How Hiring Can Be Predictable

Jim Collins, in Good to Great, made one thing clear: success starts with who, not what. Yet, many companies scrutinize leadership hires while taking a relaxed approach to entry-level roles—a critical mistake.

Hiring shouldn’t be a gamble. Traditional methods—resumes, gut instinct, and unstructured interviews—lead to inconsistent hires, high turnover, and lost productivity. The truth? Turnover starts the moment an offer is made.

The key to hiring success lies in behavioral science. A structured process that includes behavioral and cognitive assessments can predict job success with up to 75% accuracy. It’s not just about asking better questions, it’s about scoring job fit, motivation, and values with precision.

Three Hiring Truths I Live By

Over my career, I’ve come to believe in three simple but powerful hiring truths:

1. People are hired for what they know but are terminated for poor work behaviors.

2. If you don’t hire well, be prepared to hire often—because you will.

3. The best outcome for a poor hiring decision is that they quit. The real headache begins when they stay.

Unfortunately, when bad hires stick around, it’s the loyal, high-performing employees who suffer the most.  Dedicated workers want colleagues who share their commitment, not ones who drag the team down.

Here’s how The Predictive Index transforms hiring from guesswork into strategy.

Six Questions That Reveal the Value of The Predictive Index

Hiring decisions often feel like a gamble. No hiring manager, no matter how experienced, can accurately predict a candidate’s long-term success based on a resume and an interview alone.

Resumes only tell part of the story, and even the most promising candidates don’t always perform as expected. Skills and experience matter, but behavioral fit determines long-term success—how someone communicates, makes decisions, and interacts with their team.

By measuring key behavioral drives (using validated behavioral science), PI can help you make hiring decisions as predictable as yesterday’s weather—rather than rolling the dice.

1. Are you relying solely on a resume and interview to predict success?

·         Without PI: Resumes showcase what candidates have done, but they don’t reveal how they behave in a work environment. Interviews can be biased, with hiring managers, favoring candidates they like rather than those who are the best fit.

·         With PI: You gain behavioral insights that predict how a candidate will perform, communicate, and adapt. PI’s assessments identify natural strengths and potential gaps before making a hiring decision.

2. How much time and money do you spend replacing bad hires?

·         Without PI: A bad hire costs far more than just their salary—there’s lost productivity, damaged team morale, and the time spent rehiring and retraining. SHRM estimates a bad hire can cost up to five times the person’s salary, depending on the level of position. Even for an entry level position, turnover costs thousands per position.

·         With PI: You reduce costly hiring mistakes by ensuring candidates align with both the job and the team. PI’s Job Targeting feature helps define the right behavioral fit before posting the job, preventing mismatches.

3. Are your top performers hired by luck or by design?

·         Without PI: You may recognize your best employees, but do you know why they succeed? If you’re not measuring behavioral traits, you’re hiring based on intuition rather than a structured, data-driven approach.

·         With PI: You can replicate success by identifying what makes top performers excel and use that data to hire people with similar strengths. PI enables hiring for job fit, not just for skills.

4. Do you struggle with employee engagement and turnover?

·         Without PI: Employees disengage when they don’t fit their role or team. They may feel frustrated, misunderstood, or out of sync with leadership. High turnover is often the result of poor job fit.

·         With PI: You can tailor management and communication styles to each employee’s behavioral needs, improving engagement and retention. People stay longer when they feel understood, valued, and set up for success.

5. How confident are you that your hiring managers make objective decisions?

·         Without PI: Every hiring manager has biases—some prefer candidates who remind them of themselves, while others prioritize charisma over capability. Unstructured hiring leads to inconsistent results.

·         With PI: Hiring decisions become objective, predictable, and data driven. PI ensures hiring managers evaluate candidates based on job fit rather than personal preference.

6. Can you predict how a candidate will fit within your team?

·         Without PI: A candidate may have the right skills, but if they clash with their manager or team culture, productivity suffers. Many workplace conflicts could have been prevented by understanding behavioral drives before hiring.

·         With PI: PI helps predict team dynamics before hiring. You can assess how a candidate complements the existing team and whether their work style fits the team’s needs—leading to smoother collaboration and faster onboarding.

Typical Hiring Outcomes

Every hiring decision has lasting consequences. When companies rely solely on resumes and unstructured interviews, they often end up with employees whose behavioral traits don’t align with the role, manager expectation or team dynamics.

Here’s a look at some common hiring missteps and how PI could have prevented them.

·         I wanted a team player but got someone who challenges leadership decisions.

·         I wanted a strong communicator but got someone who avoids conversations.

·         I needed someone adaptable and fast-moving but got a methodical perfectionist.

·         I needed a creative problem solver but got someone rigid and by-the-book.

·         I wanted someone quick to connect and engage, but I got someone reserved and methodical.

·         I needed a proactive go-getter but got someone hesitant and resistant to change.

·         I wanted someone who was disciplined and detailed but got someone who procrastinates and struggles with following up. 

Each of these misalignments could have been predicted before the hire was made—and that’s the power of PI.

Final Thoughts: The Difference Between Hiring and Hiring Right

Hiring mistakes often stem from misaligned behavioral traits, not a lack of skills. Resumes and interviews tell you what someone has done, but The Predictive Index shows you how they will behave in your workplace.

One of our manufacturing clients used PI to target candidates who were team players, task-oriented, comfortable with repetition, and followed structured processes (operating procedures, safety rules, HR policies, and quality standards).

The results?  A plant turnaround with reduced turnover, increased gross margin, better quality and customer satisfaction metrics, fewer safety incidents, and higher engagement scores

Hiring without The Predictive Index is like taking a road trip without GPS—you might reach your destination, but how many times will you have to backtrack, change course, or start over?

It belongs in every company in America.

 Interested in learning more about the Predictive Index? Schedule a Call Today!