Aol Business Strategies Essay Example For Students

Aol Business Strategies Essay A. Business Strategies1. Strategic Objectives? Brand Name Recognition? Alliances with Suppliers to provide Customers with one-stop shopping? Develop massive customer base? Create an easy internet/email service? Create non-financial costs to customers to dissuade them from moving to competitors2. Cost Strategy? Profits mater more than growth? Make cost to switch not financially practically? Make it financially difficult for competitors to contend with AOL3. Differentiation Strategy? Provide on-line features with special offers to AOL subscribers? Attract suppliers by intangible benefit of association with AOLs brand name? Offer premium services? Provide user-friendly access4. Innovation Strategy? AOL Direct? New AOL software? AOL TVB. Successes? Forty percent of online traffic is from AOL? Users are watching less TV therefore advertisers are spending more on internet advertising? Reduced costs by eliminating inefficient units? Reduced costs by lowering AOLs cost of connect time? Reduc ed costs to acquire new subscribers? Leverage AOLs massive subscriber base for all it is worth? Generated guaranteed future revenuesC. Uses of Technology? New AOL software could save up to $40 million in customer service costs? Creating a personalized digital newspaper? Creating competition for WebTVD. Problems to Overcome? Not customer service friendly? Internet service occasionally has outages and email glitches? The telcos and cable companies are targeting AOLs customers? Analysts predict AOL will lose market share? Lead companies would rather invest in their own websites than AOL advertisingE. RecommendationsThe key strategy is leveraging the brand name of AOL. AOL adds more than 10,000 users a day . Once consumers associate Internet service with AOL, then competitors will not be able to enter the market. AOL needs to form more alliances with suppliers to ensure guaranteed financial revenues for many years. AOL needs to strategize with the cash surplus and focus on new technolog y to eliminate system outages and email glitches. If AOL users experience to many difficulties, then they will surrender the financial and nonfinancial costs to mover to a more sophisticated Internet provider. F. Time Warner Merger20 million families rely on AOL to be their Internet provider. This is a powerful market of consumers who are influenced by convenience. This merger is an attempt to lock in customers to AOL with the convenience of ?one-stop shopping?. Customers will be able to watch TV and email their friends about a particular program at the same time. Customers will also be able to surf the Internet during commercials of their favorite TV show. This merger is another step towards AOLs strategic goal of creating non-financial costs to deter customers from switching to another Internet provider and simultaneously, AOL will be able to create new marketing arenas in order to attract suppliers to form alliances with AOL. Strategies and TechnologyCustomers Suppliers Competitors Strategic Objective Offer many online- * Leverage subscribers *Lock out competitorsservices for ease base for maximum by locking in customersof customers advertising ; suppliers with AOLCost StrategyMake cost to switch Offers suppliers access Make it financially difficultnot practical to have customers pay on-line for competitors torather than sending out a bill contend with AOLDifferentiationStrategy Provide more on-line *Suppliers benefit by *Offer exclusive rights to contractsfeatures with special association with AOLs so competitors are not able tooffers to subscribers brand name add equal value to their servicesInnovationStrategy Introduce AOL Direct #Offer many new ideas #Provide unmatched productsso members who have of marketing and and servicesweb pages can be grouped advertising forumsby common interestsStrategies and SuccessesStrategic Objective*Brand name recognition *Offer alliances to provide *Develop massive custo mer basetheir services in a secure and make it difficult to switchformat internet providersCost Strategy#Increase monthly access fee #Charge premium rates for Cash surplus secures positionprivilege to advertise on any new delivery platformon AOLDifferentiation Strategy #Provide user-friendly access *AOL brand name creates Lower costs of acquiring new immediate value to suppliers subscribers make it difficultfor others to compete withoutsuffering a financial hardship? * is Strength of AOL? # is Weakness of AOLBusiness

