For more than three decades, Donaldsonville-based The Assessment Company has built its business around the premise that hiring success is driven more by finding the right fit than experience.
“We’ve really been successful in helping our clients reduce turnover and increase performance at the same time,” The Assessment Company CEO John Beck Jr. says.
A cornerstone of the company’s approach is what Beck calls “occupational DNA,” a proprietary process that analyzes an organization’s top performers to build a performance model for a specific role. Rather than relying solely on resumes and interviews, applicants are assessed against that model to determine how well they fit the position.
“What you look at when you’re hiring is the past, which is the skills and experience someone brings to the job,” Beck says. “We look at the present, which is the interview, and what we’re trying to do with assessments is predict the future.”
Founded by Beck’s father in 1993, the company has evolved alongside advances in technology. Beck acquired the company in 2011 and has served as CEO since. Once dependent on in-person consulting and software installed from floppy disks, the business now operates through cloud-based platforms that allow clients nationwide to administer assessments and manage hiring internally.
The technology upgrades enabled the company to conduct multiple meetings per day instead of relying on single, day-long appointments.
The company is also an authorized Wiley Workforce Solutions partner and, according to Beck, the largest North American provider of Wiley’s PXT Select assessment platform. Beyond hiring assessments, it offers safety quotient evaluations, integrity and work ethic assessments, and 360-degree leadership feedback programs.
Although its clients span the country, Beck intentionally relocated the business from Baton Rouge to Donaldsonville in 2000 to invest in his hometown.
“We were going back and supporting the community and trying to be a good positive force in the community,” he says.. “We bought homes here, renovated homes, bought buildings, renovated buildings. I was president of the Chamber of Commerce. I got involved. Really tried to contribute to the economic growth of Donaldsonville over the years.”
Earlier this month, The Assessment Company released The Private Employer’s Guide to Merit-Based Hiring, a free 27-page executive guide designed to help employers improve hiring decisions by defining job requirements before evaluating candidates and combining consistent, job-related evidence.
“Most hiring systems collect plenty of information. The problem is that employers often do not define what success requires before they begin comparing people,” Beck said in a statement announcing the guide. “Merit-based hiring starts with the job. It combines consistent, job-related evidence so the hiring team can make a clearer decision and explain why it made it.”
