# data[].attributes.headline
Importance of collaborative learning activities to promote teamwork and collaboration. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Importance of collaborative learning activities to promote teamwork and collaboration. 

# data[].attributes.body
This principle applies to promoting teamwork and collaboration among students, but it also refers to the

collaborative relationship between the teacher and students. Collaborative learning activities include activities such as group projects, debates, role plays and other activities with shared goals. Therefore, there are extremely close links between social skills, such as negotiation and collaborative learning. Guide page 58

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Reading Time: 13 minutes

Summary

Are you a recruiter or hiring manager looking for candidate pre-employment assessment tests and tools including aptitude tests?
We invite you to visit our Assess Candidates website.

What is a role-play exercise? Which industries use role play exercises? How to prepare for role-play exercises? If these are questions on your mind, then this is the guide for you. Read on to accelerate your assessment centre practice today.
In this text we go into depth about role play tests in an assessment centre, including what a role play exercise is, provide specific role play assessment test examples and discover how role plays are assessed.

Our website provides practice assessment centre exercises that can be used to prepare for a role play test in the recruitment process. Start your practice to prepare for a role play assessment test.

Wondering whether you should be practicing to prepare for your role playing exercises? According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD, 2020), around one third of employers use assessment centres in their application process.

Experiencing the office environment is a significant factor for candidates in recruitment. Moreover, it was felt that feeling personally valued with a potential to have a career at the company are more important which are possible to achieve virtually. Institute of Student Employers (2020)

Contents

1. What is a role play exercise?

2. Why are role play exercises used at assessment centres?

3. What industries use role playing exercises?

4. Top 13 Tips to Prepare For a Role Play Exercise

5. What is an example of a role play exercise in an assessment centre?

6. How are role play exercises assessed?

7. Role Play Exercise FAQs

What is a role play exercise in an assessment centre?

Role-Play exercises in assessment centres are most commonly used as part of the recruitment process for jobs that rely on high elements of team work or interaction with customers.
What do role play exercises measure?
The role play test is a reliable measure of a candidate's skills and competencies, including interpersonal skills and their effectiveness in a challenging context requiring assertiveness, confidence, and self-awareness.
Why do employers use role play exercises to hire?
Role-playing is used by employers to evaluate a candidate's ability to handle a specific situation that is relevant to the job they are applying for.

The goal of the exercise is for assessors to know how the candidate would handle a real-life situation, demonstrate the competencies that are relevant to the role and to evaluate their potential as a future employee. In reference to the retail example above the assessor may be particularly looking out for customer satisfaction and increase in sales.
What happens during a role-play exercise?
During a role play assessment test, the candidate, often paired along with other candidates, are given a role-play candidate brief containing contextual information and specific scenario instructions. Depending on the industry, company and seniority level, role based assessments will differ - as will the fictional background briefs.

4 Key Stages to Your Role Play Assessment
1. All candidates are given a 'candidate brief'
You will not be required to create an imaginary context, or be asked questions that require specific information that you cannot be expected to retain without any previous instructions. The candidate brief outlines information that is relevant to the scenario; this may include a history of events, how any problem may have been managed previously (as if they were in a real-life workplace setting) as well as the competencies that will be evaluated.

Popular scenarios that could be used can involve:

A conflict between co-workers

A difficult customer

A problem that needs to be solved

2. The candidate is given a limited amount of time
You will be given a limited amount of time to prepare for the role-playing exercise under supervised conditions. You will then have a meeting with the 'role-player' who may be acting as a customer, a manager, a colleague and so on.

For example, a role-play exercise may involve a candidate playing a role (often the one they are applying for) of a manager for a small business and having to deal with a co-worker who has not been meeting their targets. The co-worker in this example may be played by an assessor but it is common practice for organisations to hire professional actors to perform these roles.
3. The candidates will act out the scenario
This will then be assessed by a trained observer, who are typically experienced HR professionals. They will observe, take notes throughout the assessment, and will look at factors such as the candidate's communication skills, ability to think on their feet, leadership potential, and overall approach to the situation.
4. Candidates are given feedback on their performance
After the assessment centre or role play activity you may be given overall feedback on your role play assessment test performance.

