Royal Mail assessment?

Drake5 · 17 Oct 2010 at 17:20

I applied for some Royal Mail temp sorting work which usually comes up this time of the year and I've been asked to go for an assessment.

Anyone been the assessment before and what are you expected to do?

Not sure what to expect really.

Cheers

Deadbeat · 17 Oct 2010 at 17:30

Simple tests to make sure you can read & count, basically. No stress.

"andy" · 17 Oct 2010 at 17:41

so they actually test thesedays ? 5+ years back when i did it we had a guy in our team who couldnt read ! no one found out till 2 weeks in to the 4 weeks and even by the end of xmas the bosses hadnt found out.

Lunatic Dreyfus · 17 Oct 2010 at 18:04

The test I took was a speed/accuracy examination involving postcodes and addresses. Piece of cake. Then again out of the three that took the test, I was the only one to pass it. :eek:

One of the other guys spent the next few minutes arguing with the interviewer over it. He didn't get the job.

"andy" said:
so they actually test these days ? 5+ years back when i did it we had a guy in our team who couldnt read ! no one found out till 2 weeks in to the 4 weeks and even by the end of xmas the bosses hadnt found out.

I've often wondered about this at Christmas. The quantity of mis-sorted mail we receive at the delivery office increases dramatically. Now I know why.

Vanquish-Storm · 17 Oct 2010 at 19:02

There was a thread on this last week i think.

Theres no test, just go in with all the paper work they ask for and get pushed along the cattle market with the other 100 or so people there.

jp_bl_68 · 17 Oct 2010 at 19:05

Vanquish-Storm said:
There was a thread on this last week i think.

Yep - http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18196017

You basically show them that you are allowed to work in the UK, you give them a photo of yourself so they can make you an ID, you tell them where and when you want to work, they tell you when to start.

"andy" · 17 Oct 2010 at 19:07

thats how i remember it. then did a team building induction sort of thing where i basically just played games all morning

got a postman job out of my month there... wasnt for me though

Drake5 · 17 Oct 2010 at 20:14

I forgot to ask. Should I go dressed smart or casual for this assessment?

jp_bl_68 · 17 Oct 2010 at 20:22

Smart, I reckon. Always important to make a good impression even if the interview is only a formality. But when I did mine most people were dressed quite casually.

EvilDreams · 17 Oct 2010 at 22:02

I've done it, it's just a month in a basement getting parcels thrown off your skull by immigrants.

When I applied there was just an interview at the jobcentre to make sure you're not a terrorist.

No preparation needed whatsoever.

Don't worry now, worry nearer the time about how your brain is going to cope doing the same exact thing for 8 hours.

Drake5 · 17 Oct 2010 at 22:25

EvilDreams said:
I've done it, it's just a month in a basement getting parcels thrown off your skull by immigrants.

When I applied there was just an interview at the jobcentre to make sure you're not a terrorist.

No preparation needed whatsoever.

Don't worry now, worry nearer the time about how your brain is going to cope doing the same exact thing for 8 hours.

Yeah I had to attend the Jobcentre aswell just to register for the job.

I can imagine it being very repetitive, but we were told that you get a 10 min break every 50 mins, which seems pretty good.

EvilDreams · 17 Oct 2010 at 22:27

I can't really remember but we got two 15 minute breaks and a 40 minute break IIRC.

Your best weapon against going insane is to bring an MP3 player.

jp_bl_68 · 17 Oct 2010 at 22:28

TDenic said:
I can imagine it being very repetitive, but we were told that you get a 10 min break every 50 mins, which seems pretty good.

That wasn't the case when I did it last year. We got a forty unpaid lunch break in the middle of our shift. The only other downtime was when there was no mail to sort.

My advice would be to find some comfortable footwear. I was standing up all day (8 hours) wearing a pair of Converse. My feet were killing me by the end of the day.

EvilDreams said:
Your best weapon against going insane is to bring an MP3 player.

They wouldn't let us listen to music either. The supervisors were pretty strict about that.

e36Adz · 17 Oct 2010 at 23:08

I think the assessment the OP is referring too is in one the MDEC centres, where you are keying addresses into a computer rather then handling any actual mail.

You ideally need to be hitting 1000+ tasks per hour and 90% accuracy. I would concentrate more on accuracy for the assessment, as speed will naturally come the longer you are there. If you are a fast typer you should breeze it tbh.

Drake5 · 17 Oct 2010 at 23:18

e36Adz said:
I think the assessment the OP is referring too is in one the MDEC centres, where you are keying addresses into a computer rather then handling any actual mail.

You ideally need to be hitting 1000+ tasks per hour and 90% accuracy. I would concentrate more on accuracy for the assessment, as speed will naturally come the longer you are there. If you are a fast typer you should breeze it tbh.

Ah yeah this is the one I'm on about. I heard someone talking about having to key in addresses.

Fr0dders · 17 Oct 2010 at 23:19

TDenic said:
I forgot to ask. Should I go dressed smart or casual for this assessment?

Shirt + tie, no jacket i reckon.

That way if you look REALLY overdressed compared to everybody else you can ditch the tie in your pocket

cheets64 · 24 Oct 2010 at 02:06

I went to one and was told at the door the list was full on the first day and I turned up at 11am WHUT

I went to Preston and it was like being in a different country, spot the white man. Dire