Assessment Center

The Assessment Center is a structured, professional process for selecting, evaluating and developing leaders at all management levels. It applies multiple methods and uses a range of exercises based on real and future job challenges to assess the candidate’s behavior. In addition to these job-related simulations, it also explores the candidate’s personality, intelligence and performance capabilities. Based on a predefined competency profile, it identifies key strengths and areas for development, enabling a precise evaluation of a candidate’s suitability for leadership and other critical roles.

The benefits for organizations

• Findings from the assessment offer deep insights into candidates’ values, thought processes and behavioral patterns.
• The assessment also focuses on how well the candidate fits the company’s culture and aligns with its values.
• The standardized process ensures fairness and equal opportunity.
• The assessment helps prevent mis-hires, ensuring a more cost-effective hiring process.

The benefits for candidates

• A single assessment uncovers strengths and areas for improvement while providing guidance on possible development paths.
• It offers an opportunity for self-discovery and encourages self-reflection.
• The process is transparent and intuitive at every phase.
• Personalized, resource-focused feedback and a detailed final report offer valuable insights for future development.

During the assessment, the participant is carefully observed and evaluated along four key dimensions: objective reasoning, cultural alignment, communication and individual characteristics.

A well-defined Competency Profile is an essential prerequisite for a customized assessment. This profile outlines all the specific skills and characteristics that it will take for a candidate to successfully fulfill the requirements of the position, both now and in the future. After defining the Competency Profile, we adapt the Assessment Center accordingly to ensure the findings in our final report provide clear recommendations and an actionable guide towards further development.

What does the Assessment Center look like in action?

1. We work closely with the client to define the Competency Profile. This ensures full alignment on the key competencies and their definitions, which gives us a strong basis for the assessment, alongside the job description and the candidate’s résumé.

2. The Assessment Center is usually conducted in person over the course of one day, using a mix of diagnostic methods.

Each assessment is designed by two Manres assessors and follows the four-eyes principle to ensure objectivity. We use a range of methods to challenge the candidate on multiple levels, which enables us to deliver a comprehensive evaluation. Following the assessment, we provide a feedback report that summarizes the results. We maintain strict confidentiality at all times.

Diagnostic interviews

We use semi-structured interviews to assess the participant’s skills and capabilities through biographical questions, as well as their motivation, underlying motives and personality. These interviews are an ideal enrichment for simulation-based methods, because they provide additional insights into the participant’s past experiences, successes, setbacks and behavioral patterns.

Personality assessment

The assessment includes a standardized personality questionnaire which measures personality traits and underlying motives in a work context.

Simulations

We use workplace-based simulations to assess analytical and conceptual thinking, strategic reasoning, problem-solving and decision-making skills, as well as presentation abilities. Depending on the design, the simulations closely reflect real job responsibilities.

Role play

In realistic and challenging role-play scenarios, we assess leadership behavior and conflict management skills.

Performance tests

Various performance tests are used to assess numerical and verbal reasoning based on complex information (tables, charts and texts), as well as abstract logical thinking, including inductive and deductive reasoning. These tests provide a measure of overall cognitive ability.

Immediately after the assessment, the candidate receives brief feedback highlighting two to three key strengths and areas for improvement. The client then receives a short initial feedback call.

In the final step, we prepare a comprehensive report for the client, including recommendations and actionable development guidance.

The report contains the following components:

1. Summary of the Assessment Center’s objective

2. Analysis of the key dimensions (objective reasoning, cultural fit, communication, and individual characteristics) 

3. Description of the participant’s behavioral patterns within each dimension:

• Objective reasoning: Analytical competence, management skills
• Cultural dimension: Leadership skills, integration & teamwork
• Communication: Presence & public impact
• Individual dimension: Personality

4. Recommendations for the candidate

Feedback

Once the client has received the report and made a decision on a candidate, the selected individual is notified. After that, we host a feedback session (approximately 90 minutes) with the individual. This approach ensures that the report is not used as leverage during hiring negotiations. During the feedback session, we review the assessment results in relation to the Competency Profile, with a focus on key development areas.