Role of Assessor

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Role of assessor in Assessment Centre Definition of Assessor An Assessor is an individual trained to observe, record, classify and make reliable

judgements about the behaviours of those being assessed.' Source: Lewis Rowe, Tina; A Preparation Guide for the Assessment Center Method; (2006) Charles C Thomas Publishers Ltd, Illinois, USA. Who are your assessors? They are usually people one level above the position you have applied for. They will be ambitious and successful individuals within their own departments. These people will have a very clear idea of the qualities they expect to see in an individual performing the new role. Many agencies have a preferred list of assessors they like to use and the human resources department will have key people they call upon for the assessment centre days. For senior roles, assessors who are external to the organisation may be used to bring a broader perspective to the assessment. Many organisations like to include an exercise in assessment centre where they use multiple assessors, usually a minimum of three people, and they will be at least one level above the position you are applying for. In these exercises the panel will be made up of diverse individuals, some may be external to the organisation or department. So it is necessary for assessors to have different priorities and adapt to the behaviours accordingly. There are three things you need to remember about the assessors: 1. They know nothing about you. 2. They can only give you marks for behaviours you show them during the exercises. 3. They are only concerned with how well you display the behaviours applicable to the role. Role of Assessor in AC: For success of the centers, assessors have to demonstrate the capability to observe and record the behaviour of candidates. This is demanding as assessors have to understand the difference between merely looking for concrete verbal and non-verbal behaviours and interpreting these behaviours. They should be able to withhold early judgements. These days video is frequently used to aid assessors in gathering behavioural information. Assessors should be able to organize their behavioural observations by job-related dimensions. This means indicating to which dimension each behaviour belongs. Another skill involves accurate rating of candidates on dimensions. They should have the ability not to make comparative judgements. This is critical. The training an assessor receives, whether they are internal or external to the organisation will equip them with the skills to observe, classify and record candidates behaviour during the exercises. They will also have a thorough understanding of the requirements of the role and have studied the job specification. From this knowledge a list of key behavioural areas will be drawn up, each having a more detailed description to ensure consistency among the assessors when scoring candidates.Assessors should demonstrate the ability to integrate

information from various exercises and be able to discuss the ratings with fellow assessors. Finally, they have to write formal reports and give feedback. In short, during each test, a group of assessor will rate you on a range of set indicators, using a prescribed performance scale. Results are then cross compared against the same indicators, which are measured in other tests. Following test completion, assessors meet to discuss the test results and reach a group consensus about your ratings. The process carried out by the individual assessor in assessment centre: The steps which individual assessor takes to observe, classify and evaluate behaviours of candidates in separate exercises carried out in assessment centre. Assessment centre may vary in specific steps carried out by individual assessors. That is, individual assessor may or may not assign ratings to participants on each dimension, and if they do assign ratings, this may occur at different times in the assessment process.
1. The first duty carried out by trained assessors is to observe the assessees as they

participate in the stimulation exercises. While observing, assessor take detailed, nonevaluative notes of behavioural aspects of assessees. 2. After the stimulation has been completed, assessors classify the behaviours listed in their notes into the dimensions being assessed in that particular exercise. 3. Then, the assessor might prepare a summary sheet to be used to report to the assessor group or, alternatively, the assessor may assign ratings to each dimension assessed in the exercise. 4. After all the assessees have completed all exercises, either assessor come together to discuss and determine the final ratings, or the ratings are combined statistically.
5. Depending upon the purpose of the AC, assessor may provide assessees with oral or

written feedback on their performance.

The assessor experience

For many organisations their Human Resources department will have drawn up their own specific scoring sheet which they will modify as appropriate for the role in question. There is space for the assessor to write in how participant exhibited certain behaviour & then a column for participants score. This scoring is usually from 1-10; 1 being poor or unsatisfactory and 10 being totally capable and suited to role. A key part of the assessors training will be to understand the scoring mechanism being used for your assessment centre. The assessors themselves often perform the exercises they are going to observe, with half of their group playing the role of candidates and the other half actually being assessors. In this way the organisation ensures that the assessors are all measuring and marking behaviours in the same way. As well as practising the exercises and their observation skills, the assessors will follow each exercise with a discussion. This discussion will give them all an opportunity to say what they observed and how they've marked this behaviour and then to gain a consensus from the group to award the candidate a final score for an exercise. This ensures that each candidate is judged fairly and that the company or organisation has a thorough record of how a final decision was made. This enables a candidate requesting feedback on their performance to receive an objective overview of their performance on the day. Another essential part of the assessors training will be in how to use the scoring sheets or rate cards that your assessment centre will be using. Each agency, organisation or company have minor variations in their scoring and assessors need to be familiar with the method being used at your centre. Examples of the scoring sheets are given in the next section. Some organisations prefer that the assessors use a legal pad to make their notes on and these are then used during the discussions and retained by the organisation once the assessment centre is completed. 'An Assessor is an individual trained to observe, record, classify and make reliable judgements about the behaviours of those being assessed.' Who are your Assessors? They are usually people one level above the position you have applied for. They will be ambitious and successful individuals within their own departments and organisations. These people will have a very clear idea of the qualities they expect to see in an individual performing the role you have applied for. They will also have a definite expectation of how that role assists them in performing their function. Many agencies have a preferred list of assessors that they like to use. Human Resources (HR) departments will also have key people that they call upon for the assessment centre days. Where you are applying for more senior roles, the organisation may choose to use external assessors if they feel that these individuals bring a broader perspective to the assessment of candidates. The training an assessor receives, whether they are internal or external to the organisation, will equip them with the skills to:

Observe, Classify and Record candidates behaviour.

