For hiring managers or the HR team that are not familiar with using psychometric assessment as part of a selection or development process, it can be quite daunting.  How much weight can you place on the results from such assessments?  How do you know if…

Do you consider yourself to be innovative?

When discussing innovation, I find that people tend to have fixed ideas about how innovative they are.  They seem to feel that they either are innovative, or that they are…

Can you remember the last time you did badly on a test?  What was the reason?  Did you not study hard enough?  Or maybe the test was too…

“Can I give you some feedback…

As human beings we are social beings, and social interaction and communication is a huge part of our existence.  Have you ever heard that…

Average.  When you read ‘average’ in the title of this blog, what sorts of words, feelings and images did it invoke up for you?  Typical?  Common?…

For someone that works in assessment and selection, competencies (or capabilities as many organisations seem to refer to them now) are part of our everyday language, they are the foundation for all that we do.  But this can easily be seen as psych babble/jargon to anyone that doesn’t work in the area!

So what do competencies refer…

When I think of diversity at work, an image such as the above comes to mind.  A range of people that is different with regard to gender, age, ethnicity, disability and culture, all getting along in the workplace.  But is that really what it’s all about?  And why is diversity such a key…

That is the question.  Well, at the very least, it’s a commonly asked question in psychometric assessment.  Most recently, I was asked this question by a client with regard to a candidate that received a…

As adults we spend a third of our time at work, so it’s no wonder that work can have a huge impact on our mental health and wellbeing and vice versa.  Indeed, one of the reasons that I wanted to be a psychologist that worked with organisations was to assist people to enjoy the vast amount of time that they spend at work.

Our wellbeing at work is increasingly being…

You know the feeling.  You’re about to give an important work presentation, and even though you’ve prepared for it as much as you can, you’re feeling stressed and anxious about it.  Your heart is…

Big Data has become one of those buzz words/terms that everyone seems to feel like:

1. they should be doing something about;

2. everyone else is doing; or

3. they don’t really understand (or care!) what it’s all about.…

One thing you may have noticed on social media since returning to work is the sheer number of articles and blogs on how to beat the back to work blues.  How many of these articles have you read?  Was it whilst procrastinating getting back into your work (oh the…

To be honest, when the opportunity to work in Dubai first came up, I was in two minds about it.  On the one hand, it would be a great opportunity to get some international work experience, to learn more about the company I work for and what we do, to build relationships with my international colleagues, and to challenge myself.  On the other hand, it meant I would be…

When was the last time someone said this to you?  It may have been your manager, a client, a peer, or a subordinate.  How did that question make you feel?  Nervous?  Anxious?  Defensive? Apprehensive?  Why do we always assume that feedback will be bad?  Maybe it’s because no one ever asks for your permission to give you good feedback, they just give it to…

So by now you’ve probably heard of video interviewing as the ‘next big thing’ in recruitment.  But what is it all about?  How does it work?  Should you be considering it?

Video interviewing involves using software that allows candidates to record their answers to a number of interview questions using a webcam at a time that is convenient to them.  Recruiters…

Employee engagement has long been a buzzword in HR circles.  At a theoretical level, many organisations now seem to understand the importance of having an engaged workforce.  They conduct engagement surveys, analyse the results and compare them to those of previous years.  This can then inform them which of their staff engagement initiatives are working, and in what…

Winter can be a hard time to get motivated.  Trying to get out of bed on those cold (think 2 degrees or lower!), dark, and often rainy mornings can be tough.  Especially when you get to work and have to deal with a number of stressful situations, unachievable deadlines, and difficult clients/customers/coworkers.  It can all be a bit too much!  Luckily for me, I took…

It was great to hear a case study presented by Sam Marchetta (High Potential Learning Leader, EY) for our webinar on “Putting Talent on the Business Agenda” earlier this week (view the recording here).  This was a good opportunity to hear about how EY has developed targeted programs and…

The problem of stereotyping has been brought to my attention a couple of times this week.  Firstly, I’ve been doing assessor training for Graduate assessment centres, and one of the key topics we cover is the various biases that can impact how you rate candidates’ behaviours.  One of these is stereotyping.  We looked at this through the example of how you might (unconsciously)…