Senior Psychologist (Ref:79866)

We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.

Role: Senior Psychologist     

Grade: B

Position in Organisation or Team: Reports to Lead for Assessments, National Assessment Team

Location & Terms of appointment: National/Permanent – with travel expected as necessary to support assessments.

About the Group

The Ministry of Justice’s People Group is here to support the organisation by enabling its people to be the best that they can be. We are continuously reviewing and enhancing the services we provide across the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) to ensure the delivery of high-quality services for our customers.

MoJ People Group has a team of over 1400 committed and capable professionals delivering people services across the Justice family. At the heart of delivering these services, are our people.

Role purpose and summary:

Assist the Lead for Assessments with expertise and application of Occupational Psychology knowledge, theory and practice to fully support and develop Organisational Capability by translating the Capability and Assessments Strategy into a plan that delivers effectively across the MoJ Family. 

This includes: 

•    Shaping and influencing the strategic direction for the development of competence and confidence across the MoJ family through the development and delivery of high-quality promotional assessments and selection procedures. This includes the assessment processes across the Leadership, Talent and Capability portfolio, with the aim of the MoJ becoming a beacon of learning and continuous professional development.

•    Design and evaluate selection, assessment materials and processes for internal staff promotion accreditation, or placement onto fast-track or leadership programmes.

•    Effective collaboration and engagement with a range of stakeholders including working with other Government departments and agencies as appropriate to support civil service alignment of leadership, talent and capability activities.

•    Contribute to the development and delivery of psychological research, utilising knowledge of the latest capability theories and thinking and identifying appropriate opportunities to ensure that we are continually investing in new innovative ways and methods of developing and accessing our people. 

•    Advise the Leadership, Talent and Capability Team, on areas related to psychological assessment at work, training and development, and leadership.

•    Line manage a small team of Occupational Psychologist in Training. Although not expected to be their QOP supervisor, you would facilitate and support their professional development.

•    Striving for excellence in a dynamic and creative way, open to working in a collaborative, iterative way that gets the best from the team whilst working at pace.

Impact role has on organisation:

The Senior Psychologist role is a specialist role that translates the Capability plan into deliverables that require Occupational Psychology knowledge, theory and practice e.g.   – developing, designing, and delivering of promotional assessments across the MoJ family to support the development of leadership skills and practices, ensure effective progression processes, strengthen individual and organisational capability and support continuous improvement and growth across the MoJ family and its 80,000 members of staff.

Key Accountabilities, responsibilities, and deliverables: 

Discovery

•    Work across various agencies and groups within the MoJ family, collaborating with others to deliver a comprehensive, impactful and wide-ranging portfolio including the HMPPS promotional assessments offer and increasing our virtual assessment capability. 

•    Assist in the regular review and refresh the promotional assessment strategy, policy and solutions to meet the operational needs of the business. 

•    Ensure that assessment design follows the reasonable adjustments policy, are kept up to date and meet best practice in line with the Equality Act.  

•    Build and maintain successful stakeholder relationships with a range of stakeholders at all levels and across boundaries, through consistent, honest and open dialogue. Including supporting decision making, managing stakeholder/customer expectations, and persuading and influencing others who are likely to prefer alternative options or approaches.  This will support civil service alignment of leadership, talent and capability activities.

•    Conduct job analysis via desk-based research and organising information-gathering sessions with Subject Matter Experts.

•    Conduct problem analysis and determine all project requirements and issues to be addressed. Liaise directly with project groups, keeping them informed in a timely manner.

•    Work with leadership and fast-stream/ development programmes and work-force planners to ensure that assessment solutions contribute to a succession planning pipeline and career pathway for employees.

•    Work closely with the wider People Group to support cultural change and ensure the capability requirements required in the future can be met and are adequately assessed and allowing potential talent to be identified. Recognising and understanding individual organisational cultures across the MoJ family and how these impact on capability agendas.

Design

•    Take an active role in assessment design and evaluation for HMPPS promotion accreditation processes for both operational and selected non-operational roles to custodial manager, Head of Function, Deputy Governor and Governing Governor, including Incident Management Silver Command assessment with a view to expand across the MoJ family.

