Boost your chances of recruiting and retaining the best talent

Suzanne Tricker

A Lincoln-headquartered HR specialist is reporting rising demand from busy employers determined to get their recruitment practices right first time – and develop the best talent already working within their companies.

Amica HR Services, which has a base in C4DI in Hull, said that in today’s intensely competitive environment, increasing numbers of employers are taking the Assessment Centres route to finding the best candidates to fill vacancies, as well as retain and maximise the potential of the rising stars they already employ.

Amica Director Suzanne Tricker said: “We are finding that more and more businesses are placing greater importance on the need for careful selection to make sure, as far as possible, they take on new recruits who are “able to hit the ground running.”

Considering they are often faced with hundreds of applications, or when they are looking to promote someone internally to a highly specialised post, this can be a savvy move.

“Companies which are managing high growth or expanding quickly – with maybe several branches at home and overseas – are finding the Assessment Centres route is invaluable in helping them to select rising stars who should be pinpointed for potential promotion or leadership roles,” said Suzanne.

Selection centres can be convened within a company’s head or branch office or set-up in a “neutral venue,” such as an hotel.

“It all depends on the individual company and the type of staff they are looking for, but when it comes to the selection and development of emerging talent, that process often leads is to being asked to take things further and devise a development programme for several employees,” said Suzanne.

In some cases, Amica HR Services will then call on the expertise of the professional business coaches they are partnered with.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD), on average one-third of companies use assessment centres to select a new employee from a pool of candidates.

They are seen as one of the most reliable methods of assessing candidate employees, compared with interviews or other methods.

Used alone, these may be as low as 15 per cent accurate – but when scores from several different selection exercises are combined, accuracy levels can rise to more than 60 per cent.

Assessment Centres are generally accepted as a “fair method” of selection because they provide equal opportunities for all candidates and the selection is based on merit. They tend to provide more information about a person’s fit, skills, competencies and future potential than nearly every other method of recruitment.

The costs associated with the use of assessment centres are usually generally lower that those which involve a firm going through several phases of recruitment.