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Psychology at Work What Do I-O Psychologists Really Do?

Name: Emily G. Solberg, PhD

Job Title/Company: Managing Consultant, CEB’s SHL Talent

Measurement Solutions

Job responsibilities:

Conduct job analyses

Develop selection instruments (e.g., personality tests,

cognitive tests, interview guides)

Validate selection instruments using content validity,

criterion validity, validity generalization, etc.

Conduct assessments (e.g., assessment centers, individual assessments)

Manage and/or mentor earlier career I-O Psychologists

My specific I-O interests (research and/or practice): I am particularly interested in personality

in the workplace (e.g., how personality traits predict performance differently depending on the

job requirements) as well as on alternative validation strategies.

A typical day at my job includes: There is no such thing as a typical day. For example, some

days I am traveling to a client site to participate in an assessment center or conduct focus groups

with SMEs, some days I am writing test items or technical reports, and some days I am perform-

ing data analyses (one of my favorite activities).

What I like best about my job: I get to work on half a dozen projects simultaneously (daily).

This keeps things interesting and allows me to continue to develop and grow from the wide vari-

ety of projects and experiences. I also greatly enjoy getting to work with all of my new col-

leagues at CEB (e.g., learning from them as well as sharing my knowledge and experiences).

Some of the challenges of my job: Sometimes many of the projects I work on have unexpected

urgent needs at the same time, and I have to figure out how to meet all of the different project

deadlines.

My career path/job history: I began working at Valtera (at that time known as PRA) right out

of graduate school (University of Illinois – Champaign) in 2003. Valtera was recently acquired

by CEB and the legacy Valtera selection team was integrated into SHL (another organization

acquired by CEB). CEB is likely now the largest employer of I-O psychologists in the world

which has allowed me to meet many new colleagues and greatly improve my I-O network.

My advice to future I-O psychologists: It may help to spend some time working in an organiza-

tion prior to obtaining a degree in I-O psychology so you can gain an understanding of work set-

tings and can more easily see the application of the coursework.

Why I-O psychology matters: People spend the majority of their waking time at work, so I

think this is one of the most important fields in which psychologists can make a big difference in

people’s lives (e.g., by helping to place people in jobs that they find rewarding and in which they

will be successful).

Psychology at Work is a publication of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Inc. For information about

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