Assessment and Development Centres: Talent Assessment Design and Delivery – Jeddah, 17–21 Oct 2027

Programme overview

Technical depth: Practitioner · Practical mode: Role-play

Introduction

Promotion, succession and development decisions are often made on the strength of an interview, length of service or a manager's impression, and the organisation discovers too late that a capable specialist is not ready to lead. Assessment and development centres replace that guesswork with structured evidence from several exercises observed by trained assessors. This Core Concept course takes participants through the full centre cycle, from job analysis and exercise design to rating, integration and feedback. Participants leave with an Assessment and Development Centre Design Pack ready to pilot in their own organisation.

Course Objectives

• Define the purpose, target roles and competency criteria of a centre using job analysis and the organisation's competency framework
• Design a competency-by-exercise matrix and select simulations, psychometric instruments and interviews that generate valid evidence
• Observe, record, classify and evaluate participant behaviour against behaviourally anchored rating scales
• Facilitate an integration session that reaches defensible ratings and controls rater bias
• Deliver development feedback and convert centre results into individual development plans and talent review inputs
• Evaluate a centre's reliability, validity and fairness against the requirements of ISO 10667

Target Audience

• Talent and succession managers responsible for identifying and developing high-potential employees
• HR managers and business partners who own selection and promotion processes
• Learning and development managers who build development programmes from assessment evidence
• Organisational development managers designing leadership pipelines
• Line managers nominated to serve as assessors on internal centres
• Internal consultants responsible for the quality and fairness of assessment practice

Course Outline

Day 1: Talent Assessment Foundations and Current Practice

• Assessment Centre Versus Development Centre: Purpose, Outputs and Participant Contract
• International Taskforce Guidelines for Assessment Center Operations: Essential Elements
• Assessment Method Validity Evidence: Interviews, Tests and Work Simulations Compared
• Talent Review Inputs and the 9-Box Performance-Potential Grid
• Current-State Audit of Selection and Promotion Practice Against ISO 10667-1

Day 2: Standards, Competency Criteria and Centre Design

• ISO 10667-2 Service Provider Requirements for Assessment Delivery
• Job Analysis Using the Critical Incident Technique
• Competency Framework Alignment and Behavioural Indicator Writing
• Competency-by-Exercise Matrix Design
• Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) Construction

Day 3: Exercise Design and Assessor Skills

• In-Tray and E-Tray Exercise Design
• Role-Play and Group Discussion Exercise Scripting
• Competency-Based Interview Question Bank Using the STAR Technique
• Psychometric Instrument Selection: Ability Tests and Personality Questionnaires
• ORCE Assessor Method: Observe, Record, Classify, Evaluate

Day 4: Integration, Bias Control and Centre Quality

• Integration (Wash-Up) Session Facilitation and Consensus Rating
• Rater Error Control: Halo, Leniency, Central Tendency and Similar-to-Me Bias
• Adverse Impact Analysis by Group Pass Rates
• Assessment Data Consent, Privacy and Retention Protocol
• Reliability and Validity Evaluation: Inter-Rater Agreement and Criterion Validity

Day 5: Mini Centre Practice and the Design Pack

• Mini Development Centre Run: Role-Play Exercise with an Assessor Panel
• Development Feedback Conversation Using the GROW Model
• Individual Development Plan Drafting with the 70-20-10 Model
• Centre Evaluation Measures Aligned to ISO 30414 Leadership and Succession Metrics
• Assessment and Development Centre Design Pack Presentation and Peer Review

Skills You Will Gain

• Job Analysis
• Competency Modelling
• Simulation Exercise Design
• Behavioural Observation and Rating
• Assessor Calibration
• Assessment Fairness Review
• Development Feedback
• Talent Review Facilitation

Why Attend This Course

• Return with an Assessment and Development Centre Design Pack, tested in a mini centre run during the course
• Replace impression-based promotion decisions with evidence that stands up to challenge from candidates and senior leaders
• Rehearse the assessor and feedback roles in realistic exercises before running them with employees
• Benchmark centre practice with HR and talent managers from other sectors and countries

Conclusion

Well-run centres give an organisation evidence it can defend when it appoints, promotes or develops people for critical roles. This course moves from the purpose and standards of assessment, through job analysis, exercise design and assessor technique, to the integration, bias control and evaluation that keep a centre fair and credible. The final day brings these elements together in a mini development centre and a Design Pack that participants can pilot, adapt for different role levels and present to decision-makers for approval.