Guidelines to Design a practically implemented Assessment Center

CACA Project By Juhi Sharma

Assignment on
Certified Assessment
Center Analyst (Conducted by Prof. Nitin Shankar from CAMI)

Submitted By: Juhi Sharma
Head HR (Operations)

CONTENT TABLE:

Global Warming: Act now
Offset your travel; Re-use; Recycle; Insulate; Use the "Off" switch; Control Temperature Efficiently; Drive smart, use bicycle for short distance travel, and walk
more; Buy energy efficient products; Plant a tree; Don't use a Screensaver; Use Less Water; Encourage others to conserve.


S. No. Index
1 Introduction about the Organization
2 Identifying candidates, tasks and Key Job Elements
3 Job Element Table
4 Identifying competence and Competency Matrix
5 Tools to assess competency and Competency Maps
6 Developing the Assessment Matrix and BARS
7 Notes on Simulations
8 Sample Simulations used
9 Final Evaluation sheet (Evaluating the candidates)

Project Steps:
Step 1: Identify 5 candidates applying for the same job
Step 2: Draw competency matrix.
Step 3: Identify the exercises that will be used for assessing those 5 individuals
Step 4: Create Assessment matrix
Step 5: Observe, record, classify and summarize their performance

Definition: An assessment center is a comprehensive standardized procedure in which multiple assessment techniques such as
situational exercises and job simulation (business games, discussions, reports & presentations) are used to evaluate individual
employee for variety of manpower decisions.

Step-1: Identification of the knowledge, skills, abilities and attributes of an effective HR Manager.
Let’s assume five candidates who are taking part in the assessment center are:
 Candidate A
 Candidate B
 Candidate C
 Candidate D
 Candidate E

For indentifying the tasks of an HR manager, visit the site: www.online.onetcenter.org and click on the category of Human
Resources Managers, analyze the list and match the responsibilities vis-à-vis organizational responsibilities that could be
classified into 4 broad verticals of HR.

Profile & Tasks of HR Manager:

Manpower Planning:

 To assist the HR Head in the annual manpower planning exercise by presenting analysis of data on past data of
manpower employed in each department as compared to productivity.
 To prepare JD’s; Job descriptions of all budgeted positions in the company with clarity on Title, Designation,
Management level, Organogram, Job Purpose, Key Result Areas, Tasks, Organizational Relationships, training budget,
manpower budget, Educational Qualification & Experience Required & Key Skills Required.
 Creating a Manpower Requisition Process for new/replacement positions and succession Planning.

Recruitment:

 Ensuring that line managers follow the Manpower Requisition Process before initiating the recruitment process.
 Studying the Job Descriptions and Manpower Requisition form and determine recruitment criteria for each position on
the basis of these documents.
 Sourcing & Screening resumes through various sources for the vacant positions, on the basis of recruitment criteria.


 Scheduling interviews with the HR & recruiting managers and BU heads.
 Selecting the right candidate.

Compensation & Benefits:

 Preparing compensation offers for the selected candidates on the basis of organizational compensation practices.
 Ensuring internal parity and offering the best compensation in the industry as per the regular survey.

Training & Development:
 Conducting and co-coordinating induction program for new employees.
 Conducting Training Need Identification.
 Preparing a training calendar to meet the training needs.
 Ensuring successful implementation of the training calendar and ensuring that training needs are met satisfactorily.
And after observations in the group and sitting with BU heads, critical incidents are listed, which could explain the effective and
ineffective behaviors of the HR Manager during critical incidents. A questionnaire can be administered to the HR Manager about
his role & responsibilities and interviews are carried out. Finally a base is created for doing the JEA ( job element analysis). These
exercises helped to verify the job elements and also helped in listing the knowledge & skills necessary for this particular role; and
also helps in identifying the differentiating and threshold competencies.

