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RECRUITMENT SERVICES
Management Recruitment & Executive Search
We provide tailored recruitment solutions, delivered to exacting standards
and timescales, undertaking national and international assignments within
the commercial, industrial, service, professional and financial market-place.
Dynamic in approach, our dedicated team of Consultants and Occupational
Psychologists utilise the latest search and selection techniques to attract,
assess and recruit the very best graduates, middle managers, senior executives
and Directors.
As part of our service, we also provide salary surveys, competency benchmarking,
job analysis and referencing to ensure that our clients attract and recruit
the very best.
Executive Search
Recommended for the recruitment of senior managers or for roles within
niche markets where the number of available candidates is limited.
Using careful planning and focused research techniques, our specialist
team:
- submit a research strategy to clients,
- analyse target markets, companies and key individuals,
- prepare briefing reports,
- confidentially approach targeted individuals,
- deliver high quality candidate shortlists within six weeks.
We search nationally and internationally, supported by cultural and language
experts where appropriate.
Advertised Selection
We advise on the most impactful and effective media strategy, sometimes
combining newspaper and internet advertising with Open Days, radio or
poster campaigns.
Managing all responses with sensitivity, we conduct either individual
structured interviews or group-based Assessment Centres to deliver a short-list
of exceptionally high quality candidates to our clients within four weeks.
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Some of our recent assignments:
£100 000+
- business Development
- Directors Sales
- Director Head of Service
- Delivery Corporate business
- Development Managers
- IT Project Managers
£60 000 - £100 000
- Finance Director
- Financial Controllers, EU
- Logistics Director Production
- Directors Group Sales
- Managers Contact Centre
- Managers Divisional
- Managers
£25 000 - £60 000
- Sales Managers Commercial
- Manager Operations Manager
- IT Analysts and Programmers
- Tele-marketing Managers
- Financial Advisors and Managers Contact Centre
- Team Leaders International
- Customer Services
To £25 000
- Trainee Solicitors
- Graduates & Postgraduates.
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| ASSESSMENT
CENTRES
Assessment Centres
Within increasingly mobile and transient job markets, it is essential
to attract and recruit the best individuals who have the potential to
drive a company forward. The hidden cost of selection mistakes can be
enormous.
Proven to be three times more successful than other selection methods
at measuring work performance and predicting future potential in people,
well designed and managed Assessment Centres are one of the most reliable
and rigorous recruitment methods available.
Suitable for assessing staff at all levels and typically lasting one or
two days, our Assessment Centres comprise of multi-dimensional exercises
that are objective, predictive and valid:
- Group Discussions
- In-tray exercises
- business Case Studies
- Group & Individual Presentations
- Role-plays
- Written exercises
- Questionnaires
- Structured, criterion based interviews
- Personality & motivation questionnaires
- Aptitude Testing
- Motivational and Values Questionnaires
- 360° Development Tools
We offer flexible delivery options: total outsourcing where we manage
all aspects of the design and delivery, through to the training and support
of our client's internal team to run the Centres.
We have specific expertise of using Assessment Centres for VOLUME
RECRUITMENT assignments, GRADUATE RECRUITMENT campaigns and
MANAGEMENT SELECTION.
Competency Analysis and Assessment Material Design
We develop competency models based on excellent performance using multi-technique
job analysis including structured questionnaires, critical incident techniques,
interviews with job holders and immediate supervisors and the content
analysis of job descriptions.
We design multi-dimensional exercises simulating Workgroup activities,
problem-solving tasks, situational tests and in-baskets. Our exercises
are unique, providing realistic situations to challenge candidates and
increasing the face validity and job relatedness of the Centre.
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Each year, our consultants typically:
Assess over 5,000 individuals;
Prepare 10,000 pages of detailed assessment reports;
Manage 150 Assessment & Development Centres;
Administer 3,500 psychometric tests.
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| GUIDANCE NOTES
FOR CANDIDATES Assessment Centres
What is an Assessment Centre?