Did you know? Our Assessment Exercises are written by former- SHL consultants? Our Assessment Centre practice bundle includes Case Study, In-tray, Presentation, Group Discussion and Role Play Exercises along with Candidate Briefs and Assessor Marking Guides to tell you what Assessors will look at when rating you. Click here to practise Assessment Centre Exercises prepared by experts.

Why are role play exercises used at assessment centres?

The purpose of a role-playing exercise in an assessment centre is to assess the candidates' ability to handle imaginary real-life work scenarios and demonstrate the skills and competencies that are relevant to the role.

By using role play, assessors can observe the candidates in a more realistic setting and see how they respond to challenges and pressure.
What skills are assessed using role-play exercises?
During role based assessments, the assessors aim to assess a candidate's:

Problem-solving skills

Communication skills

Negotiation skills

Assertiveness

Leadership potential

Customer focus

Working under pressure

What industries use role playing exercises?

You can find examples of role based assessments across virtually all industries. Some of the most common examples of industries that rely on role playing exercises for testing their candidates would include:

These industries often require employees to handle challenging, thinking on their feet situations, with business stakeholders or customer interactions. Therefore, assessing these skills through role-playing can be an effective way to identify top candidates who show themselves to be confident and self-aware of the impact of what and how they say.

However, any industry that values competencies such as problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills may use role-playing in assessment centres as a way to evaluate job candidates.

Top 13 Tips to Prepare For a Role Play Exercise
1. Understand the purpose of the exercise
Before you start preparing, it's important to understand the purpose of the assessment and what the assessors are looking for. Think about the key skills and competencies that the role-play is designed to test. These could include negotiation, problem-solving, communication, or leadership, for example. Consider how you would demonstrate these skills during the role play.
2. Research the scenario
If you have been given information about the scenario ahead of time, take some time to research the topic and familiarise yourself with the situation. Try and find out the background of the situation, the characters / roles and the audience involved and what objectives you are trying to achieve. This will help you understand the context and think about how you would respond in a real-life situation.
3. Practise active listening
In most role-playing scenarios, effective communication is key. Practise active listening, which involves fully focusing on the other person, maintaining eye contact, and giving verbal and nonverbal cues that you are listening, for instance, make sure that when you are listening to questions you are attentive and demonstrate this through nods and gestures of agreement.
4. Rehearse
Before the assessment centre, take some time to practise role playing with a friend or colleague. This will allow you to feel more comfortable and confident with the role. Make sure to practise different strategies and approaches. When rehearsing your lines and responses, make sure you know what you are going to say and how you are going to say it.
5. Be aware of your body language
Your body language can communicate a lot about how you are feeling and what you are thinking. It can impact how you are perceived by the assessors and other role players.

Make sure to stand or sit up straight, maintain eye contact, and use gestures and facial expressions to show interest and engagement.

Maintain a relaxed eye contact - you do not want to be staring at the role-player (e.g. customer) in the eyes for prolonged periods of time.

Speak clearly and adapt your style depending on what the 'candidate brief' says about the individual; e.g. if they are sensitive, you may need to be very careful with the language you use. Smiling always helps too but do ensure this is not done to the extent where an angry customer can complain you were not taking them seriously.

Additionally, utilise the video below on the top 5 job interview body language tips to further your understanding.

Top 5 Job Interview Body Language Tips #shorts

6. Consider different perspectives
In a role play scenario, you may be asked to take on the role of a customer, employee, or manager. Try to put yourself in the other person's shoes and consider their perspective, needs, and motivations. This will help you respond in a way that is sensitive and appropriate.
7. Ask for clarification
If you are unsure about something during the exercise, don't be afraid to ask for clarification. This will show that you are engaged and will help you provide a more accurate and effective response.
8. Manage conflict
Avoid confrontation and do not speak over the role-player, regardless of how aggressive they may appear. The role-player may simply be doing this to see how you respond. Remain calm and focussed on your task.
9. Empathise
Ensure you show that you empathise and make a point of this at least twice. Be willing to hear the role-players opinions and feelings, and work together to reach a mutual win-win outcome. Do not try to force your own opinions.
10. Time keeping
Keeping a check on the time will earn you good points. Don't worry about finishing early, however finishing too early can often be viewed negatively as it reflects a lack of initiative.
11. Build rapport
The role-playing assessment is likely to be challenging and one of the most common themes that assessors feel candidates fail on is building rapport. Rapport helps to break any barriers and encourages a relaxed and open conversation.

