Assessment day

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Stages involved on a typical Assessment Day D (2).jpg
Stages involved on a typical Assessment Day

An assessment day is usually used in the context of recruitment. On this day, a group of applicants who have applied for a particular role are invited to an assessment centre, where a combination of selection techniques are used by the employers to measure the suitability of an individual for the job role. These selection technique usually include exercises such as presentation, group exercise, one to one Interview, role play, psychometric test etc. [1] Most large organisations like banks, audit and IT firms use assessment days to recruit the fresh talent in their graduate programmes. With an increase of popularity of assessment days, several training institutes have been formed that prepare candidates for assessment days, for example, Green Turn is a famous institute that prepares candidates for assessment days of big 4 accountancy firms. [2]

Contents

History

There are several examples throughout history, but the term "Assessment" for recruiting employees was firstly used in World War II by German Army in early 1930s. [3] They used this process to select military officers. The tasks involved certain tests and officers were rated on how well they performed and chosen for selection and promotion accordingly. Dr Simoneit, a German psychologist led the foundation of what became known as 'An Assessment' in German Army. The idea of starting this process was to get a better understanding of why certain officers did not act in the way they had said they would if they were selected or promoted. [4]

Further psychological and scientific methods were added to his original work later on by British Government. They recognised the importance of having an assessment day and a War Office Selection was created using its own testing methods. Examples include the Admiralty Interview Board of the Royal Navy and the Board of the British Army. [5]

AT&T created a building for recruiting staff in the 1950s. This was called The Assessment Centre and this was influential on subsequent personnel methods in other businesses. [6]

Purpose

The purpose of having an assessment day is to see how candidates actually behave when they will be put in real work life situations, for example performing an exercise with a group of people under timed conditions. These behaviours will then get compared to the key behavioural criteria which have been specified for that job role. Although the original assessment days were focused on military duties and their specific exercises are unlikely to be used in a commercial or public environment, but it is still important to know that these exercises have been designed to judge the behaviour of an individual in performing a task. [7] Another reason of employers having an assessment day is that, assessment days have a proven track record of finding the most suitable candidates for the job. They are usually attended by a group of candidates normally between 5 and 15 all of whom are being assessed. They are usually held for a full working day and it is important to remember that the assessment day is just a way of finding candidates suitability for the role. One Candidate is not in competition with the other candidates on the assessment day. If every candidate shows the right qualities and competencies the employer is looking for they will hire all of them. If none of the candidates meet the necessary standard, the employer will hire none of them. [8]

Assessment day is usually organised by the human resource department of the organisation. There might be other managers of the company in the assessors panel to provide technical input. Larger organisations sometimes also hire or invite their occupational psychologists on the panel to provide professional reviews on the candidate's behaviour. Occasionally, if an assessment day involves role play exercises, some companies bring professional actors to play that part to assess the behaviour of candidates. For example, to play a role of a dissatisfied client. The idea behind this is to create a real life scenario. Some candidates often prefer this idea and find it easier to behave in the way as they would do in real life. Ultimately, the purpose of employers having an assessment day is to measure how well candidates will deal with a situation that they might encounter in the job. [9]

Stages to undertake on Assessment Day

Most popular Assessment Day exercises. Ejbnk.jpg
Most popular Assessment Day exercises.

Assessment Day involves a list of exercises sometimes tailored to the job role individuals have applied for. Candidates on an assessment day are assessed against a list of competencies: KSA's – Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes. On each competency a score is given and this is assessed through a number of activities as explained below: [10]

Group Exercise

The purpose of Group exercise is to test the interpersonal and teamwork skills of an individual and usually involve activities such as debating, discussing ideas and solving a challenging problem. The idea behind these activities is to judge whether the candidate will overpower the group or fade in the background when they have to work with people with different skills set. It is important that candidates remember that they are not necessarily competing with the others in the group but everybody is performing against the company standard. [11]

In-tray Exercise

The results of this exercise illustrate candidate's organizational and prioritizing skills. The test gives the candidates an everyday example of multiple tasks which needs to be assessed and prioritized. This tests time perception and management and gives the assessors an insight into how the candidate will react in a real-world situation. Most in-tray exercises are designed according to the job specification and they test a set of key competencies based on the values of the organization. For example, they focus on the delegation, independence and managing skills. It is vital that candidates think about the job role and competencies that employer is looking for when answering the questions. [12] [13]

