We believe here is no such thing a ‘standard’ Assessment or Development Centre – some can last as little as a few hours, while others can go on for three days or more.  We design and tailor both the programme and the content of the assessment centres we run to fit exactly with our client’s objectives.  While we have many pre-designed exercises and tests, we are firm believers in not trying to ‘squeeze’ your requirements into a standard template. 

Assessment centres can address both selection and development of individuals because a degree of assessment goes on in both.  Some businesses use them as part of an integrated training strategy which helps to ensure that training is carried out in a way which is relevant to the organisation’s needs.  However, the recent growth in use of assessment centres reflects an increasing recognition of the need for businesses to be able to demonstrate that individual selection has been fair and objective – particularly  when reorganising or restructuring their organisations.   

Our assessment centres typically involve the participants completing a range of exercises which may be based on the activities carried out in the target job. Various combinations of these exercises and sometimes other assessment methods like psychometric testing and structured interviews are used to assess agreed competencies.  The theory behind this is that if one wishes to predict future job performance then the best way of doing this is to get the individual to carry out a set of tasks which accurately sample those required in the job and are as similar to them as possible. 

Ortolan will design the assessment with your business in mind and the scenarios used can reflect those faced by your people every day in your business.  The particular competencies identified will depend upon the target job, but one will often find competencies such as relating to people; resistance to stress; strategic thinking: planning and organising; motivation; adaptability and flexibility; problem solving; leadership; communication; decision making and initiative feature in assessments of many managerial positions.