Summer 2025 - Behavior and Skills Measurement Internship - PhD Students

Overview:

At ACT, Your Work Makes a Difference

Education has power – a power that changes lives forever. It creates opportunities that lift up individuals, their families, and sparks societal change that echoes through generations to come. From our grassroots we have fought the good fight for equity in education, and we remain devoted to helping anyone who struggles to access that power. This is what matters to us and we must do better -- we’ve never been more sure of our purpose.

ACT team members are part of an organization dedicated to an important mission:  Helping people achieve education and workplace success.  Advancing the mission internally, by helping team members achieve education and workplace success of their own, is core to our values. ACT values a diverse workplace and is committed to fostering an inclusive, equitable environment in which every team member has an opportunity to grow.

We are seeking two Summer Research Intern for our Behavior and Skills Measurement Internship.

Location:  This is a remote internship.

Duration:  The internship is scheduled to run from Monday June 9, 2025 to Friday August 15, 2025, but can be flexible for the right candidate.

Pay Rate: For this position, we anticipate offering an hourly rate of $23.00.  The position is not incentive not benefits eligible.

Work Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm Central Time

We are looking for two summer research interns to work with the Skills Research and Development (SRD) team within the Behavior and Skills Measurement group. The SRD team consists of researchers in personality psychology, social psychology, educational psychology, quantitative psychology, survey research, and career planning, and conducts research related to the development and assessment of essential skills, cross-cutting capabilities, and navigation skills. The team supports ACT’s Mosaic and WorkKeys products, as well assists learners in “finding their way” along their education and career journeys by conducting research on ACT’s navigation tools (e.g., the ACT Interest Inventory) and investigating the conditions that support effective education and career decisions and outcomes. The team also focuses on providing important insights into “student voice” – students’ perspectives and thoughts about current issues in education and workforce. These positions are a great fit for someone looking to gain research experience working with researchers who have diverse backgrounds in psychology and are focused on learners’ post-secondary and workforce outcomes. 

In addition to gaining experience by working with current Skills Research and Development team members to create and refine assessments, surveys, and supporting materials, candidates will have the opportunity to participate in original research studies. Successful candidates will be matched to research studies in their field of study that align with their research interests. Possible research studies for Summer 2025 include, but are not limited to:

• Conducting validity research on a new measure of essential skills
• Examining norms, criterion validity, and concordance in various samples of employed adults
• Designing and executing studies that examine contextualization in situational judgment test items
• Exploring new methods for measuring important aspects of career planning (e.g., Experience)
• Exploring the use of big data to provide interest-related insights to students
• Reviewing and assessing new constructs for potential inclusion in ACT’s Holistic Framework

Typical work-related activities can include:

• Participating in original research studies related to developing and examining the validity and efficacy of assessments and curricula
• Participating in original research studies investigating stakeholder perceptions
• Cleaning and analyzing data
• Writing and editing literature reviews
• Designing, creating, and revising reports
• Conducting cognitive lab and focus group studies

Minimum Qualifications:

Education:

• BA in psychology, educational psychology, or related field
• Must be working toward Ph.D. in industrial-organizational psychology, educational psychology, personality psychology, counseling psychology, or related field

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite, specifically Excel and Word
• Proficient in statistical software (R preferred)
• Excellent writing skills
• Excellent teamwork skills
• Strong people skills
• Strong work ethic
• Knowledge of:
  • Industrial-organizational psychology
  • Psychological assessment
  • Quantitative and qualitative research methods
  • Personality theory
  • Psychometrics
  • Career planning assessment

When ACT was founded in 1959, it disrupted the assessment industry with a new approach to helping students better understand their readiness so they could take steps to improve it.  By leveraging our expertise and authority in assessment and research, we will again disrupt the industry—helping more people learn, better measure their progress, and improve their navigation through life’s transitions. 

More than ever before, ACT is fulfilling its mission of helping people achieve education and workplace success. We’re doing it by pushing the boundaries of learning innovation through the work of our people, who we call team members because we’re all in this together.

We know transformation does not come without challenge. That’s why ACT invests in a variety of experiences for team members to strengthen their connections, explore ideas, learn from customers, and celebrate success.

Learn more about working at ACT at act.org!

ACT is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. ACT values diversity in people and ideas and participates in E-verify. ACT's online position announcements are intended only to provide general descriptions of employment opportunities; none of the information provided for any position should be interpreted as a commitment by ACT to specific terms and conditions for employment.

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