Job Element table for an HR manager:

Job Threshold Differentiating Rare
Elements
(JEA)
Preparing Job (K)Knowledge of the different Knowledge of different formats of job Knowledge of the implication that
Descriptions sections of the organization’s job descriptions and their each section of the job description
(JD) description format advantages/disadvantages. has on the job evaluation score.
(S) Check job descriptions written Can write job descriptions based on Can create a job description format
by others for any kind of errors briefings from departmental and BU that encompasses also the
and quality. heads. necessary information and is
customized to the need of the
organization.

Sourcing (K)Knows 2 sources of Knows 5 sources of Is aware of all the sources of
recruitment(consultants & job recruitment(newspaper, referrals, job recruitment and uses the
sites) sites, consultants, associations) appropriate one best suited for that
(S)Is able to source & recruit Is able to source & recruit within 1 post keeping in mind the time and
within 2 months month the budget, for different kinds and
levels of vacancies.
Is able to recruit within a week or
fulfill the criteria of service Delivery
matrix (SDM).
Selection (S)Is able to ask the basic Is able to conduct competency based Ability to select candidates using
relevant questions to the interviews. multiple methods, like competency
candidate necessary to assess based interviews, written tests, role
his/her suitability for the job. plays, Psychometric tests etc.
Release LOI (K) Knowledge of offer letter & Knowledge of internal and external Knowledge of benchmarking the
(Letter of Salary sheet – its various bandwidth for various positions. best salary practices in the industry.
Intent) and components like Basic, PF etc. Able to prepare competitive and fair Ablility to create satisfactory
Roll out the (S) Able to prepare the offer letter offer basis internal & equity parity compensation structures for
offer letter & Salary on organizational basis factors in addition to organizational different levels in the company.


and structure at different levels. compensation structure. Ability to (always) convince
(S)Ability to understand and Ability to convince candidate. candidate to accept offer within the
differentiate between candidate’s organization’s capacity to pay.
expectation & organization’s (possess Good Negotiation skills)
paying capacity.
Identifying (K)Knowledge of a single method Knowledge of two methods of training Knowledge of multiple methods of
training needs of training need analysis(needs need analysis(organizational goals training need analysis(TNA) (CGA-
(TNI) mentioned by employee in driven, needs mentioned by employee competency gap analysis),
performance appraisal) in performance and training need organizational goal based training
(S)able to analyze training need discussion with manager) need mentioned by employee in
through single method(needs able to correctly analyze and verify performance appraisal and training
mentioned by employee in the training needs through two methods. need discussion with manager
performance appraisal able to provide education to line
managers on training need analysis
in addition to the ability of analyzing
training needs through multiple
methods.
Preparing (K) Knowledge of various training Knowledge of training vendors & their Indepth knowledge of training
training courses that can be held. area of specializations in addition to content of the different training
calendar & (S)Ability to prepare monthly in- knowledge of various training courses. courses and knowledge of external
organizing house training schedule Ability to prepare annual employee worldwide trainings/seminars that
trainings wise/department wise schedule for in- are held.
house, external and online courses. Ability to create training content to
meet the training needs

Step-2: The competencies required to perform the above-mentioned tasks include –
Knowledge/skills:
 Knowledge of company Compensation structure.
 Knowledge of JD formats and contents.
 Knowledge of company’s Organogram.
 Knowledge of various sources of recruitment.
 Selection skills.
 Negotiation skills.
 Planning & Co-ordination skills.
 Influencing Skills.
Quan comm. Framework is used to determine to list the traits for the particular post.
Traits using quan comm Framework are:
 Communication
 Independent Judgment
 Planning
 Cooperation

Communication: The ability to speak clearly and be understood and a good listener.
Independent Judgment: The ability to assess other individuals based on observation and evaluation.
Planning: The ability to set goals and deliverables and make available resources to achieve them. The ability to set agendas,
organize meetings and communicate to all stakeholders concerned with a view to achieve productive meetings.
Co-operation: The ability to understand the perspective of others, work together & provide help to achieve a
common/organizational objective.
Step-3: Tools selected to assess competencies
After selecting the competencies, the possible techniques that can be used to measure the candidates are:
Techniques Competency Valid/ reliable



Written test & Knowledge of company compensation Valid & Reliable
Interview structure & general market
compensation principles & rules.

