our views
Date: 2012 May 15
The people factor
As the world moves closer together and new technological developments spread quickly around the globe, people are often the only factor that differentiates one company from another. Therefore for an organisation to be competitive, it is imperative to have competent employees. But how do you find the right person for the job? Assessment Centres and Development Centres are the best solution to helping an organisation select and develop employees in the right way.
What are Assessment Centres and Development Centres?
Assessment and Development Centres are methods for assessing aptitude, competency and performance. They use the same processes but have different purposes:
- Assessment Centres are used for selection of candidates for certain positions in an organisation
- Development Centres are used to identify the gaps between the current level of skills and behaviour of employees compared with the organisations requirements
Why use assessment and Development Centres?
Assessment and Development Centres enable the organisation to identify and effectively observe a person's behaviour and relates it to the job requirements. There are numerous advantages to using the assessment and Development Centre process. Some of these advantages include:
- Accurate predictor of on-the-job performance: Combining results from various assessment exercises provides a more complete picture of an individual’s strengths and areas of development that relate to the job role
- Consistency of the proces: All participants are measured using the same standards and comparisons are made to predetermined benchmarks
- Cost savings: When used for selection the recruitment costs of running an Assessment Centre may be higher however the benefits outweigh the costs of selecting the wrong candidate
- Identifying training needs: Development Centres help to accurately identify the gaps between an employee’s current capabilities and job roles requirements
- Participants acceptance of the process: Participants appreciate the objectivity of an assessment process and are likely to accept the final decision more readily as this is supported by robust evidence
- Equal opportunities: Assessment and Development Centres are based on factual evidence and therefore reduce the risk of any bias
- Participant feedback: Assessment and Development Centres provide robust factual evidence of a participant’s performance which can be used to provide constructive feedback and can be used as a basis for personal development
- Management skills development: If managers are involved in the assessment process, the skills gained from assessor training and can be used in their day-to-day roles enabling them to give constructive feedback to employees
All assessment and Development Centres are based around measuring competencies and aptitudes. These are the behaviours that an individual needs to display in order to fulfil the requirements of the job role. Therefore, paramount to the success of the Assessment Centre is the thorough understanding of the competencies and key behaviours necessary for effective performance in a particular role.
What type of exercises can be used in an Assessment Centre?
In both assessment and Development Centres a wide range of exercises can be used to get an accurate picture of an individual’s strengths and areas of development. They may include:
- Role plays
- Group discussions
- Case studies
- Competency based interviews
- Aptitude tests
- Personality tests
Apart from off-the-shelf exercises, a company should consider using tailored exercises to reflect its specific work environment.
Why is feedback so important and how do you give it?
Assessment Centres are used for selection and often this does not result in providing feedback to the participant. However, an employee should always receive feedback once they have participated in a Development Centre as this is a very valuable development tool for the participant.
The individual results are communicated to the Development Centre participants in a comprehensive one to one feedback session which gives value to the overall effectiveness of the process. The feedback delivery session is an open and honest discussion where participants receive the results in a non-judgemental and open environment with a focus on development covering four key points:
- Strengths – summary of key individual strengths
- Potential rating – rating and supporting rationale
- Development needs – priority areas to focus development on
- Recommendations and suggestions – for development
PeopleFirst assessment services
We offer a wide range of assessment services to help organisations identify employees’ capabilities and their suitability for a certain role. We believe our assessment services are second to none because of our client-centred and practical approach. What makes our assessment and Development Centres special is the focus we place on fully customising our solutions to our clients needs. From the design of exercises to the delivery of the detailed reports and project handover, we focus on meeting your business needs and specificities.
All our processes are well defined in line with international best practices. Our robust approach ensures high reliability between assessor's ratings which is instrumental in making the process an accurate predictor of the on-the-job performance. We follow a structured approach to collecting data, analysing results and developing accurate reports.
This provides our clients with management information which can be used to make key business decisions about organisational capability development.
Our reports focus exactly on what you want to investigate and we address the findings with relevant recommendations. Further, we always go the extra mile and support clients with the communication, implementation and change management.
Our assessors are organisational psychologists. They are qualified and professionally trained in using a wide range of assessment tools and have extensive experience in managing large assessment projects.
Furthermore you can rely on the professionalism of our assessors, their flexibility, friendly attitude and customer-oriented approach.
For more information on how we can help you find the right person for your job opening or purposefully promote talent, please do not hesitate to call us on +971 4 4475210 or to send an email to info@peoplefirstme.com . We are looking forward to working with you!
