Assessment Centres:

E-Tray Exercises
This session will cover:

• Why employers use assessment centres?

• What are e-tray exercises?

• Why are they used?

• What they can involve

Assessment Centres...
• Are used for selection by larger employers to assess
competencies

• Use a range of selection methods for individuals and for groups –

including E-Tray exercises

• Can last from 1/2 a day to 2 days

• Are considered a fair way of assessing candidates’ skills and

abilities
Assessment Centres can also include…
• Introduction of participants and candidates
• Company presentation
• Individual presentations
• Coffee break and/or buffet lunch, socialising informally
• Psychometric testing
• Group exercise, solving a work-related problem
• Interviews, ½ hour, skills-based
What is an E-Tray exercise? (A)
You will be given the contents of your in-tray or email inbox which
may consist of…

• Requests
• Messages
• Reminders / Memos
• Notes
• Reports etc.

Often the setting is that you may be shortly going or on holiday or it

could be a busy time of year.
What is an E-Tray exercise? (B)
In a limited time period you will have to perform a number of activities
which may include…

• Writing a letter / email

• Reading / responding to a report
• Drafting a report
• Prioritising the tasks or putting them into an order
• Deciding what action is needed e.g. whether you can delegate it
to someone else
• A numerical element
What are employers assessing with an
e-tray exercise?
How you cope with…

• The decisions and dilemmas which would crop up in a typical day

at their organisation
• Analysing large amounts of information quickly
• Evaluating a range of available options
• Prioritising which information you feel is most urgent and of most
importance
• Time pressures
AGCAS Video
http://www2.imperial.ac.uk/imedia/videos/view/394/at-the-
assessment-centre:-in-tray-exercise/
Exercise 1:
You work at FutureTech, a small IT consultancy, and arrive at work
to find emails, notes and messages.

• You need to decide:

A: Which need your immediate attention
B: Which are less urgent and can be done later
C: Which you could delegate to someone else

Think about the specific actions you would actually take to deal with
these tasks.
Your e-tray contains…
• A phone message from a client requesting a progress report. You cannot give this until you liaise with
Lead Consultant Damian Towers, who was going to give the costing for 3 alternative IT systems for
this project.

• A phone message from your best friend. They have obtained theatre tickets for tonight for a show you
are keen to see and need to know if you can go or will ask someone else.

• An email from HR containing information on the PRINCE2 Project Management course, which you
expressed an interest in pursuing during your annual appraisal.

• A message from a manager from the floor above about you possibly becoming involved in a project
collaborating with IBM (you are keen to work with global companies). She is going on holiday
tomorrow and needs to talk to you before then.

• A supplier emails a pdf of their latest hardware catalogue that may be useful on a project for which
you are writing a management report.

• A note from your boss asking you to look after a client, Dr Van Der Belt, who is flying in from Korea
for a meeting tomorrow. He arrives at City Airport this afternoon at 15:00.
Exercise 2 – Organic Dreams
• You are the Managing Director of a company that produces high
quality organic soaps and bath oils.

• You come in 10:00 on a Friday and must deal with:

- A reminder list: tasks you intend to do today
- Telephone messages
- Emails
- An urgent telephone call to which you must
provide answers

• 15 minute exercise to prioritise and delegate tasks accordingly.

Organic Dreams Organisation Chart
Responding to a letter / email
Could be to respond to:
• A business proposition
• A complaint
• A journalist

• Less about prioritising

• More about selecting the right facts and arguments and present
them in an effective and orderly way.
Drafted response example
Dear ....

Having reviewed the reports and possible proposals for the……, I would
recommend that this situation be tackled by…… The rationale for this is
that……

Firstly,...

Secondly,..

Finally,...

With these reasons in mind, I think the best approach in this case would be
to.....

Regards,
Tips for being effective
• Read carefully through the background information – this can help
you decide what’s important to the organisation

• Quickly read all the items before you start

• Focus on key points – Don’t get distracted by irrelevancies

• Remember there often isn’t a correct answer – you must show an

understanding of the issues and offer reasons for decisions
Further information
• Careers Advisory Service website
www.imperial.ac.uk/careers
(within the Assessment Centre information;
also LINKS directory)

Practice examples (linked from Careers website):

• Civil Service Fast Stream
• KPMG (link via University of Edinburgh Careers Service)