This may be either a panel or with one interviewer, or
sometimes a series of interviews with different assessors.
Interviews at this stage are likely to be more in-depth than those
you experienced during the first stages of selection and could be
with someone from the department to which you are applying or even
with a potential future colleague. Questions may refer back to
your first interview, to assessment centre
activities or to aptitude or
personality test results.
Panel interviews are regarded as a more objective means of
assessing your suitability as you will be interviewed by between
three and five people and therefore the decision is not reliant on
just one person's opinion. In addition, they are usually more
structured than a one-to-one interview as the panel need to assess
all of the candidates against the same criteria. You should
prepare for a panel interview in the same way that you would
prepare for a one-to-one interview, but remember to greet each
panel member with a firm handshake at the beginning of the
interview. You should also look at all of the panel members when
answering a question, whilst making the majority of the eye
contact with the person who
asked it.
Role Play Exercises at the Promotional Assessment Centre
You will usually be asked to assume a fictitious role and
handle a particular work situation. Role Plays usually use
professional actors who are clearly briefed about their role and
how to respond when you take a particular approach.
A role play exercise allows the assessors to see if you can play
the role that is necessary to address the situation they have
created. You may need to make a conscious effort to overcome your
natural responses in these exercises. For example, the assessors
are looking to see whether you can exhibit sensitivity or
toughness in those situations that require it, not whether you are
a naturally sensitive or tough person.
Most role play exercises will involve you interacting with another
person or group of people to resolve some issue. The role play
scenario should reflect the needs and concerns of the
organization. If the organization needs a change agent, then the
exercise may require you to convince reluctant subordinates to
accept a new idea.
Conflict resolution, problem solving, and interpersonal skills are
at the top of the list of things that are usually measured.
Composure, decision making, organizational skills, job knowledge,
leadership, sensitivity, and supervisory skills may also be
assessed.
There are many ways to succeed at role play exercises but there
are two vital points that you must keep in mind.
- Identify the ‘problem’ as soon as possible
- Use an approach that you are comfortable with
In many cases, you will be presented with one or more ‘symptoms’.
This could be a customer complaint or an under-performing
subordinate. You need to identify the underlying problem
straightaway. Why is the customer complaining? Why is the member
of staff under performing? Identifying the underlying problem is
the essential first step to taking the necessary remedial action.
It is also important to use an approach that you are comfortable
with and that you feel will best accomplish the goals appropriate
for that situation. Role play situations may call for a wide
variety of approaches. The approach that you might use in dealing
one-on-one with a poor performing subordinate may be wholly
inappropriate for addressing a large group of upset customers. The
important point is that you need to stay in control for the
duration of the exercise – so don’t start something that you can’t
finish.
Everything you need to pass
psychometric tests
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