Hatch Eric Murakami, Global Director, HR Operations & Technology

Making a hiring decision is a difficult and an imperfect art. And of course the stakes are high: a suboptimal hiring decision is so painful to unwind. I love that I have a tool to help provide me with another “window” into the candidate, and that it saves me time as well. 

"For me, it’s an indispensable tool."

I wanted another data point to help inform my hiring decisions. And in my area of responsibility, cognitive horsepower is a key success factor. Criteria Corp’s cognitive assessments fit the bill nicely: they are easy to administer, easy for the candidates to complete, and easy for me to interpret the results. 

I use a couple of the Criteria Corp assessments as a front-end screen to the hiring process, meaning that the online assessment precedes a live interview. This is especially useful and time-saving in markets where you will get over a hundred resumes within the first 24 hours of posting a job.

Test batteries are extremely easy to create and administer. And it’s nice that the scoring reports come back immediately (once the candidate has completed the assessment), and I can assign reviewer(s) to receive notifications that a candidate has completed an assessment. 

Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC) Lorraine Luke, VP of Human Resources

At Republic National Distributing Company (RNDC), selecting the best talent is critical to our business strategy of being the employer of choice. Over five years ago, we found an excellent business partner in Criteria Corp to achieve this goal. Working together, we confirmed valid and reliable information about our workforce, enabling us to identify the perfect selection assessments. As a result, RNDC has developed a trusted and successful selection process using Criteria's exemplary tools and resources.

"Working together, we confirmed valid and reliable information about our workforce, enabling us to identify the perfect selection assessments."

Xtract Solutions Luke Barratt, Director of Engineering

As part of a startup made up of a doctor and a few engineers, we all felt a little out of our element when we started needing to hire more employees. Lacking any direct experience in hiring, I was completely overwhelmed by the amount of time I was investing in reviewing resumes and by a total lack of clarity about which candidates to pursue amidst a stack of resumes.

Criteria’s platform was a tremendous relief to us by providing objective valuations of the competencies and emotional traits we needed for our position. In the 24 hours from when I sent all candidates the link to the assessments, our candidate pool transformed from a pile of 50 seemingly equivalent resumes to 5 clear candidates.

We decided to interview one 'good on paper' candidate whose resume was strong but tested poorly, as well as 5 high scoring candidates. Every candidate we interviewed was a good fit EXCEPT the one who scored poorly on Criteria’s tests. We quickly made a hiring decision and have benefited from six great months with a star performer.

"I could not imagine hiring without Criteria."

I could not imagine hiring without Criteria. Our sales executive, Brad, was a dream to work with, understood my needs implicitly, and helped me configure exactly what I needed. For our next hire, I will exclusively use Criteria to manage all our candidates and their resumes.

Lifestyle Hearing Duncan Campbell, Human Resources Recruiter

Criteria has been a great help. We're now much more easily spotting training areas if we want to hire a superstar who is weak in one single spot – we can send them to train up before the flaw becomes a liability, helping us to avoid potential costly hiring mistakes. Thanks to your tools, we've also given a second look to candidates who then went on to succeed.

"Criteria has been a great help."

Push Innovation Live Chris Mattingly, Chief Operating Officer

Push Innovation Live is an outsourced contact center business, which is in an industry that has notoriously high turnover. As recruiting and training costs can be high, increasing employee tenure can drastically influence our profitability. A friend in another high-turnover business swore by the results of cognitive and personality testing from Criteria Corp. and its effect on his employee turnover. We took advantage of a trial of Criteria's platform and loved what it could do for us.

Our company almost exclusively promotes from within, with each employee starting out as a Phone Support Agent. All applicants are asked to take Criteria's CBST and EPP tests to determine their cognitive skills and personality profile. Only those who meet certain testing baselines are asked to participate in the next step of the recruiting process, which is a phone interview.

We came in with some assumptions about how someone applying for the Phone Support Agent role would likely be a good fit if they were a match for Customer Service. We did find that the average tenure of our agents hired with such a match did increase, but a recent validity study that Criteria Corp. provided helped us pinpoint additional metrics in our scores that have an even greater impact on future employee tenure and performance metrics. Hiring the right candidates with these new suggested scores should increase employee tenure by 17% and increase our correlation to internal performance metrics by more than 50%.

