FAQ for our Hiring Assessments & Process

Its firstly absolutely key to state that our assessments are not designed specifically to directly compare candidates against each other, rather that they are designed to identify the candidates Suitability for the Role being hired for (Role Fit), and for the Team being hired into (Team Dynamics)

The following questions grouped together on topics are questions that you or your clients may have. We have provided answers to each question that you can use with clients where you feel appropriate.

What does the hiring organisation need to do for us to utilize the assessment?

There is a separate assessment that should be completed by the person to whom the position will report. The result of that

assessment will establish a baseline for measuring the candidates’ fit for the team. Best practise is for the hiring manager, or delegate to take the short assessment, as long as the delegate is as close to the role as the Hiring Manager.

What if the Hiring Organisation does not take the assessment?

If the Hiring Manager does not complete the assessment, the assessment reporting will not include information on Team and 

Culture Fit, which means that the client will not receive the full benefit of the assessment. 

What if the Hiring Organisation asks for a Board Member, or an Executive to take the assessment instead of the person to whom the role will directly report?

This is not the recommended approach. The most effective way to assess fit for Team and Culture is for the person closest to the role to complete the assessment, this ideally is the Hiring Manager for the Team being hired into, however if appropriate a suitable delegate that is as close to the role as the Hiring Manager can be utilized

What if a candidate refuses to take the assessment?

If a candidate refuses to participate, the Recruiter and Hiring Manager should decide whether or not they wish to include that candidate in the process as their will be no Role Fit analysis on them. Remember that the assessment is not intended to disqualify anyone from the search. Rather, it is a tool for achieving better insight into fit for role and team.

Of course, it is preferable that all candidates take the assessment to allow the Hiring Organisation to make well informed comparisons. You can remind the candidate that the assessment only takes about 6 minutes, and they will be able to view and download a report that provides analysis of their individual work style and preferences. 

Those insights will enhance their self-awareness and may benefit them in their career.

How should I share the assessment results with clients?

You can share whatever you feel is appropriate for your organisation that follows your internal guidelines, either by the means of a full report export, excerpts of that report, or if appropriate you can share reduced system access to specific jobs via the assessment platform.

How should we talk about this assessment when clients ask us to tell them about our search methodology?

We utilize a unique candidate assessment tool based on over 20 years of research with elite sports teams that analyzes each candidate’s fit for the client’s specific role and culture/team fit.  The assessment is widely used in corporate environments. Currently, 40% of the assessments (12,000 per month) are done for corporate clients.  Every team has its own unique culture, and each team member plays a unique role.

The assessment measures each candidate based on the Big 5 personality traits: 

• Consciousness – dependable/organized vs. flexible/spontaneous
• Emotional Control – sensitive/nervous vs. resilient/confident
• Conceptual -creative/adventurous vs. pragmatic/data-driven 
• Supportive – compassionate/cooperative vs. competitive/driven to succeed 
• Outgoing – outgoing /energetic vs. reserved/likes to listen more than talk

What do the candidates receive when they complete the assessment?

Candidates are able to download a pdf report that describes their work style and cultural preferences. This report does not include information regarding fit for specific role or specific team. 

Can we share access to the assessment platform so the Hiring Organisations can see the reporting?

The platform has "Share" functionality, whereby a Job or Jobs can be shared to the Hiring Team to view on-screen candidate analysis. The share can be for the all candidates or those marked as "Shortlisted"

What should I do if a candidate that the client likes gets a low score?

The assessments are a way to supplement, but not replace the judgment of the Recruiter and the Hiring Organisation The assessment is designed to provide insight into how well a candidate is likely to perform in a particular role and a specific team to improve the dialogue between candidates, recruiters and Hiring Organisations. 

Low scores are labelled “Explore Further” and the assessment reporting will provide detailed questions in areas of misalignment. The system will suggest questions that can be asked to help interviewers focus on the right areas. Its important to state that data shows that a low score or a poor fit candidate is less likely to remain in that role for 12 months than a candidate who scores in the good or great fit category. 

If a candidate has completed the assessment for one job, can I reuse their results for a different job?

Yes, you can reuse the candidate assessment without having the candidate take the assessment again. As the recruiter creates the new job in the assessment platform, they will add the candidate’s first name, last name and most importantly the same e-mail address as any previous completion. The system will identify that the individual has completed before and will show a list of jobs and dates when they completed. From that list, you can choose one to re-use the results from and the candidate will not be sent the assessment again. 

The results from the previous completion will be re-used (takes about 3 or 4 minutes to reflect) in the new job. This means that a separate report will be available for each Hiring Organisation to which you are submitting that candidate. The key is to use the same email address for the candidate so we should ask the candidates to use their personal emails when registering to take the assessment. 

How long does it take for to receive the results once a candidate completes the assessment?

The results will be available within minutes after the candidate completes the assessment. If notifications has been ticked at the Job Creation stage an email notification will be sent to whomever set up the job in the platform. At any time, anyone with access to the platform can see the status of each candidate when logging into the platform and reviewing their jobs.

For each candidate, the system will indicate the status as follows: 

• Pending: Candidate created and invite preparing to send (this only tends to show for 5 minutes maximum)
• Not Started: The evaluation has been sent but not yet started by the participant. 
• In-Progress: The evaluation has been started but not yet completed. 
• Completed: The evaluation has been fully completed and submitted. 

What if the Hiring Organisation refuses to consider any candidate that is not assessed as a Great Fit or a Good Fit?

The assessment is not designed to exclude or disqualify candidates but rather to provide analysis, insights and follow up questions that will help you and the client decide whether or not the candidate would be a good hire for their organisation.

