In this programme ETC Consult takes a brief from a client organisation to help it identify the most suitable candidate for a specific job from a short-list compiled by the organisation.
In carrying out this brief, ETC Consult discusses the role in question with the client organisation; gets a Job Description and Person Specification; selects an assessment approach which can include all, one or some of the following evaluation tools directly relevant to the requirements of the Person Specification for the job.
- Assessment of the short-listed candidates’ level of general ability or intelligence using an objective cognitive ability instrument
- Assessment of aptitudes – verbal, numerical, lateral-thinking, technical, design, speed and accuracy, computer programming or dexterity
- Assessment of Personality traits – conscientiousness, decisiveness, assertiveness, ambition, vision, leadership; persuasiveness
- Assessment of experience, education, training and qualifications using a Competence-based Interviewing approach
- Assessment of Presentation Skills
ETC Consult – in consultation with the client organisation- agree on a measurable, differentiated evaluation matrix on which – for example – all five of the foregoing assessment elements are listed with the entire assessment yielding a maximum score of 100 points and then that 100 being divided up among the five elements in accordance with the client organisation’s perception of the differential importance of each element for optimal performance in the job in question.
So, just supposing that personality is deemed to be the most important element in the job we might then apportion 30 points of the total 100 to personality.
If general ability is deemed to be the next most important element we might apportion 25 to it.
And so on through the remaining elements until we have used up all 100 points.
We then set a cut-off point at or above which point a candidate is deemed to meet enough of the requirements in the Person Specification to suggest a good match for the job in question.
ETC Consult then assesses all candidates on the short-list in exactly the same manner viz. all are assessed and scored objectively under the same assessment headings; all are given the same interview questions, in the same order and scored on the same yardstick.
Cumulative scores are then derived for the five candidates and forwarded to the client organisation with those hitting the cut-off point being judged to meet enough of the requirements of the Person Specification to do a very good job – and the further a candidate surpasses that cut-off point the better he or she is likely to do it.
The client organisation can then either accept this result and make the appointment or add in some additional data that the organisation has before making a decision pending, of course, the outcome to reference-checking, for which see below.
The great advantage of this system is its objectivity.
Its second great advantage is that it automatically provides for excellent validity checking of the entire assessment programme.
Six, nine or twelve months into his or her new job the successful candidate’s performance can be directly compared with the overall and individual scores of the assessment procedure as a result of which it can be retained in its entirety, tweaked or enhanced as required.
Assessment of suitability for jobs on the basis of interviews alone does not lend itself to this level of validation.