Case Study – Assessment Centres for Intermediate Labour Market (ILM) Project

Background

A national government initiative is in place to provide opportunities to encourage long-term unemployed back into the workplace.

Footprint Learning and Development was approached by South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council to design an assessment centre to recruit trainee Sports Coaches to meet the overall programme objectives of this initiative.

In addition to this, the Sponsor for this piece of work was keen to develop some of his team to be able to support the delivery of assessment centres in the future.

Purpose and Objectives

Our objectives were to up-skill ten South Tyneside Council employees in Assessment Centre delivery skills.

The ultimate aim was to recruit eight ILM Sports Coaches who would have the commitment to stay for the duration of the 12 month ILM project, gaining the confidence at the end of this period to apply for permanent positions.

Stage One

A crucial part of the process for Footprint Learning and Development was to meet with the Business Sponsor and Key Stakeholder to clarify the Critical Success Factors and key objectives for this work.

The Critical Success Factors for this work were:

• Retain 80% of ILM staff throughout the duration of the project;
• Recruit sufficient ILM staff for the project via a challenging yet enjoyable assessment process;
• Up-skill a selection of the Sports Development Team to run future assessment centres without support from external consultant;
• Select the appropriate people who would demonstrate commitment to seeking employment at the end of the ILM project.

These Critical Success Factors then informed how we approached the design of this work. We researched appropriate inclusions for a bespoke assessment centre and supporting Assessor Skills workshop, which enabled our client to select appropriate candidates for the role of trainee Sports Coach.

Stage Two

Footprint designed a tailored Assessor Skills workshop which was delivered to a range of South Tyneside Council employees. The content of this included:

• Applying ‘assessor guidelines’ including observation, recoding, classifying and evaluation;
• Recognising the importance of objectivity and the use of facts when assessing candidates;
• Applying a consistent approach in the use of assessment materials;
• Demonstrating the key principles of providing effective feedback.

We designed a bespoke assessment centre, which included the following activities:

• Competency Based Interview – exploring how the candidates had demonstrated some of the key competencies required for the role. This was geared towards people who had been unemployed for a long period, so they were not disadvantaged by the questions.
• Group Exercise – practical sports based exercises, which entailed the delegates coaching young people in a variety of relevant sports.

Footprint also provided detailed feedback to each candidate – whether successful or unsuccessful.

Outcomes

The following results were experienced by South Tyneside council:

Footprint Learning and Development were also re-commissioned to provide a bespoke personal and career development programme for the successful candidates.

Verbal Comments:

“Although I didn’t get the job, it was still really useful going through this today and the team really encouraged me.”

“I found this to be the most challenging recruitment process I have ever attended but I have thoroughly enjoyed it.”

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