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About Public Works and Government Services Canada

Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) is the Government of Canada’s common service organisation. PWGSC in the Western Region employs builders, buyers, architects, engineers, auditors, management consultants, environmental scientists, and real estate professionals. They supply office space and manage the day-to-day operations of Government buildings in the region.

Why?

PWGSC conducts pre-employment assessments as part of the hiring process, to assess candidates’ suitability for the role. Previously, these assessments had taken place in-person using pen and paper.

The pandemic highlighted the need for a digital solution to allow PWGSC to conduct assessments remotely. The organisation decided to work with Inspera because our solutions allow for maximum flexibility in the following areas:

  • Planning, in particular being able to set windows of time in which exams are live;
  • Exam creation and editing;
  • Delivery;
  • Grading, particularly collaboratively.

How?

In April 2021, PWGSC began implementing Inspera Assessment. At the start of the implementation phase, the team took part in Inspera training sessions to learn about different parts of the platform, as well as experimenting with its various functionalities before going live.

In September 2021, PWGSC started delivering assessments using Inspera’s platform. Within the team, one person oversees authoring, two are in charge of planning and up to 15 people may be called upon to grade assessments. Maria Dumitrescu, Regional Director, then managed quality control of authoring and grading.

The format of the exams varies but usually comprise a question per topic for which the candidate needs to give their response to a scenario. Usually, the questions are text-based and don’t include images or diagrams.

The results

By the end of 2021, PWGSC had delivered approximately 400 exams using Inspera Assessment and the feedback from stakeholders has been positive. The vast majority of candidates have enjoyed using Inspera Assessment because it’s easy to use and has a straightforward user interface. Similarly, internal staff have had positive feedback about the system.

Going forwards, they are planning more training to get better acquainted with Inspera Assessment’s Marking 2.0 module which has more features than the marking module that they are currently using. Overall, PWGSC plans to continue using Inspera Assessment in the future because their experience has been positive and straightforward.

Learn more about About Public Works and Government Services Canada’s experience with digital assessment:

Download the case study
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