Assessment centres

In preparing my thoughts on this subject I have purposely fought shy of presenting a highly technical review of assessment centre validity studies. Such a paper has already been presented by my colleagues in the USA. Their report is substantial and covers the major research in this area. Much of what is included in this article has roots in their paper. My intention here is to highlight some of the problems related to validating in‐company assessment centre programmes, the most significant studies, weaknesses found in the method and care to be taken in judging the results achieved.