Cact
How do I set up a really good assessment centre?

us Search's Francesca Randle kicks off with one of those perennial call centre problems: how to set up a truly effective assessment centre.
In business, recruiting the right people can mean the difference between success and failure. Most organisations spend upwards of 4,000 filling a position, yet the results vary widely. It's a good job, then, that properly designed assessment centres can help to achieve outstanding returns from investment in recruitment - delivering effective and motivated people.
Widely recognised as a powerful means of assessing candidates in competencies vital to organisational success, assessment centres can form part of a reliable and objective route for allowing you to assess whether the candidate can demonstrate their skills and experience, and can provide an accurate profile of an individual's skills, abilities and style of working.
Assessment centres also offer candidates and employees the opportunity to prove their capabilities, develop their strengths and identify areas of comparative weakness. However, prior to spending your valuable time and money on setting up such a centre, it is imperative to understand and be realistic about the call centre industry as a whole.
In truth, many organisations employing high numbers of call centre staff will more often than not experience high levels of attrition. It is a 'collective' issue, but a realistic one. The industry is extremely transient. An increase in salary elsewhere can effect a huge transition of staff. There are often fewer career opportunities in such a 'pyramid structure' sector. It can often be extremely repetitive, and can sometimes be very pressurised if sales and customer service targets are not met.
Organisations are frequently so focused on attracting and identifying the 'right' candidate at recruitment stage that they fail to focus on and provide necessary funds for retaining staff once they have commenced employment. Yet, improving employee retention is a key issue for every organisation - one based upon the following beliefs:
Francesca Randle is director at Cactus Search
Tel: +44 8702 866 904
Website: www.cactussearch.co.uk
- It is difficult for employers to retain good employees if they do not have a process to hire the right people in the first place.
- Retention processes must directly support the reasons that successful, satisfied employees stay.
- Good induction, training, development, succession planning and - most importantly - effective management, can have a huge effect on overall attrition rates.

Author: Jonty Pearce
Published On: 25th Jul 2006 - Last modified: 18th Aug 2025
Read more about - Call Centre Management, Management Strategies