How long are assessment results valid?

The assessment results have no expiration date. As best practice, however, it's recommended that you should not use results that are more than 12 months old. 

Where does the data come from?

The data underpinning this tool was first conceived and tested 20 years ago when psychologists were hired to help address performance issues with the UK Olympic cycling team. The story of how data was used to turn the UK cycling team into Olympic champions is featured in the book “Atomic Habits”. Over the past 20 years, the technology has been used to help 40 Olympic and world championship teams as well as companies in a wide variety of industries. 

The Role Fit score compares the candidate’s response to the Big 5 Personality Index questions and the labor workforce personality and role database, which holds the optimum personality profile for 37,000+ jobs. The team fit scores are generated from the results of the assessment that the Hiring Manager completes about the team culture. 

How is Role Fit and Team Fit useful when it does not assess someone’s skills, capabilities, or experience?

The recruiter and the recruiting organisation will be determining the candidates’ skills and experience. This tool is intended to support and enhance that determination by providing insight into how likely the candidate is to be successful in the role and enhance the overall performance of the team. 

Why would different scores for each of the Personality Traits for two different candidates result in the same Job Fit Score and Status?

If both candidates have scores within the Good Fit range for all 5 Traits or even Higher Scores in the Top 3 Traits and Lower Scores in the 2 relatively less important traits the outcome overall could be the same Fit Status. This is because

the overall Fit Score takes into account the trait "Order of Importance" weightings.  

The ranges themselves are determined based on statistical analysis of our reference population and are constantly monitored and updated.  

The system is designed not to be hyper-sensitive to small fluctuations in trait scores, which means that different combinations of candidate trait levels and role trait importance levels can result in similar overall candidate profiles. 

For example the score differences between two candidates for both the most important traits and the relatively less important traits may not big enough to be considered as wildly different candidate profiles. 

When we compare these candidates to the general population despite some small differences between them (as shown within the system) they fall within the same broader category.

In terms of statistical likelihood, approximately one third of the candidates will fall into each Fit category, when this happens the textual summaries may be very similar.

Why would the same or similar score on a Cultural Team Values show different rating for the Candidate and Hiring Manager?

The Team Values comparison is based on the “Ranking” of the Value for each party. For example a Value could have the same or very similar score, however the individual values ranking, relative to the other values based on the Candidates responses could be significantly Lower, or indeed Higher than that of the Team, for example where a specific Value has been ranked 4th in order of importance based on the Team’s responses (HIGH) and the Candidate has ranked the same Value 10th in order of importance based on their responses (LOW).

What are the Cultural Values Ranking levels for High/medium/Low

We determine Top and Bottom 4 ranked values to label them HIGH and LOW, all others fall in the medium category (there could be more than 4 high or low ranked values due to tied scores)

Why don't all of the Cultural Values show in the Suggested Interview Questions?

Suggested Interview questions are only provided where there are misalignments in the categorisations of the values’ ranking between the candidate and the team. We will look to make this clearer in the suggested interview questions table.

Will matching candidates to a team reduce diversity and make for a homogenized team?

No, the assessment is more likely to increase diversity. Ideally, most teams function better when there is agreement on what is valued most. Matching candidates to teams based on what is important to both the candidate and the team means that there is alignment on what really matters to both parties, regardless of social, cognitive, or ethnic background. By focusing on what really matters to the client and candidate, a wider possible pool of candidates can be developed because there is less focus on background and more focus on specific shared values. 

What is the difference between team culture and values?

Values are shared ideals that guide a company’s actions. Culture is the environment those actions create, including the way that team members interact with one another. Candidates whose work style matches a team’s culture and who shares the values of the team are more likely to perform well as individuals and to enhance the performance of the team. 

What is a good score? - Role Fit

A Great Fit score for Role Fit is over 57.5%

Role Fit thresholds are set as follows: 

< 42.5% Explore More - Yellow

42.5 - 57.5% Good Fit - Light Green 

> 57.5% Great Fit - Dark Green 

What is a good score? - Team Fit

A Great Fit score for Team Fit is over 66% 

Team Fit thresholds are set as follows:

< 34% Explore More - Yellow 

34 - 66% Good Fit - Light Green 

> 66% Great Fit - Dark Green 

These are set against statistical norms which means they are calculated by analyzing a large sample size to establish the standard ranges of fit and then categorized into Explore More, Good Fit and Great Fit

What is the Big 5 personality index?

The Big 5 personality index is a very well-established system that helps us identify personality traits that are predictive of success in a work or academic environment. It is a recognized, validated, and reliable tool that enables us to understand how different personalities can affect individuals and groups. Each trait is measured on a continuum. 

• Consciousness – dependable/organized vs. flexible/spontaneous
• Emotional Control – sensitive/nervous vs. resilient/confident
• Conceptual -creative/adventurous vs. pragmatic/data-driven
• Supportive – compassionate/cooperative vs. competitive/driven to succeed
• Outgoing – outgoing /energetic vs. reserved/likes to listen more than talk 

Can you send reminders to the candidates and Hiring Manager?

Yes, the assessment platform has a reminder function. An assessment platform user can send reminders to the hiring manager, and to candidates to ensure that they complete the assessment in a timely manner. 

How many questions are in the survey?

• 39 Questions for Culture & Environment (Team Fit) using a 1 to 10 response scale. 
• 50 questions for Workplace Personality (Role Fit) using a 1 to 5 response scale

Can I edit the reports?

Yes. Individual candidate reports can be downloaded into editable word form. You can cut and paste elements of the assessment report into any appropriate document.