People Operating System · Attract
The Recruitment System
Your best-practice hiring process, with the Predictive Index built in.
This is your system to keep. You built it with us.
Here's how you run it, every time, without us in the room.
How to use this hub
This is your recruitment system. The process you now run to hire the right people, with PI built in at every decision. It is not a manual about the tool. When you open a role, start at the process and work down.
The one rule that makes this work
Run the whole process, every time. The value isn't in any single step. It's in doing them in order, on every hire. The moment you skip the Job Target ‘just this once’, you're back to hiring on gut. The discipline is the product.
Part 1
Your recruitment process
Every hire runs through the same steps, in order. The process is the same whether you're hiring a warehouse operator or a senior leader. What changes is the depth at each step, not the steps. We show you how to scale the rigour up or down as you go.
1
Define the role
Before the role opens, set a PI Job Target. This is the behavioural and cognitive profile of who succeeds. It is the foundation everything else measures against.
2
Open & approve
Open the role and run your internal approvals. This part is mostly your setup. Your systems, your sign-offs, your forms.
3
Advertise, with the Behavioural Assessment built in
Write the job advertisement using language from the PI Job Report not just the job description. Then put the PI Behavioural Assessment link in the advert, so every applicant completes it as part of applying"Step 1: Take this quick 5 minute assessment".
Their behavioural results are waiting for you before you screen a single CV. For very high-volume or junior roles, you can hold the assessment to the shortlist instead.
4
Screen, with behavioural data in hand
Shortlist against the role's real requirements, and now you do it with each applicant's behavioural fit already visible. You're no longer screening on CV alone. This is fit-to-target, not gut, from the very first cut. It's the step that replaces ‘we just liked them on paper’.
5
First interview with tailored behavioural questions
Pull the PI Interview Guide for each candidate. PI generates it from the candidate-to-target comparison, so it points you straight at where they stretch from the role and gives you the questions to probe it. Lean on Obi, PI's built-in AI assistant, to interpret the behavioural data and sharpen your questions in seconds. Obi surfaces the insight, you still make the call. Every interviewer works from the same guide and the same values-fit questions, so candidates stay comparable.
6
Cognitive Assessment, before the second interview
Send the PI Cognitive Assessment to the candidates you're progressing, after the first interview and before the second. You invest the candidate's time here only once they're worth progressing. If a role runs just one interview, send the Cognitive Assessment before it. See section 3 for how to read it and why the timing matters.
7
Select BASED ON THE WHOLE PERSON
Make the decision on the scorecard, not in the corridor. Score each candidate on fit-to-target, cognitive fit, interview, and experience. The strongest on the evidence is your hire.
8
Check & offer
Run your reference and background checks, then make the offer. This comes after the evidence-based decision, not as a way to talk yourself into a gut pick.
9
Onboard
A hire isn't successful until the person is in and performing. Give each new hire's manager a short PI-tailored onboarding guide. It shows how to induct and settle this specific person, based on their profile.
10
PI debrief on day one
On their first day, the new starter and their manager sit down and go through both their PI results together. Not the manager reading the new person's profile, but the two of them sharing how each is wired: how they like to work, communicate, and make decisions. It's a simple conversation that builds trust and understanding before any friction has a chance to form, and it sets a strong foundation for the working relationship from the very first day.
Your setup
The parts that are specific to you live here. We complete these together during your engagement:
[ Your role-approval steps · your sourcing channels · your interview stages · your reference and background checks ]
Part 2
Watch each step
A short video for every step of the process. Watch the whole set once to see how a hire flows, or pull up a single step whenever you need to see exactly how it's done.
1
Define the role
Setting the PI Job Target before the role opens.
2
Open & approve
Opening the role and running it through your internal approvals.
3
Advertise, with the Behavioural Assessment built in
Putting the Behavioural Assessment link in the job ad so applicants complete it as they apply.
4
Screen, with behavioural data in hand
Shortlisting with each applicant's behavioural fit already visible.
5
First interview with tailored behavioural questions
Pulling the PI Interview Guide and using Obi to sharpen your questions.
6
Cognitive Assessment, before the second interview
Sending the Cognitive Assessment to candidates you're progressing.
7
Select BASED ON THE WHOLE PERSON
Scoring each candidate on the scorecard and deciding on the evidence.
8
Check & offer
Running reference and background checks, then making the offer.
9
Onboard
Giving the manager a PI-tailored onboarding guide for the new hire.
10
PI debrief on day one
The new starter and their manager going through both their PI results together.
Part 3
PI Foundations & videos
Everything you need to run PI in your hiring, on video. If you're new to PI, watch the four Foundations videos in order first. After that, the how-to videos are here whenever you need to do a specific task. You don't need to be a PI expert. You need just enough to run this process, and it's all here.
Foundations · watch these three in order · about 61 minutes total
1
The Science Behind PI
21 minutes
2
The Four Factors
10 minutes
3
Factor Combinations
30 minutes
How-to videos
Short task videos. Pull up the one you need, when you need it. No particular order.
