Benefits of using an Assessment Center

For many serious roles and for some specialist large intake programs like in case of some graduate schemes;

12:10 06 July 2019

The assessment center is used as a very popular recruitment tool. These assessment centers take different formats depending on the role in question and also the nature of the organization or the company. But at the same time, they will generally bring together a set of some prescreened and pre interviewed applicants to participate in the final stage of the selection process.

But the question is; whyassessment center is valued by the recruiters? Here are some major reasons behind it:

Accuracy

The assessment center can offer the core benefits of accuracy, particularly, when it is compared to the methods that are used in the traditional recruitment process. When there is just a basic face to face interview then the recruiters find it very difficult to apply different measures to the assessment of the candidate. There is no chance that one can use the interviewer bias in this process. This assessment center can allow a greater degree of objectivity to be applied in the process because of some genuine array of assessment opportunities and exercises.

Watching performance in action

In an assessment center, the recruiters can see how a candidate can perform in a real life situation; like if they are given a situation which they may face while doing the job rather than relying on the their own self-assessment in an interview process. They also make it way easier to assess and compare the candidates who may seem to be of equal intelligence on paper but can be a bit different when it comes to the real world situation. These centers also allow the employees to stimulate various scenarios which are typical to the role and then how the applicants fare. For example: there can be a group who might need to work together on some posed business issues to see what role that take inside the team. It also makes the scenario clear on how they interact, negotiate, communicate and then find an effective solution for the problem. There are also some tests involved in this process so that the recruiters can assess the literacy level and the technical skills of an applicant for a particular job role. If it is a job role for an IT company then the recruiters might focus on some specific technical skills but at the same time, they can also include some creativity exercise to throw the applicants some curveball to check how they can perform under pressure.

Employer branding

The assessment centers also have a benefit when it comes to the promotion of the employer’s band. Here, the candidates who turn up for the assessment test; if they find out that this particular test can reflect the role and the organization and they become impressed by the hiring process of the company then they always come out with a positive impression about the company or the organization, even if they are not selected at the end. By this the company makes a very positive impression among the high quality candidates and in the job market.

Cost advantages

Even if it is perceived as a higher cost of an assessment center like food, accommodation hire, equipment and staff assessor time; this approach of testing is often considered to be a very cost effective one as compared to some drawn out recruitment process. It is also cheaper that the high business of poor recruitment errors and bad decisions.

Fairness

It is also said that the assessment center is very important in a recruitment process because it is very fair. It can complement the employer’s quality and the diversity agenda which helps them to zero down the right candidate. They are always selected on the grounds of true merit. With the help of assessment center and its measurement evidence the evaluation happens thoroughly and it is normalized against broad curve of candidates that are recorded. This is a much better recruitment process than going for a single interview process where the notes can be more subjective.

Reciprocal experience

The assessment center experience is also a very transparent, thorough and it also gives the candidates a proper and genuine insight into the values and culture of the employer company. It is very vital because it is often very hard to give the sense of the brand in an alone interview. In case of a more extended process of the assessment center, the candidates can also get a chance to meet the key managers and other important staffs from the company and then get a chance to talk to them informally to get a sense on how to work with them, once they are employed.

Diverse suitability

These assessment centers are very diverse and their application is important for different situations from hiring a senior executive to a specialist or a technical assistant. Sometimes, due to some new projects there is a bulk requirement for contracts in an organization and there is a sudden influx of high quality staff. Here, the assessment center can be tailored to suit the role in question and the group of candidates.

Getting the assessment center right

Also it is very important to run the assessment centers really well and that too without an error. There are some common pitfalls that can include a failure to define objectives and measurable skills along with key competencies. Without this, any assessment center will turn into the old and traditional interview process.

So, the HR team of any company needs to have some specialists who will have a clean knowledge on how to run an assessment center. There should be a proper format and an agenda when the company is running an assessment center for the recruitment process. This only in turn will help the companies to zero down to the right candidate or candidates among those thousands of applicants for a particular job role. Otherwise, there are chances for wring recruits as well.