Inverness Medical

Task:
To ensure that successful candidates demonstrated team player skills, as well as a capability to learn and develop.
Background:
Part of the Self Care group, I.M.L. is a new manufacturing facility in the biotechnology industry, producing Diabetes testing strips for the home market. The Company was keen to encourage a learning environment from the outset. As part of this strategy, they elected to use Assessment Centres for the recruitment of the large numbers of manufacturing assistants and team leaders.

The Process:
Initially a wide consultation process to identify and refine the core competencies for the various positions was carried out with a cross section of employees. The Assessment Centre was then designed by Terra Nova and piloted with a group of assessors drawn from managers and team leaders as part of their development.The competencies, tasks and overall framework were then modified in the light of this experience.
In addition this, the assessor group were trained in giving telephone feedback to all candidates as IML were keen to ensure that the assessment process was a positive experience for all, not just those who were successful. By maintaining a high level of integrity within the process, the local community, on whom IML will continue to rely for future recruitment, saw the company as a responsible employer.
Terra Nova’s priority was to facilitate the review process to ensure that lessons were learned and acted upon. In other words to ensure that learning and development were an integral part of the process. The longer term objective, that I.M.L. would take ownership of the entire process has now been achieved and I.M.L. continue to run, design and develop their own Assessment Centres in-house.
Benefits:
Greater opportunity for personal development through the identification of individual strengths and development needs
Better quality of new recruits
Better public relations and community perception of Inverness Medical