BREAKING NEWS! EPSO Introduces New Assessment Centre Test

Lots of news to digest today, coming directly from EPSO.

In early September EPSO made an announcement that due to the COVID restrictions in place for the foreseeable future, it will be moving its Assessment Center testing online.

Until today, no specifics have been disclosed about how exactly EPSO plans to conduct its online (remote) Assessment Centres. While the information is still scarce a little insight has been shared today via the EPSO website:

In addition to this move online, those candidates who are awaiting their Assessment Centre to commence, or competitions that had their Assessment Centre halted mid-way will experience the following changes:

Graduate Administrators (AD5) competition [EPSO/AD/373/19]

• The Group Exercise component of the Assessment Centre has been cancelled for this competition.
• Instead, candidates will be required to complete a newly introduced test known as the Situational Competency Based Interview.

Specialists in Legal Research - Lawyers (AD5 & AD7) [EPSO/AD/365-370/19]

• The Group Exercise component of the Assessment Centre has been cancelled for this competition.
• Instead, candidates will be required to complete a newly introduced test known as the Situational Competency Based Interview.
• Candidates will need to sit the computer-based tests (Verbal, Numerical and Abstract Reasoning) component of their Assessment Centre at a Prometric test centre nearest to them.

Administrators in the field of Audit (AD5 & AD7) [EPSO/AD/372/19]

• Those candidates that have not had the chance to complete their Assessment Center for this competition due to COVID disruptions:
  • The Group Exercise component of the Assessment Centre has been cancelled for this competition.
  • Instead, candidates will be required to complete a newly introduced test known as the Situational Competency Based Interview.
• Those candidates that have already completed the Assessment Centre for this competition before the COVID disruptions:
  • Will keep their scores for each exercise, except for the Group Exercise.
  • Group Exercise scores will be removed from their overall Assessment Centre score.
  • In addition to this, they will also be required to complete the newly introduced Situational Competency Based Interview.
  • These candidates should expect an invitation from EPSO to undertake this new test. 

Specialists in Law and Finance (AD7) [EPSO/AD/374/19]

• Those candidates that have not had the chance to complete their Assessment Center for this competition due to COVID disruptions:
  • The Group Exercise component of the Assessment Centre has been cancelled for this competition.
  • Instead, candidates will be required to complete a newly introduced test known as the Situational Competency Based Interview.
  • Candidates will need to sit the computer-based tests (Verbal, Numerical and Abstract Reasoning) component of their Assessment Centre at a Prometric test centre nearest to them.
• Those candidates that have already completed the Assessment Centre for this competition before the COVID disruptions:
  • Will keep their scores for each exercise, except for the Group Exercise.
  • Group Exercise scores will be removed from their overall Assessment Centre score.
  • In addition to this, they will also be required to complete the newly introduced Situational Competency Based Interview. 
  • These candidates should expect an invitation from EPSO to undertake this new test. 

What does the new EPSO Assessment Centre test entail?

EPSO has made the following information public about the new Situational Competency-Based Interview:

• Aims to assess general competencies by asking the candidate how they would react in a specific situation.
• 2-3 weeks before the interview, candidates will be given access to an online written assignment and background information to be able to prepare for the interview.
• The assignment will ask candidates to replace a colleague and assume responsibility for a variety of tasks and situations, which will then be discussed during the interview.
• Over the course of the interview, additional situations will be introduced by the interviewer, that are not based on the assignment.
• The interview will last between 30 to 40 minutes.
• The interview will test a number of general competencies, as indicated in the Notice of Competition. (At this stage EPSO has not specified which competencies this new interview will test, but we suspect it will be the same as the competencies measured by the Group Exercise.) 

How the interview will be conducted:

• It will be a one-to-one meeting with a trained interviewer.
• The interviewer will provide additional information during the interview, according to a semi-structured script.
• Candidates will be allowed to consult the written briefing and background information.
• The interviewer will be an EU staff member - not part of the Selection Board.
• The interview will take place remotely using a videoconferencing tool.
• 2 Selection Board members will be present during the SCBI, but will not intervene in any way. They will only be there to observe and take notes.

Examples of Situational Competency-Based Interview questions:

• Questions based on the assignment:
  • Based on the assignment, if you were to take a leading role, how would you manage the conflict between…and...?
  • How would you decide what is relevant and what is less relevant in the information provided by…?

• Questions not based on assignment, but introduced by the interviewer during the interview:
  • How would you deal with a colleague that…?
  • How would you react if your project receives comments that…?

EU Training is currently reviewing the requirements of the Situational Competency-Based Interview and will be making preparation resources available as soon as possible.

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