Role Play Negotiation Skill Valid & Reliable
Leaderless Group Discussion
Behavioral Event Interview
Group Planning exercise Planning & Co-ordination Skills Valid & Reliable
Interview(Behavioral Event Interview)
Mock Interview(Role Play) Independent Judgment/Interviewing Valid & Reliable
Group Planning Exercise Skills

Leaderless Group Discussion Influencing Skills Valid & Reliable
Role Play
Behavioral Event Interview

Role Play Communication Skills Valid & Reliable
Leaderless Group Discussion (LGD)
Interview
Group Planning exercise Co-operation Valid & Reliable
Behavioral Event Interview(BI)

Described below are Five techniques that have been finally chosen for the assessment center:
A) Written Test: Written Test is used to measure the Knowledge component. The Written Knowledge Test will have the
following components:
 MCQ’s on the organization’s salary structure.
 An exercise to design the Letter of Intent and Offer Letter for a selected candidate for the Sales Manager for the
organization using the organization’s compensation matrix. The HR Executives will have to choose the appropriate level
and the appropriate salary bandwidth on the basis of experience and education of the candidate selected for Sales
Manager.
The advantage of using a written test as an assessment method is that it helps measure all candidates on an objective
basis and in a standard uniform manner as there is only one right answer to each question or exercise. And drafting a
LOI measures the written communication. The disadvantage of this technique is its inability to measure soft skills like
oral communication, negotiation etc. For measuring skills and behaviors other techniques like role plays, group
discussions, interviews etc can be used.
B) Interview: The candidates in this assessment center are to go through an Interview.
Interview technique is used to assess Knowledge, Influencing, and Communication & Negotiation Skills.
During the interview, candidates would be asked questions on components of the organization’s salary structure, compensation
concepts and laws like PF, Gratuity, Superannuation and Best Practices of compensation in the industry. This would help us
understand whether the HR Executive has thorough knowledge on compensation practices within and outside the company. To
measure skills & behavior, the interview will be designed to be a Competency Based Interview wherein HR Executives is
suppose to deal with situational questions like:
 Narrate an incident where you had to convince a senior colleague in the Sales function to follow an HR Process which
he was unwilling to follow eg: Doing a review meeting with a subordinate. This would help the assessor assess the HR
Executive on his Influencing & Communication Skills.
 Give an example of a situation in which you had to Negotiate and how you managed to get the result you desired. This
would help the assessor assess the Negotiation Skills of the candidates.
The advantage of using Interviews as an assessment technique is the flexibility it offers. Interviews can be used to measure a
variety of aspects like knowledge on a subject matter, communication skills of the candidate, ability to deal with stress etc. An
interview can be structured to be a competency based interview in which the interviewer asks the interviewee situational
questions, wherein the interviewee has to support the skills he claims to have, by describing past incidents/situations that he
experienced and his reaction to these situations. Having multiple interviewers a part of a panel also lends additional reliability to
the interview process as multiple assessors are assessing the candidates during the interview.


