Assessment & Selection
Once you have attracted potential employees to apply to work for you – you need to assess their skills and values and select the ones you want to employ. This is key to strategic human resources management as employees are the heart and soul of the organisation, demonstrating and living your values and brand.
It has always struck us as odd that organisations might spend months, and thousands of dollars, assessing the merits of new IT systems costing $100k+ – but then they assess the skills of a potential employee (who might earn $200k over 4 years and have an impact on sales, service and satisfaction) in a one hour interview. Your recruitment and selection process is vital to the efficiency and effectiveness of your organisation. Let us help you get it right first time so you get the people you need.
You will need certain HR processes to be in place before starting the job advertisement process. For example, you need to do some job analysis and develop an overview of the skills and values required to be demonstrated in that job. This is often summarised in a job description, position description, or person and job specification.
Essentially you need to know:
- What does it take to do this job really well?
- How can I measure those skills, capabilities and values accurately and appropriately in a selection process?
Remember: job applicants love selection processes that seem fast, fair and well organised so know what you’re measuring before you advertise the role!
Development at Work Australia can help you to design HR processes and systems. For more information on job analysis and for help to design: an effective recruitment and selection process; assessment and selection tools; performance review and performance conversations processes; mentoring schemes; and other HR systems and processes, click here.
Competences, Values, Assessment Centres and Efficient Selection Processes
Development at Work Australia can help you to:
Define key competences and key values for your roles.
Design assessment processes, such as assessment or development centres, to assess the key skills, capabilities and values you need to see demonstrated at work.
Train your people to be assessors.
Develop selection methods (such as interviews and assessment centres) to assess the skills your jobs require.
Train your managers to conduct interviews and run assessment centres.
Our Principal Consultant, Bridget Hogg, is a major contributor to a leading text on assessment and development centres which includes a step by step guide on designing and running assessment and development centres in-house. She has designed assessment and development centres for use in Australia, the UK, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore for clients such as Amcor Glass, Junction Australia, Lambeth Council, British Telecom and HSBC Bank.
The most valid and effective selection processes tend to measure the key competences twice – using at least 2 measures (such as an assessment centre exercise and the interview). What assessment and selection methods will you use to assess the key competences and values for your roles?
If you want a valid, reliable selection process and you need to speed up the efficiencies in your process – ask us for help. We can help you design and plan the stages of the assessment and selection process (and get key dates in your peoples’ diaries) so you run a smooth, efficient and fair process and candidates feel they have been assessed fairly and that the process was conducted in a timely way.
The Recruitment Interview
If you want a simple assessment and selection process you might opt for a competency interview. We’re experts in training managers to interview well. We train interviewers in the use of competence-based interview techniques. Work with us to ensure your interviewers know what questions to ask, what to listen for, what to write notes about and what not to write down. We can help your interviewers master the SOAR technique, understand what to listen for and what to edit out and make effective, reliable selection decisions.
If you would like in-house interview skills training call Development at Work Australia.
Case Studies
We got a phone call “My recruitment consultant won’t work with me anymore. Can you help me?” the voice said. The client had rejected one or more candidates, after an initial period of work and had asked for replacements. The recruitment consultant said that this problem could have been avoided if the client knew what he was looking for! Long story short we helped the client review what he was looking for and helped him focus on and identify key competences (what the person should be able to do) rather than on how many years experience in a similar working environment the person should have. We trained the client in competency interviewing. End result? Client and recruitment consultant got on so happily after that they got engaged – and the recruitment process was, finally, clear and effective.
We can review your current processes and make recommendations (as we have done for Courts Administration Authority), design and coach you in how to use new and effective processes (as we have done for many organisations including Helping Hand, Interwork, Amcor Glass and ASC) – and we can follow your process and help you out when you need something fast (as we have done for Defence and in retail). Your choice!
Hear from our clients
“We recently used Development at Work Australia for scribing and reference checking, Bridget was very responsive and contactable. Her team were very professional, with the work turned around quickly, and to a high standard. Working with Bridget and her team was a real pleasure and their assistance made the recruitment process easier on our side and enabled us to turn around our reports in a shorter timeframe. I would definitely use them again and highly recommend their services. Regards,
Margaret Hilliard MAIPM CPPM, PMP
Project Manager
Collins Platform Projects
Submarines Group
“Helping Hand invested in this training to ensure that our recruitment decision makers have the right skills, knowledge and support to achieve positive outcomes. The training delivered by Development at Work focused on the interviewing and decision making skills and provided the opportunity to practice the learning within the workshop. This is an especially important feature of the training approach. Feedback from participants was very positive with 80% of participants confirming that the key learning outcomes were met…a solid return on investment. Participant comments included:
– Very useful day providing practical advice that can be put into action right now.
– It was one of the best workshops I have been to.
– We are all on the same page now in regards to recruiting. The process is structured and easy to follow.
I would recommend this training to organisations seeking to increase the recruitment skills of their managers.”
Julie Goods
Director Workforce
Helping Hand Aged Care
Our Client Experience
We have designed assessment centres for start-up manufacturing operations, international banks, local government, telecommunications and postal services operators.
We have assisted over 50 organisations – a wide range of public, private and not for profit organisations (including those in aged and disability care, recruitment and manufacturing) – to develop their in-house recruitment interviewing skills.
Here is what one manager of a graphic design and marketing studio said about how we helped him.
“Development at Work Australia revolutionised my recruitment process. The training and materials were tailored to my needs. Now I am able to clearly define what I am looking for and have interviewing tools and skills to help me choose the right candidate for the job. Recruiting now is less subjective and is something that I can do with confidence.” Gavin Klose, Director (then DO-DA)
This is what one participant on an in-house interview skills training course that we designed and ran, said about how valuable he found our training:
“My initial perception of this course, prior to commencement, was negative, in that I have conducted many interviews and had grown comfortable with my interview style and could not see the need for the course. Throughout the course, it became apparent that my interview technique/style was deficient. This is an extremely valuable course and essential for all our ASC management team to ensure that we interview competently and have a standardised technique that is applied. This course will provide managers with the necessary skills to properly assess candidates against an agreed set of competencies and ensure they are apply suitable interview techniques (ORCE and SOAR) to achieve the best outcomes for ASC.” Simon Ridgeway, ASC (formerly Australian Submarine Corps)
Call 0477 016966 to discover how we can assist you to attract and select employees for your organisation.
Development at Work Australia is there for you
Development at Work Australia can help you.
Contact us on 0477 016 966 or email bridget@developmentatwork.com.au for help and advice about attraction, retention, managing the people aspects of change and creating workplace wellbeing.
Please view the latest issue of our newsletter – Dinkum Oil.
Click here for radio interview with Bridget Hogg on psychological wellbeing (20 minutes).
LinkedIn – Outplacement Adelaide.
LinkedIn – Next Steps for Retrenched Workers.