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    "result": {"data":{"contentfulSkillmeterBlogPost":{"url":"how-to-prepare-a-professional-assessment-centre","title":"How to prepare a professional Assessment Centre","description":{"description":"<p>There\r\nis no doubt about it: putting candidates through an assessment centre\r\nexperience will reveal more about them than meeting them in your office face to\r\nface. Fact is that often organisations choose this approach mostly for\r\nmanagerial jobs and graduates and not for every single vacancy that they need\r\nto fill.</p>"},"body":{"body":"\r\n<p>\r\n\tThere is no doubt about it: putting candidates\r\nthrough an assessment centre experience will reveal more about them than meeting\r\nthem in your office face to face. Fact is that often organisations choose this\r\napproach mostly for managerial jobs and graduates and not for every single\r\nvacancy that they need to fill. According to research\r\nby Employment Review, more than 9 out of 10 employers believe that using\r\nassessment centres are a very (47 %) or fairly (48 %) effective method of\r\nhiring staff. A survey conducted by Equal Opportunities Review among 91 private\r\ncompanies and public sector institutions found that 53 % believe the costs\r\ninvolved for the assessment are justified (running between 100 and 500 GBP per\r\nperson depending on the position).\r\n</p>\r\n<p>\r\n\tIf in your company the question arises “Should we\r\nrun an Assessment Centre for the xyz job?” you as a recruiter need to make\r\nyourself aware of the advantages and disadvantages.\r\n</p>\r\n<p>\r\n\tThe benefits are as follows:\r\n</p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>A group of people can be assessed all at the same\r\nplace and time by using various methods. It’s surely more time efficient than\r\ninviting every person individually into your office. \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>A job applicant’s suitability for a particular job\r\ncan be predicted more precisely because you can observe people “in action”. You\r\ncan see how the person behaves, communicates, reacts and deals with other\r\npeople. This will be an indicator as to how the person would react in a similar\r\nenvironment in the future. \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>On paper candidates might look very similar\r\nregarding their education and experiences but inviting them to an assessment\r\nday will help you to compare them more effectively. \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>Candidates will also get better insights into the\r\njob role and will realise whether this is really something they will enjoy\r\ndoing or not. \r\n\t</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p>\r\n\tHowever, the disadvantages should not be ignored:\r\n</p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>It’s surely more time consuming and needs to be\r\nwell planned and organised. \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>It also involves some financial investment (costs\r\nfor designing and hosting the event and finding suitable accommodation if corporate\r\npremises are inadequate). \r\n\t</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p>\r\n\tIf you are seriously thinking to run a smooth Assessment\r\nCentre pay attention to these points:\r\n</p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Consider your company’s values and your brand\r\nrecruitment philosophy at all times when planning this event. \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>Create a job description, a competency profile and\r\na person specification. Design exercises which reflect real life situations and\r\nare tailored to the specific role. This can be a bespoke activity, an off the\r\nshelf exercise or a combination of both approaches. \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>When choosing the most suitable exercises think\r\ncreatively and include also activities which will show a candidate’s future\r\npotential. You need to be clear about how many exercises you want to include\r\nand what the duration for each of them will be. You can choose from a variety\r\nof activities. For example: \r\n\t<ul style=\"list-style:none; \">\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- Role plays in which candidates have to show how\r\nthey would behave in a certain situation.\r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- A competency based interview in which you ask to\r\nprovide examples, outcomes and achievements of past experiences. \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- A presentation which the candidate had the\r\nopportunity to prepare in advance (related to your company or industry). \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- Creating and presenting hands-on work samples. </li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- Psychometric tests. </li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- In-tray exercises where candidates have to sort\r\ndocuments and reply to them considering different priorities.  \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- Written analysis exercise. </li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- Social events in which you see how candidates\r\ninteract with other staff and candidates (lunch time or coffee breaks would be\r\nthe ideal time for this). \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- A group exercise in which a problem needs to be\r\nsolved within a certain time period and realistic solutions need to be\r\npresented. \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t\r\n\t</ul>\r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>Make sure that staff who are conducting these\r\nassessments are experienced, have been trained accordingly and are fully aware\r\nof what type of person you want to hire. \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>Organise everything about the event in detail. For\r\nexample: \r\n\t<ul style=\"list-style:none\">\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- What is the date of the assessment? (Set the date\r\nand inform every participant about it well in advance). \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- How many people are attending? (Prepare a list of\r\nall their contact details in case some of the candidates don’t turn up and need\r\nto be contacted).\r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- How many people are involved in the assessment\r\nprocess? \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- What is their exact role? </li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- Where does the event take place? </li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- Which rooms are required and for how long? </li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- Who brings all the documentation and makes sure\r\nthat everything runs smoothly?  \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- What food and drinks (and quantities) are required?\r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- Who starts the introduction and how is it been\r\nconducted? \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- What tech equipment is required and is it all\r\nworking properly? \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- Are all activities planned properly? </li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- In what chronological order are the activities\r\ntaking place? For group activities: who is in which group? For individual\r\ntasks: Who is assessing candidates on an individual basis?  \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li style=\"background-image:none\">- Who is in charge of the final part and how will the\r\nevent end? \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t\r\n\t</ul>\r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>If internal as well as external people are allowed\r\nto take part in the assessment centre it’s important to create a scorecard\r\nwhich lists all the key competencies. This will help you to compare candidates\r\nwith each other and assess them in a fair and objective way without looking at\r\npast performances.\r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>It would be helpful for assessors to take detailed\r\nnotes throughout the assessment process. In case some candidates might want to\r\nsee written evidence of their performance (which they would have the right to request)\r\nit is important to keep any documentation afterwards. \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>Candidates should be reviewed on the same day. This\r\nhas the advantage that memories and details are still fresh in the assessors’\r\nminds. Then a final decision should be taken.  \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>Don’t make the mistake to let candidates wait too\r\nlong about the assessment outcome. Imagine your top candidate would have\r\nalready said YES to another job offer and just because you did not act quickly\r\nyou would be forced to hire your second choice! How would you feel? So make\r\nsure you don’t lose top candidates to your competitors in this way. \r\n\t</li>\r\n\t<li>Providing successful as well as unsuccessful candidates\r\nwith constructive feedback is not just beneficial for the candidate but also\r\nreflects well on a company’s image and reputation, always bear that in mind. \r\n\t</li>\r\n</ul>\r\n<p>\r\n\tThe better you plan\r\nand execute this assessment process the higher your chances are to hire high-quality\r\ntalent in the long term. If you take a rushed decision and think assessment\r\ncentres are a waste of time you might end up with a bad hire. Now imagine if\r\nthis would really be the case … in the end you would still have to spend more\r\ntime and money. You want to make sure that the same mistake doesn’t repeat\r\nitself.  So, was it then really\r\nworthwhile?\r\n</p>\r\n\r\n<p>\r\nIf you need an efficient platform to run the assessments, Skillmeter is here for you.  It is super easy to set it up (no IT required) and will help you save time, money and nerves.  <a href=\"https://skillmeter.com\">Click here to learn more about what Skillmeter is and how you can use it.</a> \r\n</p>\r\n"},"authorName":"Karin Schroeck-Singh","authorBio":{"authorBio":"Karin Schroeck-Singh is a passionate Public Speaker, eBook Author, and a freelancing Online Content Producer. She has an MBA from the University of Leicester (UK) and gained 18 years of international work experience in Italy, the UK and India."},"publishedOn":"2015-07-25T17:28:36.237Z"}},"pageContext":{"id":"cd2fde7a-6bfa-5aa7-89ba-4815e58972a4"}},
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