They will also have a thorough understanding of the requirements of the role and have studied the job specification. From this knowledge a list of competencies will be drawn up, each with a detailed description. This is to ensure consistency among the assessors when scoring candidates. There are three things you need to remember about the Assessors: 1. 2. 3. They know nothing about you. They can only give you marks for behaviours you show them during the exercises. They are only concerned with how you display the behaviours applicable to the role.

Your key objective is to find out what competencies and associated behaviours the assessors see as essential, desirable, adequate, and a liability. The amount of time you have before your assessment will influence what you can do in terms of this type of preparation. At the very least, you need to look objectively at people who perform the role well and think about the behaviours they exhibit. If you are preparing for a graduate assessment centre, then this is made more difficult as you may not have any experience of working directly for anyone in the role you are applying for. If this is the case then you need to think in more general terms about the behaviours of people you have met in your personal life, including teachers, lecturers, sports coaches, team captains, etc. If you are preparing for an elite graduate assessment centre, then one group that you should study in detail are the people who the organisation uses to represent it at university recruitment fairs. You can learn a lot about the demeanour, tone, dress, attitudes and subtleties of presentation that these people share. This is particularly important as the elite organisations are often more interested in recruiting people who they believe will be able to convey the organisations values (in the way that they behave) than in competencies per-se. If you are working on your long-term preparation you will have sufficient time to approach someone to whom you'd report to in the new role and agree for them to mentor you. They will be able to tell you about the competencies they see as essential for the role and help you in gaining these. Always be mindful that this is one individuals interpretation and that you should also be conducting other research so that you have a complete understanding of what the role entails.What are Assessors looking for at the Assessment Centre If you understand what assessors are looking for and how they mark the assessment centre exercises then this will make it easier for you to achieve success. With this knowledge you can then prepare to maximise your score and stand out from the other candidates. Tina Lewis Rowe provides an excellent definition of an Assessor.

'An Assessor is an individual trained to observe, record, classify and make reliable judgements about the behaviours of those being assessed.' Source: Lewis Rowe, Tina; A Preparation Guide for the Assessment Center Method; (2006) Charles C Thomas Publishers Ltd, Illinois, USA.

Who are your assessors? They are usually people one level above the position you have applied for. They will be ambitious and successful individuals within their own departments. These people will have a very clear idea of the qualities they expect to see in an individual performing the new role. Many agencies have a preferred list of assessors they like to use and the human resources department will have key people they call upon for the assessment centre days. For senior roles, assessors who are external to the organisation may be used to bring a broader perspective to the assessment. The training an assessor receives, whether they are internal or external to the organisation will equip them with the skills to observe, classify and record candidates behaviour during the exercises. They will also have a thorough understanding of the requirements of the role and have studied the job specification. From this knowledge a list of key behavioural areas will be drawn up, each having a more detailed description to ensure consistency among the assessors when scoring candidates. There are three things you need to remember about the assessors: They know nothing about you. They can only give you marks for behaviours you show them during the exercises. They are only concerned with how well you display the behaviours applicable to the role. Your key objective is to find out what behaviours the assessors see as essential, desirable, adequate and a liability. The amount of time you have before your assessment will influence what you can do in preparation. At the very least, you need to look objectively at those above you who perform the role well and think about the behaviours they exhibit. You can use this analysis in the exercises to show how you'd use these observations to influence your performance once in the role. If you have sufficient preparation time you may want to approach someone to whom you'd report to in the new role and agree for them to mentor you. For many organisations their Human Resources department will have drawn up their own specific scoring sheet which they will modify as appropriate for the role in question. As you can see from the example below there is space for the assessor to write in how you exhibited a certain behaviour & then a column for your score. This scoring is usually from 1-10; 1 being poor or unsatisfactory and 10 being totally capable and suited to role. A key part of the assessors training will be to understand the scoring mechanism being used for your assessment centre. The assessors themselves often perform the exercises they are going to observe, with half of their group playing the role of candidates and the other half

actually being assessors. In this way the organisation ensures that the assessors are all measuring and marking behaviours in the same way. It is through this preparation that assessors learn to all award a score of '5' for similar behaviours. As well as practising the exercises and their observation skills, the assessors will follow each exercise with a discussion. This discussion will give them all an opportunity to say what they observed and how they've marked this behaviour and then to gain a consensus from the group to award the candidate a final score for an exercise. This ensures that each candidate is judged fairly and that the company or organisation has a thorough record of how a final decision was made. This enables a candidate requesting feedback on their performance to receive an objective overview of their performance on the day. Another essential part of the assessors training will be in how to use the scoring sheets or rate cards that your assessment centre will be using. Each agency, organisation or company have minor variations in their scoring and assessors need to be familiar with the method being used at your centre. Examples of the scoring sheets are given in the next section. Some organisations prefer that the assessors use a legal pad to make their notes on and these are then used during the discussions and retained by the organisation once the assessment centre is completed. Many organisations like to include an exercise where they use multiple assessors, usually a minimum of three people, and they will be at least one level above the position you are applying for. In these exercises the panel will be made up of diverse individuals, some may be external to the organisation or department. So you will need to be mindful of assessors who may have different priorities and adapt your behaviours accordingly. http://www.psychometric-success.com/faq/faq-assessment-centre-assessors.htm

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