"There are so many aspects to the Criteria offering that are excellent. Unlimited testing is a requirement for us."

There are so many aspects to the Criteria offering that are excellent. Unlimited testing is a requirement for us. If unlimited testing wasn't available, we wouldn't have moved forward with the solution, as we are nearly always looking for additional Phone Support Agents. As we've built and improved our testing over time, our Customer Success Manager, Kayla, has been phenomenal in helping make sure we set everything up correctly to get the maximum benefit to the testing and analytics platform. The periodic validity study from Criteria Corp. was an unexpected benefit to help us adjust course with our hiring practices by statistically analyzing correlations between testing scores and internal measures like employee tenure, attendance, and performance.

American Export Lines Hiring Manager,

We decided to use pre-employment tests because we have limited time to review applicants, and we also wanted to have concrete answers about their skillsets, as opposed to simply hearing what they have to say in an interview. We saw Criteria had a good process flow and a good amount of test options, and after speaking with a sales rep, we were impressed with the testing process.

"We use Criteria to hire Administrative and Customer Service positions, and the testing has reduced the time we spend interviewing and making decisions. It has also made our time more efficient!"

The best part is that our dedicated rep helps us understand any results that may not be clear to us. Additionally, the easy-to-use link we send to candidates and the instant results are very useful.

We see testing as part of the future of hiring! Even though hiring is a human-to-human interaction, with today’s fast-paced world, you need results-oriented answers and Criteria Corp gives you those results. We are very happy with Criteria Corp and look forward to using them for many years to come!

Hooker Furniture Sharon Fulcher, Human Resources Manager

As an HR Manger, it is important to recruit the right people for your organization. It is easy to train someone but difficult to find a good 'fit.'

This was our challenge in 2015. We were using an assessment that did not include a personality profile, and we could find talent but they did not stay. Our turnover was high and we knew we had to find a testing system that allowed us to assess both skills and personality.

I reached out to Criteria after finding them online and was overwhelmed with the kindness and guidance that I received. I signed up for a free trial and liked that the system allowed us to create our own job profiles. It was easy and quick. After sending a trial profile (test battery) to several current employees, we knew immediately that Criteria was the company we were looking for.

"It has been a year now and we’ve successfully reduced our turnover."

It has been a year now and we’ve successfully reduced our turnover. Criteria has helped us along the way to make this a successful partnership.

AMCOLLECT John C. Smith, General Manager

Criteria has been my go-to testing partner for years.  Before using Criteria, I was deluged with interviews that not only wasted my time, but the applicant’s as well.  A résumé can only provide a glimpse of the applicant’s true skill sets.  What was missing were the key traits needed for a specific position and how to find them in an applicant.

At American Collections Enterprise, Inc., we are looking to fill Collection Specialist positions that require several unique personality traits, that are very difficult to find in one individual.  Until I started using Criteria, I spent most of my time meeting with great people that, unfortunately, did not have the traits and skills the position demanded.

"Criteria allowed me to choose the key areas for testing that were crucial to any position I was looking to fill.  It was not a one size fits all approach.  I can select a number of tests that allow me to create a single battery dedicated to a particular position (Collection Specialist, Clerical Support, Administrative Support, Sales personnel, etc.)"

Today before sitting down with an applicant, I already know that they possess all or most of the traits required. How?  I have the test results in hand before I offer an invitation to interview with us.  Now, instead of interviewing 25 individuals and hiring one, I can interview five applicants and possibly hire two!  Talk about saving time!

Tying all the benefits of using HireSect securely is an extremely reasonable price structure that will pay for itself in time alone many times over.  And last but certainly not least, is the support that goes along with Criteria's program.  The representatives I have had the pleasure of dealing with at various management levels shared a common thread, and that was competence and a desire to be of assistance at any time, with any issue.

Thank you, Criteria, for providing me with an opportunity to brag about your services, it is well deserved!

