Spotlight on Caliper Products

Caliper Assessment Centres

What is an assessment centre?
An assessment centre is an objective and structured method of observing and assessing the performance of a number of candidates, against specific job related criteria. A centre will consist of a range of exercises which closely simulate the typical activities carried out in the role. Trained assessors observe and rate candidates’ behaviour against specific competencies that have been identified as critical to success in the role.

Why use them?
Assessment centres allow you to make informed, fair and non-discriminatory decisions on the basis of a comprehensive review of an individual’s strengths. This approach will significantly increase your chances of putting the right person in the right role.

Assessment centres also provide an opportunity for you to develop your managers and recruiters. By training your own people to be objective, reliable assessors, you hone their skills of behavioural observation, raise their standards when screening applicants and reinforce company values and competencies.

A reliable and valid assessment centre that is well run, transparently fair and objective is also a powerful way of promoting your organisation to potential employees.

Why use Caliper?
For over 10 years we have been designing and running assessment centres for managerial, customer service, marketing, HR, account management and sales roles as well as for graduate recruitment.

What makes us different is that we work with you to design exercises around the needs of the job and the culture and challenges of your organisation. In doing so, we recreate a “day in the life”, and simulate the range of activities that are key to success in the role. Our aim is that these activities recreate the challenges of your environment and allow for demonstration of the competencies that are essential.

To ensure consistency and realism, we use business actors for our role plays. These professionals are fully trained in the subject matter and business environment of the task as well as in the competencies and requirements of the role.

Studies have shown that assessment centres ratings, personality assessment and ability testing combined achieve higher levels of predicative validity. That is, you increase your chances of making the right decision.

Overall, we aim to make the day as challenging and enjoyable as possible. A measure of our success is when a candidate leaves the centre feeling stretched and tired, but with a good understanding about what working for your company means and how they will be expected to perform in the role.

Assessors
To ensure the assessors produce reliable and valid judgements, we can conduct comprehensive assessor training which concentrates on developing the skills of observing, recording, classifying and evaluating.

Feedback
After the centres we provide the successful candidates and their managers with a full written report which highlights their strengths and areas for development in the role. We believe everyone is entitled to feedback on their performance. So, for those who are unsuccessful, we recommend the offer of telephone feedback and a written report on their Caliper Profile.

Finally
At Caliper we understand that not all roles lend themselves to selection by assessment centre. In such circumstances, we can work with you to develop and implement other selection processes which can increase your chances of placing the right people in the right roles.

If you would like to talk to us about how we can help run an assessment centre for you, contact us on 01622 767880 and ask to speak to Jennifer Ibbetson-Revell or Jennifer Nulty.