It is difficult to articulate what makes a selection effective, since this is mostly revealed when the newly hired employee can see the results.
After a successful recruitment, the next task is to successfully try to filter out the most suitable candidates for the position. The most effective solution for this is to have a so-called AC, i.e. an Assessment Center. The Assessment Center is a form of interviewing composed of group and individual situational practical tasks, where we can observe the social nature of the candidates, their true personality, communication skills and other competencies, especially those necessary for filling the given job. With this selection method, compared to interviews, we can reveal much more about the candidates, especially regarding the handling of clients and colleagues. The AC is a form of group evaluation, where group interactions and assertiveness actions are observed, since small manifestations of the role played in the group reveal a lot about a candidate's personality, readiness, and style of selection.
The figure below perfectly illustrates the competencies and expectations of a given job. If a company can name these and outline them in such a diagram, the person holding the AC will more easily know how to monitor the candidates from this point of view and will define tasks of this kind that can be used to filter these skills. It is important to prepare sufficiently before the AC, not only from the steps of organization and retention, but also from the specific company and the resumes of all the candidates. Usually, in groups of 3, 6, 8 or 12 people, experts and observers examine the competences, leadership skills, skills and qualities of the participants.
We need to know who's strengths and possible weaknesses are, so that we can pay close attention to them during the interview. First of all, we need to get to know the specific position and the selection criteria. What they look for in the given company, what they look for in candidates as positive qualities. It is worth discussing with the candidates separately what the interviewing colleague experienced during the first interview. It often happens that we immediately manage to filter out personality traits that will help a lot later during the AC. After the basic preparation, we must pay enough attention to the organizational processes. We have to find a time that is suitable for all candidates, which is the most difficult if they come to the interview from different cities. It is not only difficult to find the time, but also to give the prospective employees all the information about the group interview, because based on experience, many people have not even heard of this activity, so they are afraid to start it. If we have successfully obtained all the information and organized everything successfully, then we can easily assemble the tasks of the AC. We must ensure that there are both individual and group tasks.
The diagram below shows how work efficiency and stress are related. Based on this, the persons participating in the AC should be monitored. It is important to find an employee who can work under stress. Of course, there are positions and jobs that are not affected by this factor. In this regard, it will not be decisive, but other factors and qualities. It was still relatively fresh in me when my workplace decided to expand the number of our sales team. Over the past years, a whole dozen of skills have been gathered, exactly what one must be able to represent, what one must have in order to be included in this team. We have also nicely developed new tasks in order to get a more accurate picture of our participants at the AC. It is important to note that at this time I did not own an AC. One part of the team enthusiastically put together the tasks, while another part arranged the time with the participants. We successfully fixed the date, we had the candidates and the long-awaited morning arrived. The morning has indeed arrived, but not the expected number of people. One less person showed up. After the first round of panic, we started to think. We need the number of people, because we have tailored the tasks to it. There was a new colleague who was just able to be caught and asked, now imagine very quickly that she applied to be a salesperson with us and sit down and be nice to the AC as a full-fledged participant, incognito. Of course, there is no stake, you can go back to the service for an interview afterwards. That person was myself. I had no objection, I immediately saw the possibility of the game in him, and I already sat among the others, as I should. The day started and there was a participating candidate who successfully cut himself 5 minutes after arriving at our company, even though the AC had not yet started. The manners. How much you can tell about someone just by the way they talk to someone. Our sales manager also joined the interview. But what followed revealed a lot about the candidates.
As a participant in incognito, I scored highly in almost all the tasks, and with my attitude, I took over the role of "leader" at the AC. Yes. If my company had foreseen this, they would probably ask me to do it in reduced mode. The managers watched with wide eyes and found that we needed exactly the kind of person I was, but I worked as an HR person, didn't I? The people who were interviewed in advance were very successful, but none of us at AC matched us. Our company retained a new AC with another team, from which we managed to hire a colleague who really got back on his feet. The conclusion of the matter is that we can never really know what colleagues with outstanding abilities surround us, until we see what they are really capable of. Moving from one position to another, if well-founded, can increase efficiency and morale many times over.
The other very important one is the lesson of the entire AC. People have personality characteristics and traits that are essential for a certain job and unfortunately these cannot be found out during a simple interview. Let's say our company had hired one of the candidates, who knows when they would have had to represent our company, how they would have stood up, even though they seemed suitable for this task during the interview.