Case Study

Selecting Leaders for the Long Run

The Problem

A growing financial services organization had a strong cultural commitment to keeping employees once they were hired. Facing rapid growth that required the addition of a senior management layer, they wanted to be sure they were hiring the people who be would be great fits for the organization and the role.

They had confidence in the way their existing hiring process and battery of pre-hire assessments evaluated past performance, technical and leadership skills, and fit with the organizational culture. However, they were less confident in their ability to evaluate a candidate’s personality fit with the role demands, how well their current cognitive capabilities fit the complexity of the role’s demands, and the candidate’s potential to grow and perform well at higher levels.

The Solution

They turned to RBL’s Candidate-Position Fit reports to help them get more robust information about candidates as part of their selection process.

RBL’s expert analysts review the job description and other internal information on the organization and the role to establish criteria for success. They also use RBL’s proprietary resume analysis process to begin the capability evaluation while candidates take the online MENTOR® Leadership Battery.

The final report delivered to HR and the hiring manager combines an analysis of each candidate’s results from the psychometric battery and the resume analysis to present an evaluation of fit for the position. It also includes discussion of likely strengths and potential risks/development needs and an estimate of the individual’s likely growth potential. A debrief call allows hiring managers to get answers to specific questions.

The Outcome

Over 2 years, RBL has provided assessments of 53 candidates, providing valuable information about potential candidates and helping hiring managers make better hiring decisions.

To validate that feedback, RBL and the client conducted a study using a group of 20 candidates who had been the subject of a Candidate-Position Fit report as part of their hiring process and had been hired into the organization following the report. The object of the study was to evaluate the accuracy of the report’s evaluations.

The results were strongly positive. The accuracy of MENTOR®‘s behavioral/personality profile of candidates was high, with managers reporting an average accuracy of 4.2, on 5 point scale where 4 represented “accurate” and 5 represented “extremely accurate.” On the current and future capability estimates, correlations between RBL scores and managerial judgment of capability were highly significant, ranging from .62 to .86.