By providing a broad, behaviourally based view of a candidate, an Assessment
Centre can help to identify a participant’s strengths and development
needs, and they are particularly effective in determining an individual’s
suitability for a position.
An Assessment Centre comprises of a combination of exercises, tests and
business simulations that have been specifically designed to present a
detailed and accurate picture of behavioural competence.
Several candidates, normally between four and eight, may be asked to complete
any of the following exercises:
- Group discussions
- Presentations
- Ability tests
- In-tray exercises
- Personality questionnaires
- Interviews
- Role plays
- Motivation Questionnaires
Each exercise is designed to measure the candidates’ performance
against specified criteria and each competency dimension is measured at
least twice. The variety and intensity of activities aims to provide a
large amount of evidence on the participant, as well as establishing how
they would perform under pressure by simulating the conditions of the
workplace.
Whatever the activities used, the emphasis at an Assessment Centre is
on your observable behaviour. Assessors will observe and record behavioural
evidence and will then classify and evaluate the evidence against the
competency dimensions. The assessors collate information from all the
exercises to build up a candidate profile that will then be used in the
assessment process.
Candidates do not pass or fail: their combined performance demonstrates
their relative strengths and suitability for the role.
Group Exercises
The purpose of the group exercise is to observe the behaviour of participants
as they interact, often simulating a typical meeting in the workplace.
There are two types of group exercise: firstly, where candidates are working
on a common problem; secondly, where each participant has a conflicting
aim. All candidates will be provided with a brief in the group exercise
and will have the opportunity to ask questions. There will be a time allowance
for candidates to familiarise themselves with their part and make notes
before the discussion begins.
During the discussion, the assessors will make descriptive notes of the
candidate’s behaviour, both verbal and non-verbal and observe evidence
of the required skills. The assessors will then feedback their observations
and reach a consensus on the candidate’s performance.
- Be yourself and relax! Do not try to project a "false"
image;
- Don’t try to guess at the attributes that the assessors are
looking for. People with different interactive styles can perform equally
well in this exercise;
- Although it is important to contribute, do not just talk for the
sake of it. It is not a competition to see who can dominate the group.
The quality of what you say is more important than the quantity. However,
if you say nothing or very little, you are missing the chance to demonstrate
your skills;
- Stick to the information that is provided in your brief; try not
to make too many assumptions based on prior knowledge;
- Try not to split the group, as this makes it difficult to assess
your skills;
- Try to prepare before hand by examining your strengths and weaknesses,
particularly in oral communication and your effectiveness when working
with others.
Personality Questionnaires
Personality is an important influence on how people behave at work. Our
personalities are demonstrated by the way we behave, think and feel in
differing situations. It is seen as particularly important in ascertaining
how people interact and collaborate with others, namely, all managerial,
supervisory, customer orientated, team or group based activities.
There are many forms of personality questionnaires, but they usually take
the form of a self-report. The assessment will question how a candidate
perceives their own behaviours in normal, day-to-day situations - how
they deal with people, their feelings and emotions, preferred team-working
styles etc. The questionnaires are administered, scored and interpreted
in a standard way. The questionnaires are not timed, but an advisory as
to how long it should take is often provided.
Personality Questionnaires are very popular: it has been estimated that
over 70% of the Times Top 1000 companies use questionnaires and aptitude
tests of one sort or another. They are popular because they can provide
a quick, objective and detailed picture of what a person is like. They
are widely used for development and training purposes, as they can help
to show the sort of environments in which people prefer to work, the way
in which they are likely to go about their work and the ideal personalities
of any colleagues with whom they would work best.
Useful Tips:
- Try and be as honest as possible, don’t try and guess what
the assessors are looking for or give conditioned responses. Faked responses
are easy to detect. It is better to be open-minded and truthful in your
answers;
- Try to answer fairly quickly and avoid agonising over each response.
If you are stuck on a question that you do not feel is relevant, just
give your best and most immediate answer. It is likely that your first
thoughts will be the most accurate;
- There are no right or wrong answers!
