The Predictive Index: The compass you didn’t know you needed

Would you go on any hike, vacation, or road trip without first understanding how to get there? Of course not. Without a sense of direction, it would be extremely difficult. The Predictive Index is a tool to help better understand people’s drives and motivations in the workplace. This can be useful in directing anyone entering the workforce where their core strengths lie, while any company that is looking to optimize their talent pool can use it to identify misplaced assets or fill holes in their organization. The Predictive Index provides direction to those looking for a career they love, or companies looking to optimize their talent pool.

Use the Behavioral Index to find a career

Many graduates are excited and anxious to find a career and join a great team. For those just entering the workforce like myself, we don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves into a job we won’t be happy or driven in. Yet, we don’t want to be searching for years for the “perfect job” either as we are eager to start our careers and begin climbing the corporate ladder. We are expected to know what direction we want to take in our professional career just like we were expected to know what we wanted to study going from high school to our college of choice. It is a stressful situation with potentially long-term ramifications, but the Predictive Index is a tool that can help alleviate some of the pressures and provide guidance when making decisions.

The Predictive Index’s Behavioral Assessment can provide eye-opening insight into how someone will behave at work. While many things will change over our careers, your personality traits are less likely to change. If you have been sociable you will want to continue to be sociable going forward. The Predictive Index keys on these behaviors to push you in the right direction. Measuring the four key factors listed below, the index can be that guide towards the type of environment you can thrive in.

• Dominance: The drive to exert one’s influence on people or events
• Extroversion: The drive for social interaction with other people
• Patience: The drive for consistency and stability
• Formality: The drive to conform to rules and structure

Employers can put new and current talent in positions to succeed

Employers can apply the Predictive Index to new candidates' prior to interviewing to see if they are the right fit for an open role, effectively helping narrow down applicants and saving time. This data-driven approach helps mitigate biases and instincts that recruiters may revert to when ensuring that top talent is hired. While this index shouldn’t be used as an end all be all, it is an additional decision-making tool that can supplement résumé experiences and increase employee retention. The Predictive Index can also be applied to a company’s workforce to identify talent that may be a better fit in other roles where their skill set is more applicable. This could be as simple as moving someone introverted out of a sales position and into a more comfortable role within the company.

While the Predictive Index won’t magically solve a graduate’s search for the perfect job or an employer’s desire to make every employee happy, it can be a powerful tool. So, when the future is uncertain, why not use that compass to help determine the right direction?

Need a sense of direction? Get in touch with our Team and we will be happy to provide more insight into Talent Optimization.