Assessment Centres Can Help Enterprises Recruit Future IT Stars

Too many employment selection and development techniques overemphasise organisational needs today at the expense of future requirements, according to Gartner. Assessment centres can be a critical tool for enterprises in their quest for talent and particularly for those looking to set up pools of talent that they anticipate will not only perform well today but adapt and grow as business demands change.

“As IT departments experience continuous transformation, roles evolve as does the required balance of technical skills and behavioural competencies,” said Andrew Walker, research director at Gartner. “Assessment centres can help leaders to identify the future strengths of their people by focusing on aptitude and interest, the two foundations for future star-performers or high-potential talents.”

Walker said that assessment centres allow for the identification of high-potential candidates through such measurable attributes as their early analytical and thinking capability, organisational ability and the preferences that drive their actions and personal style. He said that particularly in times of recession, when resources must be constrained, making the right decisions about talent can make a considerable difference to the success of the enterprise.

More from Biztech

Future Group - Reliance Retail Deal approved by CCI RBI ban on cryptocurrencies takes effect; prohibition could force investors to tap the black market

Assessment centres are of use in selecting and developing a range of people in organisations around the world. They are commonly used in Europe and Asia to select interns, which is one of the hardest selection processes due to the candidates’ lack of previous relevant work experience. In other circumstances, the approach is very helpful in identifying which individuals might make it to leadership-type roles while encouraging others to stay on the technical career ladder. Another growing area of interest is using assessment centres to select people for cross-functional moves and ’re-skilling'.

The assessment centre uses tests to replicate the same activity in similar conditions so that the assessment is conducted independently through the observation of interactions or scoring of responses to test questions with only one answer. Test responses are then held in data banks and provide comparisons of what results are typical for the appropriate norm group, such as interns and leaders, and increasingly by job group and industry sector. Tests range from aptitude testing, to simulation testing, scenarios and group discussions.

Tests are usually supplemented by a variety of interviews and could include a technical interview, personality questionnaire, physiological interview, motivational interview and a behavioural event interview.

“The quest for talent makes one questionable assumption: that leaders know talent when they see it,” said Steve Bittinger, research director at Gartner. “Assessment centres are a critical tool in achieving objectivity in this quest and dramatically improving the probability that an organisation will choose the right candidate for the job.”

Bittinger recommended that enterprises take a three-step approach to assessment centres, beginning with the definition of critical roles and competencies for which a pipeline of high-potential candidates is necessary. Once this is established, leaders should review ways that assessment centres can enhance the existing decision-making process before finally integrating assessment centre methodology into the change management processes.