•    Design complex research and predictive validity projects as required to verify the effectiveness of selection and assessment processes across the MoJ family.

•    Work closely with key stakeholders, teams and individuals to support and enable delivery targets and HR strategic objectives to be met with practical, legally justifiable and cost-effective assessment solutions. 

•    Work closely with colleagues where an assessment solution is required to ensure that appropriate assessments are designed and administered such as for leadership development programmes and talent schemes. 

•    Design assessment process/materials that are fit for purpose and identify best quality candidates to apply for posts on promotion. 

•    Provide psychological expertise to support, advise and guide other professionals and senior leaders working in the HR field and wider MoJ to enhance organisational effectiveness.  This includes providing psychological expertise in the research, design, implementation, quality assurance and evaluation of occupational assessment solutions for MoJ. 

•    Enhance development and preparation of candidates through the design and delivery of focused feedback solutions and pre-assessment development interventions, such as workshops, roadshows and portfolios. 

Test

•    Carry out complex statistical analysis and interrogation of data to quality assure assessment outcomes to ensure they are consistent, reliable, valid, free from adverse impact and legally defensible.

•    Apply professional judgement and expertise in selecting robust, cost-effective and relevant psychological tools and techniques to meet business needs.

•    Provide up-to-date impartial, relevant and evidence-based advice to the business group on the psychological, behavioural and workforce planning implications of their plans/practices.

•    Generate new ideas, evaluate options, impacts, risks and identify potential solutions.  You will be expected to take independent action and exercise judgement and discretion in interpreting requirements.

•    Appreciate the diverse needs of our customer base, delivering specific programmes and interventions that meet the needs of under-represented groups in line with MoJ wide strategies, ensuring diversity and inclusion is explicitly and proactively promoted and supported in all work.

Delivery

•    Design, implement and evaluate employee assessment and selection procedures, including psychometric tests, assessment centre exercises and structured interviews.

•    Deal with reasonable adjustment queries for all levels of assessments to ensure that ‘appropriate and realistic’ adjustments are made to create a level playing field for all candidates. 

•    Design and deliver comprehensive training packages for assessors, interviewers and role players.

•    Deliver the current Assessment Calendar and continually improve the effectiveness of promotion assessment solutions across the MoJ. 

•    Provide theoretically founded or evidence-based advice and guidance on how psychological interventions can support MoJ promotional, leadership, selection and assessment needs. 

•    Building mutual understanding and achieving co-operation. This includes ensuring delivery is on track across your work, reconciling different priorities, resolving issues and understanding underlying causes before providing solutions and promoting productivity.

Review

•    Research best practice and latest thinking, utilise stakeholder feedback and lessons learnt to continuously improve, pursue excellence and credibility to support and develop everyone across the MoJ.

•    Evaluate, analyse and interrogate all assessments results to ensure quality, reliability and validity.  Use professional judgement and assist the Lead for Assessments in setting the appropriate cut off scores for assessment ensuring they are at the relevant level, free from adverse impact and legally justifiable. 

•    Produce national summary statistics and metrics for all levels of assessment. 

•    Continually work to improve the efficiency of assessments, whilst continually improving quality and effectiveness to meet the strategic needs of the business. 

Team

•    Support collaborative working across functional and organisational boundaries, manage inter-relationships with a focus on planning and balancing workloads. Regularly seek out opportunities to provide more responsive services.  This will include specifying standards for service delivery; identifying improvements in service delivery mechanisms; resolving conflicts to meet targets (where applicable) and deadlines; managing and mitigating risks and ensuring work is integrated and co-ordinated in line with plans

The duties/responsibilities listed above describe the post as it is at present and is not intended to be exhaustive. The Job holder is expected to undertake additional tasks commensurate with their grade.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience incl. qualifications

Knowledge and experience of:

•    Promotional assessments and assessment processes as well as policies and legalisation requirements.

•    Conducting recruitment and assessment process audits, including making recommendations for change.

•    Leading end-to-end projects within the consultancy cycle.

