Case StudiesAssessment and Development |
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CCEA
Background
Whitewater Consulting Ltd have delivered a number of Recruitment and Selection exercises for the Council for the Curriculum Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) in Northern Ireland. We have designed Assessment Centres for several Senior Management posts across different departments.
Inputs
We work closely with CCEA to design recruitment processes that are tailored to the requirements of the post, budget and timescales. Part of the recruitment exercises involves identifying competences that are specific to the role and then designing and selecting assessment tools that will measure these.
In recent projects this has involved the delivery of a full one day Assessment Centre which included job simulated exercises (one to one interview simulation, written analysis exercise & presentation and group discussion), personality (16pf5) and ability testing (Commercial Reasoning).
Results
Following the assessment centre the selection panel are provided with indepth reports on each candidate. The panel have communicated that the reports helped them to develop an in depth understanding of the candidates and a higher level of confidence around the recruitment process and their chosen short list of candidates.
Successful and unsuccessful candidates are always given detailed 1:1 feedback once it is requested. Many candidates have commented that they enjoyed the A & DC experience and saw it as very fair.
If you would like to find out more about Assessment and Development Centres and recruitment solutions please contact one of our consultants on 028 90 618067 |
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Local Government
Background
Whitewater Consulting Ltd has extensive experience of providing solutions in partnership with organisations that incorporate Assessment and Development Centres across a wide range of sectors.
We have recently conducted several recruitment exercises for a range of roles in the Local Government Context. We have designed Assessment Centres for Middle Management and Senior Management across different departments. These roles have included Head of HR, Financial Controller, District Policing Partnership Manager, Principal Administration Officer, Senior Committee Administrator, Head of Best Value & Committee Administrator.
Input
Our approach is to design an assessment process that is bespoke to Local Government requirements and budget. This has involved a number of key stages
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| Stage 1: Development Validation and Weighting of Competences |
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| Stage 2: Design and Preparation |
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| Stage 3: Implementation of Assessment Centre |
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| Stage 4: Feedback Reports to Panel & Feedback to Candidates | |
Output and Results
We always develop and agree with the stakeholders a cost effective solution for assessing the role they wish to recruit, and this has varied for each of the roles we have assessed. For example we can ran full day Assessment Centres incorporating several work based exercises or provide one or two work based assessments administered remotely by local government staff.
We have delivered several Assessments for Ards & Larne Borough Council and according to their Chief Executive and Head of Human Resources the main reasons why they continued to use our assessment services are -
Not off the shelf or pre planned assessments ; "It was important it was not pre planned, you took account of our culture and what was required from the post, it was not a one size fits all mentality but bespoke to our requirements"
Partnership Approach: "There was a real partnership approach, a balance of openness and non Judgemental Attitude, the Whitewater consultants were challenging but not unfriendly they were nice people who gave sound guidance"
High degree of professionalism: "Having trained psychologists gave us real confidence to stand over the scores and assessments, there was good quality evidence in reports that gave a level of robustness and fairness to the assessments" "Your professional approach and expertise were invaluable"
Appropriate Use of Psychometrics: "They were not used as a deciding factor but helped to give a more rounded picture of the individuals.
Interview Questions: "The areas of exploration in the summary report were useful, we used set questions but the information in the report allowed us to probe below the surface"
Objectivity: "It introduced a large element of objectivity which helped to reduce the perception of inequality and gave great confidence in the final decision" "I am confident that your efforts have resulted in a good appointment". Why Use us ?
- We offer a professional assessment process that is bespoke to your requirements and budget. We know one size does not fit all. We are happy to provide a full assessment centre or simply one or two exercises to supplement your selection procedure.
- Our Assessment Centres will test candidates through a variety of work related exercises that are designed to reflect a Council context.
- Our assessors are highly experienced Occupational Psychologists and HR professionals who are fully trained to ensure that they assess candidates objectively and fairly.
- Our comprehensive feedback reports are strongly evidence based and clearly outline each candidate's key strengths and areas of development as well as indicating areas for exploration at interview. This means we achieve the goal of helping you select the best candidate for the role.
We provide feedback to all candidates on their performance as we understand that Assessment Centres can be a daunting process for candidates and therefore aim to ensure that all candidates gain as much from the process as is possible.
If you would like to find out more about Team Building and Team Development please contact one of our consultants on 028 90 618067 |
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Seagate
Background
Seagate Technology in Limavady are one of the worlds leading manufacturers of disc technology. They operate in an extremely competitive and rapidly changing market place where the technology specifications are continuously developing and customer expectations and demands for faster, cheaper and greater disc capacity are constant and growing. The Managing Director recognised that the capability of the leaders in the plant to take responsibility for optimising their peoplesperformance, motivation and flexibility was critical to ensure the long term sustainability of the plant. Consultants from Whitewater worked in conjunction with the Head of HR and a Project Team to design and deliver a assessment and development programme for all Directors, SeniorManagers, Middle Managers and Supervisors in the plant to define and differentiate the key roles and competences required for each role, assess current competences and agree a personal development plan for each manager.
Inputs
As part of this Programme Consultants from Whitewater have designed and delivered a range of assessment and development services to Seagate including the following -
- Strategic Planning Sessions with the Directors and Senior Management Team
- Role profiling and competence mapping for Directors and Senior Managers, Middle Managers and Supervisors.
- 360 degree competence assessment, feedback and Executive Coaching for directors and senior managers.
- Feedback and Personal Development Planning for all levels of management
- Design of Module and train the trainers in Coaching Skills
- Management Development and Leadership Workshops
- Team Building and Development Workshops
Results
Since embarking on this work the Seagate management team have developed a clear strategy for the plant, KPI's for the business and individual managers; role profiles and competence framework mapped to the Seagate Corporate Values and the Plant Strategy; Clear measures of current leadership capability and development requirements and performance and development plans for every manager in the plant.
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Grafton Recuitment
Background
Grafton are a leading employment services company in Ireland and have grown rapidly in the last few years through expansion into eastern Europe and acquisitions in Ireland. When a new Managing Director was appointed she recognised that the long term success and growth of the company was going to demand that Directors and Senior Managers would need to step up from operational focus to more strategic roles and activities. To promote this message she engaged Whitewater to work with the Senior management team to define the strategic role, activities and competence required for the leadership in the business.
Inputs
Whitewater worked with the Managing Director and the Other Directors and Senior Managers to define their roles and agree future oriented competence requirements. Having established this competence framework Whitewater then designed and delivered an Assessment and Development Centre followed by individual feedback for each senior manager and director. This feedback was then used to evaluate the overall leadership capability in the organisation and define personal development plans for each manager.
Results
This programme enabled Grafton to define the role of Director and Senior Manager in the company in terms of deliverables core activities and competences; assess the leadership capability of the senior team and identify individual and company development needs. As a result of this evaluation Whitewater have consequently been engaged in coaching some of the managers on their personal development.
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