Best Practices
E-Assessment for internal staff selection
A new functional leadership level was implemented, to develop the leadership processes of our customer. Our customer, a company that counts to one of the biggest logistical companies in the world, was in need of a standard evaluation procedure. This procedure had to be able to objectify decision- and allocation processes of the newly founded teamleader positions in the various subsidiary establishments. For this purpose a new and specific web-based test procedure was to be created. It was essential to establish a test procedure that could comply with the given requirements of concept and content concerning the new role. It should also be able to take the expected quantity of in total 12.000 internal applicants into consideration. Our approach can be summarised in 5 project steps:
- Clarifying the requirements of the application process, as well as that of the test instrument
- Developing the concept and content of the test
- Reviewing the test and developing the IT-infrastructure of the web-based tools
- Realising a representative pilot and standartising the results
- Rollout of the test (completion: End of 2016)
The core of the project was in addition to constructing a test, to also realise the IT-technical aspect on our IT-platform. The test consisted of two parts, taking into account the key competencies expressed in the job description. In the first part of the test, applicants should reach typical, operative decisions regarding specific work situations. These decisions depict the fundamental attitude of the applicants towards the task, as well as their comprehension of leadership. In the second part the cognitive skills of the applicants were evaluated through various tasks. Examples would include competencies such as: numerical understanding, reaching conclusions, as well as planning and organisational skills. Moreover a resilience-index was calculated, considering the handling time on the tasks and the quality of the decisions made by the applicants.
The results are conclusive in all regards: All subsidiary locations of the customer used the web-based test and applied the test results for their decision making process. Additionally, every applicant received a report with their individual results, that were consequently discussed with their respective executive. Therefore, next to gaining diagnostic staff realisations, the dialogue between employees and executives was strengthened.
The web-based testing procedure for this segment and project extent stands as an unique project in Germany, reaching the target audience of „operative working employees“, who are taking a step towards their first leadership role. For us the quantitative extent of the project is secondary to the qualitative result: The test procedure does not only reach full acceptance with the decision-makers, but also the applicants involved.