C) Role Play: A role play will help us assess the HR Executive’s behavior in a situation which is a simulation of an actual work
situation. Role Plays can be created to assess various skills. I have planned two roles plays as a part of the assessment center.
It measures Interviewing & Negotiation Skills. The objective of the second role play is to measure Influencing Skills.
The two role plays are mentioned below:
 You need to select a candidate for the position of an Operations Manager. The recruitment consultant has sent a
resume which meets your requirement. You now need to conduct an interview to assess his behavioral traits and
Personality-fit in the organization. Conduct the interview (a person will play the role of the candidate for Operations
Manager). After selecting the candidate, you have to roll out the LOI and prepare a salary sheet. You can offer him a
CTC of INR Rs. 5 lakhs. His current compensation is Rs. 4 lakhs and he also has an offer from your competitor for Rs. 5
lakhs. He is therefore expecting a CTC of Rs. 6 lakhs whereas this does not fit into the salary band of your company for
this post. The Operations Head is insisting that he wants this candidate. You need to therefore negotiate with the
candidate and make him agree to a CTC of Rs. 5 lakhs. This role play is broken into 2 parts, one in which we can
assess the Interviewing Skills of the HR executive and in the second part we can measure the Negotiation Skills of the
candidate.
 An employee has been found to be inappropriate in selling a product (like lead share and Adshare services) to a
customer and the customer has complained about the matter to the HR executive. On inquiring, you find out that the
employee is supported by the Sales Head, who believes that in order to sell products in this competitive market, you
need to do use some inappropriate means. However, this is against the Company’s Code of Conduct. You as an HR
Manager need to convince the Sales Head that he should not encourage this non ethical practice. This role play will help
us in measuring the Influencing Skills of the HR Executive.
A role play is an exercise in which candidates are given a real-life like situation in which they have to play a particular role eg:
Marketing manager dealing with a customer complaint, boss dealing with a difficult employee etc. In such kind of an exercise,
there may be winners or losers, however, the winning or losing is not important. The quality and structure is important in the
assessment. The advantage of using a role play is that helps assess the candidates in a real work situation and can be tailored to
assess a variety of skills like communication, negotiation, persuasion, ability to handle difficult people etc. However creating a role
play is a complex exercise and a role play can mainly be used to assess only some managerial competencies and not for
knowledge.
D) Leaderless Group Discussion: It helps in assessing the Influencing skills, Co-operation, Communication and
Independent Judgment.
In a group discussion, candidates work together in small groups (6-8 people) and are designed to assess how candidates may
behave when they are required to work in a team or are part of a meeting. They can be used to measure a range of management
skills like Interpersonal sensitivity, communication, ability to understand the issue at hand and get to the root of the issue quickly,
confidence, influencing skills, cross-functional working etc. In a Leaderless Group Discussion, candidates are assigned different
fictitious roles that they have to play wherein each candidate plays a different role in a hypothetical organization and situation and
all of them would need to work together to propose a solution or come to a consensus. All the candidates need to discuss the
merits & demerits of the proposed strategies, presenting the reasons why the support a particular strategy ad why some other
strategies may not work. The exercise is as follows:
 As an organization, Web Product Company deals with a lot of data and is considering the best method to capture the
data in an easy to upload, maintain and retrieve format. They would preferably want to design a system to safeguard the
technical code of the programs written in Ruby on Rails and it helps HR to capture all employee related data and the
operations department to capture policy details etc.
 The other possible option of a Leaderless Group discussion is that the insurance company is having the budget
discussion of the year. The parent company has just decided to invest INR Rs.100 crores additional in the business.
Recently all departments have been struggling with managing their department activities under tight budgets due to the
recession. This decision to infuse additional money in the business has created new hope for them and all the
departments are contesting for additional capital. The candidates have to play the role of a department head each and
represent their case for allocation of a major part the additional capital to their departments. Candidate A will need to
represent the Finance department. Candidate B will play the role of the Sales & Marketing department head, Candidate
C will play the role of the HR department head and Candidate D will play a role of the Operations Department Head. The
Operations team feels that they are most in the need of additional funds as they are unable to investigate claims and
develop new product features without additional research, the finance department feels that they are most deserving as
they need to invest in a finance software, the HR department feels it urgently needs the money as the organization is
planning a big recruitment drive and also need to train people and the marketing & sales department mentions that they
need the budget for marketing and promotional activities. The task ahead of the department heads is that they need to
arrive at a consensus and present the final agreed report on budget allocation to the MD.


