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E-Tray Exercises

E-Tray exercises are electronic versions of in-trays. Both use simulations and scenarios that you are required to interpret and process before making decisions on a number of tasks.

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What are E-tray exercises?

E-tray exercises are similar to in-tray exercises that have been used by employers for years. In the good old days of the analog age, during assessment centers candidates were tested in in-tray exercises, in which you were asked to play a member of staff, who unfortunately was significantly behind with his/her desk work. Once we have left the analog age and entered into a more exciting digital times, the in-tray exercises were replaced by e-tray.

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The simulation was now moved into the online environment. However, you still might be presented with a selection of letters, e-mails or newspapers abstracts and reports that you would be normally coping with on a busy day at work. So the workload and intensity of this exercise haven’t really changed. But the test will be conducted in a neat, and surely more familiar, digital format. This makes things a little bit easier for you, as it can, and in fact, should be practiced.

How to pass an e-tray exercise?

The exercise is usually integrated with other selection procedures. It might pop up during online application or the actual assessment center day.

In order to meet the requirements, you need to make sure you fully understand the information that is presented to you. So read slowly and carefully, and try to recreate the structure of the company in your head. After all, for the duration of the sitting, they are your colleagues.

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Prepare yourself for leading employers

  • BBC
  • Deloitte
  • HSBC
  • Amazon
  • Google
  • NHS
  • Civil Service

What skills are e tray exercises testing?

E-tray tests will vary, depending on the career path you have chosen to follow. However, the elemental structure is pretty much similar for all of them, since e-tray exercises are designed to verify certain competencies.

The sought-after qualifications will be named and defined differently regardless of your targeted job position, so we suggest always researching the actual skills an employer is looking for. Here are some examples.

Planning & organising

The scale of any business can probably be measured in the amounts of emails the company is sending and receiving. If you are on your way to the top, planning on joining the fast-growing, and super competitive enterprise, you would probably need to know how to dig a tunnel in that avalanche of information that you’d be subjected to 5 days a week. Time management and organizational skills are essential, and this is exactly what the e-tray is aiming to test.

Decision making & prioritisation

Some decisions have to be taken on the spot, others can wait. You need to know how to prioritize your tasks to get the thing done. But the e-tray also checks if you know how to hunt for the necessary information. Like in real life, you will be provided with more data than you can or need proceed – so expect distractions. The other thing is to execute whatever is needed to be done in time, without creating unrealistic schedules.

Communication

Receiving information is one thing, but being able to come up with the adequate response to it is another. E-tray is verifying not only if you can process the information being shared with you but also if you can react and communicate it in a timely, polite and a clear manner.

Creative & analytical thinking

Since the e-tray exercise is purely situational, candidates are not required to have any specific knowledge. However, the tests are aimed at assessing your intellectual and analytical skills. You will have to demonstrate that you can a) draw conclusions b) be a part of a dynamic conversation c) identify problems and come up with possible solutions.

Customer Focus

In some of the e-tray scenarios, you might have to deal directly with hypothetical customer feedback. Here, the employer is clearly verifying if you have done your homework to find out who their clients are. So make sure the imaginary customers on your e-tray exercise receive as timely and efficient service as they would in the real life, and try not to forget the importance of establishing a mutual respect.

Sample E-Tray Exercises question Test your knowledge!

Score: /5

You are leading a team and notice a duplication of effort, leading to wasted resources. What is your initial response?

  • Arrange for an immediate team meeting to address the redundancy and streamline the workflow.
  • Overlook the issue as the project is still on track with its deadlines.
  • Redistribute the team members to different projects that need more resources.
  • Cut the budget to force the team to work more efficiently.

You are the project manager at a software development firm and you receive an email from a key stakeholder stating that they are not satisfied with the progression of the project. How do you respond?

  • Acknowledge their concerns and ask for a meeting to discuss the project's progress and any adjustments that might be needed.
  • Explain that the project is within the defined parameters and that there is no need for concern.
  • Immediately instruct the development team to work overtime to speed up the progression.
  • Dismiss the stakeholder's concerns and continue with the project as planned.

As an HR manager, you receive an anonymous complaint about a department head who is allegedly creating a hostile work environment. What is your first step in addressing this issue?

  • Confront the department head with the complaint and demand an explanation.
  • Ignore the anonymous complaint as there is no concrete evidence.
  • Initiate a discreet inquiry to corroborate the claims made in the complaint.
  • Circulate a memo to the entire organization about the importance of a healthy work environment.

