The primary purpose of an assessment is to support the client organisation’s decision-making in the recruitment process and to assess the candidates’ adaptation to the working environment and the role. At the beginning of the employment relationship, the assessment report also supports the hiring manager in the orientation and guidance of the candidate, thus creating the basis for a successful cooperation. The assessment can be an intense experience for the candidate, but it is worth remembering that the assessment is a two-way process – not only the employer benefits from the assessment, but also the candidate.
How can a candidate benefit from an assessment?
It is worth approaching the assessment from the perspective of what you can get out of it – as a candidate, you will be able to get a professional, objective assessment of your own strengths and areas for improvement, which will open doors for personal development and better self-awareness.
The assessment consists of a series of multi-method tasks. So, in this context, multi-method means that no conclusions are drawn from individual answers or comments – the assessment is always a holistic description that supports the decision to hire the best person for the role and helps them to do it as well as possible.
The psychologist who compiles the assessment report has therefore objectively analysed on the basis of the assessment tasks and the interview, for example, the candidate’s work habits, motivational factors, personality and interpersonal skills. The report highlights the strengths and areas for development appropriate to the role. As a candidate, you will receive the same assessment report as the client company, and the assessment process will always include a review of the results with a psychologist.
Identifying your own strengths and areas for development
Assessment psychologists have met many people in the course of their assessment work and are therefore able to highlight the qualities that distinguish each candidate from the rest. Especially identifying one’s own strengths may be challenging for many people in our modest Finnish culture. Thus, the results of the assessment may help the candidate to focus more on their strengths in a future job role or in other future recruitment processes, for example.
The assessment will also highlight areas for improvement for each candidate, mirroring the criteria of the job. It is therefore not worth taking them personally when reading your own assessment summary, as the criteria set will vary depending on the role as well as the working environment. However, identifying your own areas for improvement and reflecting on your own performance in challenging situations will help you to succeed in similar situations in the future. These observations can also be monitored during the employment relationship and any changes can be followed up with the employer. Getting feedback and taking it into account at work always opens doors to professional growth and development.
So if you are taking part in Avila’s psychological assessments, we encourage you to take the situation as an opportunity for self-reflection and to discover new strengths. You can find more tips and information on aptitude assessments and how to prepare for them here.
See you at the assessments!
Keywords
- Assessment report, Individual assessment, Self-awareness
Published
Contact us
Minna Utriainen
040 162 7511
minna.utriainen[at]avila.fi
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