Assessment Center - a method of testing and assessing personnel

An assessment, or assessment center in Russian, is not a physical location. This name comes from a method of assessing job applicants that consists of a series of exercises designed to assess competencies considered important to success in that job.

As HR market professionals, we would like to give you some insight into what an assessment center is, how it works and how applicants are assessed. By offering you this information, we hope that it will bust some of the myths associated with assessment centers and help you come into your next assessment in better shape.

This is the first article in a series of articles about assessment centers - the topic of assessments is very broad and it is impossible to cover it all in one article.

What is assessment

Managerial assessment is a technique whose purpose is to identify the qualities and personality characteristics required for the position held:

ability to analyze situations;
make the right decisions;
establish horizontal and vertical connections within the organization;
build relationships with clients.

Competency analysis is carried out by the company’s internal personnel service, or by invited consulting agencies.

Important:

To conduct behavioral tests and analyze their results, assessors must be qualified, study the theory, methodology and constantly practice.

The assessment process is strictly regulated. In Russia, in 2013, national standards for conducting an assessment center were developed. Similar rules apply in other countries: South Africa, Great Britain, Germany, Indonesia.

Demo example of a case for a manager:

View Prepare

This technique consists of a comprehensive analysis of the competencies and qualities of employees and candidates. In this case, the emphasis is not on a person’s skills, but on the characteristics of behavioral reactions in a given situation.

This approach is due to the fact that skills are easily developed in the appropriate work environment, and changing behavior patterns requires 1-2 years of daily deliberate practice.

How NOT to behave, even if you really want to

Firstly, there is no need, as was said above, to go to extremes - to remain silent or, conversely, to crush everyone around with your verbosity. In any case, this will not have the best effect on the final (integral) assessment.

Secondly. There is no need to show fear, wariness, or disdain towards assessors. I can understand you as a human being, if you, for example, are a stern engineer from Yamal and know everything about the distillation of fuel oil, and in front of you are sitting glamorous girls and boys who have not seen life and are trying to somehow evaluate you. I understand your irony, yes. But girls and boys act according to certain instructions, and your irony can create an unfavorable background for you. Likewise, there is no point in fawning over them.

Third. This, in principle, is approximately the same as the second one, but I will say it anyway, because practice forces me to say it. For God’s sake, don’t burden the assessors with the details of your personal life. Don’t try to put a “human face” on your purely formal communication. If you tell during the exercises how many buckets of cloudberries you picked in the summer at the dacha, how your eldest went to school, how you built a cool bathhouse, this will not help, but rather the opposite.

And finally. 90% of assessors are women. (The author of the article is a rare exception). Accordingly, you should absolutely not have a rumpled appearance, abuse the day before, make discriminatory and sexist statements... In general, there is no need for unnecessary provocations!

Why do manager assessments take place?

The main purpose of comprehensive assessment

– identify the competencies of employees or candidates for a position and find out how effectively a person will work in unusual conditions. With its help, HR solves a number of problems:

Determine which mid-level employees will occupy a leadership position in the future;
Form a personnel reserve, HiPo);
Analyze in which direction each employee is developing;
Create corporate training programs;
Assess the compatibility of employees;
Identify which employees are ready for career growth;
They look for reasons for the team's ineffective work.

If candidates for a vacant position complete the tasks, they evaluate their compliance with the company’s corporate culture and the rules of relationships within the team.

During the assessment, it is not the current professionalism of a candidate for manager or employee that is assessed, but his vector of development.

We are conducting reconnaissance! How to understand what exactly will be expected of you during the assessment

So now we at least know what information to get. Of course, no one from the mentioned secret bunker will give you a list of tasks with a competency assessment scheme. But you can find out about the competency system in your company. If you have a corporate document called “Competency Assessment Procedure,” then take a look at it - everything is there. If there is no such thing, do not hesitate to ask HR directly - what competencies are generally prescribed in our company? What about my position? Where can you see them?

It’s not a fact that they will answer. But you have to try!