Psychometric Test

These tests are used to measure how people differ in their motivation, values, priorities and opinions. They are helpful for employers in analysing the more hidden traits of individuals and give them indication of their preferred working style. They also give an idea to assessors of candidate's current abilities. They can be quite difficult as normally they are performed under timed conditions, therefore it is advisable for candidates to practice before their assessment day. There are many different types of psychometric test but the commonly used by the employers are numerical reasoning test and verbal reasoning test. [14]

Role Play Exercise

A role play is designed according to the job role, it is a fictional scenario, for example, candidates may have to face an angry customer if they have applies for a sales manager role, where one of the assessor will play the part of the angry customer. In this way assessors will challenge the candidates with different cross-questions and reasons behind the answers. Some companies even hire professional actors for role play exercise so the situation will be more close to real life and also they can assess the candidate accurately. [15]

Presentation

Presentation on an assessment day usually tests a candidates ability of how confident he is in presenting ideas in front of a group of people. Some organizations give the topic of presentation in advance that candidates have to prepare, others give the topic on the assessment day and give candidates some time to prepare for it. This demonstrates their capabilities of presenting their finding and analyzing information under timed condition. [16]

One-to-One Interview

This is usually the last stage of assessment day, If candidates have completed all other tasks, this is an ideal opportunity for individuals to ask questions from hiring managers and showcase them their talent and impress them with the research that they have done about the company and its products and services. This is one of the most important aspects of an assessment day as assessors get to know a candidate individually and it has a great impact on the selection process. [17]

Assessors on the assessment day only give credit for the knowledge skills and attitudes (KSA's) candidates exhibit during these exercises. They do not normally test the technical knowledge of job role. The final decision of whether to select or reject a candidate mostly depends on the competencies shown in the above activities.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

Assessment Days are eminently fair and objective. They allow a broader range of selection methods to be used so therefore they are more accurate than a standard recruitment process. The tests which are used on assessment day gives an insight knowledge of applicant's psychological and social behaviour. The results from these tests, combined with other conventional sources of information plays an important role in selecting the most qualified candidate and also enables organizations in eliminating unsuitable candidates – helping the organizations to ensure that they put right people in right roles. [18]

Assessment Days test the psychological behaviour of the person as what they can do, not what they know. It tests their ability to apply formal education in a real world situation. A person may have a first class degree but he may not be able to make critical decisions under pressure or lack skills to delegate work to his team. [19]

Exercises and Activities involve at an assessment day are highly adaptable for all types of job roles and for all sorts of organizations. For example, can be designed for recruiting community service officers, sales assistants, detectives, IT Consultants, Audit Managers and jailers as well as police officers. Moreover, the cost associated with assessment day is usually lower as compared to the cost involve in many other recruitment processes. Because exercises involve on an assessment day are cost and time friendly and can be tailored to the budget of the organisation. [20]

Assessment Days can also play an important role for candidates in terms of providing them with feedback about their strengths and weaknesses, which allows them to improve their skills and abilities for future roles. Assessment Days are also an ideal opportunity for candidates to understand the organisation and job role more closely and help them in making decision whether this is the right job role for them. [21]

Weaknesses

Assessment Days can be difficult to manage and there is always an uncertainty of things going wrong on the day. There can be system failure or maybe other IT problems that can cause problems in performing various activities, for example, aptitude tests and psychometric tests can not be performed because of an immediate IT failure. Role players may fail to turn up or badly play their roles and therefore assessors may not be able to mark the exercise properly.

Furthermore, with an increase in technology people who have been to an assessment day of a company write about their experiences and nature of exercises involved on social websites and student forums which in result give all the answers to future candidates and they prepare themselves in advance which is sometimes not fair for selection process. [22]

Sometimes, candidates complain that they feel uncomfortable on an assessment day as they are just "role playing" and assessors don't get to know "the real me". Others complain that the time spent with an assessors is too limited for them to make a right decision. Some also argue that exercises that are used for assessment days are too ambiguous and not close to job specification. Moreover, sometimes its hard for an organization to gather all their assessors and managers on the same day as the assessment process is very time-consuming as it can lasts from 4 to 7 hours. [23]

Strategies for Applicants

Applicants should follow the following strategies to succeed an assessment day:

[24]

Related Research Articles

Staffing is the process of finding the right worker with appropriate qualifications or experience and recruiting them to fill a job position or role. Through this process, organizations acquire, deploy, and retain a workforce of sufficient quantity and quality to create positive impacts on the organization’s effectiveness. In management, staffing is an operation of recruiting the employees by evaluating their skills and knowledge before offering them specific job roles accordingly.

