Assessment types

Before your ILA assessment you are required to take five online psychometric assessments. Each individual assessment will come with full and detailed instructions. Please ensure that you will not be disturbed and have the time to concentrate fully while completing the assessments.  Two hours should be enough time to complete all assessments, although you are not required to complete them all in one sitting. If you are unable to complete your psychometric assessment by the deadline given, let the contact point know as soon as possible.

An ILA is a 90-minute session with an occupational psychologist aimed at gaining an understanding of your preferred behavioural style in the workplace. The assessment will be informed by the five online psychometric assessments you will have completed beforehand, the results of which will be explored as a part of the discussion during the session. After the ILA is completed, the assessor will formulate a narrative report which is given to the panel prior to your formal interview.

The ILA is not a decision-making process, but rather a facilitated discussion designed to gauge an idea of your comparative strengths and weaknesses against the requirements of the role. You will be asked to provide specific examples of situations to best understand your style and approach. This will help the assessor put your assessments results into context in terms of your experience and achievements in and out of work.

If you require any adjustments to be made please make your contact aware in advance of the day on which the session is scheduled.

Before your ALA assessment you are required to take two online psychometric assessments. Each will come with full and detailed instructions in addition to those given below. Please ensure that you will not be disturbed and have the time to concentrate fully while completing these. One hour is enough time to complete both assessments, although you are not required to complete them both in one sitting. If you are unable to complete them by the deadline given, please let us know as soon as possible.

An ALA is a 60-minute session with an occupational psychologist. The purpose of the assessment is for the assessor to gain an understanding of your preferred behavioural style in the workplace. The assessment will be informed by the two online psychometric assessments you will have completed beforehand, the results of which will be explored as a part of the discussion during the session. After the ALA is completed, the assessor will formulate a narrative report which is given to the panel prior to your formal interview.

The ALA is not a decision-making process, but rather a facilitated discussion intended to provide insight into your comparative strengths and weaknesses against the requirements of the role. You will be asked to provide specific examples of situations to best understand your style and approach. This will help the assessor put the outputs of the assessments into context in terms of your experience and achievements in and out of work.

If you require any adjustments to be made please make your contact aware in advance of the day on which the session is scheduled.

The SEE adopts the approach of ‘collaborative hiring’, where candidates meet with a group of staff across a range of grades who may be future team members, peers, colleagues or stakeholders . The exercise provides an assessment of your leadership style against the requirements of the role and also gives you an opportunity to gain some insight into the culture and values of the hiring Department. You may meet the staff group via a video conferencing service or face to face and will be provided with more detailed guidance in advance.

There are two similar versions of a SEE, either a presentation and question and answer session or a ‘focus group’ session where you should facilitate a two-way discussion between yourself and staff on a given topic that will be sent to you in advance. In the presentation version, this will be a very short (five minutes) verbal presentation without slides, followed by questions from the staff panel.

In the focus group version, you will have around 30 minutes to discuss the topic with the staff group , to ask them questions and respond to any questions they may have. Their questions could include your views on the topic, potential actions you might take or your knowledge and experience in relation to the topic areas. How you choose to interact with the staff group and manage the conversation during the allocated time is for you to decide. This is an opportunity for you to engage with a staff group and discuss the topic above . This is expected to be a natural interaction and not an interview, intended to reveal how you, as the candidate, engages and interacts with others. You should note that you will not be provided with any details about the staff in the group in advance of the session and you will have an opportunity to clarify any questions you have with the psychologist prior to the start of the session in a separate briefing call.

In preparation for the session you should remind yourself of the leadership expectations that have been set out in the candidate information pack and review any leadership behavioural frameworks mentioned.

The SEE focus group will be observed by an occupational psychologist who will not take part in any interactions with you or the staff group once the exercise begins. After the session they will collect the views of the staff group which will be considered alongside their own observations to reflect how you performed in the exercise in a narrative report which will be submitted to the final interview panel to be considered alongside other evidence obtained during the interview.

If you require any adjustments to be made please make your contact aware in advance of the day on which the session is scheduled.