HSE Career Quiz
The Challenge
Health Service Executive Ireland needed a career interest instrument for school leavers exploring healthcare careers — one that was psychometrically valid, engaging for teenagers, and could be deployed at scale across the Irish education system.
The Approach
Designed a 30-question assessment mapping to a 9-cluster career interest model tailored to healthcare roles. Built on Item Response Theory for measurement precision and Classical Test Theory for reliability validation. The instrument went through item writing, expert review, pilot testing, and factor analysis before deployment.
Results
- 30-question instrument mapping to 9 healthcare career clusters
- Psychometric validation using IRT and CTT frameworks
- Designed for self-administration by 16-18 year olds with no supervision
- Built on Gyfted's assessment platform with custom branding for HSE
- Full specification and implementation plan delivered
This project sits at the core of what I do — translating psychometric methodology into a product that real people use to make real decisions.
The challenge wasn’t just building a quiz. Career interest instruments for teenagers have a specific set of constraints: the reading level has to be appropriate, the response format has to hold attention, the items can’t assume domain knowledge the test-taker doesn’t have, and the results need to be actionable — not just a score, but a map of where their interests align with actual career paths in healthcare.
The 9-cluster model was developed specifically for HSE’s needs, not adapted from a generic career framework. Each cluster corresponds to a family of healthcare roles (clinical, administrative, research, community health, etc.) and the items were written to discriminate between clusters with minimal cross-loading. The psychometric work — item analysis, reliability estimation, confirmatory factor analysis — ensures the instrument measures what it claims to measure.
This is the kind of project where the psychometric rigor is invisible to the end user. A school leaver takes a 10-minute quiz and gets a career map. Behind it is months of item development, pilot testing, and statistical validation. That’s the point — the science disappears into the product.