In-Tray Exercises in Interviews

[NoProblem123]

We are incredibly short staffed at work and are having issues recruiting for a couple of key positions.

These positions are what I would call highly skilled. No one in the company has these specific skills, and the relevant qualifications are an essential requirement in the JD/PS

However, my company sets an in-tray exercise testing this skill and everyone seems to make a dog’s dinner of it.

Bearing in mind the ones setting/marking are not specialised themselves, I am the only one who thinks this is ridiculous ?
And really, if they have the qualifications (think chartered), should they even be setting these sort of tests ?

I would say qualifications are not enough - I know and have experience of dealing with plenty of qualified professionals - across many professions - (teaching, medicine, dentistry, law, accountancy for example) who are pretty rubbish at their job - doing a road test in an interview situation is a good way of testing someone's ability to do a job - they need to pay someone they trust to do the marking/assessing though.

I hate these in tray exercises. I think it's really hard for the person doing them as you're never sure what they want from you. In a real working situation, you'd have a detailed brief, support and access to additional time (potentially) if required.

In these situations you get a piece of paper, no support and a time limit!

@purplefoxglove I completely agree !
Loads of people can pass exams to gain a qualification, but will in-tray exercises weed those out ? Probably not

I'd raise this issue with HR / recruitment.

I've worked in recruitment for years and assessments are only useful if they are looking at the right things.

If these tests don't work then you shouldn't be doing them. Raise it with them and explain why they aren't helping you to find the talent you need.

I've just had an interview for a fairly low level admin job and did an hour long in tray exercise. It was quite well done and I can see how it showed if I could do certain tasks. (I did get the job) if people make a hash of it maybe it is not well written? Even how someone attempts a task shows you what they might be like at work. What is your worry? Are they not managing to recruit for the job? Getting the wrong people? Work through it and redesign it.

Depends what the exercises are - we sometimes have a colleague talking a problem with them, we are assessing their ability to problem solve ask the right questions, make appropriate observations - other exercises we'll give them a week to do and they come back to present their findings - we will examine their thinking, how they react when they are challenged, how they deal with not knowing the answer - which in our industry is common. It really does give us very valuable information.

I hate these. I think what works best is not universal. I work best when if I can get a few non-essential but quick tasks off the list to settle myself into work. This will never score me points but it works for me.

[quote NoProblem123]@purplefoxglove I completely agree !
Loads of people can pass exams to gain a qualification, but will in-tray exercises weed those out ? Probably not [/quote]
Depends what the exercise is - we're limited at the minute due to covid restrictions but people tell you all sorts at interview - competency questions well rehearsed, qualifications gained - it's still not enough. Essentially we are trying to see how they can think through a problem that we would have to deal with - the problems we face are new - there is no prescribed solution. So we ask for a numerate degree - despite someone obtaining that degree their ability to understand a scenario, and play with numbers and data to create models and solutions, can be below the level we find acceptable - it's an essential skill which we test for. Practical demonstrations are uncomfortable for the candidate but they are very useful for us and they have weeded out several candidates who have had the qualifications but not the thinking power.

Anyone who employs a chef - fully qualified and years of experience will still ask that chef to cook for them before they will be offered the job - talk is cheap, proving you can actually do the job, makes it more likely you are making a good hire. Even my ds who has interviewed for a Barista job will have to do a 3 hour trial before being offered the job - it's his in tray exercise.
Of course the task has be set up and assessed properly - but that's the same with the spoken interview - you need to have the right person, ask the right questions and assess the responses fairly.

I work with a Children in Care Council in a Local Authority and they have been trained to interview social care staff and foster carers, alongside the adult panel.
We always have some scenario questions now that we are virtual but pre covid we did it via role playing, so that candidates had to demonstrate how they would handle situations or explain certain scenarios to a child.
Our young people have seen that the most qualified person isn't always the best in the field. You have to be able to engage with children.
That's our in tray exercise.

And if the qualified candidates are not passing the in-tray exercise, I'd expect the recruiting team to revisit the challenge and question whether it is appropriate for the role, they might be expecting too much or whether they are offering the right salary package to attract the right candidate in the first place.
I saw an advert for a fully qualified senior accountant in the South East - salary £28k/annum - their expectations will need to be low at that salary.
Recruitment is always a challenge where skills shortages exist - if the exercise is appropriate, I'd be pushing for a higher salary package to attract the right candidate.