The history of how and why
assessment centres developed will help
you to appreciate what the original users were trying to achieve
and how you can best illustrate your knowledge, skills and
attitudes during the exercises.
Selecting people based on their ability to do the task required
has long been established in the selection of military personnel.
There are several examples throughout history, but it was between
the world wars that the German Army used the original assessment
process to select officers. In the book 'Spies and Saboteurs', by
Dr W.J.Morgan (1955, London – Victor Gollancz Ltd), the author
describes how a German psychologist, Dr Simoneit watched officers
performing a variety of tasks.
Some of these task involved certain tests, the forerunners of
today's exercises, and the officers were rated on how well they
performed and chosen for promotion accordingly. He started this
research in order to gain a better understanding of why certain
officers did not exhibit or act in the way they had said they
would once they were promoted.
Dr Simoneit's work formed the foundation of what became known as
'An Assessment' in the German army. Further psychological and
scientific methods were added to his original work. The virtues of
this system were recognise by the British Government and a
Selection Assessment Board was created using its own testing
methods. American Intelligence also recognised the benefits of
such selection methods and added further psychological tests and
more exercises to their assessment days.
These tests were intended to identifying those candidates most
suited to intelligence work. Dr WJ Morgan in his book clearly
illustrates that it is how you performed your tasks, whether as an
individual or within a group, that matters not how quickly an
exercise was done. This was reflected in the scores of
participants, those who scored highest had shown the qualities
required for an intelligence or spying role; that of leadership,
adaptability to different situations, the ability to find a
solution to a problem and the ability to work as team member.
Although these original assessment days had a military bias and
their specific exercises are unlikely to be used in a commercial
or public sector environment it is still important to be aware
that each exercise has been designed to assess you behaviours in
performing a task. No matter how trivial or petty an exercise may
appear to you remember that the original psychologist designed it
to assess how you display the behaviours required for the role.
For example, An
In-tray exercise may seem boring or unnecessary
for the role you've applied for, but the assessors may want to see
your approach to the tasks as well as how you prioritise the
items.
The reason for using an assessment center is that the organisation
wants to see how candidates actually behave in the exercises.
These behaviours will then be compared to the key behavioural
criteria which have been specified for that role.
Always remember that the assessment centre exercises are designed
to judge how well you exhibit the required behaviours of the job
you are applying for. This is by assessing to what extent you are
able to:
-
Exhibit the correct level of knowledge,
-
Display the right type of skills, and
-
Demonstrate the attitudes of the role.
Within the human resources industry these are commonly abbreviated
to KSA's – Knowledge, Skills and Attitudes. You can't afford to
leave anything to chance or assumption during your Assessment
Centre. Your assessor can ONLY give you credit for the knowledge,
skills and attitudes (KSA's) that you exhibit during the
exercises. So, 'if you know it, you have to show it', to those
watching you..
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