Of course, if you are an external candidate, this number will not work. In this case, you can use plan B: look at the list of company values on the website. Nowadays everyone loves to describe values. It is believed that evaluation based on values is the highest level of evaluation. (True, I don’t yet know a single living person who could clearly describe the technology for this assessment). Well, here it is: values, as a rule, are tied to the company’s competency system. This is, as it were, their quintessence, although it is intended for something completely different.

Thus: we look at the list of values and try to understand approximately what competencies they are tied to. Of course, it may turn out to be a finger in the sky, I don’t argue! But again, this is better than doing nothing at all.

How is assessment done by managers and why is it needed?

The first part of the assessment center for managers is remote tests. Their goal is to weed out candidates with insufficient qualifications. In addition, aptitude tests determine the success of the face-to-face assessment. If a person failed the placement test, he would also fail the face-to-face assessment.

Numeric Test Example:

Go through Prepare

Ability testing includes a standard set of three tests:

Numerical
Verbal
Logical

The main difficulty of the tests is that one question is given for about a minute, and for an unprepared candidate this time is barely enough to read the conditions and understand what is required of him.

Do you have assessment tests soon?

Get ready

During testing using the assessment center method, the manager is involved in business cases. The goal is to create the same conditions for each participant to demonstrate their abilities.

Situational test case for manager assessment:

Go through Prepare

The main methods of face-to-face employee assessment are interviews, cases, presentations and business games. The entire process follows a script.

A group of observers monitors the implementation of the assigned tasks:

expert – evaluates answers, classifies and interprets results and makes recommendations;
presenter – interacts with participants, instructs, monitors compliance with the rules;
administrator – prepares the premises and props;
role player – participates in the study as a partner of subjects in tasks;
designer – creates the outline of the program, selects exercises for participants;
developer – writes scenarios and tasks for managers.

The assessment is carried out both by employees of the company’s HR service and by invited assessors of assessment centers using the “assessment center” method. Independent consultants are less biased, their results are independent and accurate.

Assessment center: a modern method of personnel assessment

An assessment center can help HR departments assess how well an employee fits a specific position. Where can I order a personnel assessment?

HR audit allows you to conduct an expert analysis of employee competencies. The audit results can help in solving problems related to the selection, training and evaluation of personnel. Find out more about assessment...

The results of the assessment center can be used to motivate employees and increase productivity. Read more…

The assistance of consulting companies in conducting a personnel audit can increase the degree of objectivity of the assessment, but requires financial costs. How to choose a company for an assessment center?

Human resource management aims to ensure the successful operation of the company and solve a set of problems related to employee motivation, training, assessment and selection. As the science of managing the leading factor of production—people—developed, a need arose for personnel assessment.

Today, it is not enough for an employee of a progressive and ambitious company to have a high level of training - it is important to have personal characteristics that will help apply knowledge in practice with maximum effect. Testing in situations close to reality is the approach of the assessment center - a new technology for personnel assessment. Let's take a closer look at the essence and objectives of the method, as well as the key implementation techniques.

Assessment Center: New Concept - Proven Approach

The assessment center is a comprehensive method for diagnosing an employee’s success in professional activities based on an assessment of his behavior in various simulated situations. The assessment is carried out using specially developed methods that allow us to draw conclusions about a person’s competencies and professional qualities. The term “assessment center” is of Western origin (from the English assessment center); another name is also common in Russia - assessment center.

The assessment center refers to professional technologies for testing the organization’s personnel. The subjects are asked to complete exercises that will require them to demonstrate qualities, knowledge, and skills that are important for the company and a specific position. The degree of presence of these qualities is assessed by special evaluators using strict criteria. Based on the results of the test, a conclusion is made about the person’s suitability for this position. The procedures take from one to three days, and the number of participants in the assessment is usually limited to a group of 5–10 people.

For your information, the Assessment Center as a technology for personnel assessment has existed since 1954. The American corporation AT&T was the first to include a technique with this name in its own research program, and within a few years manager assessment centers became part of the usual practice of personnel management. Today, the number of technology users amounts to tens of thousands of enterprises and organizations around the world.

