An assessment center is a tool to evaluate an individual’s suitability for specific job roles.
It includes several exercises like aptitude tests, personality evaluations, virtual assessment center case study simulators, and interviews.
It helps organizations better predict candidate performance and potential for a proposed position.
On the other hand, a development center in HRM is used for organizational initiatives such as training needs identification, high-potential identification, leadership development, and succession planning.
2. Seta A. Wicaksana
0811 19 53 43
wicaksana@humanikaconsulting.com
• Business Psychologist
• Pendiri dan Direktur Humanika Consulting dan hipotest.com
• Dosen Tetap dan Peneliti di Fakultas Psikologi UP
• Pembina Yayasan Humanika Edukasi Indonesia
• Wakil Ketua Asosiasi Psikologi Forensik Indonesia wilayah DKI
• Penulis Buku: Sobat Way (2016), Industri dan Organisasi: Pendekatan Integratif
dalam menghadapi Perubahan (2020), Human Faktor Engineering: Integratif Desain
Manusia dan Lingkungan Kerja (2021), Psikologi Industri dan Organisasi (2021),
Psikologi Umum (2021), Manajemen Pengembangan Talenta (2021), PIODiagnostik:
Pengukuran Psikologi di Lingkungan Kerja (2021), Transformasi Digital: Perspektif
Organisasi, Talenta dan Budaya Organisasi (2021), Psikologi Pelayanan (2021) dan
Psikologi Konsumen (2021).
• Dosen Tidak Tetap di: Program Pasca Sarjana Ekonomi di Univ. Pancasila, STP
TRISAKTI, Fakultas Psikologi Universitas Mercu Buana, STIKOM IMA
• Certified of Assessor Talent Management
• Certified of Human Resources as a Business Partner
• Certified of Risk Professional
• Certified of HR Audit
• Ilmu Ekonomi dan Manajemen (MSDM) S3 Universitas Pancasila
• Fakultas Psikologi S1 dan S2 Universitas Indonesia
• Sekolah ikatan dinas Akademi Sandi Negara
3. Introduction
• An assessment center is a tool to evaluate an
individual’s suitability for specific job roles.
• It includes several exercises like aptitude tests,
personality evaluations, virtual assessment center
case study simulators, and interviews.
• It helps organizations better predict candidate
performance and potential for a proposed position.
• On the other hand, a development center in HRM is
used for organizational initiatives such as training
needs identification, high-potential identification,
leadership development, and succession planning.
4. Benefits of an
Assessment Center
• An assessment center will make the results of the selection
process objective, fair and transparent.
• An assessment center will ensure that you will hire the
best possible candidate for the job, based on their
qualifications, skills, and competencies.
• An assessment center is more cost-effective in the long
run.
• An assessment center can be considered the first training
of new employees or new organization members.
• An assessment center increases the probabilities of longer-
term placements.
• An assessment center will guarantee that your selection is
in alignment with your overall business goals and
objectives.
• Having an assessment center will improve the reputation
of the company.
5. Assessment
Development Center
• ADC is a combination of an assessment center and a
development center.
• It is a platform offering a detailed evaluation of an
individual’s skills, organizational fitment, and developmental
needs – ADCs work by assessing candidates on various
competencies required to be successful on the job.
• Assessment center development centers have three primary
uses:
• 1. Personnel selection and recruitment
• 2. Identification of strengths and areas for training and
development
• 3. Development and grooming of professionals to
accelerate their growth path
6. Advantages and Disadvantages of
Assessment Centers
• The most significant advantage of assessment centers:
• That they are accurate predictors of performance since
candidates attempt tasks closer to real work situations.
• This provision offers both the assessors and the
candidates an accurate picture of what may lie ahead.
• Thus, assessors can make better hiring decisions, and
candidates gain a more realistic insight into their roles,
ensuring a long employment association.
• The only disadvantage is that designing a candidate
assessment center involves creating customized
assessment development center exercises for every
organization and job role, which can be a trifle lengthy
process because of multiple stakeholders’ involvement.
7. Applications
of
Assessment
centers The applications of various forms of assessment
centers include:
High-
potential
identification
Training
needs
identification
Leadership
development
Leadership
hiring
Succession
planning
As hinted in the first chapter of this guide, assessment
center tests and exercises are used for three primary
purposes: to predict future behavior to make better
talent decisions, diagnose development needs, and
groom potential employees.
8. Designing The
Assessment Center
• It reflects the brand recruitment culture and philosophy of your
organization. What does the organization want to establish in choosing its
members? What message does it want to convey to the market by hiring this
or that type of person?
• It reflects the human resource or HR strategy employed by the organization.
Human resource management is a vital arm of any company, so the HR
strategy must be in line with how the assessment process was carried out.
• It clearly presents the skills that are required for the job. This is best
demonstrated by the tasks or activities used in the assessment. There should
be a clear connection between the job description and the specifications of
the person that will be assigned the job.
• The selection process is fair. All the candidates or applicants should be given
equal and enough opportunity to shine. You can do this by designing the
activities and exercises in a manner that gives them ample time and
opportunity to show what they are capable of.
• Unfortunately, not all assessment centers are successful. Some complete the
process and accomplish people placement, but they fall short of expectations.
The employee turned out to be a wrong fit for the job, or it turns out that
the design of the assessment center was faulty from the very beginning.
