Career Opportunities- Understanding Assessment Centres - Dudley Child Executive Recruitment

Understanding the history of assessment centres will help candidates appreciate how and what the assessors are trying to achieve and ultimately how candidates can demonstrate the skills and knowledge during the assessment centre.

Assessment Centres can be dated as far back as between the world wars when the German Army used assessment centres as a way of selecting officers.  In the book ‘spies and saboteurs’ by Dr W.J.Morgan (1955), the author mentions how a German psychologist, Dr Simoneit watched officers perform a variety of tasks.

The tasks involved certain tests and officers were selected on how well they performed within each exercise.  Dr Simoniet’s work became the foundation of assessment centres and was quickly replicated in the UK with the British Government setting up a Selection Assessment Board.

Although the original assessment centres were set up for military purpose it is important to understand that each exercise has been designed to assess candidates’ behaviours in certain scenarios.  No matter how trivial an exercise may appear to be, remember it was designed to assess if you display the required behaviours required for the role.  Candidates must remember to not leave anything to chance or make assumptions as assessors can only give credit to a candidate once they have displayed the correct knowledge, skills and attitude exhibited throughout the exercises.

Dudley Child Executive Recruitment has recently added assessment centres to their portfolio of services.  To discuss the suite of services that Dudley Child offer, please call one of our dedicated consultants on 0113 246 8882 or by email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .