The Assessment Center in the selection of personnel and the detection of talents

The Assesment Center is a technician of selection of personnel that has like aim identify and evaluate the competitions of the candidates of face to the exert professional of a place work in concrete. No only it is used with ends of selection of personal but it can apply  in the promotion of employees, to detect formative needs or to identify the potentiality of possible directors. It is therefore, a systematic method of evaluation of people as well it says his name that translated to the Spanish would be Centre of Evaluation.

During the process of Assessment Center make  simulations of tasks and own activities of the place of work to the candidates being observed by specialists evaluadores that take notes on the seen in each one of the candidates of face to attain a consensus between them for the final contracting of the most ideal person for the place. At the end of process delivers  an individual report to each participant with the final diagnostic of the strong and feeble points that have observed  and of the formative needs and of development to exert properly the place of work.

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Main characteristics of the Assessment Center.

To make properly this technician of selection is convenient to fulfil with these three premises:

1. It is convenient that the number of candidates was not upper to 12 and that these was divided in two groups of 6. This figure is ideal to make the situational exercises, the groups of discussion and make the evaluation between mates with greater precision. It treats  therefore that the observer was able to identify and annotate all the eventualities during the process.
2. It is necessary that participate several evaluadores. On the one hand to achieve collect the greater quantity of information and by another to be able to make an appropriate discussion between evaluadores and that was not only unilateral decision.
3. Have to include  other more traditional proofs like the objective proofs (editorial of exercises or test), proofs proyectivas and glimpsed to achieve the best profile of professionalism and possible personality. It is a form to be able to make comparisons with the observation so that the objective results go back  congruent with the observed in a more real context.

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Phases of the process of Assessment Center.

Can differentiate  until four phases in the process of evaluation and assessment of the candidates by means of Assessment Center:

1. Description of behaviours. The evaluadores present a report on each one of the participants describing the behaviours observed in the tasks assigned. For the moment, it is not place to make interpretations or trials in this regard.
2. Evaluation of dimensions. The evaluadores of independent form will do the assessment of each one of the candidates in each one of the dimensions that have established . For example: understanding, autogestión, leadership, efficiency, etc.
3. Debate of consensus. In this phase the evaluadores will make a debate of each one of the punctuations that the participants have obtained in the previous dimensions. This debate has to be coordinated by a manager that guide to the group to the consensus.
4. Global evaluation. At the end of process each evaluador will issue a global punctuation for each one of the candidates related with the probability to exert successfully the own tasks of the place of work.

These phases can suffer variations in function of the program that apply  of Assessment Center.

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Types of exercises of Assesment Center.

They are used to  use big variety of exercises given the big difference of tasks between places of work and labour disciplines but in general terms the most used would be of the situational type like simulations, samples of work or some technical grupales. Some of them are:

• Games of businesses. They are simulations of real cases where the participant will have to his disposal all the necessary to make a common task of the place of work. An example of game of business is the technician designated In Basket in which it presents him  to the candidate all the necessary materials for the tasks (papers, reports, contacts, etc…) And it poses him  a real situation, for example the drop of a mate of work that will have to cover. Of this way will evaluate  the capacity of exert of the candidate.
• Groups of discussion. In this case it poses  a subject related with the place of work and will give him  a determinate time of discussion to the group to resolve the problem. In this case we will evaluate dimensions of the communicative type, leadership, persuasion, autoconfianza, attitude, creativity…
• Evaluation between mates. Now what asks  is that each candidate evaluate to another of the participants in a determinate shot or dimension. Of this way will be able to observe for example dimensions of the emotional intelligence like the empathy and of understanding of the tasks and ends of the place of work.
• Other exercises: simulation of interviews, role-playing, presentations and oral exhibitions, editorial of reports…

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Advantages and limitations.

The main advantages to apply a technician of Assessment Center root in the high predictive validity since they have predicted successfully a high number of directors with high potential. Expose to a real situation is the most reliable of face to a contracting with lower risk of mistake, which will reduce the rotation in the staff.

However, no always it is possible to make this type of technicians since they demand a high cost so much economic as of time given in the long run length of the process. If you want to know more on other technicians of selection of personnel can visit this article on interviews of critical incidents or visit the section of selection of personnel of the web.