Originally Posted by
phlegm
I was invited to an assessment centre about two years ago so I can shed a little light on it.
It's a pretty fun day, very full on but all the staff assessing you are really approachable and knowledgeable. They're all trained controllers.
First, know you are ALWAYS being assessed. You'll have downtime in between tasks, but there is always at least one member of staff there to talk to. So talk to them! Heaps of the other candidates there on my day would just sit there in silence which I think is a pretty poor look. The assessors are also very sneaky, for example at one point I was in the waiting room with only one staff member there (all the other candidates had other assessments), so I had a chat with her for twenty minutes. My next assessment was my panel interview. The HR person comes in and calls my name and, sure enough, the staff member I've been chatting to stands up as well, walks with me to the room and commences the interview. They started the interview before I realised it was happening!
You need to meet a minimum standard in every assessment criteria. This was my undoing, I got excellent marks in all areas except one. It was the the "simulation exercise", which is actually an A3 piece of paper with a runway on it and some toy planes and firetrucks for you to move around. They make you memorise a set of rules and then throw problems at you for you to solve. What I did not expect is that the assessors will actively try to sabotage you by suggested solutions that breach the rules you were meant to memorise, so if you follow their advice you will fail. I got every one of my scenarios correct but it just didn't occur to me that they would suggest failing solutions, so I allowed them to trick me twice before realising what they were doing, but it was too late. What you need to do is be confident and assertive and deny them if they suggest that you breach a regulation.
Obviously, do some more practice cognitive tests, including quick arithmetic. You're going to be tested on all that on the day.
Good luck!
Phlegm and those who are attending assessment centres;
What have you described is the old assessment centre simulation activities and while I understand you would not know this, the assessment centre is completely different from years past and does not include the mentioned simulation. The new simulations have been developed over the last year or two and are a thousand times better to assess with when compared to the paper simulations. I don't know any further details about it, so please don't ask - I simply do not know.
And Phlegm, with that, I'd seriously urge you to re-apply if you've been thinking about it. The way Airservices do their assessments are completely changed and may be exactly what you need to prove you can do the job.
To everyone out there - the best way to prepare for the assessment centre is to work on your interviewing skills. Go pay for a lesson or two on interviewing and questions answering and you will be more confident and much better spoken on the day. The simulations cannot be studied for and for good reason.
Best of luck to all.
TRI223