Adaptability and Covid-19: Remote Psychological Assessments for NYC Special Officers

The Department of Social Services (DSS) is comprised of the administrative units of the NYC Human Resources Administration (HRA) and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) – overseeing the City’s social services programs. DSS is dedicated to fighting poverty and income inequality by providing New Yorkers in need with essential benefits. With over 14,000 employees, HRA helps more than three million New Yorkers annually with services like food assistance, cash assistance, emergency rental and utility assistance, job placement and training, public health insurance, child care, adult protective services, domestic violence shelter and assistance, HIV/AIDS support services, child support enforcement, and legal services.

The NYC DSS sought the services of Leverage Assessments through the City procurement bid method to provide pre-employment psychological examination of Special Officers for the DHS. DHS Special Officers provide onsite security services and enforce state and city laws at DHS facilities. Special Officers are New York State (NYS) peace officers under New York State Criminal Procedure law.

As part of the pre-employment selection and hiring process, candidates are required to undergo a battery of assessments e.g basic ability, physical agility, drug and alcohol testing, medical evaluation and psychological examination. DHS’s psychological examination include the administration of three (3) personality/psychopathology assessments commonly used in public safety and law enforcement hiring.

The pre-employment psychological process consisted of:

• Administration of on-site computer-based psychological assessments
• In-person oral interview with a Clinical Psychologist/Clinician
• E-delivery of the final recommendation report to DHS

Leverage Assessments administered psychological assessments and conducted oral interview evaluations for a total of 142 candidates who applied to the DHS Special Officer title.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic that fueled New York’s rapid and overwhelming infection rate, stay-at-home orders caused disruption and potential paralysis across the City. Unanticipated quarantine and social distancing measures required Leverage Assessments to swiftly adapt our pre-employment testing services. We were able to seamlessly transition our on-site computer-based administration to a remote proctored solution and used a remote interview platform to facilitate the oral interview component.