The disadvantage of this method is that it is complex to design and recreate actual work scenarios and is a time consuming
process and assumes that the candidates taking part in the assessment center have some knowledge of the workings of other
departments.
E) Group Planning Exercises: Group Planning Exercise measures the participants on the competencies of Co-Operation,
Planning & Co-ordination and Independent Judgment.
In this technique, candidates are required to work in groups towards solving a particular issue or planning something new. A
situation/scenario/goal is given to the participants and they are given some idea of the context. The participants have to work
together in a group, brainstorm and present the view, plan towards achievement of the goal or solving the problem and then reach
a consensus about the final solution/plan. Group Planning exercises are used to assess candidates on a variety of skills &
behaviors like their interpersonal skills, planning. role that they adopt in a team, ability to think logically and adopt a problem
solving approach. The disadvantage is that they need to carefully designed, can be time consuming both at the design and
implementation stage and need experienced officers to assess the same.
The following Group Planning Exercise is used:
 You are in a flight which is flying over the Arabian Sea on a pleasant winter morning. Suddenly the weather turns
turbulent with strong winds and heavy fog. The plane veers strongly and tries to prevent from crashing but to no avail.
Your plane crash lands on a deserted island near the Arabian Sea. To your relief, you realize that you are one among
the only 4 survivors. You have some injuries, while one of the other passengers is critically injured and is almost dying,
the third has severe injuries which can turn critical if not attended too and the fourth although not badly injured has
become very nervous. You want to save the lives of the survivors and wish to take them to the nearest available human
help which is possibly the neighboring island and 200 miles away. You look around for things that are available. You find
that the following things around from the rummages of the plane:
 A blanket

 3 bottles of water

 A torch

 1 dress

 A magnetic compass

 A map of the journey and neighboring places
 1 box of salt tablets

 2 wooden planks

You are first required to plan individually and then discuss as a group the best way forward. Obviously the others have
different opinions on what should be done. You are short of time and that you if you don’t act soon, the current survivors
may die. You have half an hour as a group to discuss and arrive at a consensus.
 The company is facing a recessionary environment and you have been asked to be judicious in all the spending and
have been asked to relook at processes and suggest ways to save money. Suddenly the HR Head calls for an
emergency meeting in his room. When all of you (Candidate A, B, C, D & E) reach there, you seem that he is nervously
pacing up and down. You enquire what the matter is and he tells you that the President has just told him that the
management is planning to downsize 30% of the workforce which will help the company save 20% of the cost it is
currently incurring. The President also mentioned that if the company did not manage to cut 20% of the cost, there is a
fear of either the company closing down in 6 months or fear of takeover which will result in downsizing 55% of the
workforce. Candidate A is from the HR department, Candidate B from the Operations department, Candidate C is from
the Finance department, Candidate D from the Marketing Department and Candidate E is from the New Product
Development team. None of you want to let the downsizing happen but you still need to ensure that the company has to
reduce 20% of costs. Please prepare a plan for the 20% cost saving first individually and then by arriving at a
consensus.



 After your small light aircraft crashes, your group, wearing business/leisure clothing, is stranded on a forested
mountain in appalling winter weather (snow covered, sub-freezing conditions), anything between 50 and 200 miles from
civilization (you are not sure of your whereabouts, and radio contact was lost one hour before you crashed, so the
search operation has no precise idea of your location either). The plane is about to burst into flames and you have a few
moments to gather some items. Aside from the clothes you are wearing which does not include coats, you have no other
items. It is possible that you may be within mobile phone signal range, but unlikely. Your (the group's) aim is to survive
as a group until rescued. From the following list choose just ten items that you would take from the plane, after which it
and everything inside is destroyed by fire. First you have ten minutes by yourself to consider and draw up your own
individual list of what the team should have, without consulting with other members of the group. Retain this list after
presenting it briefly to the group. Then you have 45 minutes as a group to discuss and agree a list on behalf of the
group. Nominate a spokesperson and present this new list. Choose ten from the following - splitting or only taking part of
items is not permitted
 Pack of 6 boxes x 50 matches.

 Roll of polythene sheeting 3m x 2m.

 1 crate of beer (12 lt. in total).

 1 bottle of brandy.

 1 crate of bottled spring water (twelve lt. in total).

 Small toolbox containing hammer, screwdriver set, adjustable wrench, hacksaw and large pen-knife.

 Box of distress signal flares.

