Hiring & Selection

Hiring Assessments and Pre-Employment Assessments

Hiring the right people starts with understanding what success looks like in the role, and what each candidate brings to it. Resumes and interviews provide valuable information, but they don't always reveal how someone naturally communicates, what drives them, how they approach workplace relationships, or which professional skills they have developed.

TTI Success Insights assessments add another layer of insight to the hiring process. By combining assessment data with job requirements, interviews, experience, and other relevant information, organizations can make more informed hiring decisions and build a clearer picture of each candidate. From DISC and 12 Driving Forces to EQ, DNA, ACI, and TTI's multi-science assessments, organizations can choose the assessment approach that best supports the role and hiring process.

What Is a Pre-Employment Assessment?

Unlike a resume, which primarily describes a person's experience and qualifications, an assessment can provide insight into how someone approaches work and interacts with others.

Depending on the assessment, hiring teams may gain insight into:

• Behavioral style
• Communication preferences
• Motivation
• Emotional intelligence
• Personal skills
• Workplace preferences
• Potential development opportunities
• How an individual's profile aligns with the requirements of a role

The goal isn't to replace interviews or professional judgment. A hiring assessment adds another source of structured information that can help hiring teams have better conversations and make more informed decisions.

Why Use Assessments in Hiring?

Hiring assessments can help organizations look beyond a candidate's resume and gain a deeper understanding of how they may approach the workplace.

Build a More Complete Candidate Profile

Every candidate brings a combination of experience, skills, behaviors, preferences, and personal characteristics to a role. Assessments help hiring teams explore dimensions that may not emerge during a traditional interview.

Create More Structured Hiring Conversations

Assessment results can give interviewers additional areas to explore. Instead of relying exclusively on general interview questions, hiring teams can use assessment insights to ask more targeted questions about how a candidate approaches communication, collaboration, problem-solving, motivation, and other aspects of the role.

Understand Behavioral and Motivational Differences

Two candidates may have similar qualifications while approaching work very differently. DISC and 12 Driving Forces can help hiring teams understand those differences and consider how they relate to the role and work environment.

Explore Emotional Intelligence

EQ provides insight into emotional intelligence across self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, social awareness, and social regulation. This can help hiring teams understand how candidates may manage emotions, respond to others, navigate interpersonal situations, and build effective workplace relationships.

Understand Thinking and Decision-Making

ACI provides insight into how individuals process information, approach judgment, and make decisions. This can help hiring teams understand how candidates may approach complex situations, evaluate information, and recognize potential thinking patterns or blind spots that could affect decision-making in the role.

Identify Skills and Development Opportunities

DNA provides insight into 25 personal skills across the domains of Relating, Thinking, and Working. This can help organizations understand existing capabilities and identify areas where additional development or support may be valuable.

Support Better Role Alignment

The goal of hiring isn't simply to find a qualified person. It's to find someone who can succeed in the role and contribute to the organization.

Job Benchmarking can help organizations define the behaviors, Driving Forces, emotional intelligence, and personal skills associated with success in a specific position before assessing candidates.

TTI Assessments for Hiring

TTI offers a range of assessments that can provide different types of insight during the hiring process. Organizations can use individual assessments for focused questions or combine multiple assessments for a more comprehensive candidate profile.

TTI's hiring solutions help organizations understand candidates across multiple dimensions rather than relying on a single data point.

Choosing the Right Hiring Assessment

The best hiring assessment depends on what you want to understand about the role and the candidate.

This isn't an exhaustive list. Many of these assessments still work for different hiring roles; they are starting points. The assessment should follow the hiring question. Start by defining what success looks like in the role, then select the assessment or combination of assessments that provides the most relevant insight.

Measure the Job, Then Understand the Candidate

One of the most effective ways to use assessments in hiring is to start with the position itself.

Once the role is defined, candidate assessment results can provide additional information about how each person approaches the position's requirements.

This creates a more intentional process:

How TTI Assessments Complement Interviews

Assessments aren't designed to replace the human side of hiring. They are built to make the process more informed.

For example, DISC may indicate a candidate has a strong preference for a particular communication style. That insight can lead to a more focused interview conversation about how the candidate communicates with customers, colleagues, or direct reports.

Similarly, 12 Driving Forces can help interviewers explore which aspects of the position may be especially engaging to the candidate, while DNA can identify personal skills worth discussing through examples from the candidate's experience.

The assessment provides another perspective. The interview provides context. Together, they can create a richer understanding of the person and the role.

Hiring Assessments for Different Types of Roles

Different positions require different combinations of behaviors, skills, and workplace characteristics.

Sales Roles

Sales professionals may benefit from insights into behavioral style, communication, Driving Forces, emotional intelligence, and personal skills.

DISC, 12 Driving Forces, EQ, and DNA can provide different perspectives that help organizations understand how candidates approach relationships, communication, persistence, and other aspects of sales work.

Customer-Facing Roles

Roles that involve frequent customer interaction can place a premium on communication and interpersonal effectiveness.

DISC can provide insight into behavioral and communication preferences, while EQ can provide additional perspective on emotional awareness and relationships.

