RUN AN ASSESSMENT CENTRE

Employers may be under pressure to cut costs, but they must invest in the recruitment process to ensure that they hire the right people to drive their organisation.

The first step is to engage all stakeholders, including the senior team, and check that company values are reflected in the assessment centre's activity. Once these are done, there are some simple rules that will deliver real benefits.

WORK OUT WHAT YOU WANT

It is surprising how many assessment centres are designed without a real understanding of what makes someone effective in the job. Make the effort to really get behind the requirements of the role by observing and speaking to people who currently do the job and their managers.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT ACTIVITIES

Creating your own exercise is much more likely to give candidates a real insight into your business than an off the shelf tool. Try to avoid group exercise that put candidates against each other, as the performance of one individual will dramatically affect the performance of the others. If group scenarios are required, use actions to ensure consistency and fair compensation. Think about if candidates needs to deliver a presentation - is this really a skill that will predict performance in the role or it is just on easy assessment exercise to organise?

GET THE BEST FROM PEOPLE

An assessment centre should offer every candidate an opportunity to demonstrate their skills, so that good ones don't slip through the net. The event should never the about catching people out, so make sure you send clear briefing information before the event and allocate time to welcome candidates and address any concerns.

USE SKILLED ASSESORS

Never allow untrained people assess or interview candidates, not only do you risk poor selection decisions but it could also leave you open to other challenges. Combining external experts with trained internal assessors who understand your business ensures the process is objective, transparent and supported by the business.

CANDIDATES NOT PROCESS

Give candidates a bad experience and they may reject your offer and tell others what an unfriendly, disorganised business you run. Make sure that assessors put their candidates at ease and that the venue provides a positive environment.

SET A SCHEDULE

Be creative with timetables. You want to see as many candidates as possible and having a carefully planned schedule will save both time and money in the long run. Exercise design and selection should go ahead in hand with planning the time table, and once planned make sure you stick to it. Candidates should never left to wait around for a late assessor, this could make them more nervous and will certainty give a bad impression of the organisation.

USE TECHNOLOGY

Using cameras to film some exercises rather than having assessors in the room less intrusive foe candidates and therefore more revealing of their behaviours. It also allows assessors to revisit the footage of events.

EVALUATE AND FEEDBACK

Ask candidates for feedback so you can refine the recruitment process. Also pass on the information you have gathered on the new recruits to their future managers to get learning and development off to a flying starts. Organisations should also conduct long term evaluation to make sure the process delivers the best people who stay in the role. Plan how you are going to evaluate this before you run the assessment event.