Animated Awesomeness
If you haven’t seen the new video featuring our police assessment products, then you’re missing out on pure animated awesomeness!
Want to know more about IPMA-HR’s line of police assessment products? Visit us online!
Want to see the best videos ever?
They may not be of a baby panda sneezing, but they’re still pretty awesome! Take a few minutes to check out our new “everything you wanted to know about IPMA-HR’s assessment products in two minutes” video and our new “everything you wanted to know about IPMA-HR’s fire service products in just over a minute” video. You won’t regret it. We promise, it’s better than “CATS.”
The 2019-2020 Catalog is Available!
Woohoo! The new Assessment Services catalog is available online for viewing — or download your very own copy! What’s new? SO MUCH! I can’t even tell you how cool it is. You really should see for yourself.
Well, okay, here’s a sneak peak: new tests (paging Public Works …), new services (I can take my test from where?!), new and updated publications (setting that passpoint like a pro now!) and new ways to communicate with you (your awesome sense of humor is now available on social media?!) — oh, my!
Check it out! Tell your friends! Tell your dog! Tell your friends and your dog. It’s that awesome.
Exciting News!
We’ve expanded our products and services to serve you better! Here’s what’s new:
- Customer Service. This new test line is designed for use across many different job classifications particular to public sector agencies including 311 Center representative, customer service representative, front desk positions, clerks, office assistants, etc.
- Public Works. We added a new test category this year and are happy to announce that our new Wastewater Treatment Operator and Wastewater Treatment First-line Supervisor tests are now available to order!
- Administrative Support. Custom Combined Modules allow you to choose from any combination of 10 of our most popular individual modules to create one customized test booklet for easy administration and scoring. To make administration even easier, customized modules can also be accessed through our Online Test Administration Service (OTAS).
- Live Remote Proctoring. IPMA-HR has partnered with ProctorU to equip agencies with the ability to allow job candidates to take tests from any location — wherever they have a computer with a high-speed internet connection.
- Passpoint Guide. Efficient and effective, IPMA-HR’s Passpoint Guide provides you with step-by-step instructions and Excel spreadsheets to show you how to determine a threshold of acceptable performance on the score continuum. In other words: who should pass the test.
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Engage! We are excited to announce that the Assessment Customer Group is now live on Engage and open to all our test security agreement signers! Log in to learn more!
Follow the links above to learn more, or call us at: 1-800-381-TEST (8378).
We’re Now on Social Media!
That’s right. We graduated and now have our own accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Why? To make us more efficient in our delivery of relevant, timely and interesting content directly related to the public safety community:
- Live web chats with leaders in public safety where you can have an open dialogue with your peers to discuss challenges and share solutions.
- The honest and passionate Public Safety Voices blog series where we visit with leaders in public safety from all over the country to discuss your shared challenges, experiences and goals and illuminate the good work, heroism and humanity of our public safety workforce.
- A look behind the scenes from time to time at what we’re up to – visit with us at conferences, hear about great customer experiences, and see what Bob’s up to in the mailroom.
- Timely and relevant public safety news from across the web.
- Updates on new products and publications – and more!
Follow, like and share: we’re here for you!
Office of Fire Prevention/Fire Marshal Employees – Your Insights are Requested!
IPMA-HR is currently seeking participants for a nationwide Office of Fire Marshal/Office of Fire Prevention study. This study is the first step in the development of a new series of tests for positions within the Fire Marshal’s Office/Office of Fire Prevention. In this phase, job incumbents are needed to complete a survey to identify the most important tasks and knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics (KSAPs) required to perform their job successfully. The questionnaire takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.
Examples of applicable positions include:
- Fire Marshal
- Deputy Fire Marshal
- Assistant Fire Marshal
- Fire Inspector
- Fire/Arson Investigator
- Fire Prevention Officer
- Code Enforcement Officer.
If you or someone you know holds one of the above positions or a similar position, we would greatly value your input in developing our newest test series.
Please Note: If your position has a different title than the positions listed above, but is similar in nature, we would still like to hear from you!
Participants will be entered into a raffle with a $500 prize! Participating agencies will also receive a 15% discount toward a future IPMA-HR assessment product purchase. Interested parties can learn more about the project and complete an interest form using the following link:
If you would like to participate or have additional questions please email our Research Associate, Julia Hind-Smith, at jsmith@ipma-hr.org.