Tech Qualled Lex R. Brown II, VP of Operations & Business Development

We decided to use pre-employment tests because of the value it adds to our hiring partners and our candidates alike, as we select elite military veterans into our Launchpad Academy program that we eventually place into high-tech sales roles. The tests empower our company with tangible evidence of our candidates' aptitudes and psychological profiles that will impact organizational cultures in a positive manner. We chose Criteria specifically because of its user-friendly platform and excellent customer support.

We use Criteria to help our business partners make hires into tech sales for roles like Account Executive, Pre-Sales Engineer, and Customer Success Manager.

"Testing has significantly streamlined our process and added more objectivity to our selection decisions."

My favorite features are the ability to invite candidates individually or in batches, and the capability to send reminders from the dashboard. Criteria is an essential component of our business. We wouldn't have such a quality talent pool without it.

Incept Corp. Sam Falletta, President

"Criteria made it easy for us to implement a pre-employment testing solution. In the call center industry, turnover is a constant challenge. Criteria helps us identify high performers and increase our hiring success rate by giving us objective data that predicts a candidate's job performance."

Blue River PetCare Christopher Fort, Human Resources Manager

I had used Criteria for pre-employment testing at my last employer and found there was a high correlation between testing results and on-the-job performance. Criteria has the best array of tests out there, so it was a no-brainer to reach out to them when I moved companies. There was naturally skepticism when I first introduced CCAT results but now it’s one of the most important factors we look at when evaluating candidates. 

"Now it's one of the most important factors we look at when evaluating candidates."

Trintech Paula Wilson, Manager, Global Recruitment

We have used Criteria’s assessments as part of our hiring process for several years now with great success. The results have been very helpful in giving us insight into how well a candidate will do in our company. Whether it be their fit for a sales role, or just their capacity to learn quickly, the assessments have been instrumental in guiding our hiring decisions.

"The results have been very helpful."

Lion Real Estate Group, LLC Chantal Berube, Director of Human Resources

We use Criteria as part of the pre-employment screening process for all positions company-wide. I love that we can administer unlimited tests for the same affordable price and tailor the test packages according to the type of position. The system is easy to use and the support team is always quick to respond and follow up. I definitely recommend!

"The system is easy to use and the support team is always quick to respond and follow up."

Texas Nursing Services Nick Obuya, Owner

I have just started using your platform and it’s making a huge difference for us. It’s saving us valuable time in sorting out and sifting through the hundreds of resumes we have received. Your advice to apply the tests early in the process has saved us from wasting a lot of time on people who would have disappointed us and made us regret the hiring decision. It also helps us to see quickly what the standard ranges of a typical applicant should be and who is likely to fail in the job. I am speaking as someone who has had hundreds of resumes from Indeed or other hiring softwares and didn’t know how to begin or where to begin. Many people pay to get well-written resumes, but they can’t fake performance on the tests.

"It’s saving us valuable time in sorting out and sifting through the hundreds of resumes we have received."

EduCo Sin May Leong, Senior VP Human Resources

EduCo is a globally connected team of international education professionals that helps connect international students with a network of universities worldwide. With almost 400 staff in 19 countries, we made a great decision adopting the Criteria platform as an integral part of our talent acquisition process worldwide. We love that the digital platform is accessible 24/7 and across all time zones.

The testing process is very easy to administer and reports are generated automatically with great profiling and benchmarks available for common job types. Criteria also offers the option of using universal language which works well for our culturally diverse pool of candidates.

Importantly, we find the tests to be an accurate predictor of functional and organizational culture fit, helping us tailor the necessary support for line managers and new hires during their onboarding process. Sabrina, our Criteria Customer Success Manager, is fantastic and wonderfully responsive. She understands our business model and has been very proactive in helping us maximize the benefits of the system in line with our budget.

"Thank you Criteria for being right there with us in our digital revolution journey."

Big Ideas Social Media Mon Macutay, CEO

We are a small outsourcing firm in the Philippines servicing the needs of clients abroad. We used to manually process our applicants and just use gut feel to screen and prioritize. But now, with Criteria, we are able to scientifically quantify applicants based on the skills that our clients need. This, in turn, provides for a better hire and makes our clients happy with our services.

