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Assessment Centers:
“A better way to identify
potential talent gaps
and training needs”

Sponsored by
Hudson (http://us.hudson.com)
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Who We Are?

Hudson is a leading provider of permanent recruitment,

contract professionals and talent management solutions worldwide.
We help our clients achieve greater organizational performance by
assessing, recruiting and developing the best and brightest people
for their business.

The company employs approximately 3,600 professionals, speaking

multiple languages in 25 countries, operating in four regions
(Americas, Europe, Asia, & Australasia).

http://us.hudson.com
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Our Global Services

PERMANENT & CONSULTING &

TALENT
CONTRACT CONTRACT
MANAGEMENT
RECRUITMENT PROFESSIONALS
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Hudson Talent Management

Hudson’s Talent Management Solutions can be integrated into the
recruitment process and HR initiatives to drive performance and align with
the companies objectives.

Individual
Succession Assesment
Planning

Assessment &
Development
EVP & Centres
Surveys
Hudson
Talent Management
Leadership
Graduate Development &
Recruitment Coaching

Performance Competency
Management Modeling
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Hudson Assessment Suite

• Standardized global methodology supports pan-national

projects
• One of the worlds largest talent management consultancies
• 400 experienced professionals across the globe
• Dedicated R&D Centers with highly skilled technical experts
• Hudson offers a comprehensive talent management and
consulting service in assessment including:

• Job & Competency Profiling

• Psychological Assessment
• Behavioural Assessment
• Assessment and Development Centers
• Competency Based Interviewing
• Employee Assessment Surveys
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Transforming Business
Performance
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Hudson Research Programs
• Hudson is committed to the collection and publication of thorough
intelligence on the forces that impact career decisions and business
performance. Check out Market Insights at www.us.hudson.com.
• In the past, we surveyed nearly 10,000 workers monthly to provide
insight into a variety of workplace trends and issues. Our programs
have included:

Trends & Topics Surveys

– Topics include aging workforce, work-life balance,
absenteeism and more
In-Depth Research Initiatives & White Papers
– Retention Initiatives, Compensation & Benefits,
Pay & Performance, and Independent
Professionals
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Labor Market
Who’s Got The Power?

Employers? Employees?

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Managing The Talent War

The war for talent exists, organizations need to address the
workforce gaps and their future potential to remaincompetitive.

Issues that need to be addressed include:

• How do I find and grow my knowledge workers and leaders?
• How large is the gap between my needs and reality?
• Buying talent will not be sufficient as a solution to meet my business
needs.
• Growing talent internally is key, but how?
• We must retain talent, but how?
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Hudson Global HR Insight

In March/April 2009 Hudson conducted a global survey across
30 countries with HR leaders exploring how HR priorities and
challenges have changed during the global economic downturn.

Key Findings:
• There has been a clear shift from talent attraction to talent
engagement, organizational development and people development.

• 79% of North American companies reported that their HR strategy

incorporates downsizing. Internal talent assessment is a key focus
for 52% of these organizations

• Employees with the most potential will take care of the high impact
roles and high value specialists to fulfill their complex jobs. A key
question is: Do companies know where their high potentials are and
what roles they can fit?
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Winning The Battle For

Hearts And Minds
In order to achieve increased performance
management must fully unlock the potential of their
people.

• Organizations need to increase objectivity for internal promotion

• They need to minimize poor hiring decisions
• Identify high potentials for fast track development
• Utilize a consistent and reliable measurement of important
competencies
• Create and deliver a powerful learning experience for participants
• Provide transparency, equal opportunity & fairness for all
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“If you want 1 year of prosperity, grow grain.

If you want 10 years of prosperity, grow
trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity,
grow people.”