Managers and People Leaders

Managers need more than technical expertise. They also need to communicate effectively, build relationships, manage competing priorities, and work with people who have different needs and perspectives.

DISC, EQ, 12 Driving Forces, DNA, and ACI can help organizations explore different dimensions of these capabilities.

Technical and Specialized Roles

Technical expertise remains an important part of many hiring decisions. TTI assessments can complement technical qualifications by providing insight into how candidates may communicate, collaborate, approach work, and contribute to a team.

Emerging Professionals

For candidates with less extensive work experience, assessment insights can provide additional information beyond what a traditional resume can.

DISC, 12 Driving Forces, and DNA can help organizations explore behavioral preferences, engagement, and personal skills while creating a more complete candidate profile.

The Benefits of Using Multiple Assessments

People are multidimensional. A single assessment can answer an important question, but combining multiple sciences can provide additional context. For example:

• DISC can help answer: How does this person tend to behave and communicate?
• 12 Driving Forces can help answer: What is likely to engage and energize this person?
• EQ can help answer: How does this person understand and manage emotions and relationships?
• DNA can help answer: Which personal skills are developed, and where is there room to grow?

A multi-science assessment brings these perspectives together, allowing organizations to explore the candidate from several relevant angles.

Are TTI Assessments Only for Hiring?

The same insights can support:

• Employee onboarding
• Professional development
• Coaching
• Leadership development
• Team building
• Communication
• Succession planning
• Career development
• Employee engagement
• Workplace culture

This means an assessment can become part of a broader talent strategy rather than being used only at the point of hire.

Using Assessments Responsibly in Hiring

TTI designs its hiring assessments with federal employment laws and EEOC guidelines in mind and provides partners with guidance and training on their appropriate use. TTI also conducts validation research and ongoing adverse-impact studies as part of its assessment development and review process.

Organizations using assessments in hiring should establish a consistent, job-related process and use assessment information appropriately as part of the broader hiring process.

For detailed information about TTI's approach to employment testing and compliance, see the TTI compliance page and the EEOC's guidance on employment tests and selection procedures.

Pre-Employment Assessment FAQs

What is a Pre-Employment Assessment?

A pre-employment assessment is a structured assessment used during the hiring process to provide additional insight into candidates. Depending on the assessment, it may measure behavioral style, Driving Forces, emotional intelligence, personal skills, or multiple dimensions together.

What are the Different Types of Hiring Assessments?

Hiring assessments can measure many different aspects of a candidate, including behavioral style, Driving Forces, emotional intelligence, personal skills, technical capabilities, and situational responses. TTI offers assessments including DISC, 12 Driving Forces, EQ, DNA, Talent Insights, TriMetrix DNA, TriMetrix EQ, and TriMetrix HD.

What is the Best Pre-Employment Assessment?

There isn't one assessment that is best for every position. The right assessment depends on what an organization wants to understand about the role and candidate. DISC can provide insight into behavior and communication, 12 Driving Forces explores what engages a person, EQ examines emotional intelligence, and DNA measures 25 personal skills. TTI's multi-science assessments combine multiple dimensions for a broader view.

Can DISC Be Used as a Hiring Assessment?

DISC can be incorporated into a hiring process to provide insight into behavioral style and communication preferences. TTI recommends using assessment insights as part of a structured, job-related hiring process rather than viewing a behavioral profile as a standalone hiring decision.

What Does the 12 Driving Forces Assessment Measure?

The 12 Driving Forces assessment explores the forces that influence what a person values and what engages them. In a hiring context, it can help organizations understand whether aspects of a role and work environment are likely to align with what the candidate finds meaningful.

What Does the TTI DNA Assessment Measure?

The DNA assessment measures 25 personal skills across the domains of Relating, Thinking, and Working. It can help organizations understand a candidate's current skill strengths and identify areas where additional development may be beneficial.

What Does the TTI EQ Assessment Measure?

TTI's EQ assessment provides insight into the five dimensions of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, social awareness, and social regulation. These insights can be especially useful when interpersonal effectiveness is important to a role.

What is a Multi-Science Assessment?

A multi-science assessment combines multiple dimensions of an individual's workplace profile into a single assessment experience or report. TTI offers multi-science approaches that can combine DISC, 12 Driving Forces, EQ, and DNA to provide a more comprehensive view of a candidate.

How Does Job Benchmarking Improve Hiring?

Job Benchmarking starts with the role rather than the candidate. It helps organizations define the behaviors, Driving Forces, emotional intelligence, and personal skills associated with success in a position. Candidate assessment results can then be considered in relation to those role requirements.

Are TTI Assessments Used After Someone is Hired?

Yes. TTI assessments can support the entire employee journey, including onboarding, professional development, coaching, team building, communication, leadership development, and succession planning.

What Makes TTI Assessments Different?

TTI takes a multi-science approach to understanding people at work. Rather than focusing on a single dimension, organizations can use DISC, 12 Driving Forces, EQ, DNA, and multi-science assessments to explore different aspects of workplace behavior, engagement, emotional intelligence, and skills. TTI also uses a research-based approach to assessment development, with an in-house research team focused on reliability, validity, and continuous improvement.