. You
will not have enough time to review such things within the
exercise framework, so don’t let yourself be sidetracked by them.
Remember - The assessors may be testing how easily diverted you
are from important issues, so don’t fall into their trap.
Be mindful that some attachments may be the issue of the in-tray
item so should not be ignored. When you are justifying your
actions remember it is vital that you explain everything, even if
it seems trivial to you because you do it all the time, if you
don’t say you do it, how can an assessor add to your score.
Remember – Your Assessor has to see or hear something in order
to score it!
Also make sure that the tone of any communication is compatible
with the ethos of the organisation. The item itself may be
insignificant or unimportant, but the tone of the item may need to
be addressed. You must also be able to show that you are
understanding and empathetic with others. If you come across as
totally focused on getting the job done it may be detrimental.
Remember - View your actions in the context of the role you are
performing in this in-tray exercise.
If you have followed our advice of dealing with the most important
(to the job specification) and urgent items first, then these
remaining items will not be critical. You should try to have an
action for each item. When you walk away from the test area make
sure that your desk looks tidy and organised as this will also
send a message about your approach to the assessors.
See In-Tray Exercise > Introduction
See In-Tray Exercise > Maximizing Your Score
See In-Tray Exercise > Working Through the Items
See
In-Tray Exercise > Justifying Your Decisions
See
In-Tray Exercise > Explaining Your Answers
Everything you need to pass
psychometric tests
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