Hello 2018: The End of Year Blog
As is my tradition, this is my end-of- year blog, an annual optimistic look forward. Usually, I concentrate on trends in assessment. Out of a large number of possibilities, I have narrowed it down to:
- We are a Growth Industry
- Professionalization
- The Candidate Experience
Growth Industry
The year 2017 was the year of Industrial-Organizational (I-O) Psychology. Newspaper articles declared I-O Psychology a “hot” job for 2018, a fastest growing job, and a high paying job. Although there are other subfields subsumed under the I-O Psychology label, most of this enthusiasm has been fueled by the growth in the demand for assessment professionals. Diving down further, we can trace our “hotness” to the explosive expansion of unproctored internet-based testing, the gamification of assessments, and a general interest in the application of emerging technologies to preemployment testing. Of course, fame can be fleeting, and predictions often wrong, but as for now at least the future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades. (more…)
Participants Needed for Entry-Level Firefighter Test Study (Discounts Available!)
IPMA-HR is in the final stretch of finishing up the validation study on our entry-level firefighter (FF-EL) test series, but we still need your help! We are seeking a few more agencies who have administered a test from the FF-EL series to provide us the scores received by firefighters who were selected for the job.
Once we’ve received these test scores from you, we ask that each firefighter’s supervisor complete a brief 9-question performance evaluation. This will allow us to see whether our tests from the FF-EL series continue to be successful in predicting on-the-job performance.
For your help, you will receive $100 off your agency’s next IPMA-HR assessment order. In addition, your participation in this project will provide direct evidence supporting the validity of these exams and their use in your agency.
If you would like to participate, please visit the following link to provide your test scores:
Our Research Associate, Julia Hind-Smith, will then follow up with you to provide further instructions on completing the performance evaluations. If you have any questions about the study, please feel free to reach out to Julia at jsmith@ipma-hr.org.
(Please Note: All information gathered for this study will remain strictly confidential. The data gathered will be combined with data from other departments and only be reported in the form of group statistics.)
Should We Be Gamifying Our Assessments?
For this month’s blog, I will look at what is one of the hottest questions in private and public-sector personnel selection – “Should we be gamifying our assessments?” In my opinion, the answer is “Yes!” and I will take this blog to explain why.
“Gamification” falls within the larger topic of “how should I incorporate emerging technologies into my assessment strategies.” Now, one might legitimately ask how it is that someone who started doing math on a slide rule can claim to be an expert on emerging technologies. I will simply remind you that Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Paul Allen, Bill Gates, and I were born at roughly the same time. So, despite huge differences in our net worth, we do share a similar generational zeitgeist.
What Does Gamifying Mean?
Gamifying is one type of Technology Enhanced Assessment (TEA). Related types of TEA include:
- games (so obviously there is a difference between games and gamifying).
- enhanced item types.
- the use of avatars.
- virtual reality.
- big data and advanced algorithms.
Gamification (or gamifying) is defined as “the application of game mechanics, elements, and features to non-game environments,” or in this case “the application of game-type elements to assessments used in personnel selection.” This differs from the use of true games in selection, although the difference is probably more of a continuum than a sharp distinction, as both games and gamification can be used in personnel selection. The differences between games and gamification can be summarized as:
- With games, the person knows they are playing a game, whereas with gamification, the applicant still knows they are taking a test.
- Games are meant to be fun and are structured to have clear rules that define the game play; gamified tests are seen as a more serious activity.
- Games have different play sections and winning is the goal; gamified tests are structured similar to traditional assessments and getting hired is the goal.
Participants Needed for Office of Fire Marshal Study
IPMA-HR is currently seeking participants for a nationwide Office of Fire Marshal/Office of Fire Prevention study. This study is the first step in the development of a new Fire Marshal Test. The first part of the study involves surveying current members of the Office of Fire Prevention to learn about the important duties and demands of their job.
Examples of applicable positions include, but are not limited to: Fire Marshal, Fire/Arson Investigator, Premise Officer, Deputy Fire Marshal, Fire Prevention Officer, Fire Inspector, and Code Enforcement Officer.
If you or someone you know holds one of the above positions or a similar position, we would greatly value your input in developing our newest test series.
Participants will be entered into a raffle with a $500 prize! Participating agencies will also receive a 15% discount toward a future IPMA-HR assessment product purchase. Interested parties can use the following link to participate:
Questions can be emailed to our Research Associate, Julia Hind-Smith, at jsmith@ipma-hr.org.