Assessment Day Assessment days (also called assessment centres) allow companies to assess candidates over an extended period of time, whilst offering candidates the chance to find out about  an employer in greater detail.    Numerical Reasoning  Verbal Reasoning  Contact Us  Security and Privacy  CV & Cover Letter  Interviews  Assessment Day  Links Copyright © 2011. Aptitude Tests Online. All Rights Reserved. Personality Tests The personality test and the personality questionnaire are used in order to determine a candidate's typical  reactions and attitudes to various situations. These tests might try to identify how well you get on with  others, your normal reaction to stressful situations or your feelings about the kind of people you like to  work with. Personality Test Conditions It is unlikely that personality tests or questionnaires will be timed or indeed have right or wrong answers.  Do not let this lack of exam conditions fool you. Some employers will know precisely what they are looking  for in terms of an ideal 'Personality Profile' and it is up to you to meet their expectations. It is unwise to  try to fake the answers. These questionnaires usually have some type of internal checking where the same question is asked with different wording early and late in the test to try to detect dishonest answers.  Ultimately, there is little point in pretending to be the kind of employee a firm is looking for if you are not  right for them. If they think your personality is unsuitable for their company, their company is probably  also unsuitable for your personality. Case Study / Case Study Interview  Case study questions were first introduced into interviews by management consulting firms. They are now  used by many employers, in particular city firms such as the big 4.  Case study questions are used to test candidates' analytical skills, creativity and problem solving ability.  They are also used to test candidates understanding of basic commercial principles and ability to interpret  data from tables and charts. They can also be used to give candidates a sense of the type of work they will be doing at a firm. Often case study exercises can be linked in with group exercises, written and e-tray  exercises at assessment centres. Typically, a case study will consist of a business scenario that is presented to the candidate on one or  several pages. The business scenario will often consist of a situation involving a client's business, and you  will have to comment on what advice you would give the client in their current situation. Normally you will  be given some time to study the information provided, and then discuss the case study as part of your  interview. Interviewers will be looking for:      * Your ability to reason logically.      * Your ability to justify your points clearly.      * Your ability to understand basic commercial principles.  Answers do not require any specific knowledge. Most questions can be answered with common sense. Any  information that is required for answering the case study questions will be provided. In certain circumstances, interviewers may offer little or no background information with their questions.  This puts added pressure on candidates, forcing them to work out a solution based on their own  knowledge, or an analysis of the limited information available. This does not in general apply to candidates  applying for accounting to the Big 4, and is relatively rare these days.  Strategy for the Case Study      * Use the preparation time effectively.      * Underline noteworthy sections in the text. This will help you work quicker and more accurately.      * You will normally be permitted to make notes and take these to the interview. Identify the key issues,  and then prioritise them by importance so that you discuss the most pertinent issues first.      * When in the interview, stay focussed on the case study, and do not get sidetracked into talking about  the real-world industry unless asked to do so.     * Speak clearly. Remember they are assessing you analytical and reasoning skills.      * The interviewer will deliberately reason with you to force you to justify and defend your answers. Be  prepared to justify all your main points.      * Remember, there are no right answers; consider all lines of argument however present one as your  chosen opinion, mentioning why you discredited the other possibilities. Presentation A presentation is a short persuasive talk that must be given as part of an interview or assessment day.  Employers will either ask you to prepare a presentation in advance, or more usually on the day of  assessment itself. You may have to give your presentation to a single interviewer, a group of assessors, or even a room full of other candidates. Depending on your assessor(s), you should also be prepared to  answer questions at the end of your presentation posed by your audience. To give a successful presentation you need to show that you can put information across to other people  clearly, confidently and consicely. You must support your ideas and themes with anecdotes, examples,  statistics and facts. Aim for a conversational delivery, using brief notes or bullet points, rather than  memorising and reciting, or reading from a prepared sheet. Try to establish eye contact with everyone  around you. Speak clearly, take your time and don't try to rush through your delivery.  