- If you have access to the Internet, you can review a sample of personality
questions at shldirect.com, Practice & Feedback icon;
- Alternatively, chapter five in Mark Parkinson’s book How to
Master Psychometric Tests (published by Kogan Page) provides a useful
introduction.
Ability Tests
An ability test is a standard method of measuring an aspect of mental
performance. They do not require specialist knowledge or skills. Ability
tests are designed to be objective, standardised, reliable, predictive
and unbiased.
Ability tests tend to follow a similar form - up to 60 questions with
multiple-choice answers, to be completed within a set time limit. Tests
are administered under carefully controlled and timed conditions and precise
instructions are followed for marking and interpreting the results. There
is no room for subjectivity and everyone is treated in exactly the same
way.
The tests aim to assess objectively a number of cognitive abilities, for
example, verbal ability (how good you are at understanding the meaning
of words or comprehending the information in a written passage), numerical
ability (your ability to understand and use numbers) and sometimes abstract
reasoning. Cognitive tests can also assess the ability to check information
quickly and accurately.
Verbal tests usually present you with a short passage of information followed
by a series of statements. The task is to decide if the statement is:
- True - follows logically from the information provided;
- False - does not follow logically or you;
- Cannot Say - without further information.
All of the information required to make the decision is contained in
the passage.
Numerical tests present you with a range of numerical information, usually
in the form of tables of data, charts or graphs. The task is to understand
the meaning of the questions, find and interpret the appropriate data
and then perform the necessary calculations. In most cases, the calculations
are not difficult and the emphasis is on developing the correct problem-solving
strategy.
The candidates will be shown some example questions, after which they
will be able to ask questions before starting the test. The administrator
will ensure that all the candidates have completed the examples before
the test begins. At the end of the test the administrator will collect
individuals' tests and mark them. Test results are interpreted by comparing
them against a large and comparable group of people who have done the
test in the past normative group The results will be available for the
assessors to use in the selection process at the end of the day.
Useful Tips:
- This is an individual exercise, but several candidates may take the
test at the same time;
- It is helpful although not essential to try to do some practice exercises
before attending the assessment centre, especially if you are not familiar
with the format of ability tests. These can be obtained at the web site
shldirect.com, Practice & Feedback. Alternatively, Mark Parkinson’s
book is helpful (see notes under Personality Questionnaires);
- Use all the time provided. If you have spare time, try to check your
answers;
- Don’t agonise over a question that you cannot do, but move
on to the next one. If you cannot work out an answer, make an informed
guess;
- Try to relax! Don’t be perturbed by the presence of the administrator
and stopwatch! Concentrate your mind on the test itself and nothing
else.
Interview
Interviews will often take the form of a competency-based set of questions,
structured to recognise how participants’ past work situations were
dealt with. Each question will aim to discover if the interviewee has
the personal attributes or skills that have been identified as being vital
to the role.
During the interview, the assessor will take notes on the responses provided.
Once the interview finishes, the assessor’s notes will be used to
examine the candidate’s suitability for the role, in conjunction
with all the other test results.
Useful Tips:
- Be well prepared with examples of your previous achievements in both
work-related and other environments;
- Consider your strengths before hand and find ways of presenting these.
Try to avoid sounding arrogant!
- Practice your interview techniques before hand;
- Do some preliminary research on both the role and the employer and
be prepared with some questions to ask;
- Listen carefully to the questions and answer them as honestly as
possible;
- Make good eye contact with your interviewers;
- Be confident and alert.
Presentations
Presentations at Assessment Centres may be either group or individual
exercises. Often, but not always, candidates will be provided with the
topic prior to the assessment centre to allow for preparation. OHPs or
flipcharts may be available for use. It is usual for assessors to listen
to presentations without interruption and ask questions at the end. Presentations
are typically timed.
The assessor will make notes during the presentation, so that they will
then be able to ask follow-up questions.