 Small basic first-aid kit containing plasters, bandages, antiseptic ointment, small pair of scissors and pain-killer tablets.

 Tri-band mobile phone with infrared port and battery half-charged.

 Clockwork transistor radio.

 Gallon container full of fresh water.

 Box of 36 x 50gm chocolate bars.

 Shovel.

 Short hand-held axe.

 Hand-gun with magazine of 20 rounds.

 20m of 200kg nylon rope.

 Box of 24 x 20gm bags of peanuts.

 Bag of 10 mixed daily newspapers.

 Box of tissues.

 Bag of 20 fresh apples.

 Electronic calculator.



 Laptop computer with infrared port, modem, unknown software and data, and unknown battery life.

 Inflatable 4-person life-raft.

 Compass.

 Large full Aerosol can of insect killer spray.

 Small half-full aerosol can of air freshener spray.

 Notebook and pencil.

 Box of size 8 women's promotional pink 'Barbie' branded fleece-lined track-suits (quantity is half of each team/group
size).

 Gift hamper containing half-bottle champagne, large tin of luxury biscuits, box of 6 mince pies, 50gm tin of caviar without
a ring-pull, a 300gm tin of ham without a ring-pull, and a 500gm Christmas pudding.

 Travelling games compendium containing chess, backgammon and draughts.

 Sewing kit.

 Whistle.

 Torch with a set of spare batteries.

 Box of 50 night-light 6hr candles.

 Bag of 6 large blankets.
Step-4: Developing the Assessment Matrix

It is important to create an assessment matrix in order to select the most appropriate technique to measure each competency from
all the techniques listed. Objectives (competencies) are listed on the vertical side of the matrix and exercises are listed on the
horizontal side of the matrix. Each competency can generally be measured by multiple techniques. The assessment matrix helps
in choosing the most appropriate strategy to measure each competency (have listed the 5 techniques described above).
A BARS describes behaviors differentiating between effective and ineffective performers that can be observed and anchors them
at points on a scale. The applicant’s behavior displayed (e.g. role-play, oral presentation, in-basket) or past behavior described
(e.g. behavioral interview, reference checks) are compared to these examples and rated accordingly. Using subject matter
experts, one needs to identify examples of job performance behaviors reflecting all different levels of effectiveness ranging from
ineffective to superior for all the different parts of the job. These are key indicators only. It is not required to be an exhaustive list of
every possible criterion. This was already done when we identified the job elements & competencies by using the CIM - Critical
Incident Method. The critical incident method helped us identify effective & ineffective behaviors for the job of an HR Manager as
these were mentioned by the HR Head.
The content of the scale is developed from a job analysis and is based on responses to critical job incidents or situations. The
scale used is usually a 3-Point or 5-Point scale. I have developed a 4 point rating scale (Superior, Effective, Requires
development & Ineffective) which is later adapted to a 3 point scale (Initial, Developing, Superior) for the purpose of evaluation.

Assessment Matrix:



Group Planning Written Leaderless
Competencies Interview Role Play Exercises Test Group
discussion
Planning & Coordination Skills(S/C)
* - *** _ ***
Knowledge of company compensation
Structure & market compensation *** _ _ *** _
Negotiation skills(S)
* *** ** _ ***
_
Influencing Skills(S)
* *** ** ***
Independent Judgment(C)
** *** *** _ **
Communication(C)
** *** ** _ ***
Co-operation(C)
** * *** **

Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS)
Competency Superior Effective Requires Development Ineffective



