Assessment and Development center

Assessment Centre - AC

The translation of “Assessment Centre – AC” expression into Czech is “Hodnotící centrum”. It is about a special diagnostic method that is used for employee assessment either as a part of an admission process or in searching of talents to higher position internally.
The reason of Assessment Centre is to know the candidates for any work position in simulated work and team situations and compare their abilities. It offers a higher potential to learn important behaviour characters regarding the position to be staffed than a classical interview. This attitude differs from regular selection techniques not only by the number of methods but also by the presence of more assessors. A higher number of assessors – observers meets the “more eyes” principle and offers more objective assessment and, thereby, a possibility to choose the best optimum candidate.

Methods and techniques in AC:

1. Individual situations in which the participants behave all by themselves
2. Group work – reflects the cooperation in a team and the approach to a solution of team tasks
3. Psycho-diagnostic tests – based on the participant self-assessment, what his/her self-image is
4. Playing roles – interactive exercise
5. Discussions, business games, combine exercises
6. Behavioural interview focused on previous experience, attitudes and results

AC forms:

1. Indoor AC
2. Outdoor AC

AC advantages:

1. Assessment integrity – Using the “more eyes” and “more points of view” principles for a longer period of time offers the assessment integrity and many-sidedness
2. Versatility of methods – Using various methods provides a flexibility and capability to adapt the Assessment Centre to assignments and criteria
3. External point of view – An independent feedback provides valuable information and may be correcting

AC results:

1. Final report on all participants
2. Complete assessment of participants contains a description of strengths and weaknesses of each individual, his/her approaches and a level of motivation, personal, performance and profession characteristics.

Development Center - DC

”Development Centre – DC” is translated into Czech as “Rozvojové centrum”. It is an intensive development programme that uses the same methods as Assessment Centre but differs with its purpose.
Development Centre is designed to assess participants’ potentials and knowledge that results from it serves to set the plan of their personal development.

What is the difference between Development Centre and Assessment Centre:

1. No set criteria whether the participant succeeded or not
2. Focuses on participants’ individual needs development, identifies strengths and potentials to improve
3. Formulate long-term needs
4. No line managers as assessors
5. Focused more on self-assessment
6. Concentrates on participants’ potentials
7. Managed to satisfy the needs of an individual same way as of the society
8. Puts stress on providing feedback focused on an individual development
9. Provides feedback immediately
10. Mostly used for internal candidates