Personal Assistant In-Tray Exercise

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.

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.