The practice of conducting assessments is strictly regulated. National standards have been developed in the UK, Indonesia, South Africa, and Germany. Russia also has its own standard. It was created in 2013 on the initiative of the National Confederation for the Development of Human Capital and supported by foreign experts. This approach allows us to consider the assessment center a key modern method of personnel assessment, which allows us to select candidates for vacant positions, build skills development programs, support career growth, and create a motivation system.

Objectives of the assessment center method

The purpose of conducting assessment centers is to assess the potential success of an employee in his professional activities. This may be either suitability for a specific position or the ability to solve certain tasks. Experts do not evaluate the employee's current work and past achievements - they look at the possibility of effective work in conditions different from his current position. This is necessary to solve the following problems:

Selection for the purpose of rotation, formation of a personnel reserve, renewal of the management team.
Drawing up individual development programs, professional guidance.
Determining areas for joint development (forming a management team, corporate training).
Training during the assessment center, additional development of those competencies that are subject to assessment, professional adaptation.

The list is non-exhaustive; each organization has the right to identify its own tasks, for the solution of which it needs the results of the assessment center. It is important that they do not infringe on the rights of employees and do not contradict the overall development strategy.

In practice, the Russian approach to using an assessment center differs from the international one. According to a study conducted in 2014 by the Personnel Assessment Federation of NK RCHK, assessment results rarely become the reason for making personnel decisions. 76% of managers use an assessment center for further personnel development, and only half of them are ready to conduct professional selection based on tests. Middle managers are most often assessed in Russia (74%), with an average of up to 8 competencies subject to assessment.

Conditions for the effectiveness of the approach

The Russian standard for conducting the assessment center methodology specifies clear requirements for the procedure. A competent assessment center requires the selection of standardized methods, proper training of observers, and the organization of feedback. Failure at any stage threatens the occurrence of errors that will negatively affect the professional fate of employees and the company as a whole.

Testing of personnel in an organization should not be formal - it should pursue a specific goal, take into account the specifics of the company and corporate values. It is necessary that employees are interested in professional and personal development, have a desire to expand their competencies and understand the full significance of the assessment center’s results. It is important for a manager not to turn a test into an exam, not to make wages dependent on the result of the assessment, but to use it solely as a basis for further career growth of effective specialists. The assessment center for managers and subordinates is carried out separately; employees of the same line with similar functions can be combined. The results are not interpreted as high or low and are not presented for public discussion - they are only an indicator of potential opportunities. Inaccuracy, inattention, subjectivity, and personalization are unacceptable in the assessment. All this creates stress for employees, demotivates them, and provokes conflicts. The real economic and motivational effect of the assessment center is possible only with strict adherence to the principles and organizational rules of the assessment center.

Who has the right to conduct an assessment?

The methodology of the assessment center provides for certain roles that are performed by specialists who have undergone training and selection. In practice, one person can combine tasks if this does not affect the quality of the results obtained.

Expert Observer . Evaluates the behavior of selection participants, describes and classifies. Such a specialist must have all the information about the assessment methodology and the content of the exercises, know the characteristics of the company, the objectives of the test, have the skills to describe behavior, summarize assessments and organize feedback. The expert is undergoing training. In addition to theoretical training, he must undergo a series of trainings, and for the first time participate in the assessment center under the guidance of an instructor-trainer, discuss his actions with him and consult about the grades assigned.
Presenter . Responsible for the content of the assessment center. The facilitator manages the activity of the participants, provides instructions, monitors the interaction, and organizes the work of the experts. He must be trained and have experience as an observer.
Administrator _ Responsible for the technical part of the test, prepares the room and materials, issues the attributes necessary for the tasks. No special preparation is required.
Role player . Acts as a partner for participants in exercises where interaction is required. The role player can be an expert observer or a specially trained actor who has all the information about the assessment technique.
Program designer. His task is to develop a general concept of the program, select exercises for specific goals, and create an assessment schedule.
Exercise developer. Submits to the designer, creates specific exercises. It is optimal if the developer has an education in management or social psychology.

