Assessment
centres need guidelines to ensure that their tests have relevance to the work
candidates will perform, claims the British Psychological Society.
The
society has drafted a set of standards
it wants to publish in May. They provide guidance to occupational psychologists
and HR managers on how to establish best practice at assessment centres. The
document has yet to receive the support of the CIPD.
Eve
Matthews, recruitment and diversity officer for West Bromwich Building Society,
welcomed the guidelines. She said, "It’s a very good idea as we must
ensure that centres are free of gender, race or cultural bias."
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Ian
Ballantyne, author of the draft document and senior consultant at Assessment
& Development consultancy, said, "There are a lot of assessment
centres for graduate trainees which are not working properly.
"You
often have undergraduates who are confronted with tasks which have little
relevance to the jobs. I don’t know, for example, what being plunged into
freezing water in Dartmoor has to do with recruiting potential bank
managers."