Preparation It is essential you practice your presentation before the interview. Give presentations to friends and family  well in advance of your interviews, rehearse in the mirror or record yourself on camera or tape to analyse  your delivery. If you give a good presentation at interview you will give interviewers a very good  impression of yourself and all the practice you have put in will pay off.  Content Candidates should keep their presentations simple, straight-forward and easy to understand. If you try too hard (for example, to be funny or clever) you run a serious risk of embarrassing yourself.  Keep things sharp, succinct and to the point. Don't over elaborate, or waffle for the sake of using up time.  It is important to be articulate, and not to use slang. Throughout your presentation you must be  professional, as professional in fact as you would expect your interviewers to be. Keeping track of time is important during your presentation. If you have been asked to prepare a  presentation of five minutes, make sure you present for at least four and a half or at most five and a half.  Giving a short presentation looks like a candidate is under-prepared. Giving a long presentation runs the  risk of boring or agitating your assessors. Performance  The most important part of your presentation is how you present. Interviewers are looking for candidates  who are naturally professional - confident, articulate and presentable. Essentially, interviewers are looking  for candidates that they would be happy about putting in front of one of their clients.  When delivering your presentation take note of the following:     * Voice: Speak clearly and loudly enough for everyone to hear during your presentation. Vary the tone  of your voice to keep your audience interested. Don't speak too fast and be confident enough to leave  space between any key points you make, if necessary.     * Eyes: Maintain eye contact with your audience throughout your presentation. Look from person to  person as you talk to keep everyone engaged.     * Smile: Be positive throughout your presentation. Smile when you begin, keep smiling as you talk, and  conclude with a smile. People naturally prefer people who smile, especially your interviewers!      * Stance: Stand up straight, with your shoulders back and feet pointing straight at your audience when  delivering your presentation. Use your hands to elaborate what you are saying if you need to, but not  excessively. Conclusion At the end of your presentation, rephrase the original question (or title of your presentation) and answer it with your conclusion. Thank your audience, smile and offer a chance for questions to be asked.  E-tray Exercise  An E-tray exercise is a computer based simulation of an email in box that lasts for, and must be completed  within, a fixed amount of time. During the exercise emails will arrive into your in box e-tray and you will  be required to:     * Make basic calculations;      * Extract information from data provided;      * Make judgement calls on how to deal with demanding managers/unhappy clients etc.  The E-tray exercise is the electronic equivalent of the In-tray exercise.  Master the In Tray Exercise Normally the answers to this exercise are multiple choice. Be careful with calculation questions. Typically,  the wrong answers listed will be common errors for that problem and can be misleading. You do not  always necessarily need all the information provided, and sometimes more information than is necessary  will be provided, to distract you.  Emails in an e-tray exercise will often arrive slowly at first and then get faster as time progresses. It is  important that you do not begin to select random answers at the end as they will be testing to see how  you perform under pressure. E-tray Written Exercise Some E-tray exercises will have a written part as well, where you will be required to respond to an email.  Typically, no spell-checker is provided, so you must be certain to use words that you can spell confidently.  Make sure you respond in a style appropriate to the email you have been sent, and ensure that it has a  clear, logical structure.  Keep watch over time, and make sure you proof read what you have written before the time is up. In-tray exercise  An In-tray exercise is a paper based business simulation. For this exercise you will be given a scenario and  a number of related documents, such as letters from the company, organisation charts and news reports.  You will then be required to make decisions and produce responses to certain tasks. Written Exercise Employers often use a written exercise to assess job candidates. Written exercises usually test a  combination of: common sense, comprehension skills, verbal reasoning, the ability to structure a letter, an  essay or an argument, note taking ability and written communication skills. A candidate's knowledge of  specific industry issues or work procedures is not usually tested. The subject of your written exercise may  also be used as the basis for a discussion in a later interview. Written Exercise Examples Examples of written exercises used by firms include:      * Write a report on the pros and cons of a takeover bid, based on 12-pages of material provided.     * Summarise the facts of a case file, listing its strengths and weaknesses.      * Summarise a Law report for a client who is concerned with the issues it covers but has no specific  legal knowledge.     * Write a letter of complaint to a local council on behalf of an elderly resident.  You will typically be given between 40-60 minutes to complete a written exercise.  Previous Page ->