9. Steps in an assessment center method
Sensing
Customization
tools
Administration
and
Management
Offline
Activities
Report
Generation
10. Step 1: Sensing
• The sensing exercise is divided into three core
phases:
• 1. Defining the objective
• 2. Underlining the job levels
• 3. Choosing a competency framework
• 4. Mapping competencies to relevant tools
11. Sensing Phase 1 and
Sensing Phase 2
• Sensing phase 1: Defining the objective, Organizations should
have clarity about why they want to use an assessment center
development center. Concerning the various applications and
possibilities elaborated in the previous chapter, an ACDC can be
employed for more than one objective. A clear goal ensures that
the rest of the steps follow without challenges. Choosing a type
from the various assessment center examples, shortlisting the
assessment and development center exercises, designing the type
of questions, etc., all depend on the goal of an assessment center
process.
• Sensing phase 2: Underlining the job levels, The methods to
assess and develop individual contributors, first-time managers,
mid to senior-level management, and leadership positions vary.
Ideally, the exercises must accurately reflect the variety and
demands of the target role. Also, subject matter expertise is
critical to establishing better-suited roles for a particular
assessment center technique.
12. Sensing Phase 3 and
Sensing Phase 4
• Sensing phase 3: Choosing a competency framework, If
organizations need to identify the skills required by the workforce to
be effective in a target role, they should begin by analyzing the
factors that aid employee performance. For example, competencies
such as problem-solving skills, collaboration, and creativity may be
essential for a certain job role. However, competencies such as
adaptability, strategic vision, and people skills may be a priority for
another job role. Hence, setting up a relevant, role-specific
competency framework is crucial for the success of an assessment
center process.
• Sensing phase 4: Mapping competencies to relevant tools, Subject-
matter experts specializing in assessment center tools and activities
can help correlate various competencies to relevant assessment
center exercises. Exercises for an assessment center in HR can
include situational judgment questions, personality, cognitive tools,
case studies, group discussions, role-plays, and various other
simulation tools, online and offline. However, your assessment and
development plans would fail to deliver quality results if you do not
have in-depth knowledge of these tools.
13. Step 2 and Step 3
• Step 2: Customization of tools: After the completion of
the first three sensing phases, experts customize the
assessment center tools to match the organization’s
requirements. After evaluating and validating these
customizations, the company is ready to roll out the
assessment development activities.
• Step 3: Administration and management: This step
involves the deployment of resources, setting up the
systems, and appointing assessors. The logistics and
duration of this step depend on the type of assessment
center chosen by the organization. A physical assessment
center’s administration and management requirements
vary significantly from its virtual counterpart or a blended
ADC alternative.
14. Step 4 and Step 5
• Step 4: Offline activities (In case of blended assessment), On
the day of in-person activity, candidates engage in individual
and group exercises onsite, in the presence of trained
assessors. The assessors observe job-specific behaviors and rate
participants accordingly. The assessors then collaborate their
offline and online ratings in the form of a report. A short
debriefing may happen on the day of the assessment center,
but detailed developmental feedback occurs after the report
generation.
• Step 5: Report generation, Assessment center reports serve as
a benchmark for employee development plans and personnel
selection. Observations about behaviors and performance are
made using specifically developed assessment simulations.
Further action depends on these reports’ comparison and
analysis.
15. Key assessment
center tools
• Depending on the various forms of assessment
centers, i.e., physical, virtual, or blended, and their
objectives, individuals are evaluated using an array of
tools and exercises.
• Assessment center tools help gauge fitment,
readiness, or developmental needs. They can range
from psychometric to situational judgment, from
case studies to in-box exercises, from group
discussions to business presentations.
• Assessment Center Tools:
• Personality profiler
• Cognitive abilities test
• Case study simulator
• Presentation exercise
• One-to-one role-play
16. How To Organize And Run
An Assessment Center
• Choose credible and qualified members for
your panel of assessors.
• Identify the competencies that will be
measured.
• Design tests, exercises, and activities.
• Establish a timetable, and follow it.
• Provide feedback.
17. The Future Of
Assessment development centers
• As the talent management landscape continues to evolve and adopt
modern technologies, human resource experts can now leverage
technology to train and develop their workforce. To avoid the consequences
of relying on a traditional assessment center, organizations are gradually
adopting online tools to expedite the process, in addition to giving credible
outcomes at par with the physical approach. Virtual assessment centers can
overcome most pitfalls in physical assessments while greatly expanding the
potential pool of applicants available to the organization.
• A globally competitive marketplace mandates organizations to sync their
strategic aims with the market requirements to ensure business continuity.
Virtual assessment centers can prove to be efficient and effective in
achieving the desired results. It is a time and cost-effective medium, and the
assessments can be taken remotely. Meanwhile, blended assessment
centers that incorporate both technological and human elements are
increasingly becoming a go-to option for vital organizational planning
initiatives.
• The role of assessment centers in organizations is constantly growing. From
hiring to using assessment centers in performance appraisals, companies
are constantly experimenting with the online assessment center platforms
and tools.
18. 5 Tips for Designing a
Virtual Assessment Centre
• Conduct a Job Analysis and Competency Modelling
• Prepare your Virtual Assessment Centre materials
• Standardise your process
• With Virtual Assessment Centers there are
several factors to consider that may affect the
standardization of your process, including:
• Equipment (e.g. computer, screen size, and
sound quality)
• Internet access and speed
• Browser compatibility
• Working conditions (e.g. noise, lighting,
heating, or others being present nearby)
• Identify assessors and training needs
• Consider Reasonable Adjustments