People often don’t occupy a position that matches their skills and personality ideally. One of the most popular approaches to the problem of determining candidate and employee’s natural abilities and the limits to their professional growth, is the assessment center. Yevgeny Vuchetich runs through the development of the concept of such centers over the past century and outlines the techniques used at his own center.

While the notion of a performance-processing lab may sound like the dark side of science fiction rather than science, it is a practice that has long been used. During World War I, the German High Command built assessment centers to determine which soldiers had outstanding military or command abilities. And although the idea was largely set-aside during the interwar period, it was picked up again by American intelligence services in World War II to select spies.

In some of these later experiments, candidates for the OSS — the CIA’s predecessor — were taken into the woods and asked to solve various problems, such as transferring a heavy rock from one side of a brook to another using limited equipment. As the participants worked, observers noted various personality traits, such as leadership skills, physical ability and enthusiasm. Other tests were used to build a candidate’s psychological profile and rate memory strength, among other things.

Of course, it wasn’t long before the idea of the assessment center took hold in the business world. The watershed came in the 1950s when American company AT&T, then called Bell Telephone, modified the OSS approach and used it to select and track its own management staff.

But Bell Telephone’s method was more than just cut-and-paste borrowing. It was a unique departure from the standard practice.

People entering the company’s management were evaluated and their career paths were traced, but neither the entrants nor their superiors were told the results of the research at any stage during the 10-year study. In this way, the information couldn’t affect the outcome. Even more striking were the results, which showed a high number of candidates achieving predicted levels of corporate success.


There are various job-related simulations and tests used in the modern Assessment Center Method, which we use at SHL, and which reflect the work pioneered in AT&T’s study. For instance, the "in-basket" exercises which we employ, where participants are asked to work from the contents of a manager’s in-tray, which may contain letters, memos and other correspondence or documents. Those taking part have to balance a high volume of work against a tight schedule. They are timed as they make decisions about how they organize the material, and rated on how well they get the job done.

Participants must also engage in group discussions, role plays, mock interviews with clients and colleagues, make oral presentations and take written tests. They take part in personality questionnaires that aim to assess the style of the participants behavior at work, in terms of the way they relate to others, the way they solve problems, and their feelings and emotions. It is fundamental to the reliability of the test that there are multiple assessment processes, and that there are several experts organizing the assessment.

According to organizational researcher Dr. William C. Byham, the key to the method, is not its ability to predict current job performance, but future performance. As he notes: "
"This is especially helpful when assessing individuals who hold jobs that don’t offer them an opportunity to exhibit behavior related to the target position or level. This is often the case with individuals who aspire to management positions but presently hold positions that don’t give them the opportunity to exhibit management-related behavior."

Assessment centers are arguably of particular relevance and potential in Russia, where many highly educated and talented people occupy unsuitable positions. In this country, there are many who clearly have the talent and the instincts to be good managers, but they haven’t necessarily had the chance to demonstrate those abilities. For the moment, though, assessment centers concentrate on the evaluation of people already in positions of management and leadership.