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Scientific Evidence

Your recruiting process is right 19% of the time. It can be twice as good.

Unstructured interviews — what most SMEs use — have a hit rate of 19%. Structured interviews reach 42%. This overview shows which selection methods actually work — based on the largest meta-analysis of the past 30 years.

The biggest surprise: IQ tests were considered the gold standard for decades (validity 0.51). The new analysis shows: it's only 0.23. Structured interviews clearly beat them.

Validity coefficients at a glance

The higher the value, the better the method predicts job success. Click a bar for details.

≥ 0.35 (very good)
0.25–0.34 (good)
0.15–0.24 (moderate)
< 0.15 (weak)
Click or hover over a method

How good is your recruiting process?

Most SMEs use unstructured interviews – the method with the lowest validity. A bad hire costs CHF 80'000–280'000. I'll show you how to make hires you can stand behind.

How neurodivergent talent gets lost through standard recruiting — and what three simple adjustments achieve: Read the article →

Book a workshop: CHF 190/person →

Or test right now: Start the NRI self-test →

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Scientific basis

The data is based on Sackett, P.R., Zhang, C., Berry, C.M., & Lievens, F. (2023): Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107, 2040–2068. DOI: 10.1037/apl0000994

Dr. Tobias Heilmann
Business Psychologist · Leadership · Recruiting · Neurodiversity
Dr. phil. UZH Lecturer ETH · UZH · ZHAW · HWZ 15+ years in practice