This was an external executive assessment, outsourced to two consultants from Cubiks, Belgium. The assessment lasted for 4.5 hours and included three main segments - 1 hour on the CV and professional experience, a business case unrelated to the job (mine was about two airlines - passenger and cargo - merging and the ensuing issues), and a role playing - you are a new head, the targets for next year are going up and you have to meet with a head of unit that seems to be reluctant to accept the new targets.
A few major issues with this type of assessment, which I underwent for the first time: first and foremost, you will find that the judgement the consultants will pass on you is FINAL AND NO APPEAL OR RECOURSE OF WHATSOEVER NATURE is available to you. I found the report to be of low quality, its conclusions to be flowed on more than one ground, and overall untruthful compared to the feedback the consultants gave me during the interview. Some of the conclusions in the report were unduly condescending, e.g. they referred to me as 'smart' ..., or confused - that I 'managed junior people' and major stakeholders and therefore I'm not good to be a Head of a department of two. Others were outrightly flasified - they stated as a negative point on my business case that I did not provide the 'next steps', while my whole presentation was on that. The overall impression of the report was that it served a different than its declared purpose - namely, to facilitate a preferred choice by the employer. I am currently in a process of contesting this unacceptable practice of having to depend on a subjective judgement in such an important matter as your professional future without any recourse.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Nothing unusual, describe a success, standing up to authority, failure etc.