CLEVELAND, OH--(Marketwired - Sep 8, 2014) - SHAKER, the market leader in custom simulations for pre-employment testing, today announced details of its successful first half of 2014, including product enhancements, new client agreements and expansion of the company's talented team.
"Since our inception, we have been dedicated to helping our clients collect better data to improve their hiring processes and employee selection. In doing so, our clients are able to deliver an enhanced candidate experience that engages the right talent and improves their employer brand," said SHAKER executive vice president, Joseph Murphy. "As evidenced by our strong performance in the first six months of this year, our clients clearly agree that we are enabling them to raise the bar significantly in their staffing processes. We look forward to building on our momentum and closing out another year of exceptional innovation and smart growth."
Product Enhancements and Industry Validation
During the first half of the year, SHAKER continued to refine its industry-leading custom hiring simulation, Virtual Job Tryout®, which provides a day-in-the-life experience for candidates to take a realistic test drive of a position for which they applied.
In addition to inventing and implementing gamified enhancements for its custom job simulations, SHAKER expanded its Insights Team. This group provides ongoing talent analytics with client assessment and hiring data to ensure quality of hire continues to improve over time. Using sophisticated predictive modeling methods, the team of largely Ph.D. industrial and organizational psychologists analyzes performance metrics, turnover data and hiring data to reveal deep insights regarding candidate job fit. The outcome of these analyses lead to evidence-based improvements for each client's hiring processes. As a result, clients are experiencing even greater improvements in new hire performance and success on the job. As an example, one luxury retailer documented striking differences in the sales-to-goal performance based on scores on the Virtual Job Tryout. The measured improvements in quality of hire have led to changes in their hiring process for other key roles.
In the second quarter, SHAKER announced its achievement of Oracle® Validated Integration for Virtual Job Tryout with the Oracle Taleo Enterprise Edition Cloud Service, a component of Oracle Talent Management Cloud. Following shortly on the heels of that announcement, SHAKER shared news of its Silver-level sponsorship of the 2014 Candidate Experience (CandE) Awards, further underscoring the company's support of organizations who are elevating the importance of delivering positive, insightful and transparent candidate experiences.
Growth of Client Base
Organizations signing on to take advantage of SHAKER's Virtual Job Tryout to identify top talent include many well-respected national retailers, including a large U.S. pharmacy and one of the world's largest tire companies. For one retailer with more than 7,000 stores nationwide, SHAKER reduced the company's 90-day turnover rate by 55 percent for an hourly retail role. This dramatic increase in new hire retention improves customer service in the stores, reduces recruiting and training costs, and generates a measureable return on investment.
In addition to numerous retailers, new engagements were awarded in the financial services industry, healthcare, logistics/distribution and manufacturing sectors. A major national bank and well-known national health club, for example, are also benefiting from SHAKER's advanced simulation solutions. Engagements in the first half of 2014 address a wide range of job titles from individual contributors to high level professionals and general manager level roles.
Strategic Additions
As SHAKER continues to capitalize on increasing market demand for its innovative solutions, several experienced professionals joined the talented SHAKER team. The company will look to these leaders to build on the momentum achieved in recent years. In addition to expanding the SHAKER team in Raleigh, additional talented professionals joining SHAKER include:
- Ken Graham, Ph.D., senior consultant
- Jared Ferrell, Ph.D. (anticipated), consultant, Virtual Job Tryout Design/Build Team
- Hsien-Yao Swee, Ph.D., I/O psychologist, Insights Team
- Luiz Xavier, Ph.D., I/O psychologist, Insights Team
- Alison E. Carr, Ph.D. (anticipated), I/O psychologist, Insights Team
Future Growth
To further its market leader position, SHAKER will continue the expansion of its award-winning product and solution portfolio in the coming quarters. In addition, the newly expanded Insights Team will continue to focus on using job-fit evidence and predictive analytics to make SHAKER's solutions even smarter over time.
"Our strong growth can be attributed to an increased demand among employers who have been searching for screening solutions that are based on sound science and analytics. In the next half of the year and beyond, SHAKER will remain focused on being responsive to our clients' needs, ensuring they have the information to make better hiring decisions and deliver a uniquely positive candidate experience," said Murphy.
About SHAKER
SHAKER is a leader in developing custom simulations for pre-employment testing. They bring science to talent. Their proprietary and award winning Virtual Job Tryout presents candidates with a day-in-the-life experience that educates and engages the individual, while obtaining a work sample that predicts job-fit and competencies critical for success. Virtual Job Tryout has been deployed across most industries for positions from entry-level to mid-management. Clients benefit from reduced administrative effort, increased new hire retention, and improved quality of hire. More information can be found at http://www.shakercg.com