Accounting Clerk Test Development – Future Order Discount Offer!

IPMA-HR’s Assessment Services Department is developing a new accounting clerk test! In order to create top-of-the-line tests for this position, we need agencies to participate in the test development process. The next step in the process is the completion of job analysis questionnaires.

Would your department be willing to help?

We are asking for experienced accounting clerks from each agency to complete a web-based job analysis questionnaire (JAQ). The results of the job analysis will identify the most important tasks and competencies needed to perform on the job effectively. Completion of the questionnaire takes approximately 15 minutes.

Participating agencies will receive a $100 discount toward any future test order from IPMA-HR for participation. Additionally, all participating JAQ respondents will be entered into a raffle to win a catered lunch for their department!

If you are interested in participating, please complete the participation form on our webpage and we will contact you with more information on the next phase of the test development process.

By Toni Kovalski|2019-07-30T18:26:58-04:00July 30th, 2019|Accounting Clerk, Announcements, New Product, Products & Services|Comments Off

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:

Fire Marshall Study

Questions can be emailed to our Research Associate, Julia Hind-Smith, at jsmith@ipma-hr.org.

By Julia Hind-Smith|2018-01-29T17:05:15-04:00August 24th, 2017|Announcements, Job Analysis, Public Safety Tests, Uncategorized|Comments Off

Improving the Interview Part 1: The Individual Selection Interview

The Interview. No other selection device is as ubiquitous, while at the same time as misunderstood. Like an A-list celebrity, all you have to say is “the interview” and everyone can tell you stories, generate an opinion regarding love it or hate it, and tell you why it has received too much (or too little) notoriety, press, and attention.

In the next two blogs, I will look at the topic of “Improving the Interview.” This month, we will discuss the Individual selection interview, which is conducted in a one-on-one setting between an interviewer and an interviewee. In the next blog, we will investigate improving the board or panel interview.

If Everyone Uses It, What Could Be Wrong?

Can a technique that every organization uses really be that bad? Well, the problem with the interview is that early studies found that the typical unstructured interview (referred to as “unstructured” because the interviewer was left to conduct and rate the interview as he or she wished) was not very reliable or valid. That is, despite the beliefs of human resource personnel and supervisors, the traditional interview was not a very good indicator of talent, merit, or the best candidate for the job.

The saving grace for the interview was the finding that introducing structure greatly increased the reliability and the validity of the interview. Depending upon the particular study, adding structure to an interview could double its validity as a predictor of job performance, turning it into one of the more valid selection devices.

Structure of Questions and Rating Scales

Structure can be introduced both into the questions asked as well as the way in which interviewee performance is evaluated. In terms of the questions themselves, each candidate should be asked the same questions in the same manner. The questions should present the interviewee with a situation and ask how he or she would respond, or a candidate may be asked to describe how they may have handled a problem situation in a past job. (more…)

By Dennis Doverspike|2016-04-13T10:02:38-04:00April 13th, 2016|Assessment, Interviews|4 Comments

Last Push for Participation – New ECC Test Validation

We are hard at work on bringing you 3 new entry-level Emergency Communication Center (ECC) tests. As you know all of our tests go through a thorough validation phase that gets documented in the free Technical Report available with every test. Now your agency can be a part of the process, have a test with direct evidence for use within your organization, and enjoy a deep discount on your next test order (plus other benefits).

All the detailed information can be found on our ECC Validation page. But to summarize, we’d need your to get together a group of your incumbent ECC staff to take the test, then have their first and second line supervisors fill out a brief evaluation for each incumbent taking the test. If you can’t commit to a large group, that’s OK, even 5-6 staff can make a huge difference if multiple agencies get on board.

We are making one last push to get enough participation to finish the validation stage of the development. If your organization can participate in the next 2 months please fill out an interest form here or email Andrey Pankov with any additional questions.

By Andrey Pankov|2015-10-13T11:29:51-04:00October 13th, 2015|Announcements|Comments Off

We need YOUR help – New ECC test enters validation phase

YOU ARE KEY – We can’t do it without you…

If you had not yet heard we are hard at work on bringing you 3 new entry-level Emergency Communication Center (ECC) tests. As you know all of our tests go through a thorough validation phase that gets documented in the free Technical Report available with every test. Now your agency can be a part of the process, have a test with direct evidence for use within your organization, and enjoy a deep discount on your next test order (plus other benefits).

All the detailed information can be found on our ECC Validation page. But to summarize, we’d need your to get together a group of your incumbent ECC staff to take the test, then have their first and second line supervisors fill out a brief evaluation for each incumbent taking the test. If you can’t commit to a large group, that’s OK, even 5-6 staff can make a huge difference if multiple agencies get on board.

If you’d like more information or want to participate, fill out the form below:

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By Andrey Pankov|2015-01-21T12:34:45-04:00January 21st, 2015|Announcements|Comments Off