Sample Essay UVA Prompts

Sample Essay UVA PromptsThe Sample Essay UVA Prompt is an online version of the UVA Sample Essay course developed by the University of Virginia College of Arts and Sciences. The idea is to provide high school students with a clear framework of what writing an essay is all about.It's a set of English grammar, spelling, and vocabulary tips that will help you write well on your essay, if you make the most of it. You can find these tips in the Common Core Test Prep Materials, in the UVA Sample Essay Course or even in the PowerPoint Essay Prompt. It's up to you which one you will choose.In fact, it's entirely up to you how you go about completing your first essay, especially if you're a new student. These prompts are a good starting point for high school seniors or older high school students. They give you an introduction to how you'll be writing an essay.Once you've picked an essay topic to work with, it will be up to you to come up with a good plan for writing your essay. You can choose from a wide variety of topics, so take your time in researching your topic and analyzing your strengths and weaknesses.The Sample Essay UVA Prompt is one of the most widely used online activities for high school students. It's based on the UVA College of Arts and Sciences course, which itself is based on the Common Core Standards.The UVA Sample Essay Course also offers a Parent Essay Kit, which is just like the UVA Sample Essay Course, but focused on providing parents with additional activities to help their kids learn how to write essays. The two versions are completely independent, but together they are a great way to explore writing essays.There are two forms of Sample Essay Prompts: 1-page or 2-page. Both offer a wide variety of topics for high school students to pick from. If you have a specific topic you're interested in, make sure you search for it before purchasing the prompts.

Fast Food, Fat Profits

The documentary film Fast Food, Fat Profits is aimed at exploring various issues such as the underlying causes of obesity in the United States, the eating habits of American people, and the factors that shape their dietary choices. This movie can be discussed with the help of frame analysis developed by Erving Goffman.Advertising We will write a custom critical writing sample on Fast Food, Fat Profits specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This approach can show how the authors convey their main message to the viewers. Moreover, this film should be evaluated from the perspective of radical doubt. In this way, one can evaluate the arguments or ideas more critically. First, one can speak about social framework which implies that the events and trends described in the movie can be explained by the actions and decisions of individuals and organizations that can derive some benefit from current social tendencies (Goffman 22). In this case, o ne should speak about the activities of fast-food companies that provide products that are rich in calories. These enterprises can appeal to many consumers because they can sell their foods at a much lower price. Moreover, these organizations resist the attempts of legislators to regulate their activities. Apart from that, much attention should be paid to the unwillingness of public administrators to raise awareness about the risks of fast food. For instance, many employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture are affiliated with the producers of fast food. In fact, they can even lobby the interests of these businesses. Thus, the epidemic of obesity in the United States can be attributed to the activities of corporations as well as governmental officials who have a conflict of interests. This is one of the messages that this documentary film conveys. However, it is also possible to speak about the natural framework according to which the events should be regarded as undirected or u nguided (Goffman 22). In other words, the outcomes should not be attributed to an agent that strives to influence the behavior of other people.Advertising Looking for critical writing on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This perspective can be applied to this film. For instance, one can say that the epidemic of obesity is driven by the economic inequalities in the American society. Many people are not able to purchase healthy food products; therefore, they have to buy fast food. Furthermore, many people do not know much about the risks of such eating habits. In particular, some of them are not fully aware of such consequences as diabetes or heart diseases. Therefore, it is not reasonable to blame only fast-food companies or governmental officials for the growing rates of obesity in America. By combining natural and social frameworks, one can argue that obesity can be viewed as the result of economic inequalities , the activities of fast food companies, and people’s lifestyles. Thus, the film-makers crafted the main message of this documentary by using natural and social frameworks. This is one of the issues that can be distinguished. In addition to that, this film can be discussed from the standpoint of radical doubt. In particular, it is possible to assume that people, who spoke about the underlying causes of obesity, had an incentive to conceal or even distort information. For instance, one can suppose that some critics of these products were affiliated with some competitors of fast-food companies. Therefore, they could be motivated to accuse these businesses of various health problems faced by American people. Thus, the practice of radical doubt can help a person to examine the arguments of other people more thoroughly. Furthermore, this approach is useful for indentifying the limitations of the statements made by other people.Advertising We will write a custom critical writi ng sample on Fast Food, Fat Profits specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For example, one can say that the authors of this movie did not pay much attention to the sedentary lifestyles of many people. Similarly, the people, who were interviewed in the film, could be willing to accuse fast-food companies because it was difficult for them to accept their responsibility for their eating habits. This is one of the details that should not be overlooked. In turn, the film-makers did not speak much about people’s unwillingness to do physical exercises which are important for controlling weight. Therefore, the main message of this documentary is not quite accurate. Thus, the notion of radical doubt is a helpful tool for the evaluation of information. There are some limits to the practice of radical doubt. As it has been said before, this method is premised on the idea that a person has an incentive to lie. Thus, one must show or prove that this motivation is present. Furthermore, by relying on radical doubt, one can question the validity of every study, report, survey, and so forth. The main problem is that in this way, one can reject virtually every source of information. This is one of the limitations that can be singled out. Still, this discussion shows that the analysis of cinematographic work should be based on the application of critical thinking skills. In this way, one can better critique the arguments put forward by other people. These are the main benefits of this approach. Works Cited Goffman, Erving. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience,  Boston: Northeastern, 1986. Print. This critical writing on Fast Food, Fat Profits was written and submitted by user Tombstone to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Apace Research Essays - Space Colonization, Space Exploration

