Profile
Education and skills team
ACNielsen's education, employment and skills team is led by Bill Allen (more detail on Bill below) with a diverse set of skills and experience to draw from, for example, Dorothy and Pam bring their qualitative research experience, Janet is a former university lecturer and Euan Robertson is one of our copyright and polling experts (not pictured due to making one of his regular trips to schools as part of ACNielsen's copyright research)
Public Enterprise team, pictured left to right – Janet Campbell, Bill Allen, Dorothy Dudley, Jonathan Macleod and Pamela Ingall.
Enterprise took some time out with Bill Allen, Associate Director, Public Enterprise, to learn more about his background and skills in the important area of education and employment.
- What is your career background?
Prior to ACNielsen, I worked at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) for over 12 years as a statistician. While there I worked in a range of areas on numerous topics, such as estimating Australia's population, providing the methodological support for the Labour Force survey, running a statistical consultancy unit, introducing a data quality framework to the ABS and being out-posted to the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR).
- What attracted you to the education and employment sectors?
I like the variety of research questions and the way the sectors impact on society. While working at the ABS, I was fortunate to work on a range of related surveys, such as reviewing the Labour Force survey, as well as working with universities on recruiting and training statisticians. I then developed a deeper understanding and appreciation for the subject matter while out-posted to DEST and DEWR.
- What have you learnt from your time with DEST and DEWR and how has it enhanced the way your team works with clients today?
The most important learning would be an appreciation for the way those departments work. Understanding the subject matter and knowing what other data sources exist is also important in tailoring the research solutions.
- What do you see as being one of the key market research challenges in this sector?
Policy evaluation - for a policy to reach its potential it is often necessary to not only set up the policy, but also for the target audience to take advantage of that policy. This means that they must know about the policy, want to take advantage of it and then actually take advantage. I see this common disconnect between intentions (such as intention to enter the workforce or undertake further study) and actual behaviour as a key area for further research.
