Assessment

The Assessment process

If you pass the Paper Sifting of your application form, you will be invited to take part in an Assessment day.

You will receive an information pack around two weeks before your Assessment. This will contain all the information you need to find the Assessment Centre venue and to get ready for the process.

The Assessment will take about five hours. We are not able to provide meals, however, you may want to bring a snack as you will get some short breaks.

The Assessment consists of:

Competency-based structured interview

We will ask four questions about how you have dealt with certain situations in your past. The interview lasts 20 minutes and you will have five minutes to answer each question, which are related to the following competency areas: Problem Solving; Resilience; Teamworking; Respect for Race and Diversity; and Oral Communication. You can find a more detailed description under Competencies.

Numerical reasoning test

We will ask you to answer multiple-choice questions which measure your ability to make logical sense of a situation. This test will last 12 minutes. You will not be able to use a calculator.

Verbal logical reasoning test

This 25-minute test will be taken in a room with other candidates. We will give you a a description of a situation and extra facts about it. You'll be given a number of conclusions you might come to and you will have to decide if it is true, false or impossible to say.

Two written exercises and four interactive exercises.

You will play the part of a newly-appointed customer-services officer at a fictional retail and leisure complex. More details will be in the information pack. You will receive all the information you need to deal with the situations and you should not introduce any extra information.

  • You will be allowed five minutes to prepare for the interactive exercise, which will involve a role-play situation with an actor.
  • The written exercises will each take 20 minutes.

Before the day, you can practise and improve your skills in relation to the competencies we assess. You could carry out a detailed and honest self-assessment and think of anything you could improve on. You may also want to discuss your own situation in relation to the seven competencies with your colleagues, friends or family.

How will you give me my results?

You will receive a Candidate Feedback report providing detailed information on how you performed in the assessment process.

You can express your views and experiences of the process in an online questionnaire. We will give you the website address after your assessment. We will not count any feedback you give us as a formal appeal.