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Client Quote

We have found heavy Pencil professional and accommodating, taking on a variety of roles with dedication and enthusiasm. As well as helping us to offer realistic assessment exercises and challenging development activities, the team also give insightful feedback and support. Lindsay Corrigan - Human Assets

Assessment Centres

Assessment centres are used for the recruitment of new staff or the development of existing staff. In today’s economic climate, when businesses need to cut costs and streamline their staff, an assessment centre process using actors can highlight the strengths and weaknesses in your workforce. If redundancies need to take place, the exit interview must give clear evidence to support the difficult decision that has been made.

The cost of recruiting the wrong person for a job can have disastrous personal, team and financial implications for any business. A delegate can often interview well but expose gaps in their skills set once in post. Using actors in realistic scenarios can be surprisingly revealing and see some delegates, who did well at interview, struggling. Equally, these scenarios can highlight a previously hidden ability. An assessment centre using actors for role playing allows you to find out much more about the candidate and this is particularly useful at management level. Using the actor's skill in corporate role play will enable you to see if the candidate has all the necessary skills for a job in your organisation, backing up claims made at the interview stage.

How it works

The actor studies and memorises a detailed brief designed to assess the candidate’s performance in specific areas. The role player and the candidate then meet in the presence of an assessor. The actor, using improvisational skills and their knowledge of the brief, guides the meeting through the relevant topics whilst reacting spontaneously to any cues given out by the candidate. After the meeting, the actor and the observer meet for a debriefing, during which the actor gives feedback on how the encounter went based on his or her own unique perspective.

This area of our business is developing rapidly as companies are finding the process increasingly valuable. Our recent clients include the NHS, B&Q, Leaseplan UK and Sellafield Ltd.