More on Occupational Psychology – Assessment and Training
The aims of the Occupational Psychologist are to
- Improve the job satisfaction of an individual
- Increase the effectiveness of an organization or group
To achieve these aims, an occupational psychologist may carry out work in –
*Occupational consultancy
*Assessment and Training
*Ergonomics, health and safety
Assessment and Training
An occupational psychologist may involved in assessment and training in many different ways. For example –
*Recruitment – The Occupational Psychologist will need to be familiar with assessment and selection procedures. This will include – interview techniques, knowledge of psychological testing and assessment, including psychometric testing, working with staff on many different levels (management, sales staff, students and so on).
Selection work can include the monitoring and validation of the selection process. An occupational psychologist may take part in an interview personally to provide a psychological evaluation of the candidate.
*Training – The occupational therapist will be involved initially in assessing the training and development needs of an organization or individual, participating in training activities and evaluating how successful they are in achieving their aim. Activities may include physical skills, social skills and human intervention.
*Appraisal – This requires the examination of the factors that can lead to an effective job performance. This includes implementing systems to monitor performance. These should be fair to the employer and employee. They should be conducted by working closely with the organization and bearing in mind the organization’s goals. It requires that the jobs within the organization are analysed, measured and tools developed to analyse the effectiveness of this role.
*Attitude Surveys and Experimental Research – This requires skills in design and analysis of tools for theses purposes. It requires tools to determine the cause of events, the morale of the company, evaluating the effectiveness of training and so on.
*Vocational Guidance and Counselling – The Occupational psychologist may be involved in using psychometric tests, providing the person with an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, special interests and so on. They may help different groups to determine their job choices, such as students, those made redundant, unemployed etc.
ACS DEoffers a range of courses that may be useful to anyone considering a career in occupational psychology. You can find details by clicking the links below -
http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Business-and-Management/INDUSTRIAL-PSYCHOLOGY-BPS103-444.aspx Industrial Psychology
http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Psychology/PSYCHOLOGICAL-ASSESSMENT-BPS308-521.aspx Psychological Assessment
http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Business-and-Management/LEADERSHIP-BBS110-533.aspx leadership
http://www.acsedu.co.uk/Courses/Psychology/CONFLICT-MANAGEMENT-BPS201-366.aspx Conflict Management
If you would like to see our range of psychology books, please visit - http://www.acsbookshop.com/books_productcategory.aspx?id=14
For more information on the range of careers available in psychology, have a look at - http://www.thecareersguide.com/articles.aspx?category=14