Virtual Assessment Centre Tips
On a virtual assessment day the scoring grid stays exactly where it was. The room becomes a video call, the paper pack becomes a browser tab, and several of the cues you would normally read across a table arrive late or not at all.
Employers run online assessment days on a video platform, commonly Microsoft Teams or Zoom, though some use their assessment provider’s own portal or another tool, and the invitation will name the one to use. The usual shape is a welcome call where a coordinator checks everyone in and walks through the timetable, then a run of exercises in breakout rooms or separate calls, with breaks between them. Some exercises are observed live. Others, typically the e-tray and the written task, arrive as a link or a document that you complete alone within a set window.
What assessors score does not change. They still write down what you say and do, map it to the employer’s competencies or values, and compare evidence in a wash-up meeting after the day. There is no extra competency for being good on camera. What video changes is visibility: an assessor can only credit an intervention they heard clearly and only notice inclusion they saw happen, so behaviours that come naturally across a table need to be made deliberate on a screen.
The marks candidates lose on virtual days are rarely lost in the exercises themselves. They go on a microphone left muted for the first minute of a presentation, a connection that drops mid-discussion with no plan for getting back, or a breakout room where three people start speaking at once and then nobody does. Almost all of it can be prevented the day before, and the rest is recoverable if you have decided in advance what you will do.
How the day usually runs
Formats differ between employers, so treat this as the common pattern rather than a fixed schedule. Some days take a morning, some a full working day, and some are split across two dates.
1.Check-in
You join from the link in your invitation, ideally ten minutes early. A coordinator confirms who is present, checks that everyone can be heard and may ask you to hold photo ID up to the camera.
2.Welcome briefing
Someone from the employer introduces the organisation and the day. The coordinator explains the timetable, the rules on notes and other open windows, and what to do if your connection fails. If you do not already have their phone number, get it now.
3.Live exercises
Group discussions, presentations, role-plays and interviews run in breakout rooms or separate calls, each with its own assessors. You are either moved between rooms by the host or sent a fresh link for each session, so keep the invitation and the timetable open.
4.Self-completed tasks
E-tray, in-tray and written exercises are often done alone on your own computer, through the assessment provider’s platform or a document pack, within a fixed window. Some employers ask you to stay on camera while you work; others let you leave the call and rejoin afterwards.
5.Breaks
Expect short gaps between exercises and, on a longer day, a lunch break. The coordinator will say whether to stay in the call with your camera off or leave and rejoin at a set time. Step away from the screen if you can: ten minutes away from the desk does more for the next exercise than ten minutes rereading notes.
6.Close
A final session covers next steps and when you will hear back. Informal slots such as questions with current staff are often unscored, but it is still the employer on the other end, so stay on camera and engaged until the call ends.
What changes in each exercise
The exercises are the ones you would face in person. What differs is how each is delivered, and which habits need adjusting for a screen.
Group discussion
Usually a breakout room with the other candidates and one or more assessors, who may keep their cameras off and stay silent throughout. Latency breaks normal turn-taking, so hand over by name and leave a slightly longer gap before you come in. Chat is handy for a proposed agenda or a figure from the pack, but assessors mostly record what is said aloud, so do not let your best point live only in the chat.
Presentation
Delivered by sharing your screen or with no slides at all, depending on the brief, so check which before you start building. Share the single window you need rather than your whole desktop. Look at the camera lens for your opening, your recommendation and your close; looking at the faces on screen reads to the panel as looking down.
E-tray and in-tray
Typically completed on your own computer, in the provider’s browser platform or from a document pack, within a time window. The conditions are your own desk and your own distractions, so close email and messaging apps before the clock starts and check whether scrap paper and a calculator are allowed.
Written exercise
Often sent as a pack and a template to complete in a word processor or the provider’s platform, then uploaded before a deadline. Leave a few minutes for the upload itself, save as you go, and keep a copy of the version you submitted.
Role-play
A video call with an actor or an assessor playing the other person, sometimes with a second assessor observing. Small signals like a nod are harder to read on a screen, so check understanding out loud more than you would in person and summarise what has been agreed before the call ends.
Interview
Live on the same platform, with one interviewer or a small panel, and marked against the same competencies as the rest of the day. Leave a short pause after each question before answering, because audio lag makes it easy to start talking over the last few words.
Setup checks for the day before
- 1
Run a test call on the named platform
Install or update the platform the invitation names and join a test meeting with a friend, signed in with the account you will use on the day. Find the mute, chat, raise-hand and screen-share controls now, and practise sharing one window rather than the whole screen.
- 2
Test the connection from your actual seat
Run a speed test from the spot you will sit in, not the room next to the router. A wired connection is steadier than wifi if you can manage one. If not, sit close to the router and ask the rest of the household to pause streaming and large downloads during your slot.
- 3
Raise the camera to eye level
Stack books under the laptop until the lens is level with your eyes and your head and shoulders fill most of the frame. A camera looking up at you from desk height is a common setup and one of the easiest to fix.
- 4
Put the light in front of you
Face a window or place a lamp behind the screen. A bright window behind you turns you into a silhouette, which matters when an assessor is trying to read your reactions in a role-play.
- 5
Deal with noise in advance
Pick the quietest room available, tell anyone you live with when you will be live, and use headphones with a microphone if you have them, which also stops echo in the group exercise. Put a note on the door if it helps.
- 6
Charge and sign in to a backup device
Install the platform app on a phone or tablet, sign in and keep it charged. Rejoining from a phone within two minutes is a minor incident. Fifteen minutes spent troubleshooting a laptop is a missed exercise.
