Fred Joshua: Corporate Recruitment
Fred Joshua: Corporate Recruitment

Assessment centers were designed to measure competencies. The use of assessment centers for Recruitment and Selection is not new having began as a selection method for officers to the armed forces in 1939- 45. Assessment centers can also serve a wide range of purposes; Graduate recruitment, Internal promotion and career development. Assessment centers are characterized by multiples.

• Candidates
• Assessors or observers
• Exercise, simulations or tests
• Criteria, or competencies

Typically, applicants apply for a position through an application form designed with Immediate Discard Technique in mind. They are further screened using competency based interviews. The remaining candidates are   invited to the assessment complete with assessors provided by the client

Assessment centers are designed to measure competencies which fall into three main areas of;

• Thinking
• Relating
• Acting

Tests of numerical and verbal reasoning can also be included. On completion, applicants are released to give the assessors time to mark their performance and discuss amongst themselves. Assessors must ensure that they use a standardized approach, if there is a big variation, a good explanation must be given.

The biggest advantage of an assessment center over other selection and recruitment methods is the ability to have several assessors, asses candidates in different exercises, and candidates are judged by different attributes. Other advantages include;

• Good validity evidence: a well designed assessment center can be a clear prediction for future performance,

• Providing realistic job preview: If the job simulations are designed correctly then they will serve as a realistic preview of what the job entails in real life. This can aid in weeding out those candidates with unrealistic expectation of what the job entail. Candidates with realistic expectation tend to perform better than those with unrealistic job expectation
• Favorable candidate reaction:
  Assessment centers are regarded by those on the receiving end as fair and valid way of making selection decision
• Involvement of line managers
  It is a good decision to involve those who will eventually manage the appointee. Line managers have better idea of the specific skills required in that department
• Strategic Value
  Applicants who go through an Assessment Center can be given full feedback on their strength and development needs expressed in competency terms

1. Learn how not only to collect information but also how to interpret it
2. Clarifying the objectives to be achieved at the interview
3. Ensure that as much information is collected about the vacancy before the interview
4. Ensuring as much information as possible is collected before the interviews
5. Trying to collect information about the candidate by other means in addition to the interview
6. Interviewers should have a structure or a checklist for gathering information
7. Interviewers should be encouraged to take notes, this is very important in case of litigation
8. Interviewers should learn the essence of body language in order to understand that their body language can affect the candidates
9. Interviewers should not reach conclusion until after collection and evaluation of all information about the candidate
10. Interviewers should have a rating form with simple clearly defined characteristics
11. Establishing a feedback process to allow interviewers to get feedback on their interview behaviour.

Psychologists believe that unstructured interviews do not work ! studies suggest that predictive validity of unstructured interview is around zero. Some authors suggest that when a manager calls an applicant for a chat and in the process ask questions like; which school did you attend, why you want this job and what kind of social upbringing you came from, they are not actually interviewing they are trying to ascertain if you are like them. This the author  notes can lead to hiring of clones or people that look like the boss, indirect discrimination for the under represented groups

It is unfortunate that even in structured interviews, people still form judgment based on  their stereotype , their expectations and their owns insecurities. In order to avoid that in this so called litigious society, recruitment companies such as London Top Recruitment obliges the interviewers to concentrate on information which was originally gathered through job or competency analysis..

Types of structured interviews

The three most commonly encountered kinds of structured interviews are;

• The biographical interview
• The backward looking interview
• The forward looking interview