Assessment Centre

Major companies around the world have adopted a competency-based approach, not only to training and performance management but also to recruitment and assessment. INSIGHTS' consultants have experience of utilizing the 'competency-based' approach at assessment centres for many large, multi-national organisation across the globe.

INSIGHTS' has developed a regional-specific, established Assessment Centre process designed to facilitate recruitment and selection in the call centre environment. The entire Assessment Centre process was developed to facilitate high-volume, efficient and effective recruitment processes.

So, for example, the three most important attributes of any customer-interfacing employee are:-

1. Attitude
2. Team Skills
3. Knowledge

Knowledge can be easily assimilated and perfected through training and on-the-job experience. Team Skills, on the other hand, take much longer to develop and require mutual trust and understanding which cannot be fully developed in a training environment. Attitude is difficult if not impossible to train so it is essential that personnel, with the right, customer-focused attitude are retained.

In order to grade employees based on the above attributes, INSIGHTS' proposes a 3-step adaptation of the standard assessment process

1. Web-based written test to gauge knowledge
2. 30 minutes personal interview to assess attitude and experience
3. Team discussion to assess team working skills and to further assess attitude

There will be numerous INSIGHTS' testers for each assessment. Each employee will attend the 'Assessment Centre' for approx. 2 hrs in total. In this 2 hr period, they will be briefed on the assessment process and take all three tests. It is likely that three separate testers will evaluate each candidate in the 2 hr. period.

The INSIGHTS' instructors/testers will evaluate each candidate using a pre-defined, structured, competency-based points system. The points system will be designed, based upon-

• SFIA Skills Model
• The preceeding job categorization (preparation) phase of this project
• The Job Task Analysis

As candidates are tested, the INSIGHTS' tester will award points for demonstrated competencies, knowledge and attitude. At the end of the day all testers will gather together to collate the individual employee scores. Once again, a structured process will be used to collate all three scores. Based on the collated score, each employee will be awarded a final grade -

Pass - Suitable for position
Average - Will need to receive additional OJT support from Superior. Should improve with training
Fail - Should be moved out of business unit

There will be varying levels of pass and average, based upon the job categorization/grouping definitions.

The entire scoring system, will once again leverage the SFIA Framework to qualify and quantify individual employees' suitability for a particular role and grade.

Each employee within all groups and subgroups across all business units will be required to go through this process. The nature of the tests will vary, dependent upon the nature of the employee's job role. Managers therefore, will be assessed in a different fashion to analysts.

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