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How Long Does It Take To Hear Back From an Assessment Centre?

Assessment centres prepare you for potential job opportunities. With pre-employment testing, interview sessions and group projects, the centres have everything you need to secure your dream job.

The preparation process poses great results and success with clients in their careers, but how long does it take to hear back from one?

Keep reading as this article outlines how long it takes to hear back from an assessment centre after you complete every step.

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After an Assessment Centre

Once you’ve finished all necessary requirements at the centre, the waiting game begins. Nerves run high when anticipating results, so here are some tips to calm and compose yourself when on standby.

Assessment centres, like any other job site, reach out to clients on their own time. Depending on the specific centre, you could wait a day before you receive results, or you could hear back in a month. The average lies between two to four weeks.

Each centre treats clients with care when reviewing assessments and conducting results, so waiting longer for results might not mean you did poorly. It could mean the centre took extra time with your case.

Follow-up Protocols

So you’re about to walk out of the assessment and you’re eager for your results. Maybe you’re in a cold sweat, nervous about your results, or you take on a strut, confident you aced the process. Regardless of your suspicions, there are additional measures to take to prove you’re a quality candidate.

You want people to remember you and you want them to remember you with fond memories. Be respectful during your interviews and exams and refrain from cocky behaviour. Chances are, once you finish your assessment, the administrator gives you an expected time frame for results.

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When you hear the timeframe, don’t sigh or grumble about the length. Instead, extend your gratitude, thank the administrator and leave them with a good impression.

Aptitude tests aren’t based on attitudes because they are objective multiple-choice exams, but the interviews and group project exercises showcase a lot about your personality, which can affect your results.

Showing off your unique personality could make the centre reach back out to you quicker than others who don’t show their thanks. Impressing an administrator at an assessment centre works to your benefit. They could even process your results quicker due to the positive experience with you.

Email Follow-Ups

Email

After a few hours, or a few days, you can follow up your verbal thank you with a thank you email or a thank you letter. Note your experience from the centre, reiterate your enthusiasm about the job and thank them for the opportunity.

Writing to the centre after your assessment shows you care about your results and you value the company’s consideration. It’s a good look for a potential employee.

What Not to Do When Waiting to Hear from an Assessment Centre

The process is long and, let’s not sugarcoat it, waiting for test results can be gruelling. You review egregious hypotheticals in your head, expecting the worst and psyching yourself out before any actual result comes through.

While eliminating nervous feelings is impossible, there are some ways to ensure you won’t get on the nerves of the assessment centre and affect your scores.

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Follow Up without Being Pushy

When waiting for your results, follow up but don’t be annoying. An email once after the in-person visit, once a week later and maybe again two weeks after that, indicates your interest and eagerness toward the position.

If you send out a daily email inquiring about the status of your results, you come off as over-eager and desperate, the opposite of what you want to show the assessment centre.

Follow up in a respectful manner. To mitigate nerves, remember they will answer you, but it might take longer than you anticipated.

On the other hand, not following up can look as bad as following up too much. If you don’t follow up, the centre might think you don’t care about the results or don’t respect them as a priority.

Using an assessment centre is an equal trade. They carve out time in their schedule to fit you in and you take time out of your day to attend their program. Show them you are grateful. Even if you write up one short thank you email following your testing, it shows you respect their time and appreciate their work.

What to Do if Your Results Aren’t What You Expected?

We’ve all been there. We think we’ve done well on a test or a project, but when we receive the grade or the results, we realise we didn’t do as well as we thought. If your results don’t match your expectations, that’s okay!

Assessment centres exist to help guide and provide feedback. They aren’t meant to be predictors of perfection, but comprehensive analyses of strong suits and areas needing improvement.

Read your results, take time with them and if questions arise, reach out to the centre and ask for advice. Maybe your group project skills aren’t where they should be for the prospective job you wanted. Don’t give up. Ask them where you can improve and integrate that feedback into everyday life.

There is always room for improvement. It may be a cliche saying, but it is true and there is no shame in asking for guidance, especially from a system specialising in giving feedback.

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Final Thoughts

Attending an assessment centre can be daunting with extensive exams, projects and interviews, but the results provide valuable insight into ways you can improve and which assets you’ve mastered.

Waiting for results is another factor causing apprehension in clients. Playing the waiting game is never fun, but there are ways to make the process easier, like knowing the centre has to respond and following up.

Most centres reach out with results between two and four weeks after a trip to the assessment centre. However, if it takes longer than that, don’t stress because the in-depth results are worth the wait.