Coming from a military environment the Assessment Centers have gone a long way to find in its position in a non-military world. The departments responsible for Human Resources have accepted ACs as one of the methods to filter out unwanted candidates.
The concept of the AC was developed in the 30′s by the German army to choose the right people for an officer’s career. Later on the AC was further developed and used by the British army and the US intelligence service.
In the 50′s American corporations took the concept into civilian business applications.
In order to maintain successful AC specific rules and guide lines must be applied. The candidates passing the tests will have great impact on the business success in the future. Therefore there must be no mistakes.
According to several research reports most companies using ACs only use 30% to choose university graduates. 70% of an AC is used to get an idea of qualification and necessary input for existing personnel.
Up to 10 soft skills will be examined, i.e.:
- communication abilities
- willingness to cooperate
- ability to tackle conflicts
Group discussions, presentations and small meetings are part of days at an AC.
9 AC specific rules and guide lines
Requirements
Accessing without knowing the requirements is pointless
Behaviour
Recording of the behaviour descriptions are the only means of accessing real behaviour and that believed to be.
Keep the personal opinion in bounds
Objective trueness cannot be achieved. As humans we can only assess what we believe to see and understand. This can be very different from a different perspective.
Idea of simulating
According to the job description one must view the key skills necessary to perform the job. Only within these key points it is possible to assess and decide on the right candidate.
Transparency
Who does not know what the situation is can not react accordingly. The same applies to those assessing the behaviour.
Individuality
Only those experiences are useful as long as the person recognizing them can make real use of them.
Principal of a system
An AC without being part of a HR concept of developing personnel and organizational structures cannot fulfil its target.
Behaviour can learn or not
If an AC lacks quality management it will become a waste of time.
Organized process management
ACs must be set upon a structure designed to fulfil all needs. Chaotic or forced methods do not lead to satisfaction.