Assessment Centers

What is an Assessment Center?

In the current economic climate, how sure are you that your business is recruiting and selecting or promoting the right talent?

Assessment centers use a job simulation approach to measure skills and can include a variety of exercises such as in-baskets, role plays, business analysis and planning exercises, presentations, and group exercises. Performance Solutions Source helps clients develop assessment centers, and related assessment approaches, which are used for selection or development purposes.


Why an Assessment Center?

Job simulations can more accurately measure certain kinds of skills than other types of assessment methodologies. Rather than making inferences about competencies, the key behavioral skills are observed and evaluated directly. Furthermore, job simulations have a high degree of face validity, and are perceived as a fair and reasonable measure by both participants and people who make decisions based on the assessment results. Many companies would like to include more job simulations in their selection and development processes, but constructing valid exercises requires a high degree of expertise, and there are a variety of implementation issues that must be managed.

Our Solution

Performance Solutions Source consultants, with advanced degrees in psychology and assessment, have extensive knowledge of assessment centers and related assessment processes. The scope can range from one or more short simulations included in a structured interview, to a day-long assessment center with many exercises.

The methodology varies depending on the client's needs and the types of job simulations, but these are the basic steps in developing an assessment center:

 Clarify the objectives for the process and the context in which the results will be used
 Identify the competencies and specific behavioral skills to be measured
 Develop the overall design for the center including types of exercises
 Develop all assessment center materials
 Develop assessors' guides
 Develop feedback report
 Conduct assessor training and observe first live center
 Implement the process, including good communications

In additon to helping you design an assessment center, Performance Solutions Source also offers individual assessment solutions for candidate selection or management development. The development assessments are lead to superior performance when used in conjunction with our management or leadership training solutions or individualized coaching.

Contact us at Performance Solutions Source or call 561-307-6954 for additional information.