Training for the Assessment Center
The traditional job interview is not sufficient for many companies to base their judgment of a candidate on. For this reason they set up an assessment center (AC) which is used especially for filling trainee jobs and executive positions. With thorough preparation for the AC you can make the road to a new job smoother, and the Assessment Center Training can help you with that.
Only the most promising candidates receive an invitation to the AC. Those who have made it this far have already left an excellent impression on the company.
Besides professional expertise, the AC is mainly about the generic competence of a candidate. These so-called soft skills include things like time management, elocution, analytical thinking, and social competencies like for example the willingness to compromise, self-assertion, resilience, creativity, stress behavior, and the ability to work in a team.
With thorough preparation for the AC you are several steps closer to your new place of employment! Certain things can be practiced easily, and others are a little more difficult. Practicing for the demanding tasks in the AC is best done with true AC tasks.
What kind of tasks await you in the Assessment Center?
The tasks in AC vary widely and test diverse skills and traits of the candidates. At the beginning the company and applicant are introduced. Here self, partner or group presentations are possible. A group discussion can then follow this. Presentations and case studies are popular tasks, as are role playing or the in-tray exercise. Construction exercises, the corporate strategic planning simulation, and essays on a specific topic come up more rarely. Often the AC ends with an interview or final discussion.
The tests and their contents are dependent upon what type of position is to be filled. They often include a connection to the position, industry or company, for example through a case study. The AC for a finance manager who is supposed to lead an entire department, can proceed very differently than one for an IT trainee.
How do I conduct myself in the AC?
Authenticity is important to the companies. The AC exists exactly for this reason – to find out how the applicants really are. This is not the place to disguise yourself. On the one hand, playing a part contradicts the purpose of the AC. On the other hand, the tasks are constructed so that from the sum of the individual results and observations, a true personality profile can be formed.
However it would be very naïve to go into the assessment center completely unprepared. The assessment center is specifically a matter of showing appropriate behavior in specific situations.
Like in a job interview, many questions will come up whose answers you can prepare ahead of time. This way you’ll leave a good impression from the first moment on, without any play-acting. And the AC Training is an excellent method to prepare for this sensibly.