From choosing a career direction to clearing a fitness-for-duty review, workplace evaluations carry real consequences. My approach is built around the same discipline that governs personnel testing across the field: evidence, validity, and a clear connection between the evaluation and the job.
How I Approach Work and Career Testing
Workplace evaluations aren’t a single category of testing, they’re several different disciplines that happen to share a setting. A career exploration assessment for someone weighing a job change calls for very different tools, and a very different tone, than a fitness-for-duty evaluation requested by an employer with specific, job-related concerns. I treat each accordingly, but one standard holds across all of them: the evaluation has to be defensible, meaning it’s built on validated instruments, applied consistently, and directly tied to the job-relevant question being asked.
For hiring, leadership, and team-related assessments, that standard is set by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology’s Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures, an APA-endorsed document that governs how personnel selection testing should be validated and applied.1 For public-safety fitness-for-duty evaluations, I follow the International Association of Chiefs of Police’s Psychological Fitness-for-Duty Evaluation Guidelines, which define when such an evaluation is warranted and what a defensible evaluation has to include.2 For military psychological waiver evaluations, the relevant standard is set externally by the Department of Defense’s own medical standards for military service, not by me, and my role is to provide the independent evaluation those standards call for.3
What I Evaluate
Career and Vocational Testing
Clarifying strengths, interests, and fit to guide a career choice, change, or transition.
Pre-Employment & Return-to-Work Assessments
Evaluations supporting hiring decisions or a safe, well-supported return to work after leave.
Leadership Testing
Assessing the traits, judgment, and interpersonal skills that predict effective leadership, for development or selection purposes.
Team & Management Testing
Personality and dynamics assessment to help teams understand how members work best together, and where friction tends to come from.
Fitness-for-Duty Testing
Formal evaluations of whether an employee can safely and effectively perform essential job functions, following IACP guidelines.2
Military Psychological Evaluations
Independent psychological evaluations supporting military service members through a range of service-related needs.
Military Waiver Evaluations
Independent psychological evaluations supporting a waiver request when a prior mental health history is potentially disqualifying under DoD medical standards.3
Not sure which work-related evaluation fits your situation?
A free consultation is the fastest way to find out which evaluation, if any, matches your specific need.
Schedule a Free Consultation Read Psychological Testing FAQsWhat’s the difference between career testing and fitness-for-duty testing?
Career testing is a voluntary, collaborative process focused on self-understanding and direction, usually for your own benefit. Fitness-for-duty testing is a formal, employer- or agency-requested evaluation of whether someone can safely perform a specific job’s essential functions, following professional guidelines like those published by the IACP, and the results are typically shared with a third party.
Who typically requests a fitness-for-duty evaluation, and why?
Fitness-for-duty evaluations are usually requested by an employer or agency, often in public safety fields, based on objective evidence suggesting an employee may be unable to safely or effectively perform their job, with a reasonable basis for believing the cause may be psychological. They are formal, standardized evaluations, not routine check-ins.
What is a military waiver evaluation, and when is it needed?
A military waiver evaluation is an independent psychological evaluation requested when an applicant’s mental health history is potentially disqualifying under Department of Defense medical standards for military service. The evaluation supports the applicant’s waiver request but doesn’t itself determine the outcome, since that decision rests with the relevant military service.
Are leadership and team assessments only useful for hiring decisions?
No. While these assessments can support hiring or promotion decisions, they’re just as often used for development purposes, helping an existing leader or team understand their dynamics, communication patterns, and areas for growth outside of any formal selection process.
Will my employer or the military see my results directly?
For fitness-for-duty and military waiver evaluations specifically, yes, results are typically shared with the requesting employer, agency, or military branch, since that’s the purpose of the evaluation. I’ll explain exactly what will be shared and with whom before the evaluation begins. Career and vocational testing, by contrast, is generally for your own use unless you choose to share it.
How long does a work or career evaluation take?
It varies by evaluation type. Career and vocational assessments are often completed in one to two sessions. Fitness-for-duty and military waiver evaluations are more comprehensive and typically involve a longer interview and testing process, consistent with the formal standards that govern them.
- Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. “Principles for the Validation and Use of Personnel Selection Procedures” (5th ed., 2018), an official APA statement. apa.org
- International Association of Chiefs of Police. “Psychological Fitness-for-Duty Evaluation Guidelines” (2024). theiacp.org
- U.S. Department of Defense. “DoD Instruction 6130.03, Volume 1: Medical Standards for Military Service: Appointment, Enlistment, or Induction.” med.navy.mil
Alan Jacobson, Psy.D., MBA, is a licensed clinical psychologist and Director of the Foresight Psychological Institute, the parent company of Precision Psychological Testing.
