When building assessments for an organization, there are two primary pathways available: Peak and Base. The decision on which process to use depends on how information is gathered about a job and how the resulting profile is validated.
The Peak Process: For High-Volume and Critical Roles
The Peak process is a deep partnership designed for high-volume, organizationally critical positions, particularly when there is a specific challenge or problem the organization needs to solve, such as poor hiring outcomes.
Key Activities:
- Documentation Review: Assessment setup begins with a review of existing job descriptions or a specialized job form that captures the requirements, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the role.
- Focus Groups and Job Expert Surveys: Direct collaboration with subject matter experts to gather detailed job data.
- Please refer to Understanding Focus Groups & Understanding Job Expert Surveys for further information.
- Benchmarking: An initial version of the assessment is delivered to current employees. We then analyze response patterns to distinguish between higher and lower performers.
- Please refer to Understanding Benchmark Analysis for further information.
Compliance and Quality:
This process adheres to the highest industry standards, including those set by the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychologists (SIOP) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
Timeline:
Due to its thorough nature, the Peak process typically takes one to two months to complete.
The Base Process: For Efficiency and Speed
The Base process is ideal for organizations with lower hiring volume, defined roles and job requirements, limited incumbent data, or want a quicker, more streamlined process.
Key Activities:
- Documentation Review: Assessment setup begins with a review of existing job descriptions or a specialized job form that captures the requirements, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the role.
- Intake Call: An IO psychologist conducts a short discussion with a small group of subject matter experts to understand the role and determine which assessment components are necessary.
- Please refer to Understanding Intake Calls for more information.
Timeline:
Base assessments typically take between three to five days to set up.
Which Process Is Right for Your Organization?
To determine the best fit for your organization, consider the following key criteria:
- Hiring Volume:
- Peak: Best suited for higher-volume roles, where there is enough employee data to identify patterns in performance and retention. This allows the assessment to focus on the characteristics that distinguish employees who are more likely to succeed and stay.
- Base: Best suited for lower-volume roles, where there may not be enough employee data to reliably compare high and low performers. Instead, the assessment focuses more heavily on the duties, responsibilities, and requirements of the job.
- Uniqueness of Role:
- Peak: Best suited for highly unique roles that are shaped by how the organization operates. In these cases, a job title and job description may not fully capture what makes the role unique, so the Peak process develops a more detailed understanding of the position.
- Base: Best suited for standard roles that are similar across organizations or industries. For these positions, the job description and third-party job data are often sufficient to identify the requirements of the role.
By evaluating these factors, you can select the assessment strategy that best aligns with your organizational needs and resources.
Our Success team at support@highmatch.com will be happy to answer any additional questions if you are interested in learning more about Peak and Base assessments.