The Assessment Center Handbook for Police and Fire Personnel (4th Ed.)

Book excerpt: Assessment centers continue to be widely used as the preferred and accepted manner of evaluating potential members of police and fire departments as a part of their standardized promotional examination process. This third edition of this most successful book expands upon the concepts and principles of the first two editions and introduces new innovations. Chapters have been extensively edited and reformatted. New sections have been added covering the tactical EMS problem and public education exercises. An entirely new chapter, “Best Practices in Assessment Center Exercises,” provides many examples of how candidates can achieve superior performance in many different kinds of assessment exercises. An additional new section offers opportunities for incorporating advancing technologies in assessment center programs. The text continues to offer invaluable insight concerning the reliability, cost-effectiveness, and objective methods for the selection of candidates for higher appointments. Reviewed are the advantages of an assessment center, typical assessment center exercises, design and administration, selection and training, candidate evaluation and scoring methods, and preparation. A substantial appendix provides many valuable resource tools, including exercise plans, typical schedules, candidate evaluation and assessor feedback forms, room configurations, and feedback questionnaires. The text continues to be the authoritative source for assessment center administrators.