Communication-Definition: Is an empathetic Listens to the other Does not interrupt when the Interrupts when the
The ability to speak clearly listener. Proactively person completely other person is responding. other person is
and be understood. The Checks for before responding Asks for clarifications only talking. Does not seek
ability to listen effectively to understanding on all or presenting own when the other person clarifications.
others. aspects by rephrasing point of view. checks for Mumbles often when
and summarizing. Proactively Asks for understanding(reactive) talking. Is barely
Speaks articulately, clarifications on Is audible, slight tendency audible and speaks
emphasizing on issues that he/she to mumble, speaks at a in a monotonous
important points and is not clear about. rapid pace manner.
speaks succinctly Speaks clearly with
proper voice
modulation.
Planning & Co-ordination Sets clear long-term & Sets clear short Prepares a weekly plan of Carries out tasks in
skills: short term goals with term goals. activities. Requisitions for an ad-hoc &
Definition: The ability to set deliverables and Arranges the resources only once they unscheduled manner.
goals and deliverables and timelines. Arranges resources needed are due. Schedules meeting Does not plan for
make available resources to for resources needed for goal and informs attendees a resources needed
achieve them. The ability to for goal achievement achievement as and day in advance/on the day and is often found
set agendas, organize well in time. Sets when they are of the meeting lacking key resources
meetings and communicate agenda, Schedules needed. Sets needed to do the job
to all stakeholders concerned meetings and agenda, schedules effectively. Does not
with a view to achieve communicates with all meeting and plan meetings or
productive meetings concerned well in communicates with agenda, conducts ad-
advance key attendees 2-3 hoc meetings.
days in advance.
Independent Judgment- Observes & makes Observes external Observes only external Does not observe
Definition: The ability to note of external factors and also factors like outfits, even the most
assess other individuals factors, actions done, makes a note of appearance and physical obvious and
based on observation and things said, body actions done and attributes of personality and externally visible
evaluation. language, voice things said and is therefore makes superficial factors & actions of
modulation and able to assess the evaluations. the candidate and is
behaviors and is able candidate’s therefore unable to
to assess the knowledge and skill evaluate.
candidates basis these
knowledge, skill, traits observations.
and motives basis
these observations.
Co-operation: Proactively seeks to Proactively seeks to Provides help when asked Does not attempt to
Definition: The ability to understand understand the for and listens to others listen to and
understand the perspective perspectives of all perspectives of key points of view while working understand the views
of others, work together & concerned and people and a common assignment. of others and is
provide help to achieve a proactively offers help contributes equally unwilling to work
common/organizational and contributes in towards achieving together towards
objective. projects even beyond common objectives organizational
own area or common objectives.
objective.
Influencing Skills: Highlights implied & Highlights key Highlights the obvious Is unable to highlight
Definition: The ability to cascading long-term benefits for each benefits after some probing even the most
convince key stakeholders of benefits. Always stakeholder, and manages to convince obvious benefits of
the value of convinces thereby convincing the stakeholders to agree the suggestion.
suggestions/decisions and to stakeholders to them to accept the on some occasions(50% of Rarely manages to
enlist their support in accept decision and decision most of the the time) convince stakeholders
implementation support times (80%) to agree.
implementation.



Step-5: Evaluating the candidates: The next stage in the assessment center is evaluating the candidates. This is a 5 step
process through which assessors assess the candidates. A precursor to this step is the training of assessors. All assessors need
to be trained in observation and evaluation skills as well as trained on the exercises, their design and criteria. Our assessment
center has 5 trained assessors.
The 5 step process is:
Observing: As the first step in the assessment process, each assessor is suppose to observe each participant in at least 2
exercises. They observed what the candidates spoke, their body language, non-verbal communication, facial expressions. During
the observation process, the assessors suspended judgment and just focused on observing what was taking place. Assessors did
not observe the participants during the written test.

Recording: While observing the candidates, the assessors also simultaneously recorded what they observed. Here too, they
suspended judgment and wrote down exactly what they saw and heard in order to ensure unbiased and correct assessment.