Apace Research Essays - Space Colonization, Space Exploration Apace Research The urge to explore and search the unknown is part of human nature and has led to many of the most important changes in our standard of living. Searching and exploring enriches our spirits and reminds us of the great potential of achievement. The drive to develop the next frontier has also been a fundamental part of the heritage of the people of the world. Every year, billions of dollars are spent on the exploration of space. Many citizens doubt the necessity to research our solar system and the rest of our universe. Spaceflight may seem us as an ultramodern idea, but evidence of the dream of space exploration exists as far back as texts from early centruies from the first millenium. From Thales to Copernicus including almost 14 hundred years some of the scientists could declare that the earth was round and sun was the center of our solar system.. Much later, in the 1600s, Sir Isaac Newton formulated the laws of universal gravitation and motion. Today a rocket operates under this principle. The first American satellite, Explorer 1, was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on January 31, 1958. Later, Yuri A. Gagarian, a Ru ssian cosmonaut, made one full orbit around the Earth on April 12. The United States had become furious. Their mission was to be the first men on the moon. The Lunar Module had landed on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong descended the ladder and said the famous words, Thats one small step for man and one giant step for mankind. Today, instead of competing against one another, Russia and America are working together, planning the construction of an international space station. We know that we have learned much about our planet from our journeys in to space. Today everybody in the earth knows the importance of satellites for communication. It takes seconds to be connected with anyone otherside of the planet. Satellites at thousands of kilometers miles out in space can survey Earths oceans, land use and

Money Laundering Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Money Laundering - Essay Example Money represents the lifeblood of a criminal or a terrorist organisation and it is for this reason that most countries and global institutions have an interest in detecting and preventing money laundering2. Researchers suggest that the estimated aggregate funds processed by money laundering activities from around the world range from US$ 590 billion to US$ 1.5 trillion3. However, approaches to regulation, implementation and enforcement of anti-money laundering legislation differ despite a consensus for global cooperation and affect the anti-money laundering efforts as nations try to balance regulation, cost of enforcement and rights4 . The major financial centres from around the world have presented a need for greatest vigilance and effort directed towards prevention and prosecution of those involved in money laundering because global flows of dirty money are either generated in affluent economies or flow through these centres. Thus, it makes sense to try to examine the nature, empha sis and implementation of the anti-money laundering regulation and efforts in London and the UK within a broader regional and global context involving other major financial centres from around the world. It is with the previously mentioned objectives of interest to all those with an interest in the topic of discussion that this dissertation attempts to examine critically the prevailing anti-money laundering regime in the UK. To try to examine the anti-money laundering approach in the United Kingdom from the perspectives of domestic concerns, rights, expenses incurred for enforcement and development of European and international law and regulation. To present an examination of the processes for money laundering, their evolution and the manner in which the United Kingdom anti-money laundering regime acts to effectively prevent and deter money laundering. To try to present suggestions for improvements in effectiveness of the anti-money laundering regime in the United Kingdom,

Statement of purpose Personal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 12

Of purpose - Personal Statement Example I believe a meaningful life should be all about aiming high and working hard to reach that high. Purdue University is the best university that help one realize the full potential in health and human sciences. One of the unique qualities of Purdue University is that it has accreditation to offer programs in health and human sciences and guarantees a nationally recognized degree to any person undertaking a program in this university. Secondly, the university is committed to excellence though creating, disseminating and applying knowledge in the areas of the programs offered. Thirdly, the university opens its doors to the locals, national and international citizens through providing healthy and safe working and learning conditions to the students, teachers, workers and the community in general. The university has several interdisciplinary programs, which include radiology, occupational health science, environmental health science, environmental and occupational toxicology, and medical laboratory sciences. Purdue University has academic research and training facilities that will assist in pursuing my degree. Such facilities include state of the art programs that help in preparing students to become great leaders. In addition, there are research and development programs that aids in improving the understanding of the particular area of study. The faculty that interests me in Purdue University is the faculty of occupational and environmental toxicology. The program involves the study of the adverse effects of toxic substances on people, animals, and the ecosystem. The research projects in this faculty include the research on the environmental causes of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and tremors, research on cellular toxicities caused by radiation and research on fetal origin of adult diseases due to early exposure to chemicals such as pesticides. In