"With Criteria, we are able to scientifically quantify applicants based on the skills that our clients need."

Marine Federal Credit Union Shannon Bryan, AVP Human Resources

We were looking to streamline our initial selection process to save time with interviewing only those candidates that were within an acceptable range for our computer literacy and cognitive aptitude testing. We were finding that some applicants had difficulties operating computer programs and were struggling quite a bit in training (grasping new concepts), so the assessments help us focus on applicants that may be more successful in those areas. Also, with the personality testing, we are able to best match our employees with the positions they will be successful in as well as pairing them up with the best suited management as well.

We chose Criteria Corp after a good recommendation from a current user. We were impressed with the user-friendly system and reporting capability as well. We now interview less applicants and have narrowed down quality applicants by utilizing the testing ahead of the interview process.

We also really like having a dedicated Customer success manager! She is awesome!

Church of the Nazarene Global Ministry Center Allison Bergerat , Human Resources Assistant

Our organization had been using pre-employment testing for decades, however, it had become extremely outdated. In addition, the testing had to be done here onsite. With more and more applicants applying and interviewing from various locations, we needed to be able to test our applicants well before they ever physically came to our offices. With Criteria’s online platform, the problem was solved!

As we were exploring various testing platforms, we were particularly drawn to the unlimited testing subscription, the variety of tests available and the reassurance of test validity. We are a small organization, but knowing that Criteria is constantly performing studies on their services based on a very large pool of data from a significant number of clients is a huge benefit to our team.

Criteria’s completely online platform has allowed us to test applicants that are physically located far from our offices. Before Criteria, it was impossible to keep testing consistent between local applicants and applicants interviewing from afar. No matter the applicants’ locations, we can keep our application process in perfect order!

The result reports provide so much more than just test scores; they provide interpretations of the meaning behind the scores! Hiring managers can go into interviews well-equipped with the information provided in Criteria’s reports.

It simply feels great knowing we have a cutting-edge, effective testing system!

We very much appreciate the unlimited testing model as well as the ability to create our own test batteries based on our unique positions. The reports contain a wealth of information and insights.

Our customer success manager is amazing! In the distant past, our organization had been advised against using personality tests as they were thought to be a source of adverse impact in hiring. Our customer success manager helped me immensely in my “pitch” to start using the Employee Personality Profile as a standard part of our test batteries. Thanks to her, I succeeded and now hiring managers truly appreciate the value of the EPP! She is available for any type of question and I can always count on her to respond quickly and propose solutions.

In just a couple of years of working with Criteria, it is exciting to see that this company is constantly innovating and proposing new solutions and services, such as the Workplace Insights Report and the Emotify test option. Criteria is alive and not sitting still in the industry!

Linfox Poya Katebi, Senior Talent Business Partner

The following testimonial focuses on Criteria’s Video Interviewing product, highlighting a customer’s experience with the Criteria-owned Video Interviewing tool formerly known as Alcami.

We're a very fortunate organization in that we are inundated with applications for our graduate recruitment program. 

We really wanted to give each application the time and attention that it deserved. We really focused on improving the experience for all the key stakeholders by providing a better experience for our candidates, our hiring managers and our talent acquisition team. 

The reason we chose video interviewing was through a referral from another recruiter. They had a multinational organization. They had high volumes of roles and they were trying to show the diversity within their organization when engaging with candidates. They had very similar challenges to what we were experiencing. 

By using video interviewing, we’ve been able to reach a much broader audience than ever before and in a shorter amount of time. 

The system was very intuitive. It is very straightforward in regards to creating the video and adding content through a drag and drop user experience. 

"The candidate experience is better than ever. Candidates really get a feel for the people within the organization. They’re not just seeing a logo, walls and trucks. They get to meet people from Linfox as their first experience."

It was great to break down those barriers. When meeting applicants for the first time, face-to-face, they already know who I was, they know my team and they know some of the senior managers. From my end, I also felt I already knew the candidates as well.