Classifying: Having recorded the behavior of participants, the assessors then individually classified the behavior observed
against the competencies for example, during the Leaderless Group discussion, Candidate E stated his opinions and modulated
his voice to emphasize the important aspects. He also proactively rephrased and summarized what the other participants said and
checked whether he had understood correctly. This is a positive example of the competency of Communication. During the Group
Planning exercise, candidate B reacted to the situation and participated in the discussion when 10 minutes had already passed
by. He gave no suggestions and did not took into account only 3 resources available while responding to Candidate A’s question
on how all the 7 resources can be used. These are poor examples of Planning & Co-ordination. During the role play, Candidate A
asked the prospective Operations Managers questions on his reasons for seeking a job change, what he values most in his life
and also asked him to give an example of a situation in which the prospective Operations Manager was asked to hide a
compliance issue by his CEO and BU head he dealt with the situation. This is a positive example of Candidate A’s interviewing
skills.

Summarizing: After classifying the observations against the competencies, the assessors then individually prepared a summary
of the candidate’s performance. For this, the assessors used the competency definitions and BARS as the standard for required
performance.

Evaluating: Based on the BARS defined, the assessors then rate the performance of candidates against the BARS individually
first and then a discussion between the assessors takes place through which they reached a consensus on the ratings.

The consensus ratings are mentioned below; evaluate each candidate on the competencies.



Competencies Initial Developing Proficient
Communication Does not interrupt the other person Listens to the other person Is an empathetic listener. Proactively
Definition: The ability when he/she is talking. Is audible completely before Checks for understanding on all aspects by
to speak clearly and be but speaks in a monotonous responding or presenting rephrasing and summarizing. Speaks
understood. The ability manner and at rapid pace. Seeks own point of view. articulately and succinctly.
to listen effectively to for clarification only when the other Proactively asks for
others. person checks for understanding. clarifications on issues that
he/she is not clear about.
Speaks clearly with proper
voice modulation.
Candidate B Candidate A Candidate E

Candidate D
Candidate C
Co-operation Listens to others point of view when Proactively seeks to Proactively seeks to understand
Definition: the ability to working on a common assignment understand the perspectives of all concerned and
understand the Focuses only on own work but perspectives of key people proactively offers help and contributes in
perspective of others, does not provide help to others in and contributes equally projects even beyond own area or common
work together & achieving organizational objectives. towards achieving common objective.
provide help to achieve objectives
a common Candidate A Candidate B Candidate C
/organizational
objective. Candidate D Candidate E

Independent Observes only external factors like Observes external factors Observes & makes note of external factors,
Judgment outfits, appearance and physical and also makes a note of actions done, things said, body language
Definition: The ability attributes of personality and actions done and things and behaviors and is able to assess the
to assess other therefore makes superficial said and is able to assess candidates knowledge, skill, traits and
individuals based on evaluations. (Halo Effect/ Horn the candidate’s knowledge motives. Free of Biases.
observation and Effect) and skill basis these
evaluation. observations.
Candidate D Candidate E
Candidate B
Candidate A
Candidate C

Planning & Co- Prepares a weekly plan of activities. Sets clear short term goals. Sets clear long-term & short term goals with
ordination skills- Requisitions for resources only once Arranges the resources deliverables and timelines. Arranges for
Definition: The ability they are due. Schedules meeting needed for goal resources needed for goal achievement well
to set goals and and informs attendees a day in achievement as and when in time. Sets agenda, Schedules meetings
deliverables and make advance/on the day of the meeting. they are needed. Sets and communicates with all concerned well
available resources to agenda, schedules meeting in advance
achieve them. The and communicates with key
ability to set agendas, attendees 2-3 days in
organize meetings and advance.
communicate to all Candidate B Candidate A Candidate E
stakeholders
concerned with a view
to achieve productive Candidate D Candidate C
meetings.



Competencies Initial Developing Proficient
Influencing Skills: Highlights the obvious benefits after Highlights key benefits for Highlights implied & cascading long-term
Definition: The ability some probing and manages to each stakeholder, thereby benefits. Always convinces stakeholders to
to convince key convince the stakeholders to agree convincing them to accept accept decision and support
stakeholders of the on some occasions(50% of the time) the decision most of the implementation.
value of times (80%)
suggestions/decisions
and to enlist their
support in
implementation
Candidate B Candidate A Candidate E
Candidate C Candidate D

Thank you.


Guidelines to Design a practically implemented Assessment Center

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