What is an assessment centre?

An assessment centre is a process where an organisation typically assesses a group of candidates using a range of tools or exercises on a set of pre-defined competencies. Assessment centres are one of the most effective methods of predicting a candidate’s suitability for a job and can help organisations avoid making poor recruitment and promotion decisions and the costs associated with them.

Why not use other tools?

Of course, you can use any other tool that meets your need for assessing your talent. However, in comparison to other tools used for predicting performance and potential, research has proven that assessment centres can be 3 times more reliable. Candidates are more likely to have a positive experience at an assessment centre than when they are interviewed.

How is an Assessment Centre done?

An Assessment Centre consists of multiple assessments for each participant. Organisations can choose from a variety of exercises including

• Structured interviews
• Case studies
• In-basket exercises
• Group exercises
• Role plays and many more

To choose the exercises, the organisation should conduct a job analysis and prepare a job description and competency profile. The exercises the organisation chooses should be relevant to the role. Employers can choose off-the-shelf exercises, develop bespoke exercises, or use an approach that combines the two.

The format of these exercises can either be paper-based or online.

Here is a case study of an assessment centre for an FMCG company conducted by The Catalyst Team.

What are the emerging application areas of Assessment centres?

Five exciting and emerging application areas of Assessment Centres are:

• Selection and recruitment
• Succession planning
• Early identification of high-potential talent
• Diagnosing strengths/weaknesses and devising individual training and development programmes
• Organisational planning/development.

Why you should consider Assessment Centres?

With globalisation, the market is getting increasingly demanding and competitive and hiring and retaining the right talent is extremely crucial. In this context, an assessment centre is a more accurate and standardised process which is used globally for talent selection and development.

It provides an opportunity for candidates to show their suitability for a role in different ways and enables them to obtain a practical preview of what the role demands. It is one of the best methods to predict the future work performance of a person and thus of the organisation. Here is an interesting document to understand more about the benefits and shortcomings of an Assessment Centre.

How to get guidance on conducting Assessment Centre in our organisation?

You can reach out to us at info@thecatalyst.co.in to set up a free consultation call regarding Assessment Centre at your organisation. We shall be happy to guide you and help your organisation grow. To know more, visit our web page on Assessment Centre.