The assessment center can be carried out by the organization’s HR department or by external consultants. Internal specialists who know the methodology are usually found in large companies that have the financial resources to maintain a staff of appraisers. Outsourcing is chosen by managers who do not plan to invest in training their own experts, but want to obtain objective and reliable results. Using external companies to organize and conduct an assessment center as a technology and event has undoubted advantages: it guarantees the independence of results, the absence of errors and subjectivity, as well as high speed and quality of assessment due to accumulated experience.

Key methods for assessing competence within an assessment center

The main methods of personnel assessment are testing, interviews, business games and situation simulations.

Modeling exercises. They involve modeling business situations that may arise in real work. Participants need to develop an individual or group solution, find a way out of the situation, show originality, and achieve the goal in a short time. Experts observe the discussion, drawing conclusions about the level of competence of employees, their thinking and organizational abilities. For example, a group of participants is given the task of dividing a certain budget, taking into account the fact that everyone has the priorities of the department entrusted to them. An hour is allotted for the discussion; participants should come to an agreement in a civilized manner, showing qualities such as leadership, mental flexibility, perseverance, persuasion, strategic thinking, etc. Another task is to talk with a “difficult client” or subordinate. In this case, the ability to keep a distance without stooping to arrogance or familiarity, the ability to listen and convey one’s arguments to the other side must be assessed.

Test psychometric methods and questionnaires. Surveys and testing provide information about the qualities that influence a person’s behavior in an organization and ensure his effectiveness as a personnel unit. This information complements or clarifies the information obtained through other assessment center methods.

Interview. As a rule, factual data is obtained using this method. During the conversation, the expert finds out the employee’s goals and interests, his career and financial expectations, whether he connects his future with this company and what he is ready to do to achieve his goals. Interview questions should not be interpreted ambiguously - they are specific and suggest the only correct answer. Questionnaires often provide answer options to choose from: this helps to systematize the results and avoid mistakes.

In Russia, according to a study by the NC RCHK, the most popular exercises are analytical cases and role-playing games: used by 88.5% and 86.7% of respondents, respectively. Oral presentations and group discussions follow. Assessment center tools may differ depending on the purpose, parameters assessed and what they examine: degree of job satisfaction, suitability for a potential position, readiness for self-improvement, etc. The choice is largely determined by the financial resources of the company.

Stages of conducting an assessment center

Proper organization of the procedure is the key to a successful assessment center. Failure to pay attention to one of the stages can affect the results and the participants' attitude towards the procedure. In addition, it is important not to violate the principle of equal conditions for all subjects.

Preparatory stage . It begins with identifying the purpose of the assessment and the competencies to focus on. The organizers draw up an organizational schedule of procedures and form tasks in accordance with the goal. Observers from the customer's side undergo special training. At this stage, organizational issues are also resolved: choosing a room, creating working conditions, preparing materials, informing participants about the purpose, methods and possible decisions that will be made based on the results of the tests. Finally, it is necessary to obtain written consent from employees to process personal data.
Conducting assessment centers . Action stage: business games, individual and team exercises, testing, interviews in accordance with the assessment center schedule. The organizers represent the presenter and expert observers. The latter evaluate the actions of the participants according to the following scheme: observation, description, classification, assessment of behavior. The facilitator must ensure the independence of assessments and exclude discussions among observers during the completion of tasks.
The final stage . After participants have completed the tasks, experts need to combine individual scores. Each observer must justify the rating he gave to the participant. The final result for each employee is born during the discussion. Then a report on the work done is compiled, where points are entered, participants are ranked, individual characteristics are presented, and strengths and weaknesses are analyzed. The final result is discussed with the head of the company. It is important that the results of the assessment center cannot be the only basis for making a personnel decision for a specific specialist - they can only indicate how the work of the staff and the organization should be improved.

Feedback is also provided to the employee. In a personal conversation, the expert notes strengths and weaknesses, helps to identify potential areas of growth and resources for improving competencies. The value of the assessment lies in the fact that it not only evaluates skills, but also allows you to create an individual development program for each specialist. At the same time, the technologies are universal: they work both in large industrial enterprises, whose personnel reserve amounts to thousands of people, and in small firms with several dozen employees.

