Interviews at assessment centers
Larger companies often use assessment centres to assess the suitability of graduates for graduate recruitment programmes. They are generally one to three-day events during which candidates are informed in detail about the company and have an opportunity to get to know other candidates, the selectors, recent graduates and senior management. Candidates are also given individual and group tasks to perform while being observed. Tasks include presentations, business scenarios, group discussions, case studies and psychometric tests (also called aptitude tests).
Sample psychometric test
Percentage of 25 to 29-year-old high school completers in the US with a bachelor's degree or higher, by race/ethnicity and gender (1971-1999)
| White | Black | Hispanic | |||||||
| total | male | female | total | male | female | total | male | female | |
| 1971 | 23.05 | 27.0 | 19.1 | 11.5 | 12.1 | 10.9 | 10.6 | 15.4 | 5.8 |
| 1981 | 26.3 | 28.4 | 24.2 | 14.95 | 15.4 | 14.5 | 12.65 | 14.4 | 10.9 |
| 1991 | 29.75 | 29.7 | 29.8 | 13.4 | 13.7 | 13.1 | 16.25 | 14.4 | 18.1 |
| 1999 | 36.05 | 34.8 | 37.3 | 16.75 | 14.9 | 18.6 | 14.4 | 13.0 | 15.8 |
1. The average total percentage of both black and Hispanic 25 to 29-year-old high school completers in the US with a bachelor's degree or higher in 1981 was _________ .
2. How many more 25 to 29-year-old females from all three ethnic groups had a bachelor's degree or higher in the year 1999 in comparison to 1971 (to the nearest million)?
- Question 1 asks about 1981 and not about any other year. Simply calculate the average of the total percentage of black (14.95%) and Hispanic (12.65%) to get the answer (13.8).
- The figures in the table are percentages of the ethnic groups - not absolute numbers (millions). For this reason you can't answer question 2 without further information.