You receive a report indicating that your department's expenses are 20% over budget for the last quarter. What is the most appropriate action to take?

  • Implement immediate cuts across all projects to reduce expenses.
  • Perform a detailed review of expenses to identify specific areas for cost reduction.
  • Wait until next quarter to see if the trend continues before taking any action.
  • Request additional funding to cover the overage without exploring cost-saving measures.

Your company's CEO wants a brief on a new market opportunity before the day's end, but you have several high-priority tasks on your plate. How do you proceed?

  • Delegate the preparation of the brief to a trusted colleague while you focus on your other tasks.
  • Tell the CEO that it's not possible to provide the brief in such a short time frame.
  • Work extra hours to complete the brief, regardless of your current workload.
  • Ignore your other tasks and dedicate all your time to writing the brief.

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E-Tray Exercises Tips

1Research the role and organisation

Although considered common sense, specific information such as organisational culture, work ethos, organisational structure and highly specific job responsibilities are frequently not researched. The broader and more in-depth your knowledge of the organisation, the better prepared you will be to function in that organisation, and therefore perform to a higher standard in your e-tray exercise. These exercises will frequently be related not just to the organisation, but to the role and to the sector, so for a position in finance, the exercise will be geared towards the day to day activities of a finance worker. The more you know about the role and its responsibilities, the more natural the exercise will seem.

2Prioritisation

One integral part of the exercise is deciding which tasks are essential and require your immediate attention, and which tasks are of less priority and can be undertaken at a later stage. An important factor in this is time management, being aware of the length of the exercise and how much time you have to complete tasks, and therefore which tasks require immediate focus. Use your judgement to assess which tasks are high priority, and focus on their completion before worrying about less important or even trivial tasks, which do not require your immediate attention.

3Stay calm under pressure

With a time limit and being under observation can make e-tray exercises a stressful and nerve racking exercise. Performance anxiety and stress can make the exercise seem demanding, and as the difficulty increases throughout the exercise, it can seem like the workload keeps building and building. Taking time to read the background information thoroughly, deep breathing and positive thinking can do wonders in preventing feelings of stress, and therefore keeping on top of the demands of the exercise.

4Follow instructions

Taking time to read the question or the instructions will ensure that you are adequately prepared for that question, and ensure that you have not read the instructions incorrectly. Misreading the question or instructions is a very common and avoidable cause of getting questions incorrect, and can be easily avoided.

E-tray Video Tutorials

Drinks in Piccadilly

2 mins

Company Car

2 mins

Conference Confusion

2 mins
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E-Tray Exercises FAQs

How are e-tray exercises scored?

E-tray exercises are aimed at testing person in conditions that will emulate a regular workflow. You will be given tasks that will require you to act in the role of a company’s employee and cope with standard tasks at the job you’re applying for. Thus, your score will come together as a report on your actions and productivity.

What are e-tray exercises used for?

E-tray exercises are used to evaluate how fit an applicant is for the job. It is an emulation of a regular work day, as if you were already a part of the company. The tasks will be similar to those of routine responsibilities and some force-major situations. This process allows for assessing such skills as planning, organising, communication, decision making etc. needed for your desired position.

What do e-tray exercises involve?

E-tray exercises involve tasks designed to simulate work conditions at a position you are applying for. For instance, there might be such tasks as mail monitoring and task prioritisation, conference calling, organising a meeting, or preparing a report. Most companies will also give you a short orientation about your resources, co-workers and situations you will be in during the day to facilitate participation.

What do e-tray exercises measure?

E-tray exercises measure how a person uses their job-related skills in different simulated work situations. The majority of e-tray tests are aimed at assessing most crucial skills for a career you choose to pursue. Among such skills are creative and analytical thinking, planning, organising, and problem-solving skills, as well as stress resilience.

Where can I practice e-tray exercises?

While most of the e-tray tests will depend on the job you are applying for, there are some cases that could be generalised. Here on our website, we have some common types of e-tray tests so that you can familiarise yourself with them and practice to improve your performance.

Which employers use e-tray exercises?

E-tray exercises are basically the same as in-tray exercises, with the only difference: they are assessed digitally. While in-tray exercises are more resource-intensive to organise, e-tray tests are less demanding as they all run on electronic devices. Thus, even small businesses might afford testing their potential hires with this type of assessments.

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