— Ancient Chinese Proverb

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The Importance Of Career

Source : Hudson / Vlerick Hipo Research Study

Retention Factors

Career
Rewarding hipo's

Company culture

Impact / Change

Respect from others

Salary

3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4 4.1 4.2 4.3

Degree of importance

Projection within 5 years

Career
Rewarding hipo's

Impact / Change

Company Culture

Respect from others

Salary

3,6 3,7 3,8 3,9 4 4,1 4,2 4,3

Degree of importance
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Identifying & Developing Top Talent

225
185
150
100 100 100

Average Top Average Top Average Top

Performer Performer Performer Performer Performer Performer

Productivity Productivity Productivity

Low Complexity Jobs Medium Complexity Jobs High Complexity Jobs

Journal of Applied Psychology

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Clusters of HiPo Competencies

Research: University of Brussels

Performance Strategic Change

Competency Competency Competency
Teamwork .854
Performance Motivation .669
Delegation .690
Leadership .680
Impact .596
Creativeness .515
Company Identification .861
Flexibility .743
Vision .693
Cultural Awareness .803
Risk Taking .755
Feedback (searching for and using) .689
Through Principal Factor Analysis a cluster of three competencies was detected
explaining 70% of variance between HiPo’s and others
Source: The Journal of Management Development
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Increasing “Fit” To Drive
Performance & Retention

“Could Do” “Can Do”

(With training & (Or has already
experience) done )

Abilities Knowledge
& Aptitudes & Skills

Personality Preferences
& Work Style & Values

“How They’ll Do It” “Want To Do”

(How they (Has interest or
approach work) motivation to do)
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Talent Assessment
• An important part of your overall talent management strategy is
the development of the process organizations will use to evaluate
performance and potential, and to identify future leaders,
successors, and/or high potential employees.

• An effective talent assessment process should be:

– Consistent across your organization’s business units
– Aligned to your organization’s business needs and future
leadership needs
– A multi-level process that involves several data points
– Well-defined and understood across the organization

• Assessment is often equated and confused with evaluation, but the

two concepts are different. Assessment is used to determine what
a person knows or can do, while evaluation is used to determine
the worth or value of a course or program. Assessment data
effects employee advancement, success and development (Herman &
Knuth, 1991).
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What Types of Assessment?

How can organizations assess existing staff to track high potentials
and ensure new hires meet the future needs of the business?

Assessment:
• Online Psychometric Assessments
• Leadership/Management Assessment Batteries
• Assessment and Development Centers
• 360 degree feedback surveys and business assessments
• Competency model profiling, behavioral based
interviews, multi-rater assessment tools
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Assessment Benchmarking
Identify
Define
incumbent
performance
sample
standards

Identify Gather performance data Each employee completes

appropriate for each employee assessment(s)
assessments

Match employees
performance data with
their assessment data
Statistically analyze data to
determine which
assessment(s) scale(s)
predict on-the-job
Develop recommendations
performance
and plans regarding future
assessment and selection
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Assessment/Development Centers?
What is an assessment/development center?
An assessment/development center is a process designed to identify an
individual’s strengths, weaknesses, and potential in a current or future
role.

The assessment process is characterized by:

– Multiple participants rated by multiple assessors on several varied
exercises
– Many of these exercises are designed to assess competencies
– Data integration: a structured evaluation of the participant in
which assessors present objective evidence and reach a
consensus decision

The outcome of an assessment/development center are:

– Written reports detailing a participant’s competencies as they
relate to job requirements
– One-to-one sessions examining the reports
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Why Assessment Centers?

• Combine multiple assessment and business simulation
methodologies to achieve the best possible predictor of future
performance
• Offers comprehensive secondary evaluation of preferred candidate
strengths and weaknesses
• Are the most powerful tool to predict the profile you want to hire –
save money over time
• Measure performance and potential therefore strengthening the
leadership pipeline – allowing organizations to develop training
strategies to further develop and grow talent
• Hiring managers can be involved and refresh their own
assessment/coaching skills
• Offer broad range of competencies, individually or in group
• Provide wealth of information available to feedback to all involved
• Offers great opportunity to seal psychological contract
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Assessment Centers Drive Performance

Competencies Questions

Do they have the required

Technical Skills technical skills?

Do they have the

Trainable

Discipline Understanding experience and

understanding
Knowledge & Experience necessary?

Capability Can they demonstrate the

behaviours necessary for
Demonstrated competencies high performance?

