Assessment centres help organisations make more informed decisions during the recruitment process
JOB INTERVIEWS USUALLY cover many aspects of a candidate's qualifications, work history and personal motivation but are not foolproof. Even expert interviewers find it difficult to predict how recruits will fit into a company's culture and how they will react to day-to-day pressures in the workplace.
However, by using some of the latest screening and assessment tools, HR managers can proceed with greater certainty.
At a recent seminar co-organised by the Classified Post and the Hong Kong Productivity Council, participants were invited to 'learn about the assessment centre to enhance workplace performance'.
Raymond Cheng, principal consultant for the council's Total Enterprise Management Consultancy division, introduced the assessment centre - a method of selecting candidates that gives consistent results.
Basically, an assessment centre is a complete recruitment process. It consists of carefully designed exercises which are job-related and reveal the abilities and personality traits of candidates in situations that simulate what happens in the workplace. This helps in matching people to jobs and lets HR managers make more informed decisions.