Assessment Centres: Advantages and Disadvantages

Assessment Centres: Advantages and Disadvantages Assessment centres were introduced at the middle of the 20th century. It also gives the idea and use of assessment centre. It uses to check the ability and skills of the employees. History of assessment centres explore, how and why assessment centres help us to appreciate, what the original user were trying to get and how can be assessed the skills, attitudes, personal skills and abilities as well as knowledge of the participants with the help of interview, exercises and leading practice. Basically, the origin of assessment centres started for the selection of the soldier in the Germany. That time there was a great frustration between the boundaries of the countries due to the atmosphere of the war, and every country wanted to get Prestige on the other countries. So, assessment centres used to check the ability and quality of the employees, and referred the position according to his knowledge and capabilities. We can be seen certain example throughout the history. Germany used to check the ability and performance to select the officers. In the book Spies and Saboteurs, by Dr W.J.Morgan (1955, London Victor Gollancz Ltd), the author describe how a German psychologist, Dr Simoneit watched officer performing a variety of tasks. The duties of assessment centres were to check the abilities thorough different implications of test and exercises. It also checked the rate and standard of the officers and according to this, the promotions have been announced by the army. This process had been started because; it showed the performance and their promotions. It also explored the certain reasons, why certain offices did not reveal or proceed in the way. They would have been promoted once. After this, the assessment centres emerged from Germany to USA. USA was one of the fast growing economies and USA used to judge the ability of the spy. It also used select the officers for intelligence. For checking of mental ability of officers they used further research of psychological and scientific method had been to add the work by assessment centres. The concept of assessment centres populated in different economy from one side of the world to another part of the world. British Government checks the qualities of on board selection committee and testing method. British government added more tests and exercises analysing the capability, British were pioneers to add the physical and psychological tests during an interviews and selections for employees. Dr WJ Morgan illustrates that it is how you performed your tasks, whether as an individual or within a group, that matters not how quickly an exercise was done. With the passage of the time, it growth and, different business have been adopted by different countries. Then most businesses used the assessment centres to assessing the hold jobs to employees. But sometimes man has more ability but at the position sometimes, it can be showed by an organisation. In this matter the assessment centres help the organisation as well as to emerged the capabilities of the employees and the employees have better opportunities to do best. It is right that an assessment centres started for militaries bias to check the abilities but now it very common in between every aspect of the life such as businesses and other public service as well. Now in this era, there is a great competition in the world, so, it is not easy task to check the capabilities of any employees. So in this matter assessment centres is helpful to check the abilities and capabilities through the interviews and exercises the personality of the employees. (http://www.psychometric-success.com/faq/faq-assessment-centre-origin.htm) INTRODUCTION OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS: An Assessment Centres does not refer to a location, DEFINE ASSESSMENT CENTERS : It can be usefully defined as A method for assessing aptitude and performance; applied to a group of participants by trained assessors using various aptitude diagnostic processes in order to obtain information about applicants abilities or development potential. Assessment Centres are mostly utilized in the initial stages of the selection process; this is due large amount of time and expenditure involved in it. This is followed by initial job interview. Assessment centres involve assembling in one place several candidates who applying for the same position and putting them through a variety of different tests. They can be operated over one day, but usually involve an overnight stay. Assessment Centres are seen as one of the most effective ways of identifying top candidates wholl get on well with others and fit in with the organizations culture. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Developments Recruitment, Retention and Turnover 2009 Survey, 34% of employers now use assessment Centres when recruiting managers, professionals and graduates. (http://www.psychometric-success.com/psychometric-tests/psychometric-tests-assessment-centers.htm) IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS: Implementation of assessment centres should be carried out properly. When the structure and content of the assessment centre have been established, the issues involved are organising, managing and giving proper direction. The assessment centres should have a range of activities that allow candidates to demonstrate teach competency more than once during the course of the centre. The range of activities should considered exercises that sample job content and mirror real-life situations. The assessment centres should have different department heads which can manage too many candidates or too many exercises and maintain a sensible ratio of assessors to candidates. The assessment centres should have proper clear goal in mind so that they achieve the success. Adopt a competency-based approach with assessment criteria appropriate to the target role. Training is necessary for assessors in technical areas, such as observation and interview techniques, and raises their awareness of diversity issues. Feedback should be given to both the successful as well