- 7
Write down the coordinator’s phone number
On paper as well as in your phone, along with their email address. If you drop out and cannot get back, they are the first call, before you try anything else.
- 8
Clear the desk and the screen
Notepad, two pens, water, the invitation and timetable to hand. Close every app you do not need and silence notifications on the laptop, the phone and any smartwatch.
Video etiquette assessors notice
Stay on camera and in frame
Keep your camera on during every exercise and briefing unless told otherwise. Leaving the frame mid-discussion, even for a moment, looks like disengagement to someone who can only see the frame.
Use your real name on screen
Set your display name to the one on your application, not a family account or a nickname, so assessors can attach their notes to the right person without guessing.
Signal before you speak
The platform’s raise-hand button, an actual raised hand or a quick “Can I come in here?” prevents the double start that video makes so common. Then make your point.
Keep chat for logistics
Chat suits a time check, a link or a figure everyone needs. Arguing a position there splits the discussion into two channels and leaves your contribution where assessors may not be looking.
Look at the lens when it counts
Eye contact on video means looking at the camera, not the faces. You cannot do it constantly while reading the room, so do it when you open, when you make your main point and when you close.
Keep side activity out of shot
Reading from a second screen, typing while someone else speaks or glancing at a phone are all visible. If you are taking notes during a discussion, say so once, so the downward glances have an explanation.
Rehearse at the desk you will use
CogniPrep exercises run in your browser against a countdown, the same conditions as the e-tray and written tasks on a virtual day. Each decision is marked against an expert key, and anything you write gets AI feedback.
When the technology fails
Employers running virtual days expect some disconnections, which is why the invitation includes a contact. How you handle the moment is visible to assessors, and a response you have thought through stops one glitch from costing a whole exercise.
Your connection drops in the middle of the group discussion
Rejoin from the same link straight away, or switch to your backup device. When you are back, one sentence is enough: “Sorry, I dropped out for a minute, where have we got to?” Then contribute. Spending airtime apologising costs more than the outage did.
Your microphone or camera stops working
Type a short message in the chat so the room knows you are not ignoring them, then leave and rejoin, which clears many device problems. If that fails, join from your phone for audio and mute the laptop so the two do not feed back.
Screen sharing fails as your presentation starts
If you sent the slides in advance, ask whether the assessor can share them. If not, present without them. Signpost out loud (“that is the first of three points”) so the structure the slides would have shown is still audible.
The e-tray platform freezes or will not load
Note the time, screenshot any error message and contact the coordinator at once rather than at the end. Employers can sometimes reset or extend a window, but only if they know while it is happening.
You are dropped and cannot get back in
Phone the coordinator. Some employers can move you to a later slot or rerun a missed exercise, but that is their decision, and it is much easier for them to make when you contacted them promptly.
Practising in the same conditions
On a virtual day the e-tray, in-tray and written tasks happen in a browser on your own computer, against a clock, with reference documents open beside the work. CogniPrep exercises run the same way: in the browser on your own machine, timed, with the brief and documents available throughout. Doing one at the desk and on the connection you will use on the day rehearses the conditions as well as the exercise. The e-tray guide covers how those inbox tasks are scored.
The live exercises cannot be run on your own, but the decisions inside them can. CogniPrep’s group, presentation and role-play scenarios score the choice you take at each turn against an expert key and mark the note, plan or brief you write with AI. The guides to the group exercise, presentation and role-play explain what assessors record in each, and our post on what assessors write down in group exercises goes further into the observation notes.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need my camera on for the whole virtual assessment centre?
For live exercises, briefings and interviews, yes, unless the coordinator says otherwise. In breaks you can usually switch it off. Some employers also ask for cameras on during self-completed tasks such as the e-tray, so check the invitation.
Can I have notes in front of me?
A notepad for working during exercises is normally fine. Reading prepared answers from a second screen in the interview is easy to spot on camera and may break the rules, which some employers spell out. If the invitation is unclear, ask what is allowed.
Is a virtual assessment centre easier than an in-person one?
Neither format is designed to be easier: the exercises and the scoring standard are the same. Candidates tend to find different parts harder. Turn-taking in the group exercise is clumsier on video, while some people find presenting from their own desk less stressful than standing in front of a panel.
Does dress code matter on a video call?
Dress as you would for the in-person day, all of it rather than only the top half, because you may need to stand or move on camera and it changes how you carry yourself. Fine stripes and busy patterns can flicker on video, so plain colours are safer.
My home has no quiet room or reliable connection. What can I do?
Tell the recruiter as soon as you know. Employers may be able to offer a different slot or other arrangements, and they cannot help with a problem they first hear about on the morning. A bookable study room at a library, college or university is also worth looking into.
How long does a virtual assessment centre last?
Anything from a couple of hours to a full working day, depending on how many exercises the employer runs, and some split them across two dates. The invitation normally includes a timetable, and asking for one if it does not is perfectly reasonable.
Is there a way to rehearse the online exercises beforehand?
Yes. Do a full timed exercise in the browser at the desk you will use on the day. CogniPrep e-tray, in-tray and written exercises run in the browser on your own computer against a countdown, and the group, presentation and role-play scenarios score the decision you make at each turn, with AI feedback on the written parts.
Practise this next
How to pass a video interview
Framing, delivery and timing for the recorded interview that often comes before the assessment day.
Group exercise tips
The contributions that earn marks in a discussion, which matter even more in a breakout room.
Assessment centre practice
All six exercise formats, run in your browser against a countdown, with scored feedback.