•    Consulting with a wide range of clients in a client-centred and collaborative manner, to diagnose issues and successfully implement strategies for change.

•    Conducting job analysis and complex competency framework/Success Profile design, including organisation-wide frameworks, or frameworks across multiple levels.

•    Designing and evaluating a wide range of assessment solutions, including interviews, assessment centre exercises and online assessments at all levels from volume recruitment/junior roles to senior leadership/executive assessment.

•    Conducting behavioural assessments and interviews at all levels, including volume recruitment, management assessment, and senior leadership/executive assessment and development.

•    Using psychometric tools for selection and assessment, including the use of ability tests and personality questionnaires.

•    Designing and delivering training materials.

•    Have a robust understanding of recruitment legislation and Occupational Psychology Best Practice and its potential impact on resourcing plans/strategies.

•    Good knowledge of statistics and competent in using SPSS.

Skills: teamwork and collaboration; leadership, professionalism and strong work ethic and commercial awareness.

Excellent drafting, presentation, oral and written communication skills.

Essential Qualifications:

•    BPS-accredited MSc in the professional category area of Occupational Psychology (https://www.bps.org.uk/public/become-psychologist/accredited-courses) or completed professional doctorate in Occupational Psychology giving eligibility for Chartered Psychologist with BPS, with significant post MSc experience of working within occupational psychology
•    Registered Occupational Psychologist with HCPC.
•    Chartered Membership with BPS (CPsychol)

Desirable skills/experience:

Experience of navigating often complex political landscapes, recognising issues even when they may be under the surface, exposing and resolving tensions, and sharing best practice and learning.

Leading & supporting a team.

Member of the Register of Applied Psychology Practice Supervisors to be able to supervise psychologists undertaking a Stage 2 Qualification in Occupational Psychology.

Application process

You will be assessed against the Civil service success profiles framework.

Sift

Behaviours – Please provide examples of how you have met each one of the behaviours listed below:

Managing a Quality Service (lead behaviour)

Making Effective Decisions 

Experience – Please write a statement of suitability describing how you demonstrate the knowledge, skills and experience criteria for the role.

Technical Skills – We will assess your technical skills at sift stage with the following questions: 

•    Describe how you have implemented psychological assessments in the workplace?
•    Please confirm you have a good knowledge of statistics, including outlining the analysis techniques and applications you are comfortable using?

Please provide your BPS membership number and HCPC registration number in relation to the following mandatory qualifications: 

•    BPS-accredited MSc in the professional category area of Occupational Psychology (https://www.bps.org.uk/public/become-psychologist/accredited-courses) or completed professional doctorate in Occupational Psychology giving eligibility for Chartered Psychologist with BPS, with significant post MSc experience of working within occupational psychology
•    Registered Occupational Psychologist with HCPC.
•    Chartered Membership with BPS (CPsychol).

Please also refer to the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/717275/CS_Behaviours_2018.pdf

Should we receive a large number of applications, we will sift primarily on the lead behaviour of Managing a Quality Service. Successful applicants will then be invited to an interview, testing both behaviours and strengths.

Candidates invited to Interview

Please note that interviews will be held remotely. 

During the interview, we will be assessing you on the Behaviours below, Technical skills (we will ask questions regarding your knowledge of psychological assessment in the workplace and psychological statistical analysis techniques) and Strengths from the Success Profiles framework. You will also deliver a presentation (details will be provided to candidates invited to interview).

Managing a Quality Service (lead behaviour)

Communicating and Influencing 

Delivering at Pace

Making Effective Decisions

Seeing the Big Picture

Working Together

•Registered Occupational Psychologist with HCPC.

•Chartered Membership with BPS (CPsychol)

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Knowledge of psychological assessment in the workplace
• Knowledge of psychological statistical analysis techniques
• •BPS-accredited MSc in the professional category area of Occupational Psychology (https://www.bps.org.uk/public/become-psychologist/accredited-courses) or completed professional doctorate in Occupational Psychology giving eligibility for Chartered Psychol

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

Job contact :

• Name : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
• Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com
• Telephone : 0845 241 5359

Recruitment team

• Email : Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com