Assessment Centre is a term that describes a particular approach to assessing individuals. It often forms part of recruitment, selection and personal development in organisations. Assessment Centres use a number of assessment tools and activities, including such things as work-sample tests, group discussions and simulations, in which candidate performance is observed and rated by a team of assessors. In South Africa, assessments also frequently incorporate psychometric testing which uses standardised and registered psychological tests to complement the simulation exercises.
Assessment Centres can seem confusing and intimidating for people who do not necessarily know or are exposed to Psychological/Psychometric jargon. Being told you have to go for an Assessment Centre can be quite scary, especially when your boss or future employer wants you to do something like this.
As Psychologists and Psychometrists, we have seen very anxious and tense people show up for an Assessment Centre. This fear and anxiety normally stems from a belief that this is a pass or fail exam, which will forever make or break their careers. Essentially, Assessment Centres are competency based and therefore have a limited lifespan and will never be valid indefinitely into the future. Your results on an Assessment Centre should change and show positive improvement as you gain knowledge, skills and experience in your profession. They also become much easier when approached as an opportunity for personal growth and development.
Assessment Centres are a PART of the selection process, in which organisations try to ascertain whether you are the right candidate for the position they have advertised. It therefore increases the fairness of the selection process. Their selection will however never be based solely on the assessment that you undergo, Employment Equity legislation protects you against that. An Assessment Centre is therefore not like a matric-, university- or board exam which you can pass or fail.
When you undergo an Assessment Centre, the process will include a variety of tests, which range from personality, cognitive ability, EQ, sensory intelligence, work stress related tests, interviews, group discussions, case studies, presentation and inbox exercsies. These exercises make up a holistic assessment, from which our report is then compiled.
If you are attending a full day Assessment Centre with Treetops in the near future, this is what you can expect:
Our holistic Assessment Centre focuses on certain areas, such as Drive, Thinking Skills, Leadership Skills, Interactive Skills and the competencies within these areas. The specific competencies range from Initiative, Analytical thinking, Judgment and Customer Orientation to Decisiveness. Your performance across the exercises is integrated into a Competency Profile and detailed report which normally includes a development plan. Don't worry if all of this doesn't make sense now, the process will always kick off with a detailed and transparent introduction and orientation session that will allow you to ask all the questions you may have.
An Assessment Centre varies in length from a couple of hours to a full day. It allows you to discover more of yourself and helps you map your development journey according to your strengths and challenges.
Some of the quotes from clients who have been assessed by Treetops:
“Wow, thanks this was really not as bad as I expected it to be!”
“Doing this has helped me discover more about myself, even things I have known but have not wanted to admit to myself.”
“Thanks for advising me and making me understand that if I want to go forward in my career I need to know my current reality and where I can still develop.”
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