How to choose a company to conduct an assessment center for sales managers

Conducting assessment centers as events is an innovation for a large number of companies.
Not wanting to make a mistake, they make the right decision - to resort to the help of external consultants. This increases the degree of objectivity, but requires financial costs. How to choose a company to conduct an assessment center for sales managers and be sure that financial investments guarantee results, said a representative of KSK Group, a company that provides audit and consulting services to private businesses: “A high-quality assessment center requires high responsibility. The company to which you are going to entrust the assessment must invest heavily in training experts, constantly improving the qualifications of trainers and consultants, and provide them with extensive practice. KSK Group specialists continuously update their own knowledge and experience. We have implemented over 4 thousand projects in the field of management consulting, working with companies with completely different specifics. KSK Group conducts a comprehensive assessment of the potential of each employee, taking into account his personal qualities and professional knowledge. Our experts provide recommendations for staff and managers on motivation systems, professional growth, and KPIs. At the client’s request, KSK groups can select programs for additional training. For the sales team, motivation based on personal contribution is especially important. Knowing the performance of each employee helps the manager distribute financial incentives and significantly increase managers’ interest in professional growth and results.”

PS KSK group is a consulting company working with medium and large businesses.
In the Expert RA rating based on the results of 2015, it occupies a leading position among the largest audit and consulting groups in Russia. Works with manufacturing, trade, transport, construction enterprises and the service sector. Conducts a comprehensive assessment center in Moscow, implementing personnel and management development programs and trainings.

How can a candidate prepare for the assessment?

The assessment center for hiring is a multi-stage and exhausting process that presents difficulties for both parties. Without preparation for the assessment, the candidate, no matter how expert he is, has practically no chance.

After the assessment activities, the employer receives a detailed description, on the basis of which he makes a decision on hiring an employee.

The main principle in preparation is to pay attention to each element of the assessment: remote tests, interviews, cases, etc. In addition, you will have to:

Collect information about the employer.
Study the official website, specialized forums, employee reviews. HR staff will tell you about the upcoming testing: how long it lasts, the number of participants, who will observe and evaluate the results, what the limitations are and what they are.
Prepare for self-presentation.
HR staff will ask the candidate to talk about their life and work experiences. You should prepare several examples in advance that confirm the skills and competencies required for the position, and write an essay about your achievements. It is possible that the candidate's presentation will be stopped at any time and asked to talk about something else. Don't get upset and insist on continuing the story. Flexibility and openness are the key to successfully passing the assessment.
Practice skills in solving cases and tasks on logic and intelligence.
If you cannot find examples of job applications for a specific company, it is recommended to practice on training exercises that are available on test preparation sites.
To practice.
Even if an employee is satisfied with everything at the workplace, he should go for interviews from time to time and train his skills in self-presentation and passing assessment tests.
Tune in.
Calmness and self-confidence are important qualities for a candidate. If you perceive the assessment as an exciting game, the test will be easy. But this does not mean that preparation can be treated like a game.

So what are the benefits of assessment centers?

Assessment centers (like many other selection methods) have been under scrutiny for many years, and much time and resources have been devoted to assessing whether they are truly effective.

The short answer is: yes, they are effective.

To justify the use of any assessment method, professional psychologists are required to conduct “validation studies.” This basically means comparing a candidate's score on an assessment, which is used to decide his suitability for a job, with the performance of the same people in a particular job. A high correlation indicates that the assessment method accurately predicts job performance, while a low correlation indicates the opposite. The implication is that higher scores go to more capable candidates and lower scores go to less able candidates.

Assessment centers consistently prove to be one of the best ways to predict a job applicant's performance. That's why they are becoming more and more popular.

Assessment centers are especially often used by large FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) companies. These companies annually recruit for Management Trainee programs and specialist positions. Read more about the work and assessments of the FMCG sector in our special article: Management Trainee programs of the largest FMCG companies: rating, features, advice on the device

For recruiting organizations and employers, assessments are expensive endeavors that require trained assessors, accurate assessment exercises and suitable premises, but there are few alternatives to assessments.

Cost of assessment

The cost of a project to assess personnel using an assessment center can vary significantly depending on the elaboration of competencies and their number for observation. And, most importantly, the report format.

