The concept of hiring based on fit, often encompassing both cultural and skill-based alignment, has likely been practiced informally for centuries. The formalization and widespread adoption of this approach as a structured hiring strategy can be attributed to various factors, including: Industrial Revolution: The rise of large-scale organizations and the need for standardized processes likely led to early considerations of employee fit. Psychological Testing: Developments in psychological testing and personality assessment in the early 20th century provided tools to measure individual differences and identify potential candidates who might align well with specific roles. Human Resources Management: The emergence of human resources as a distinct field of study and practice in the mid-20th century contributed to the development of more systematic approaches to talent acquisition and management.
While there may not be a single individual who can be pinpointed as the originator of this concept, the evolution of hiring practices and the contributions of numerous thinkers and practitioners over time have shaped our understanding of the importance of fit in talent acquisition.
Yet, many employers AND search firms continue to source and hire talent using a traditional interview process. If you are one of those still hiring through an interview-only approach, and your argument for not using talent assessments is that "it isn't proven" or "I tried using assessments and it was just a waste of money" or "I can do as well or better at hiring as any personality assessment" or "the cost is higher than the benefit", you are very likely needing to update your operating system - including your approach to hiring. The key to hiring for fit is simple yet sophisticated. More importantly, it is highly effective. Our strategy uses two key ingredients: 1) process and 2) valid, reliable assessments.
The process and type of applicant assessments for hiring is dependent on the type of job. We recognize a different process and assessment combination based on 1) hourly/skilled worker jobs 2) professional and administrative jobs 3) sales 4) technical 5) managerial and 6) executive. We work with you to implement the right process with the right assessments based on your needs.
As a best practice, we start with a patented process for identifying the position's key accountabilities and benchmarking the job's talent requirements. This gives you, our client much greater clarity about what to consider when sourcing and interviewing. We assess your candidates using the right assessments at the right time. Our proven approach saves you money and time - and enables you to focus on best-fit candidates. Ultimately, this will increase the quality of hires and shorten the time to hire.
The market is saturated with assessments. There are too many assessments on the market! Not all are created equal. This has created a certain amount of apathy within management and human resources. It isn't the fact that there are many assessments to choose from; it is the challenge of separating the poor-quality assessments from the high-quality assessments. Even price won't do this for you - the higher the cost of the assessment (or executive assessment service) doesn't mean a better assessment. For employers with more than 50 employees, the OFCCP/EEOC require strong validity, reliability and adverse impact requirements be met.
THE GOOD NEWS! Whether you employee 5,000 employees across the global or 55 employees in one county, you can and should be using talent assessments as part of the hiring process.
Our processes and assessments have passed the most stringent reviews and have been accepted by Fortune 100 legal teams. The OFCCP actually compliments our clients on both the processes and assessments used for hiring. But more importantly, every assessment within our arsenal is of the highest quality to produce the results you expect.
Scientific dimensions we measure:
Latest research by TTI Success Insights and our practice has revealed the need for a multi-science approach to measuring and identifying talent. The following are backed by solid research and used to consistently produce desired results for our clients:
What if you could identify a person's work-related attitudes towards supervision, work, customer service, safety/risk avoidance, theft and drug use - before the applicant was invited for an interview? Having the right attitudes comes before matching the person's talents, knowledge and experience to the job. Value: Low cost, used for reducing a large applicant pool to a smaller, more promising subgroup
A person's behavior comes from "nature" (inherent), and from "nurture" (our upbringing). It is the universal language of "how we act," or our observable human behavior. All jobs have a set of behavioral requirements. Knowing how well the applicant matches up to the behavioral demands of the job provides insight into the amount of adapting required for them to succeed. We measure a person's natural style and how they are adapting using four dimensions of normal behavior. They are:
How the candidate responds to problems and challenges.
How the candidate influences others to their point of view.
How the candidate responds to the pace of the environment.
How the candidate responds to rules and procedures set by others.
Knowledge of an individual’s motivators help to tell us why they do things. The more aligned a person's personal motivators are to the rewards/culture of the job, the more likely they will experience high job satisfaction. Studies have clearly shown high job satisfaction correlates strongly with high performance.
A person’s acumen, keenness and depth of perception or discernment, is directly related to performance. How clearly a person understands others, the tasks required to achieve goals (practical thinking) and the systems in the environment (the external acumen dimension) the more effective they are in the work environment. We also measure the internal dimension to acumen - how a person sees themselves (sense of self), their roles and their self direction (future view). We are able to gauge the applicant's ability to see situations clearly and problem solving ability.
An individual’s hierarchy of competencies is key to his or her success, and leveraging the right competencies is essential to reaching one’s goals. For many jobs, personal skills are as important as technical skills in producing superior performance. We measure 25 competencies that recognize both cognitive soft skills and experience:
Understanding Others (Empathetic Outlook)
Planning and Organizing
Personal Accountability
Conflict Management
Flexibility
Problem Solving Ability
Self-Management (Time and Priority Management)
Customer Focus
Employee Development and Coaching
Teamwork
Decision Making
Resiliency
Conceptual Thinking
Goal Orientation and Achievement
Self Starting
Project Management
Diplomacy
Appreciating Others
Continuous Learning
Creativity and Innovation
Negotiation
Interpersonal Skills
Leadership
Influencing Others (Persuasion)
Futuristic Thinking
Our EQ assessment is designed to provide insight into two broad areas: Intrapersonal and Interpersonal emotional intelligence. Within these broad areas we measure five dimensions of emotional intelligence: Self-Awareness, Self Regulation, Motivation, Empathy and Social Skills.
The concept of hiring based on fit, often encompassing both cultural and skill-based alignment, has likely been practiced informally for centuries. 