Recruitment refers to the overall process of identifying, attracting, screening, shortlisting, and interviewing candidates for jobs within an organization. Recruitment can also refer to the processes involved in choosing individuals for unpaid roles. Managers, human resource generalists and recruitment specialists may be tasked with carrying out recruitment, but in some cases public-sector employment, commercial recruitment agencies, or specialist search consultancies are used to undertake parts of the process. Internet-based technologies which support all aspects of recruitment have become widespread, including the use of artificial intelligence (AI).

Job interview Type of interview

A job interview is an interview consisting of a conversation between a job applicant and a representative of an employer which is conducted to assess whether the applicant should be hired. Interviews are one of the most popularly used devices for employee selection. Interviews vary in the extent to which the questions are structured, from a totally unstructured and free-wheeling conversation, to a structured interview in which an applicant is asked a predetermined list of questions in a specified order; structured interviews are usually more accurate predictors of which applicants will make suitable employees, according to research studies.

Recognition of prior learning (RPL), prior learning assessment (PLA), or prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR), describes a process used by regulatory bodies, adult learning centres, career development practitioners, military organizations, human resources professionals, employers, training institutions, colleges and universities around the world to evaluate skills and knowledge acquired outside the classroom for the purpose of recognizing competence against a given set of standards, competencies, or learning outcomes. RPL is practiced in many countries for a variety of purposes, for example an individual's standing in a profession, trades qualifications, academic achievement, recruitment, performance management, career and succession planning.

Competence is the set of demonstrable characteristics and skills that enable and improve the efficiency or performance of a job. The term "competence" first appeared in an article authored by R.W. White in 1959 as a concept for performance motivation. In 1970, Craig C. Lundberg defined the concept in "Planning the Executive Development Program". The term gained traction when in 1973, David McClelland wrote a seminal paper entitled, "Testing for Competence Rather Than for Intelligence". It has since been popularized by Richard Boyatzis and many others, such as T.F. Gilbert (1978) who used the concept in relationship to performance improvement. Its use varies widely, which leads to considerable misunderstanding.

Metropolitan Special Constabulary

The Metropolitan Special Constabulary (MSC) is the volunteer police force of the Metropolitan Police Service. It is one of three Special Constabularies operating within London, the others being part of the City of London Police and British Transport Police. The service was created over 180 years ago under the Special Constables Act 1831, and currently consists of 1,731 officers, making it the largest in the UK.

Admiralty Interview Board

The Admiralty Interview Board (AIB) is an assessment centre, tracing its roots to 1903, that is used by the Naval service as part of the officer selection process for the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marines Reserve, and Royal Fleet Auxiliary. It is an equivalent of the Army Officer Selection Board and the Officer and Aircrew Selection Centre of the Royal Air Force. The board is based at HMS Sultan in Gosport, Hampshire within a self-contained compound.

Selection and training in the British Army is the process by which candidates for service are identified, inducted and brought onto the trained strength. The process is the responsibility of the Adjutant General, the personnel director for the Army based at Trenchard Lines in Wiltshire.

European Personnel Selection Office

The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is responsible for selecting staff to work for the institutions and agencies of the European Union including the European Parliament, the European Council, the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors, the European External Action Service, the Economic and Social Committee, the Committee of the Regions and the European Ombudsman. Each institution is then able to recruit staff from among the pool of candidates selected by EPSO. On average, EPSO receives around 60,000-70,000 applications a year with around 1,500-2,000 candidates recruited by the European Union institutions.

Services Selection Board

Services Selection Board (SSB) is an organization that assesses the candidates for becoming officers into the Indian Armed Forces. The board evaluates the suitability of the candidate for becoming an officer using a standardized protocol of evaluation system which constitutes personality, intelligence tests, and interviews. The tests are of both types i.e. written and practical task-based. An SSB comprises the panel of assessors, who are officers in the Indian Armed Forces and having their specialization as Psychologist, GTO, and Interviewing Officer. At times the psychologist may not be directly from the armed forces as well. In total there are thirteen Service Selection Boards across India, out of which four boards are for the Indian Army, four boards are for Indian Air Force, and five boards for the Indian Navy. SSB is a 5 days evaluation process.

Situational judgement test

Situational stress tests (SStTs) or Inventories (SSIs) are a type of psychological test which present the test-taker with realistic, hypothetical scenarios and ask the individual to identify the most appropriate response or to rank the responses in the order they feel is most effective. SJTs can be presented to test-takers through a variety of modalities, such as booklets, films, or audio recordings. SJTs represent a distinct psychometric approach from the common knowledge-based multiple choice item. They are often used in industrial-organizational psychology applications such as personnel selection. Situational judgement tests tend to determine behavioral tendencies, assessing how an individual will behave in a certain situation, and knowledge instruction, which evaluates the effectiveness of possible responses. Situational judgement tests could also reinforce the status quo with an organization.