HOW TO
Send the Job Assessment to managers
HOW TO
Create a link for your job ad
HOW TO
Share PI links with an external recruiter
HOW TO
Set a Job Target when managers don't agree
HOW TO
Look at candidates against a job profile
More coming
We add how-to videos as we build them. Ask us if there's one you need.
Part 4
The Cognitive Assessment
This is the one people get wrong most often. It's also the strongest single predictor of whether someone will succeed in a role. Read this section before you send it, and read it again before you judge a score.
Watch first
What it measures, how to read the score against the role, and when to send it. Watch this before you issue your first one.
15 MINUTES
What it is
The Cognitive Assessment measures a person's capacity to learn, adapt, and grasp new concepts. It tells you how quickly someone can be expected to get up to speed and handle complexity in the role.
Cognitive ability is the single strongest predictor of on-the-job success. That's why it matters, and why it's worth doing well.
It is not an IQ test. It's a short, timed, workplace measure. It takes about 12 minutes, and the raw score converts to a scaled score. Treat it as one piece of evidence, not a verdict on how clever someone is.
How to read it
Read the score against the target for the role, not against some idea of ‘high is good’. This is the mistake almost everyone makes.
A higher score is not automatically a better hire. What you want is fit to the role's real cognitive demand. A score well above the target can mean someone will be under-stretched and restless in a routine role, just as a score below the target can mean someone will struggle to keep pace in a complex one.
So the question is never ‘did they score well?’. It's ‘do they match what this role actually needs?’
When to send it
Send the Cognitive Assessment after the first interview, and before the second. You send it only to the candidates you're seriously progressing.
This is deliberate. The assessment is a real ask of a candidate's time, so you don't send it to everyone up front. You interview first, decide who's worth progressing, then send it to that smaller group before the second interview.
If a role runs only one interview, send the Behavioural and Cognitive assessments together, before that interview.
Part 5
Your hiring tools
The templates you use on every hire. These make the process repeatable and consistent, whoever runs it.
Interview guide
Role-specific, generated by PI from the candidate-to-target comparison. It points you at the gaps to probe. Every interviewer works from the same guide.
Values-fit questions
A consistent set asked of every candidate, so culture-fit is assessed the same way each time, not on a feeling.
Selection scorecard
Score every candidate the same way: fit-to-target, cognitive fit, interview, values, experience. The decision is evidence-based and comparable.
Onboarding guide
A one-page, PI-tailored guide for each new hire's manager. How to induct, communicate with, and settle this specific person.
Part 6
Handling pushback
You'll meet resistance, usually from a busy hiring manager. The goal is never to force it. It's to explain the value and let them choose well. Here's what to say.
“I don't have time for the Job Assessment.”
It takes 10 minutes, and it's what makes sure we hire someone who's still right in six months. Getting this wrong costs far more than ten minutes. Happy to do it together right now.
“Why do we need this?”
It tells us the kind of person who'll succeed in the role, behaviourally, not just on paper. Behaviour and cognitive ability are proven predictors of who works out. It takes the guesswork out.
“Is this assessing me?”
No. It's about the role, not you. It defines what the role needs. The questions don't relate to you personally.
“This candidate scored low on cognitive. Do we drop them?”
Not on its own. We read cognitive against what the role actually needs, not against a high-score ideal. If they match the target for this role, a lower number isn't a problem. Let's look at the fit, not just the score.
“I don't like the candidate the profile suggests.”
Let's look at why. Either the target needs adjusting, maybe the role was profiled slightly off, or the profile is surfacing something worth talking through. Let's review the target together first.
“Can you just fill in the assessment for me?”
I can, based on what you tell me, but it's more accurate if you do it since you know the role best. I'll send you the result to confirm either way.
Part 7
Keeping the standard
A process only works if it stays strong. Here's how to keep it that way, and how to know when to bring us back in.
Audit your own hires
After each hire, check it against the standard. Five yeses means you ran the system. A no is where to tighten up next time.
- Was a Job Target set before the role opened?
- Did shortlisted candidates take the Behavioural Assessment and get read against the target?
- Was the interview structured, using the PI guide, with consistent values-fit questions?
- Was the decision made on the scorecard, not gut?
- Did the new hire get a PI-tailored onboarding guide?
When to bring Red Wolf back in
Want your managers capable with PI, not just in hiring but in how they lead day to day? That's Leadership Odyssey.
Want to map and pipeline talent before roles go vacant? That's the Grow pillar, Seeing Talent.
Want a clear, evidenced employer brand that pulls the right people to you? That's EVP Build.
Want structured onboarding across the business? That's a dedicated onboarding engagement, beyond the light guide here.
Measure candidate experience
Ask candidates for quick feedback on the process. Where they dropped off, how it felt. A short survey after each hire tells you whether the process is working and where it leaks. It also protects your employer brand. Candidates who have a good experience talk, even the ones you don't hire.
You built this. Now run it.
Open it, follow the process, keep the standard.
You've run three hires on this system with us alongside you. This hub is your reference for every hire after. When you're ready to go further, you know where we are.
1. The process
2. Walk through it
3. PI Foundations & videos
4. The Cognitive Assessment
5. Your tools
6. Handling pushback
7. Keeping the standard