1. cerno limited
level 8, legal house
101 lambtonquay
po box 2699, Wellington
t (04) 473 9966
f (04) 473 2966
www.cerno.co.nz
21 July 2014
To whom it may concern
I have had the privilege of knowing Eilidh MacDonald since January 2014. In May this year, Eilidh
contacted me to enquire about gaining some work experience as an intern at Cerno Limited. Eilidh
interned at Cerno over a four week period, during which she both observed and participated in a
range of assessment and development programmes. Cerno is an organisational psychology
practice that specialises in leadership assessment and development, and has offices in Wellington
(New Zealand) and Brisbane (Australia).
During her internship, Eilidh worked with several of the psychologists and our client co -ordinator.
She gained experience in:
› Interpreting psychological assessment inventories and tests (cognitive, personality, career
preferences, leadership questionnaires, etc)
› Writing psychological reports based on a range of psychological inputs.
› Administering assessment centres for senior managers.
› Analysing 360° feedback tools and developmental coaching.
› Writing development plans for managers.
› Analysing and reporting 360° development themes for a public service organisation.
› Assessing a manager’s leadership and management skills through a management simulation
and writing an assessment report.
› Presenting Honour’s research methodology and supporting rationale to Cerno psychology
practice meeting.
› Reviewing assessment and development reports and plans.
› Writing a report for a large government department which had requested an overall analysis of
the assessment results of the 95 individuals across 12 cohorts, who had participated in a
leadership development programme. Based on the data collected by Cerno, Eilidh analysed
results and created a series of easy-to-read graphs to display participants’ strengths and
development areas.
It is useful to note that Cerno does not typically offer internships to graduates, as our practice
specialises in senior level managerial assessments, which are not always conducive to graduate
learning. However, we made an exception in Eildih’s case. From our initial meetings we felt that
she had a real ‘x factor’, would respect client confidentiality, was very keen to learn and we were
willing to invest in her development. We were not disappointed. She exceeded our expectations.
Feedback from the psychologists who worked with her are included verbatim below.
› “Eilidh displayed a level of poise that bellied her age and experience. She impressed with her
ability to quickly understand the objectives of a task, her initiative and ability to deliver what was
required in the time frames”.
› “She presents as confident, engaging and is keen to take on new and challenging tasks.
Displays a high level of initiative, is a quick learner and works well independently.”

2. › “She is positive, energetic, and the team found her easy to work with. She impressed as
organised and efficient and managed the range of tasks assigned to her”.
› “She quickly became part of the team, and was very easy to work with”.
› “Displayed the ability to put herself in her audience’s shoes and design her work to address
their needs”.
› “Is confident and has a great sense of humour”.
› “Displays a high level of willingness to undertake a wide variety of tasks and easily grasped the
requirements of the different tasks”.
› “Was able to be trusted with sensitive information”.
I am more than happy to provide additional feedback on Eilidh’s internship.
We wish Eilidh well in her further studies and work experience. We have no doubt that she will be
an asset to any employing organisation and make an excellent organisational psychologist.
Yours faithfully
Dr Sharon Rippin
Cerno Director