People in situations where rapport is built at the onset find the session to be more meaningful than those who do not. This may involve simply offering the role-player a drink, asking how they are or even making a relevant joke assuming the circumstances permit.
12. Stay flexible and adaptable
The role play assessment test will not always go how you have planned or rehearsed, be prepared to think on your feet and make adjustments to your approach if needed.

Most likely, the role play will be just one aspect of the assessment centre, try not to get too caught up on the performance aspect.
13. Stay focussed and calm
Before you begin, take a few deep breaths before you start and try to relax. This will help you to stay focused and perform at your best.

Overall, the key to success in a role-playing exercise is to be prepared, stay calm, keep the competencies and skills being assessed in mind, and think on your feet. By following these tips, you can demonstrate your ability to handle real-life situations and impress the assessors.

What is an example of a role play exercise in an assessment centre?

Here is a short role play exercise example question and answer of a mock role play customer service exercise that is often used during assessment centres:

Scenario
You are a customer service manager at a call centre. You have received a call from a customer who is extremely upset because their order was not delivered on time. They are threatening to leave a bad review, cancel their account and take their business elsewhere.

Task
In this role playing assessment, you will play the role of the manager and must handle the situation with the upset customer. The assessors will be observing your communication skills, problem-solving ability and leadership potential.

Here are some tips for this role play assessment test example:

Listen actively to the customer, acknowledging their concerns.

Be empathetic and show that you understand the customer's frustration.

Take responsibility for the mistake and apologise for the inconvenience

Offer a solution, such as providing a discount on their next order.

Use positive body language and maintain calm and professional.

Try to resolve the situation and retain the customer's business.

What are some of the most common scenarios used in role-playing exercises?
The scenarios will vary depending on the industry and the role that is being assessed, however we found that the top 3 most commonly used role play scenarios are:

Dealing with a difficult client/customer, this scenario may be used in customer service, sales roles and retail industries, and is used to assess a candidate's communication skills, empathy and conflict resolution abilities.

Managing conflict within a team or with your manager. This scenario is commonly used in team-based roles and assesses the candidates' conflict resolution skills, empathy and ability to mediate disputes.

Making a difficult decision between various strategic options. This scenario is used to assess leadership skills, decision making skills, strategic thinking and ability to cope under pressure.

How are role play exercises assessed?

In a role play test, assessors will typically use an assessment form which will state all of the competencies they are looking for from the candidates that are relevant to the scenario and important to the role they are applying for, such as communication skills, decision making skills, initiative and self-confidence.

Good to know: The assessors will review the performance of the participants and will either score them on each of the different competencies the candidates do or do not show, for example a score out of 5. Alternatively, assessors may mark a candidate's performance using a checklist which will state whether the candidate meets the job requirements based on certain criteria.

What is a competency?
The knowledge, skills, abilities, and other desirable characteristics that are required to successfully improve the performance of a job role.

You can also check out this 1 minute video to find out all you need to know about competencies and how they are examined in a role playing assessment.

What is a Competency? (Get Ready for SJTs & Interviews) #shorts

Discover more quick answers for all you will need to know some of the top questions people ask about role based assessments in your assessment centre with our FAQs below:

Role Play Exercise FAQs
VIEW OUR TEST OPTIONS

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Role-Play Exercises 2023/24. Practice Exercises. Complete Guide.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Prepare for 2023/24 role-play exercises for top employers like PwC, KPMG, EY, Deloitte and Barclays with this complete practice guide from our team of experts.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Speaking activities often rely on pairing students up with the same speaking partner. This might result in boring, predictable, and demotivating speaking practice. In order to mix things up and expose students to a variety of speaking partners, I propose a speaking activity which I called Speed Discussions as its format resembles Speed Dating. Speed Discussions is a very dynamic activity and guarantees plenty of student talking time. It is a great idea for larger groups but might also be adapted for smaller classes.

