Use of assessment centers in hiring discussed
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March 22, 2004
The use of assessment centers in job placement and promotion was discussed at the March 5 meeting of the Massachusetts Municipal Personnel Association in Waltham.
Assessment centers are used to evaluate the leadership, administrative and management skills of job candidates. They can be useful when selecting executives and managers, such as fire chiefs, police chiefs, public works directors, and other management or command personnel, according to MMA Consulting Group President Mark Morse.
Job candidates participate in a series of exercises and scenarios and then are evaluated on their performance using a series of predetermined criteria called competencies. The process is designed to allow candidates to demonstrate the skills and abilities most essential to the job.
Morse said assessment centers provide a chance to see first-hand how applicants react to situations and determine solutions.
Assessment centers evaluate skills such as leadership, planning and administration, conflict management, oral communication, writing, decision-making, reasoning, problem analysis, human relations, flexibility, negotiating, customer service, management, creative thinking, and stress tolerance.
Assessment center exercises may include interviews, meeting with department personnel, program planning, a press conference, a disciplinary meeting, and a community meeting.
Candidates are evaluated by a panel of independent assessors comprising a mix of law enforcement, human resources and/or municipal management professionals. Others present include the exercise coordinators, role players, local observers and observers from the Human Resources Division (in the case of civil service positions).
Mildred Asano, deputy director of the Organizational Development Group at HRD, discussed the use of assessment centers in civil service promotions.
She defined the three instances when a community can use an assessment center during the civil service hiring process: post-list establishment; as a weighted, graded examination component; and as the sole ranking device.
For more information about the use of assessment centers in civil service promotions, call Asano at (617) 878-9744.
Also speaking at the meeting was Ruth Bramson, chief human resources officer at the Human Resources Division. She said the division’s new focus is “Priority on People.”
Bramson discussed the division’s implementation of a new shared services model for the delivery of human resources services. Put simply, she said, the division is looking to be “faster, simpler, together.”
Despite losing half its staff, the division is looking to improve service delivery, make better use of technology, take on a consultative role, focus on collaboration, and control costs.
This will require a reduction in administration and an increase in customer service/consulting and strategic planning. Bramson said the division is looking to standardize human resources polices and procedures across the executive branch, increase operational efficiency, avoid duplication, focus on deliverables, and move toward systems such as e-learning.
Bramson said the division’s goal is to demonstrate its value as a strategic partner in the delivery of state services and to provide quality human resources management to all state agencies and divisions.
- Written by MMA Member Services Coordinator Ellen Stoolmacher
