Opening Keynote

Shattering the Proxy: Assessment When Polish Costs Nothing

Monday, February 22nd, 2027, 8:30 AM - 9:45 AM

For a century, assessment rested on an assumption: the work product reflects the person whose name is on it. A clean writing sample meant a writer. A fluent interview answer meant understanding. Polish was a costly signal, so it approximated capability. Then the cost of polish went to zero. Today 39% of applicants use AI during the application, and nearly a third of those have it answer the assessment itself. The proxy has shattered, and with it the validity evidence behind many flagship instruments. Drawing on SHRM research, candidate-behavior data, and the AI-selection cases now on the docket, Dr. Alexander Alonso argues this is not measurement error but a broken inference: the criterion is moving, the construct has an unseen co-author, and courts are writing the definitions of "valid" and "fair." He then lays out four shifts the industry must make, each with a first move you can take this quarter.

Participants will be able to:

Explain why zero-cost polish breaks the inference behind work samples, unproctored tests, and structured interviews rather than merely adding noise to it.
Judge whether an instrument's validity evidence is still current against three tests: dynamic criteria, AI-enabled test-taking conditions, and the standards emerging from litigation and state regulation.
Apply the four shifts (validate against a moving criterion, measure the work rather than the worker, triangulate with digital-footprint evidence, and assess AI agents) to name one first move for their own product line.

Alex Alonso will be in a Featured Presentation Breakout

The Proxy Playbook: Ten Actions Every Test Publisher Needs to Take Now

Monday, February 22nd, 2027, 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM

The keynote made the argument: the proxy is broken, the criterion is moving, and the standards for AI-enabled selection are being written by litigators, legislators, and vendor roadmaps. This breakout turns that argument into a work plan. Dr. Alexander Alonso walks through ten actions every test publisher needs to take now, from auditing every instrument for the unwritten "candidate-generated" assumption and time-stamping validity evidence, to versioning criteria, instrumenting for AI use as a measurable construct, running a triangulation pilot with digital-footprint data, and building the first assessment framework for AI agents that now sit on client teams. Each action comes with a plain definition, the evidence behind it, a 90-day first move, and the failure mode if it is skipped or delayed. Participants leave with a one-page scored self-assessment of where their product line stands on all ten and a prioritized list of the three to start on Monday morning.

Participants will be able to:

Score their own product line against the ten actions and identify which of the four broken specifications (candidate-generated content, standardized conditions, verified identity, current criterion) each instrument depends on.
Build a 90-day plan for the three highest-priority actions, including a time-stamped validity statement, a versioned criterion definition, and one pilot design.
Translate the plan into language HR buyers and legal counsel will act on, so the publisher sets the definitions of valid and fair before a client's vendor demo or a court opinion does.

Alexander Alonso, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP

Chief Knowledge Officer at SHRM

Alexander Alonso, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP, is SHRM's Chief Knowledge Officer, leading the organization's intelligence, insights, and innovation divisions. As leader of SHRM's Thought Leadership & Business Intelligence operations, his total career portfolio has been based upon practical thought leadership designed to make better workplaces and grow revenue across industry.

Alonso's thought leadership has been featured in numerous media outlets including USA Today, NBC News, BBC, CNN, and more. He has served as a member of several speakers bureaus with more than 400 speaking engagements on human capital topics and driving productivity over the last decade.

His works have been acknowledged for their contributions to real-world human capital issues. This includes being recognized with the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP's) 2007 M. Scott Myers Award for Applied Research in the Workplace for developing the federal standard for learning and development of healthcare providers; a 2009 Presidential Citation for Innovative Practice by the American Psychological Association for designing performance management systems; and the 2013 SIOP Distinguished Early Career Contributions for Practice Award for extensive applied research on the link between human resource management and organizational sustainability.

Throughout his career, Alonso has published works in peer-reviewed journals, authored several chapters on community-based change initiatives in workforce readiness, and authored books such as The Price of Pettiness, Talking Taboo: Making the Most of Polarizing Topics, and Defining HR Success: A Guide to the SHRM Competency Model in Practice. He has served on several advisory boards including The Secretary of Defense's Defense Business Board (DBB) and the Zeal Capital Investor Advisory board. He is a Fellow of SIOP, Division 14, of the American Psychological Association.