as unsuccessful candidates. The assessment centres activities should regularly refresh to avoid over-familiarity on the part of candidates and assessors. DESIGN OF A SUCCESSFUL ASSESSMENT CENTER: The successful assessment centre is well defined on how well it has been designed. Before designing its best to review the nature and purpose of an assessment centre. The important feature is to consider the skills and abilities assessed are actually relevant to the job in question. An assessment centre is a step further in selection procedure, it is held either on employers premises or in a hotel, which normally lasts one or two days. The process which usually involves in designing is as follows: While designing the assessment centre the time duration of the centre is taken into consideration. For instance, for senior most people, one day might not be sufficient. The second most important criteria is the location of the assessment centre, which deals with the proper surroundings and accessibility for candidates. Create a Task list and match with roles and goals given by the company. Create a questionnaire related to the task list. Use the competencies well through knowledge and skills. DIFFERENT TYPES OF COMPETENCIES: Different competencies generally are developed as framework to be used as a reference or resource. The purpose of the resources database is to assist users to identify the many existing competency-based resources currently in use. The database is not exhaustive, but contains numerous examples of the resources that were tapped to identify competencies in the development of the high growth industries. A competency is demonstrated or mastered in a job and can be easily transferred to another job. These resources generally contain descriptive information about the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for success in the field. Managerial Competencies: The competencies which are considered to be important for staff with managerial or supervisory responsibility with sizeable budget to manage, which includes directors and senior posts. Some managerial competencies could be more relevant for specific fields; however they are applied in the organization. These competencies include: 1) Team leadership 2) Change management 3) Analysis and decision-making. 4) Interpersonal sensitivity. Technical/ Functional Competencies: Some specific competencies which are taken into consideration to perform any job in the organisation within a defined technical or functional area of work. Those competencies are as follows: 1) Industrial process sectors. 2) Finance and administration 3) Human resource management and environmental management. Generic Competencies: Competencies which are considered essential for all staff, regardless of their function or level include: 1) Communication programme execution. 2) Processing tools. 3) Business awareness. 4) Achievement and motivation. STEPS INVOLVED FOR SUCCESSFUL ASSESSMENT CENTRE: The assessment centre should be very clear about the objectives. They should have a proper planning and organising of all the departments which are involved with them for two or three days. The assessor should look for different competencies which are being evaluated in the assessment centre. When the assessor is assessing the candidates working environment is taken into consideration. The assessment centres should be well known for their good and different variety of exercise so that the candidates feel motivated. The vital step involved for successful assessment centre is giving feedback to everybody. Successful as well as those candidates who did not get selected. MAIN ELEMENTS OF ASSEMENTS CENTERS: Elements of assessment centres are used in anglicising and zeroing in on relevant behaviours to be assessed and evaluated. The assessment centre use different exercises and techniques to select or assess the candidates. The assessor carefully examines the candidates while the candidates are doing exercises, on the bases of performance the candidate which has potential or capable for the job they got selected. The assessors who are selected for conducting interview they are trained, the assessor must be external of the organisation or the organisation needs to hire them or it should be from organisation itself like the HR managers. The assessor observes the candidates and records the observed behaviour of the participants. The assessment centre does job analyses before conducting interviews. There are seven important element of the assessment centre: PRESENTATION: In the interview process this is the most important exercise because the assessor or the management team will assess the candidates, in this exercise the candidate gets a topic and they have to prepare that topic in specific time and that topics are highly job specific. The candidates shows their communication skills, problem solving skills, and confidence level, how they interact with the assessor. GROUP INTERVIEWS: The purpose of the group interview in the assessment centre exercises is to observe candidates interpersonal skills and personality when he or she is working with other people in a group. After the group interview, the assessors reduced the number of candidates and one-on- one interview is set up. The important employers working in organisation can check the candidates interactions with other people. In the group interview the employees give the candidates a task to solve hypothetical problems in order to work in a group. 3) IN-TRAY EXERCISES: In this kind of exercises the employers involves the candidates in some paperwork from the role in question and asking them to deal with it. The in-tray exercise items will be specifically designed to measure job skills such as: ability to organise and prioritize work; analytically skills, written communication skills, and their delegation. In-tray exercise are the most vital components of assessment centres, not only because of variety of skills, attitudes and knowledge can be judged but because this exercise also has considerable face validity. In this way the candidate can see how it relates to the job they are applying for and therefore they tend to take it seriously. 