The Task

Decide on the seating before the lesson. You might arrange the desks in a horseshoe or a single row with chairs on both sides of each table. This way students will be facing each other while they discuss each topic.

Let your students take their seats and tell them they are about to discuss X different topics with X different classmates. The number of topics depends on the class size. I prepared 6 different topics which is perfect for a group of 12. Be ready to step in in case not everybody in class has a speaking partner or arrange for a 3-person group (two students who don't switch places sit together, waiting for a new speaking partner).

Each discussion will last approximately 5 minutes. After this time, on your signal, one row of students (specify clearly which!) will move over one chair to their right to switch speaking partners and discuss next topic from the list.

Before the discussion begins, your students need to write down their opinion on each topic on a scale of 0 (totally disagree) to 5 (totally agree). They should write down the name of each of their speaking partners and their opinion about the topic before they start discussing it. If they have differing opinions, they might try to persuade their partner and change their mind. At the end of each discussion they should write down the Result (have they managed to change their partner's mind? Did they both agree with each other to begin with and just exchanged similar opinions?)

After all the topics have been discussed, see whether your students stuck to their guns or were flexible in changing their opinions. Ask individual students to recap one discussion they had and report on its final result. It is a good way to find out which topics proved to be more controversial than others.

Don't forget to listen to your students' English while they are discussing and be able to offer some particular feedback (common mistakes, false friends, examples of good grammar or vocabulary).

Personal Experience

I have been quite lucky teaching groups of eager and talkative students who don't shy away from expressing their opinions and interacting with their classmates. Or so I have thought until I realized that even though each group I teach is different, the dynamic is pretty much the same: students keep doing all speaking activities with the same partners and with each lesson they have less and less to talk about. This resulted in lazy speaking, relying on their partner too much, getting away with "I don't know, it depends" and general apathy during speaking practice which could potentially be the most interesting and engaging part of the class.

Speed Discussions were meant as a remedy to this near comatose state some of my groups were nearing and it worked like a charm. The choice of topics was actually secondary to the fast-paced, dynamic setup of the activity. Moving around the room, meeting a new partner, hearing a new voice (yes!) - these were all factors behind this really simple activity being successful. I got quite a lof of feedback from the students right after the class and it was overwhelmingly positive. I was thinking to myself "Why haven't I done this earlier, it's always been right there under my nose!"

I observed my students closely not so much to listen to what they were saying (grammar, vocab, etc.) but to see how they were interacting with each other. It was interesting to see usually quiet students liven up when they had to talk to a new speaking partner and they contributed more than what I remembered of them from their usual pairwork. I learned never to underestimate the power of shaking up the routine and its incredible effect on students' (and my!) morale and performance.

If you are looking for more speaking activities you could turn into Speed Discussions, take a look at Workplace Dilemmas, Parental Decisions or Problem Solving.

Materials
Speed Discussions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Speed discussions speaking activity allows students to talk with different classmates and exchange opinions on a variety of topics.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
ESL Conversation Questions and Speaking Activities

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ESL Conversation Questions and Speaking Activities

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Voting for one's future is often seen as a given in some countries. But in many places in the world, the future is often determined in other ways. How important is it to vote and why should people care about this? This conversation question sheet is to help stimulate a discussion with your students on the importance of voting.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Classroom Debate Task: Abolishing the British Royal Family

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.thinkib.net/ibcp/page/35286/43-discussions-and-debates

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.thinkib.net/ibcp/page/34864/effective-communication-

# data[].attributes.body
speaking tips, attitudes:

https://youtu.be/Ge7c7otG2mk?si=4EVIOMVzx-KL5Q3O

https://youtu.be/phgjouv0BUA?si=krN_XUiUzLtL9ayv