(Dinesh Saparamadu CEO hSenid and Dr Lavin Lum of Pacific Century Consulting Singapore in conversation with Mr Ali Kamil Manager Human Resources of SriLankan Airlines at the launch.)
Would you select someone into yournational cricket team by simply getting him to sit for a written examthat will describe who he is, what he has done before and how much heknows about cricket? Or would you prefer to put him through a series ofperformance tests where you can see how fit he is, how well he bats,bowls or catches the ball and even better, observe him in a trial gameand evaluate him based on what you see? The answer would be the latteroption. Yet many organisations are doing precisely the opposite intheir recruitment and selection approach and in transfers andpromotions, preferring to depend on tests that offer little orirrelevant insights to decide on the suitability and eligibility ofapplicants. Recent reality shows like The Apprentice, have inspiredmany organisations to incorporate realistic situational tests intotheir selection method – preferring to evaluate applicants by watchingthem in real-life situations. Such is the basic tenet of the hSenidAssessment Centre.
Very often, thereis a big gap between what we believe we will do versus what we actuallydo in life. In the hSenid Assessment Centre, what assessors areinterested in are the actual behaviours that assessees are capable of,not what assessees think they should do, ought to do or would do. It ismore important to show that you can actually do it. Real, demonstratedbehaviours are what hSenid Assessment Centre focuses on. We are lookingfor leaders, managers and people who can actually do and not simplyknow what should be done! In other words, theoretical or model answersare not good enough! Seeing is Believing!
AssessmentCentre is widely regarded as the most accurate process to help spotfuture talents and provide valuable developmental analysis. It is byfar the most rigorous means to observe managerial competence undersimulated conditions. It is like a kind of flight simulator to testdrive your executives and managers without having them crash in reallife.
The key benefit of usingAssessment Centres is that it offers the highest predictive abilityregarding a candidate's potential when compared with other availableassessment tools. Assessment Centre also helps in providing asystematic and consistent means of evaluation, achieving fairness inpromotion/selection decisions by allowing candidates to demonstratejob-related abilities on a level-playing field and helping peoplebetter understand future on-the-job requirements.
Goingthrough an Assessment Centre is like taking a fitness test. You eitherhave what they are testing for or you haven't got it. You cannot fakebehaviours in Assessment Centre. You cannot pretend to run 2.4 kmwithin 13 minutes or fake doing 40 sit-ups, even if you know the testis looking for such abilities. If you have it, you can do it. If you donot have it, you cannot fake it. However, you can train for it toensure that you do what is required. That is the beauty of AssessmentCentre where what you see is what you get.
Thisis what hSenid together with our strategic partner Pacific CenturyConsulting of Singapore has on offer to all HR professionals in SriLanka, a state of the art assessment center manned by accreditedassessors, administrators and role-players, HPAC is a purpose-buildpremise with state of the art assessment facilities and equipment tocarry out assessments relating to recruitment or succession planningsaid Mr Sampath Jayasundara – Director/General Manager of hSenid.
