Assessment Centers for Hiring, Promotion and Development Decisions
Who would have thought at the start of 2020 that Covid-19 will hit us so hard, jeopardizing our existence and bringing us on a fast track to rethink how we operate our businesses. And there is an urgency for stabilization of the business and the growth of your people:
How to select the best candidate for the urgent vacancy?
Do our talents have the competencies needed for business expansion?
Which team member fits the challenging management position?
How to develop our people to impact the company growth?
That is how the undeniable necessity for assessment comes in, not only to predict for selection, but for the improvement of performance at current job, and to develop the competencies for potential promotion and retention. Finally, how we can help develop them personally and professionally for our business to thrive.
Businesses have never made so many pressing decisions about their people as they do today. Unfortunately, many poor choices are made based solely on gut feelings. Many candidates can make a very positive presentation but show poor performance at work. The most expensive mistake that many businesses tend to make is selecting and promoting the wrong person. Depending on the seniority level of the position, a bad hire or promotion can cost from 30 percent to 100 percent of their current salary to be replaced, or even worse when counting the effort and time spent.
How Companies Can Avoid Making the Wrong People Decisions?
How can leaders make the best decision possible when choosing whom to hire, promote or develop? Is there a way to predict a candidate's future behavior or performance on the job?
An assessment center is one of the most effective and comprehensive methods of evaluating candidates’ capabilities and behavior. It is widely used in selection processes, identifying leadership skills, developmental and training needs and human resources planning.
What is an Assessment Center?
The ‘Assessment Center’ is not a place as its name seems to suggest. An Assessment Center is a precise evaluation and prediction method used for selection, promotion and development.
An Assessment Center allows candidates an opportunity to demonstrate their skills and abilities in a number of different situations. Its primary purpose is to evaluate the talent’s abilities, managerial skills and leadership. Part of the purpose is to observe at firsthand how one person behaves under pressure by simulating the circumstances under which he/she might be expected to perform in a real workplace. The timetable for a half or full day can be intense, but is well structured and highly organised.
Increasingly, formal assessments are recognized as tools that add significant value to organisations’ selection and development procedures. According to the Assessment Center Guidelines, the following approaches are relevant:
Intake with the talent and the company
Conduct job analysis of the vacancy or targeted position.
Involve multiple assessment techniques, such as (online) tests, interviews, questionnaires and a sufficient number of job-related role-plays and simulation cases
Define and observe the candidate's behavior related to each competency
Deliver an assessor's report for selection, promotion or development
Provide feedback for the person and the management
To assure the quality of the assessment, only thoroughly trained lead- & co-assessors can conduct assessment centers.
