When you do the written exam you will be given a scenario.
You will be given multiple pieces of information from different sources. You will then need to analyse all of the information and make a decision and will then have to write to one or more people explaining your decision.
In my case I was told that I worked for a recruitment agency and that an employer needed a worker. They had already received some poor quality staff from us and so there was pressure on me to ensure that we did not send someone unsuitable again.
The information offered to me consisted of the job requirements, a few CV's form applications, previous employer references and a letter from my manager. I think there was another information pack thrown in as a red herring.
From what I remember all the applicants were poor and the one that did appear suitable had discrepancies between his CV and his previous employment reference. His CV also contained a few grammatical and spelling mistakes and so I concluded on the basis that he claimed to have a good grade in GCSE English that he had probably submitted false information.
I concluded that none of the applicants were suitable and that to provide someone sub-par would damage the recruitment firm’s reputation even further. I therefore recommended that we say that we had no suitable candidates and also recommended that we call in the person suspect of lying on his CV in, telling him that we wanted to have a chat to discuss his options with him, this would allow is to ascertain the truth about his qualifications and suitability as we had received bad feedback about him in the past.
The written exam is timed, it is usually designed so you run out of time and you should take you own highlighters in case they don’t provide any.
When you work write notes or comments on the side of the main papers as the assessors to look at these when marking your paper when trying to see how you analysed the situation.
Remember, you won't get the same scenario this is just for information to give you an idea of what to expect.
As for the interview you will be asked to expand upon the examples you gave on your initial application form. You may be asked for alternate examples and the interview may ask you questions around the scenario or 'what if' questions in order to better assess your skills.
For the interview it is important to stay on topic. Everything you say should be based around the skill you are trying to demonstrate. You should also be saying what YOU did and not what other people did. Explain what you did, why you did it and how you ensured it was effective. Explain any quality control measures you used, explain how you encouraged and used feedback from others.
To really help with the interview I would need to see the job advert so if anyone applied and gets invited to an assessment centre, PM me and I may be able to help.
Looking at the news, we may be recruiting a few hundred people very soon.