Useful Tips:
- If you receive the topic beforehand, ensure that it has been practised
and is well prepared. Thorough preparation is essential.
- If you receive the brief on the day, make certain that you pay particular
attention to the aspects of time, subject matter and whether you are
expected to invite or answer questions.
- Think logically in order to structure the content of the presentation
and use information to make a case or advance an argument. Focus on
important rather than unimportant information.
- Visual aids are helpful to your audience. They should be clear and
concise.
- Speak clearly, audibly and distinctly to the audience, using language
(such as technical jargon or terminology) appropriately and varying
the tone of your voice.
- Establish eye contact while you are talking. Don’t fidget,
fold your arms, pace around too much. Appear self confident, however
stressed or under pressure you feel.
- Make sure that you are happy with any equipment before commencing
your presentation.
In-tray Exercises
The in-tray exercise is a situational task, which aims to simulate the
administrative aspects of a role. The participants are provided with an
"in-tray" of paperwork, including e-mails, telephone messages,
letters, memos, forms, etc. The exercise is timed and aims to look at
skills such as prioritising, action planning, decision-making and communication.
Sometimes, the in-tray may be linked to other activities at the assessment
day such as the role play and group discussion. Each decision the candidate
makes should be recorded in writing, which the assessor will then mark.
Useful Tips:
- Read carefully the questions and information with which you are provided
and answer clearly.
- Be prepared for a lot of paper - responses will be handwritten.
- Remember to make your writing as legible as possible.
Role Plays
These are one-to-one exercises where the candidate conducts an interview
or meeting with a role player who has been given a thorough briefing.
The role-play is observed by an assessor or assessors (or it could be
video taped.) The assessor may question the candidate afterwards to find
out more about the strategy, direction and outcome of the interview or
meeting.
Role play exercises of this kind have several advantages when it comes
to personnel selection, in particular they:
- Allow observation of real people skills;
- Are realistic, especially for managerial tasks;
- Can be tailored to suit a range of tasks and situations.
An interesting development is the use of professional role players, usually
actors, to play opposite the candidate. The actor will be closely briefed
as to how to respond to the candidate. The role player is there to enable
the candidate to demonstrate his/her strengths in face-to-face situations.
Useful Tips:
- Get in role, don’t be half in and half out;
- Take the other role player seriously;
- Be civil, not angry from the outset;
- Have a plan and stick to it (more or less);
- Plan to compromise and extract some agreement from the other person;
- Work out how you are going to close the meeting;
- Have a clear idea of the next steps and write them down;
- Be firm, never petulant.
Motivation Questionnaires
Motivation is as vital to an organisational success as any skill or personal
attribute. By understanding what motivates their staff, managers can unlock
each individual’s full potential and direct their energies more
constructively.
The SHL Motivation Questionnaire measures 18 dimensions of your motivation,
and provides a comprehensive understanding of those situations, which
increase and reduce your motivation. It also helps to determine how long
and under what circumstances your effort will be maintained.
The 18 dimensions measured are divided into four broad areas. First and
foremost is Energy and Dynamism, which looks at the vigour and drive a
person is likely to bring to a task. The Synergy scales help assess how
well an individual is liable to fit in with the prevailing company culture,
while the Intrinsic scales look at what type of task will motivate an
individual. Lastly, the Extrinsic scales measure what effect external
motivators, such as financial reward, are likely to have on an individual.
Useful Tips:
- The questionnaire is used to provide objective information on motivation,
which is relevant in a work setting.
- Respondents will be asked to rate how a condition or situation would
affect their motivation at work.
- People who try to guess what they think is wanted are often incorrect,
so responses should be as accurate and honest as possible.
- This is a questionnaire, not a test; consequently there are no right
or wrong answers. It is concerned with what motivates and demotivates
people at work, not their ability.
- There will be an opportunity to receive feedback on the results of
the questionnaire.
- There is no time limit, but respondents should work quickly, rather
than ponder at length over any one question.
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