The term ‘assessment centre’ does not refer to a physical place, but rather a series of recruitment activities. Show
You’re invited to a location for a half or full day with groups of candidates to participate in a series of exercises, some of which will simulate those encountered in the real workplace. Assessment centres are used primarily by medium and large organisations – including those with internship and graduate programs – and the location can be the organisation’s offices, a recruitment agency or a hotel conference facility. Trained assessors mark your behaviour and performance against a set of pre-established criteria. Based on your individual performance, an organisation predicts how well you would perform in the workplace and fit with the organisational culture. What does an assessment centre involve?Many of the tasks are timed, with typical tasks including:
How will I be assessed?The assessors will be watching to see if you have evidence of behavioural traits required for the job. These can include:
How to prepare for an assessment centreAssessment centre days can be very long, so get a good night’s sleep and have breakfast. Dress professionally and organise your travel arrangements to be on time. Bring any documentation, glasses or medication you may need. Take practice aptitude tests and research the job and organisation beforehand, and do any assigned pre-reading or activities well before the assessment centre date. Several trained observers and techniques are used. Judgments about behavior are made and recorded. These judgments are pooled in a meeting among the assessors or by an averaging process. In discussion among assessors, comprehensive accounts of behavior, often including ratings, are pooled. The discussion results in evaluations of the performance of the assessees on the dimensions or other variables.
Assessment Center Exercises An Assessment Center can be defined as "a variety of testing techniques designed to allow candidates to demonstrate, under standardized conditions, the skills and abilities that are most essential for success in a given job" (Coleman, 1987). The term "assessment center" is really a catch-all term that can consist of some or all of a variety of exercises. Assessment centers usually have some sort of in-basket exercise which contains contents similar to those which are found in the in-basket for the job which is being tested. Other possibilities include oral exercises, counseling simulations, problem analysis exercises, interview simulations, role play exercises, written report/analysis exercises, and leaderless group exercises (Coleman, 1987; Filer, 1979; Joiner, 1984). Assessment centers allow candidates to demonstrate more of their skills through a number of job relevant situations (Joiner, 1984). While assessment centers vary in the number and type of exercises included, two of the most common exercises are the in-basket and the oral exercise. In a traditional in-basket exercise, candidates are given time to review the material and initiate in writing whatever actions they believe to be most appropriate in relation to each in-basket item. When time is called for the exercise, the in-basket materials and any notes, letters, memos, or other correspondence written by the candidate are collected for review by one or more assessors. Often the candidates are then interviewed to ensure that the assessor(s) understand actions taken by the candidate and the rationale for the actions. If an interview is not possible, it is also quite common to have the candidate complete a summary sheet (i.e., a questionnaire). Recently, the in-basket has become a focus of interest because of it's usefulness in selection across a wide variety of jobs (Schippmann, Prien, & Katz, 1990). A variety of techniques have been used to develop in-baskets. Quite often information on an in-basket's development is not available for review because the reports do not contain the critical information. It is not uncommon for armchair methods to be used, or for in-baskets to be taken off the shelf. A recent review indicated that nearly 50% of the studies do not describe how the in-basket was constructed (Schippmann, et al., 1990). There is also a great deal of variation among the ways in which the in-basket is scored. There is a range of objectivity in scoring with some scoring systems utilize almost entirely human judgment, while others utilize a purely objective approach. The in-basket exercise may be thought of as an approach which assesses a candidate's "practical thinking" ability (Scribner, 1986; 1984), by having a candidate engage in implicit problem solving for a job-relevant task. It is now well recognized that a content valid approach to constructing an in-basket is one which is professionally accepted as a technique which has passed legal scrutiny. However, despite the acceptance by the courts and practitioners, the reporting basis for content validity is often deficient. Schippmann et al. (1990) point out that all the studies they reviewed failed to establish a link between the task portion, and the knowledge, skill, and ability portion of the job analysis in order to provide a firm foundation for the construction of the in-basket. Often there has been no procedure for translating the job analysis information into development or choice of the test. Like all assessment center exercises, oral exercises can take many forms depending on the work behaviors or factors of the job being simulated. Common forms of oral exercises include press conference exercises, formal presentations, and informal presentations (briefing exercise). In oral presentation exercises, candidates are given a brief period of time in which to plan/organize their thoughts, make notes, etc., for the presentation/briefing. Traditionally, the audience is played by the assessor(s) who observes the presentation and makes ratings. Candidates may also be asked a series of questions following their briefing/presentation. The questions may or may not relate directly to the topic of the presentation. Today, the assessment center method is utilized in a variety of settings including industry and business, government, armed forces, educational institutions, and safety forces to select individuals for supervisory, technical, sales, or management positions. These assessment centers vary in length, time, and selection of exercises. The current trend is in the development of assessment centers amenable to mass testing. The traditional assessment center exercises require the use of live raters, and generally are not able to assess more than a few candidates per day. This then becomes an extremely costly form of selection for organizations. Today, the use of audio taping, and the use of objectively scored in-basket exercises permits the assessment of a much larger number of candidates per day, because the rating of the exercise takes place at a later date. This allows a more widespread use of the assessment center technique, because it is becoming a more time and cost effective method. What is an assessment center quizlet?Assessment Centers. · Definition: A method which uses multiple assessment methods and assessors to identify individual strengths and weaknesses. · An elaborate method of employee selection that is primarily used internally and for higher-level jobs is an assessment center.
Which of the following statements is true of an assessment center quizlet?Which of the following statements is true of an assessment center? It uses multiple selection methods to rate applicants on their management potential.
What are the two most often used simulation tests in assessment centers?Two of the most often used simulations in the AC are the In-Basket and the Leaderless Group Discussion (LGD). The In-Basket is a written simulation, of up to 30 memos, that is intended to replicate administrative tasks.
Which of the following statement is true about the differences between training and development?Training focuses on preparing employees for current jobs, but development prepares them for other positions in the company.
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