The cost of procedures included in the assessment center project starts from 25,000 rubles per employee.

Naturally, the more employees it is planned to evaluate using one procedure, the lower the share of the cost of development and adaptation in the cost of the project.

Assessment case examples

Naturally, each company has its own stock of cases, exercises and methods for conducting assessment interviews. We will give you an example of a case used during an interview at one of the companies.

Task 1. You are a successful leader. One of your subordinates is Alexey, he has great potential and ambitions. His work experience in the company is three years, during these years he has established himself as a professional in his field. He solves all assigned tasks quickly and clearly, there are no complaints about his work. But you have a resignation letter on your desk. However, you do not want to lose such a valuable employee. In five minutes you need to prepare a conversation with Alexey that will convince him to stay in the company.

Task 2. You are an employee of the company. Work experience in this company is three years. At the time of employment you were receiving higher education. A year later, after graduating from school, you dreamed of a promotion. However, despite this, as well as good results at work, this did not happen. Since you need career growth, you started looking for a new job. During these searches, you received an interesting offer from one company, where you will receive a position higher than your current one. However, working in a new company has its downsides, including low wages. Your manager, having reviewed your resignation letter, would like to talk to you. Build your conversation and line of behavior during it.

So, here are examples of cases used during assessment-style interviews. Of course, in reality, completely different options may await you, but you should not be afraid. Be confident and collected. Believe - you will definitely succeed.

Objectivity

A classic dialogue with an applicant gives a one-sided idea of the manager’s human and professional qualities. Excitement and third-party factors could have prevented you from showing all your skills. An assessment session is an opportunity to look at a candidate in a working environment and obtain objective information about his strengths and weaknesses through various tests and tasks. Regardless of the surrounding circumstances, reliable information will fall into the hands of the Company’s experts. test results do not depend on the mood and sympathies of the examiners, since special scales are developed for assessment, and the jury’s opinion is collective.

How to successfully pass an assessment interview?

It is impossible to know in advance what the tasks will be. But there is a lot of information in the public domain about the company, its goals, projects, and management features. Knowing this helps when passing the assessment.

Also, when preparing, it is advisable to talk with a person who has successfully completed the procedure and is ready to share his experience. From him you can learn about the pitfalls of these tests.

Having such information and being an expert in your field, it is quite possible to get the desired job.

Benefits for candidates

Assessment - what is it for potential employees of the Company? This is not only stressful, but also a practical opportunity to get free expert advice. It is difficult for a person to independently determine his strengths and vulnerabilities. The assessment center and sample tests help you identify areas of growth, set a goal and understand how to achieve it. From this point of view, the system has no analogues. There is no other practice in business that makes it possible to comprehensively assess human and expert qualities. Only by knowing your shortcomings can you begin to fight them. The assessment center allows you to assess the strengths of an employee.

By the way, now you can increase the efficiency of the recruitment process. To do this, I will leave you questionnaires for the competition. Use it!

Thanks to this, the potential is used more efficiently. During the testing process, the candidate or current employee solves work situations that they might not encounter in real life. This contributes to a better distribution of places in the Company.

It is important to move away from value judgments

Try to avoid value judgments in your answers. It is clear that there is a problem and it arose as a result of someone’s mistake or omission. That is why the situation is discussed in the case and issued at the assessment. That is why the manager’s position is vacant today or is about to become vacant.

Sometimes the final assessment of the work on a case includes the following circumstance: did the applicant ask additional questions, did you need additional information? But here lies a catch and a provocation at the same time. If you asked too many questions, then you are not persistent, but intrusive. You have specified the proposed circumstances twice with your questions, this is not entirely a plus. In psychology, there is a block of tests for assessing thinking “making decisions in a situation of limited information.” The case, as a rule, is designed for approximately the same thing. It is not designed that now 100 applicants will solve the company’s problems by answering the questions of the assessment case. When you have the opportunity to really start solving the assigned tasks, then even the individual characteristics of your performers will matter, which, most likely, is not mentioned in the questions of the case. It is important for the company to first assess the level of your thinking. Therefore, when asking additional questions, do not go too deep into the details and minutiae.