Hi Beverley

You say "they are required to complete an in-tray exercise". Who is requiring this? You should work with that person to develop a relevant exercise that is a reliable and valid measure of the skills the PA must have to be successful in her job.

In reply to Anna:

Hi Beverley

Maybe take a step back here and reflect upon the various (and probably diverse) essential and desirable attributes that are needed for this role along with the methods and best ways of evaluating them given the constraints of the selection exercise.

The competencies that a full blown ‘ in-tray’ exercise are likely to reveal in this context may well be (a) discernible by different and more feasible and realistic / predictive methods and (b) only one piece of the jigsaw that comprises the ideal candidate for the role. An essential bit of the jigsaw, probably, but there again doesn’t it rather go with the territory with PAs that they can work autonomously in effective support of their boss’s role and isn’t it equally if not more important that their working styles and personalities etc chime with the particular requirements of their boss and their role?

For straightforward tasks in-tray-exercises are a useful assessment tool, but for a role as inter-personally dependant as a PA, I would say their value is very limited. The role is formed by the Principal's needs and professional/positional comfort-zones, as well as by the administrative, inter-personal (and diplomatic) skills of the PA, and I am not sure how these, and just as importantly their interaction, can be assessed meaningfully in a in-tray-exercise.

Hi Beverley,

I agree with the responses you have received here and it would've been good to provide a little more information for context.

As David says, this sort of exercise would only be 'one piece of the jigsaw' - but I'm sure you are aware of that already. The scenarios presented in an in-tray exercise will probably be rather artificial to the extent they are unlikely to occur all at once.

I used to have a list of typical daily tasks with a few "URGENT URGENT URGENT" ones thrown in and ask them to rank them in the order they would complete them.

The idea was (and I always stressed this in the interview), is that there was no right answer, the aim was to see how they would prioritise their day and we'd have a discussion afterwards where they'd put their reasoning forward as to why they ordered it as they have.

Has always worked out great for us as it gave us an insight into how they work and it gave them a better idea of what sort of tasks they'd be doing day to day.

In reply to Samantha:

A very small piece of the jigsaw for a good PA! :-)

In reply to Samantha:

A properly designed 'in-tray' exercise is an assessment that should both have face validity (i.e. replicate the tasks of the job) and be both valid (in that it measures what it purports to measure) and reliable (in that it measure it accurately).

In tray exercises often form part of larger assessment centres and must be planned carefully in order to avoid potential indirect discrimination. For example, it may be that some tasks take longer if a candidate has dyslexia.
Since any such assessment can leave an employer vulnerable to claims of unfair treatment at interview it's important that the in-tray exercise is tailored to the job in question and fulfills the criteria I mentioned earlier.

Sadly there doesn't appear to be a CIPD checklist for psychometric testing or assessment centres at present to which I can direct people; but understanding the rationale and risks involved is important.

In reply to Anna:

Hi Beverley

You can buy in-tray tests from psychometric testing companies that will be based on solid research so that you can be sure the test is both reliable and valid.