Our Advisory Team

Meet Our Advisory Team

Tim Jackson

Originally a Royal Navy officer and then a financial advisor, my career in assessment and development started in 1990, working for a renowned global consultancy delivering assessment and development solutions.


During this time, I have worked within teams who developed exceptional solutions for a wide range of organisations, such as the UK Fire Service, Police and Ambulance Services, Skills for Care, and the Civil Service, along with a spread of companies in the private sector.

 

I’ve specialised in developing online assessment solutions to support sifting, recruitment, and selection; the most well-known being an online suite of sifting tools called SIFT™ and the FRS Ability Test Suite which are used extensively by the emergency services.

 

I worked as a Director of the Fire Service College for three years where I set up a department to provide recruitment advice and services to the UK Fire & Rescue Service. I also set up the new Apprentice Programme for Firefighters managed by the College.

Dave Paton

Senior Advisor/Customer Support Manager

Dave fulfills the roles as Senior Advisor and Customer Support Manager for HR Solutions Hub. He has over 30 years’ experience in working in the Fire & Rescue Service and therefore understands the environment that our many UKFRS clients operate in. This helps him support the many projects and recruitment campaigns we deliver every year for them. He is also a highly qualified corporate and executive coach, which adds value to the HR Solutions Hub role as Senior Advisor.

He is a keen yachtsman and also delivers coaching support to several youth charities and works with the Ocean Youth Trust in Scotland.

Mary Mescal, C. Psychol

Mary is a Business Psychologist currently working in an R&D role, helping organisations to apply innovative technology solutions to meet their assessment needs. Throughout her career, she has worked in collaboration with multiple Police and Fire Services in the UK to design and develop effective assessments used in recruitment. Mary has a particular interest in developing solutions that combine technology and best practice design principles to deliver robust, valid, and fair results and has presented at several conferences on the topic.



Mary has also been part of multiple award-winning projects for the design and delivery of assessment solutions, including the Association of Business Psychology (ABP) Excellence in Assessment award in 2017 for her work on developing the SIFT™ for Firefighter recruitment support tool.


Mary has significant experience in designing a range of online assessments, including the creation of leading-edge multimedia assessments. She has worked with clients to design rigorous assessment solutions for a range of job levels, from entry level through to leadership roles, and is involved in the end-to-end design process, from job analysis to implementation and validation. Her design acumen, technological experience, and training in psychology make her a perfect fit as an advisor to HR Solutions Hub.

Ben Schwencke

Ben is a business psychologist and psychometrician who is passionate about applying science to the world of online assessment. Ben's goal is to develop world-class assessments based on the latest psychometric principles, particularly using Item Response Theory (IRT) and Computer Adaptive Testing (CAT). He has a deep understanding of psychometric theory and practice, and employs cutting-edge research methods to develop assessments that are robust, valid, and fair.


Ben played a major part in the creation, validation, and ongoing management of the FRS Ability Test Suite, and continues to work closely with the UK Fire and Rescue Service. Additionally, Ben has created bespoke and customised assessments for a wide range of organisations, including bespoke ability tests, personality questionnaires, and situational judgement tests. Ben also has a particular interest in gamification in assessment, and has helped develop a number of psychometrically robust gamified assessments for the recruitment space.

Ali Shalfrooshan, C.Psychol

Ali is an award-winning business psychologist with a passion for using psychology, technology, and psychometric test design to help organisations and individuals thrive. He has a particular interest in designing innovative solutions, which combine technology and scientific rigour to help deliver a measurable business impact.


Ali has extensive experience in leading the design of technology-enabled high volume recruitment solutions for a range of clients. He and his colleagues have won the ABP Excellence in Assessment award in 2017 with the Fire and Rescue Service and in 2018 with the Civil Service.

Ali has designed a variety of solutions covering the entire end-to- end recruitment cycle, from attraction to sifting out and selecting in. These solutions include Multimedia assessments, Situational Judgement Tests, Assessment Apps, Culture/Motivation/Behavioural Fit Measures, Virtual Assessment Centre Exercises, and Online Interviewing Tools to name a few.

Ali specialises in designing high-volume assessment solutions and, in 2017, he and his colleagues won the ABP Excellence in Assessment Award for a recruitment solution he led the design of. His experiences in assessment are extremely varied and has worked with a range of clients; some notable industries include retail, hospitality, FMCG, housing associations, finance, and the public sector.

Ali has also designed a range of online questionnaires, workbooks, and courses to help individuals meet their potential and enhance their employability skills, mindset, and motivation. He is fascinated by the topics of employee engagement and resilience, facilitating a range of workshops and interventions with employees to help improve organisational effectiveness. He is a member of the BPS (British Psychological Society) Youth Employability group and is keen to support the development of young people.

Hannah Vallance, C.Psychol

I am a Chartered Occupational Psychologist who has experience of working in the RAF and the UKFRS and was involved in the design and delivery of their promotional assessment processes. In 2006, I left Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service to set up VCA Ltd and since then have supported over 20 UK Fire & Rescue Services with assessment and development projects. These include development projects. These include assessment centre design and delivery, exercise assessing and marking, developmental feedback reporting, and delivering training for assessor, interviewing, and coaching skills.


The assessment solutions I design focus on providing organisations such as the Fire Service with the most accurate and insightful assessment data in the most streamlined, cost-effective, and efficient way possible. We make sure all our assessments are user-friendly, easy to relate to and make sense to candidates, and that they are provided with feedback which they can use in a practical way to develop and progress.

 

At VCA, we have developed unique on-line assessment solutions such as the FRS ‘Career Progression Gateway’ along with other online tools for volume recruitment and assessment.

I am delighted to be part of HR Solutions Hub where I can support the FRS and other organisations identify and retain their talent and help their staff to achieve their full potential.

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