Application for employment Standard business document

An application for employment is a standard business document that is prepared with questions deemed relevant by employers. It is used to determine the best candidate to fill a specific role within the company. Most companies provide such forms to anyone upon request, at which point it becomes the responsibility of the applicant to complete the form and return it to the employer for consideration. The completed and returned document notifies the company of the applicant's availability and desire to be employed as well as their qualifications and background so that a determination can be made as to the candidate's suitability to the position.

Competency-based recruitment is a process of recruitment based on the ability of candidates to produce anecdotes about their professional experience which can be used as evidence that the candidate has a given competency. Candidates demonstrate competencies on the application form, and then in the interview, which in this case is known as a competency-based interview.

Assessment centre candidate evaluation site

An assessment centre is a process where candidates are examined to determine their suitability for specific types of employment, especially management or military command. The candidates' personality and aptitudes are determined by techniques including interviews, group exercises, presentations, examinations and psychometric testing.

Potential analysis describes the structural examination of specific characteristics and competencies. Potential analyses provide information about abilities of employees, future events, methods or organizations. Due to that the analysis of the branch of production, the financial sphere, the research & development and the Human resources is differentiated.

Individual psychological assessment

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The 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group is a forthcoming selection of 4-6 new members of the European Astronaut Corps. It is the fourth European Space Agency (ESA) recruitment campaign and the first since 2008. The announcement of the selected astronaut candidates is expected in October 2022.

References

  1. ↑ "Article: Assessment days as part of an interview process". the Guardian. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  2. ↑ "Green Turn". www.greenturn.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  3. ↑ AM Azure Consulting Ltd. "why assessment centre validity is falling" (PDF). AM Azure Consulting Ltd. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-08-13.
  4. ↑ Morgan, William (1955). Spies and Saboteurs. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.
  5. ↑ Iain Ballantyne; Nigel Povah (2004), "What is an Assessment Centre?", Assessment and development centres, Gower Publishing, ISBN   978-0-566-08599-4
  6. ↑ John Sponton; Stewart Wright (2009), "What is an assessment centre?", Managing Assessment Centres, Pocketbooks, ISBN   978-1-906610-05-0
  7. ↑ "Dealing With Assessment Centres". www.careerpsychologycentre.com. Archived from the original on 2016-02-14. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  8. ↑ Harry, Tolley (2011). How to Succeed at an Assessment Centre. Kogan Page Ltd. pp. 25–35.
  9. ↑ "Assessment Centre and Interviewing advice". www.rcn.org.uk. 2014-08-29. Archived from the original on 2015-10-29. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  10. ↑ "What Are KSAs? - VA JOBS". www.va.gov. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  11. ↑ "Application process | Graduates | KPMG Careers in the UK". www.kpmgcareers.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  12. ↑ "Types of assessment tests". PwC. Archived from the original on 2015-10-20. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  13. ↑ "What Types of Aptitude Tests Are There". www.Assessment-Training.com. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  14. ↑ "Psychometric Testing Guide > What is Psychometric Testing | Psych Press | Talent Management Psychologists". www.psychpress.com.au. Archived from the original on 2015-10-06. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  15. ↑ "Role Play Exercise | AssessmentDay.co.uk". www.assessmentday.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  16. ↑ TARGETjobs. "Deliver a presentation that's worthy of a graduate job". TARGETjobs. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  17. ↑ "Lloyds Banking Group Careers - Where do you fit in? - Lloyds Banking Group plc". www.lloydsbankinggroup.com. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
  18. ↑ "Pros and Cons of Assessment Centers | Hendon Publishing" . Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  19. ↑ Feuer, Dale & Lee, Chris. The Kaizen Connection: How Companies Pick Tomorrow's Workers. pp. 23–35.
  20. ↑ Payne, T.; Anderson, N.R. & Smith, T. Assessment centres, selection systems and cost effectiveness: an evaluative case study. Personnel Review. pp. 48–56.
  21. ↑ "The benefits of assessment centres & pitfalls to avoid" . Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  22. ↑ Edenborough, Robert (2005). Assessment Methods in Recruitment . London: Kogan Page Ltd. pp.  200–220.
  23. ↑ Thornton III; George C.; and Byham; William C. (2013). Assessment Centers and Managerial Performance. Elsevier Science. pp. 30–40.
  24. ↑ Povah, Nigel (2012). Assessment Centres and Global Talent Management. Gower Publishing, Ltd. pp. 20–23.
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