Virtual assessments as an alternative to a personal appointment: Even if physical contact is not possible or difficult at the moment, HR-related decisions must still be taken. For example, when selecting suitable candidates to fill vacant positions, different approaches and solutions must be found – virtual assessments offer a good possibility.
We have just completed and evaluated a related project: In virtual individual assessments, we appraised around 30 project managers of a large IT company to see how their skill level suited the position requirements.
Important success factors for virtual assessments
Adapting the observer and participant documentation to a digital format (simply uploading previous paper documents to a platform is not suitable)
Using a tool that ensures straightforward handling even by untrained observers and participants
Professional management of the event by a consultant – this includes the close monitoring, enabling and coaching of the company’s internal observers in the monitoring and evaluation process
A larger team of assessors (in our case, up to 4 assessors) ensures valid decisions - especially for virtual assessments.
The multi-method approach of managerberater: a complete success!
Our evaluation process showed that our multi-method approach (structured interviews, conversation simulations, self-assessment questionnaires, and business cases) was very well received by observers and participants. This project has demonstrated that virtual assessments achieve good and accepted results for this target group – especially since virtual work also corresponds to the working reality of the participants.
Face-to-face diagnostics are still essential
In another project that we’ve supported, which focused on assessing the potential of hotel managers, we came to the conclusion that, in these positions or similar ones where personal contact with guests and employees is a USP of a manager in top-class hotels, face-to-face diagnostics is still an essential part of the selection process. Nevertheless, virtual assessments can also be complementary.