Attributes Do they have

development
Behaviours that infer potential potential?
Untrainable

Drivers

Will aspects of the role

Motivational Fit motivate them?

Does the role meet

Career Fit their current career
objectives?
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…and Tools To Assess Each Area

Resume Screening
Technical Skills Technical Tests

Discipline Understanding Preferential

Trainable

Knowledge & Experience Interviewing

Capability Behavioural
Demonstrated competencies Interviewing

Attributes
Psych Assessment
Behaviours that infer potential
Untrainable

Motivational Fit Behavioural Interview

Career Fit Preferential Interview

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Assessment Centers

Advantage
• Most powerful tool to predict
profile you hire – saves
money over time
• Hiring managers can be
involved and refresh their own
assessment/coaching skills
• Performance and potential
• Broad range of competences,
individually or in group
• Wealth of information
available to feedback to all
involved
• Offers great opportunity to
seal psychological contract
Disadvantage
• Time investment required
from candidate – though they
get more in-depth feedback in
return and can also make an
informed decision
• Relatively expensive in short
term – though saves money
in the long run
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Case Study A -
Assessment Center’s ROI In The Selection Process

Client Issue:
Very high personnel turnover
• Young graduates selection procedure
• Only one interview
• Or a full assessment center (interview, BAQ, RAT, simulation
exercises, etc.)

AC Objective:
Reduce the turnover of personnel
• What is the percentage of ‘young graduates’ who left the company
within the first 3 years?
• What is the difference between the young graduates who were
selected versus an interview and the young graduates who were
selected versus an AC?
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Case Study A-
Assessment Center’s ROI In The Selection Process

43%
45%
40%
35%
30% 25%
25% AC
20% Interview

15%
10%
5%
0%

The turnover of personnel was reduced by 41%.

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Case Study B –
Talent Management Assesses Future Leaders

Challenge
• The client, one of the world’s largest energy companies, had a
program grooming high-potential employees for career
advancement opportunities and broader leadership responsibilities.
• In 2008, the company revamped the process used to select
employees for the program, making it more systematic and
rigorous.
• As a result, the company needed a service provider with talent
assessment expertise to evaluate candidates in the United
Kingdom, the United States and Asia.
• Hudson was selected as the company’s partner because of our
robust methodology, global reach, the quality of our assessors and
the cost-effectiveness of our offerings.
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Case Study B –
Talent Management Assesses Future Leaders

Solution
• Hudson’s Talent Management team conducted a series of meetings
to learn about the company’s culture, values and leadership
framework. Based on that background, we developed assessment
materials that were uniquely suited to the client’s leadership
development program and trained our assessors to apply their high
standards during interactions with candidates.
• In late 2008, we conducted assessments at three sites: London,
Houston and Singapore. Some candidates were at a relatively early
stage in their career with the client, while others had already
attained senior-level positions. The type of assessments
administered varied accordingly.
• Overall, about 85 candidates went through a series of ability and
personality tests, simulation exercises, business case studies,
interviews and group discussions.
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Case Study B -
Talent Management Assesses Future Leaders

Results
• Hudson provided comprehensive reports about the candidates’
aptitude for performing effectively in future leadership roles. Our
guidance for the client throughout the process provided the
company with useful information about tailoring their development
efforts to ensure their high-potential employees can continue to
progress throughout their careers.
• Candidates – many of whom had never been through an
assessment program before – came away with a better
understanding of their strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for
personal development. Even those who did not make it into the
leadership program found the experience valuable.
• The client was highly satisfied.
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Summary

• Identifying talent is going to become more vital

with the predicted skills shortage and therefore
more science must be added to the selection
process
• Although it may look like an additional cost,
adding science to selection can save thousands
in the future
• It is important to identify the right solution for
your organization and the types of roles you
hire
• Whatever you do, always start with the right
competencies for each role and build from there
• Always remember, high potential is developed
through a solid understanding of competency
and behavior
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Questions/Contacts

• Thank You

Simon Fenwick
General Manager, Talent Management
Simon.Fenwick@hudson.com
212-351-7249