ADC - The exercises

The exercises on the day are designed to give you maximum opportunity to demonstrate and evidence your skills and capabilities.

Your day will feature all, or a combination of, these activities (depending on level of your Assessment and Development Centre and whether or not this is your first attempt):

Judgement and leadership interview

You will complete a competency-based interview lasting up to 45 minutes, where you will discuss your judgement and leadership experience. The assessor will ask you competency-style and probing questions to help you demonstrate your knowledge and experience.

Peer-to-peer briefing

You will complete a 25-minute interactive role-play exercise where you will meet with a peer to discuss a hypothetical situation. You will have 45 minutes to prepare for the meeting and build your briefing information. During the meeting, your peer (the assessor) will ask questions to give you the opportunity to demonstrate your insights, relationship-building skills, and commercial support.

Supplier meeting

In this 25-minute interactive role-play, you will meet with a supplier (played by the assessor) to manage a complex commercial situation. This scenario is based on the same hypothetical situation as your peer-to-peer briefing. You will have 45 minutes to prepare for this exercise alongside your peer-to-peer preparation, plus an additional 10 minutes immediately before the meeting. During the exercise, you will manage a commercial situation, negotiate effectively, and secure the supplier’s buy-in.

Case study

Based on a hypothetical case study, you will review and analyse provided information, such as emails, reports, or financial data. You will have time to prepare, then present your findings and approach to the assessor, who may ask follow-up questions to help you elaborate on your knowledge.

Technical interview

You will complete a competency-based interview lasting up to 60 minutes, exploring your technical experience across four commercial lifecycle areas. The assessor will ask questions to help you extract evidence from your experience.

Stakeholder meeting (senior commercial specialist level only)

In this interactive role-play exercise, you will analyse information and lead a stakeholder meeting. You will have 30 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes for the meeting, during which two assessors playing stakeholders will probe and ask questions.