Innovation in assessment and selection

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Time: 6.00pm - 8.45pm
Venue: Kingston Hill campus, Kingston Hill, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT2 7LB
Price: free

This is the second event for the 2015/16 Kingston Business School's Occupational and Business Psychology MSc 'Engaging with the Profession' series. This quarterly networking and discussion series will seek to address key issues in our profession and provide a vital opportunity for discussion, development and networking to students and practitioners alike.

This event will explore innovation in assessment and selection. Presenters will explore topics including technology, gaming and global recruitment. The evening will end with drinks and canapés.

Speakers:
• Ian Newcombe (C.Psychol, C.Sci, AFBPsS), Global Assessment Manager, Citigroup
• Ben Williams (AFBPsS, CPsychol, MA (Oxon), MSc), Managing Director, Sten 10
• Megan Byrt (MBPsS, BA, MSc), Consultant, Sten 10
• Oliver Savill (MEng), Founder & Director, AssessmentDay
• Ben Schwencke (MSc), Research Psychologist, AssessmentDay

Agenda:
• 6.00pm - Networking, tea and coffee
• 6.30pm - Welcome by Dr Joanna Yarker
• 6.40pm - Working as a global assessment specialist - a case study and reflections, Ian Newcombe
• 7.00pm - Technological Advances in Psychological Profiling, Ben Williams & Megan Byrt
• 7.20pm - Scientific Innovations in Psychometric Testing, Oliver Savill & Ben Schwencke
• 8.00pm - Networking, drinks and canapés

Presentation abstracts

Working as a global assessment specialist - a case study and reflections, Ian Newcombe (C.Psychol, C.Sci, AFBPsS)
Ian will share some experiences and learnings from implementing a bespoke selection psychometric that is used globally within Citigroup. He'll discuss some of the factors that fuel concern about the use of high volume assessment tools in America particularly, and the practical steps needed to implement assessments successfully globally. He will argue that the assessment Subject Matter Expert cannot just focus on factors relating to the psychometric soundness of an assessment, but that they will also need a working knowledge of issues such as compliance, information security and employment law, and an ability with both stakeholder and change management.

Technological Advances in Psychological Profiling, Ben Williams & Megan Byrt
Psychometric tests have been online for at least a decade, but there has been little in the way of innovation in terms of how they are presented to test-takers. A growing trend is to look for completely new online environment in which assessments can occur and includes concepts such as gamification and real world simulation. On the gaming front, Sten10 recently collaborated with Arctic Shores to develop a series of mobile phone apps that look and feel like a ‘game' and yet are psychometrically robust measures of cognitive aptitude. IBM's ‘Watson' system attempts to measure personality traits by processing a 100-word piece of text; like an email, Facebook message or blog post. Another recent Sten10 project saw the creation of an immersive development centre experience for social workers that blended an online component (simulating a social worker visit) with an offline counterpart (assessed role plays using professional actors to play the characters seen in the online portion). This project won ‘runner up' in the innovation in assessment awards from the ABP. In this session, we will bring you bang up to date with these developments so that you feel fully appraised of the cutting edge of technology-based assessments!

Scientific Innovations in Psychometric Testing, Oliver Savill and Ben Schwencke
Psychometric testing is becoming the primary selection tool for employers, with employing organisations relying heavily on psychometric testing at every stage of the recruitment process. Although psychometric testing technology has advanced considerably in recent years, the science behind psychometric testing has been neglected. Recent scientific insights now provide exciting solutions to long-standing problems within psychometric testing, including some of its most contentious issues. This presentation will address some of these issues and provide cutting edge solutions using modern psychometric science. These insights will focus around the candidate, and how the latest developments can affect a candidate's experience of psychometric testing for the better.

Speaker biographies

Ian Newcombe (C.Psychol, C.Sci, AFBPsS)
Ian joined Citigroup in June 2013 as Global Assessment Manager, in charge of strategy, policy, and process for the use of selection assessments globally. Prior to Citi he spent four years in similar roles at RBS, also covering Citizens Bank in the USA.

Before his work in the corporate environment he worked for fifteen years in a number of senior Industrial Psychology roles in consultancies including Kenexa/IBM, Cubiks and SHL/CEB. He has consulted for many public and private sector organisations, and has experience of working in countries outside Europe including the USA, Singapore, Botswana, Kenya and Nigeria.

An Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Chartered Occupational Psychologist and a Chartered Scientist, he is a former member of the BPS's Committee on Test Standards (CTS), former senior Level B Verifier, and currently acts as a consultant editor for the BPS's test review process.

Ben Williams - Sten10 Managing Director
As a Business Psychologist, Ben has built a strong reputation in the industry for assessment design of a highly innovative nature. Through work with firms like Frontline, Teach First, Kellogg's and Lloyds Bank, Ben created realistic job previews in the form of videos, SJT's and realistic assessment centre simulations that allow a true two-way appraisal of fit between employer and employee. First studying at Oxford University, Ben went on the work for SHL, Kenexa and Work Communications before starting Sten10 in 2012. He is a Chartered Occupational Psychologist, Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society and an active contributor to the profession, demonstrated through the volunteer work Ben has conducted running lectures in the subject and in offering work placements and career coaching sessions for aspiring psychology students.

Megan Byrt - Consultant, Sten10
Megan is a Business Psychologist, and postgraduate of Kingston University, with a wide breadth of experience in designing psychometrics, and training and development across the government, consultancy, military, rail, retail and arts sectors. So far with Sten10 she has designed a suite of e-tray assessments and abstract reasoning items to support individuals applying for positions in the European Union, designed, facilitated and assessed assessment centres including competency based interviews, role-play assessments, and group exercises and designed graduate recruitment exercises for multinational, FTSE 100 organisations.

Ben Schwencke MSc - Research Psychologist, AssessmentDay
Ben is a research psychologist, PhD student and associate lecturer with expertise in psychometric test design and related research methods. Ben has created a number of large-scale computer adaptive aptitude tests, personality questionnaires and has managed numerous large-scale research projects. Ben has authored thousands of psychometric test items, both for use in employee selection and candidate preparation. He is currently undertaking a PhD in organisational psychology and lectures on quantitative methods at Birkbeck, University of London. His research interests include cognitive ability testing, statistical methods and advanced psychometric modelling.

Oliver Savill MEng - Director, AssessmentDay
Oliver originally came from an engineering background, but whilst applying to graduate schemes he encountered numerous psychometric tests and wanted to get some practice. So he designed some practice questions, made a website, and setup AssessmentDay to help other candidates going through the same process. AssessmentDay's popularity grew and now incorporates a network of websites which act as mass data-collection streams to help develop and validate new psychometric tests. AssessmentDay now comprises a team of psychologists, designers and software engineers.

For further information about this event:

Contact: Taslim Tharani
Email: T.Tharani@kingston.ac.uk