4) ROLE-PLAYS: Role play is a type of assessment centre exercise which offers a chance to place candidates in the kind of situation. In role play the candidates get the role of employee who has to resolve the problems of the customer. In this exercise the management team assess the candidates who have problem solving skills and see that how they communicate in that situation and how they can handle. The assessor usually plays the role of the customer and the candidates play the role of the employee. 5) PSYCHOMETRIC EXERCISE: Psychometric test assess the ability and personality test, the assessment centre hire the professional assessor it is expensive. The external assessor are qualified, they can manage the recruitment process, interpret results and give feedback to the candidates so they can know about their strength and their weakness. The two types of psychometric tests: ABILITY TEST: The rough ability test, it can be checked that and purified the ability of the employees by assessment centres. It is also helpful to check the skills and ability for the vacancy. Ability testing is a very common and effective selection tool, particularly for identifying unsuitable candidates. PERSONALITY TEST: The personality assessment provides the evidences and direct selection process. It also highlights the area where candidate can work. Personality assessment also provides the opportunity to glimpse in the candidates personality during the interview. Personal questionnaire is important to provide feedback for candidates as well as it also helps to understand the personal profile of the candidate. The feedback session is the best idea for decision making process for any position. Personality test remains contentious but is widely used in United Kingdom. GROUP EXERCISE: Interpersonal competency is usually tested by means of variety of group exercises that a group of four or five candidates carry out together. The aim in group exercise is to allow assessors to observe how each candidate behaves in relation to the others. Here the leadership qualities are anglicised and the negotiating skills of the candidates. Some assessment centres give groups some task to complete, which include management games more commonly used for developmental purposes. EVALUATIONS OF ASSESSMENT CENTRES: The selection and decision for hiring and promotion of the employees can be made by evaluation of assessment centre. Assessment centres also identify the training and development according to requirements and needs of vacancies or positions. The most essential characteristic of assessment centre is to evaluate participants potential and management skills. The emphasis is to identity the selection and promotion decisions of participants are on the basis of essential job performance dimensions. Deficiencies on critical job dimensions of participants can be anglicised by using training and development purposes. The feedback and employee development suggestions that result from an assessment form the basis for training programs that are designed to correct performance problems. In an organisation assessment centers can serves as needs assessment programs that identify employee development and hiring needs. ASSESSORS: In the assessment centers the role of an assessor is very vital. The assessors are given their own briefing packs. These packs contain description of the exercise and a list of the behaviors or answers that they should be looking for. Organisation usually recruit trained additional assessors if required for selection process, however trained internal assessor are used from the centre. This comprises a combination of HR specialists with experience in assessment techniques and line managers. CANDIDATES: Here the candidates are also presented with the briefing pack which contains the objectives of task and any information required to complete it. In each exercise, candidates are rated independently by two or more assessors, using behavioral scales for each competency being assessed. TEST VALIDITY: ADVANTAGES OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS: The most important advantage of an assessment is their flexibility. They are not time-restricted as interviews. The data which is collected by the assessment center helps them to recruit the right candidates for the right position; by this process the reliability and validity of the selection decision is improved. The assessment centers which are designed well provide evidence of the most valid method of predicting a candidates performance in a job. The way in which the assessment center collects data is the most fair and objective to make recruitment decision. Assessment center improves planning and administration. Now a days many organisation choose assessment center for recruiting large number of candidates because to avoid juggling interviews and managing the recruitment process. Assessment centers apply these for recruitment such as graduate recruitment, training scheme intakes. The nature of the assessment centre also allows organizations to get closer to the selection process by observing how candidates perform the sort of tasks actually found in the role for which they are being assessed. These sorts of real life exercises can provide a good indicator of a candidates probable future performance. LIMITATIONS OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS: An effective centre requires a considerable investment in time and resources-the design process alone can take many months. Many organizations already have detailed job descriptions and competency frameworks in place, simplifying this part of the design process. Assessment centers are expensive to run but appear to be rated highly by employers and candidates alike. Aside from psychometrics test and interviews, candidates can expect to undertake in-tray exercises, role-plays and group activities, as well as being required to make presentations. Care should be taken when using high-validity selection methods to ensure that they operate fairly and are free of bias against any particular group of candidates. CONCLUSION: http://www.howto.co.uk/careers/questions-at-interview/assessment_centres/