CLEVELAND, OH--(Marketwired - Jul 15, 2015) - SHAKER, the market leader in custom simulations for pre-employment testing, today shared details of its strong momentum gained throughout the first half of 2015. Among SHAKER's successes during this period include the addition of multiple new Fortune 100 clients, expanded relationships with existing clients, key staff appointments, enhancements to its Virtual Job Tryout functionality and growing recognition of its expertise in the pre-employment assessments field.
"SHAKER is committed to changing the way companies evaluate talent, helping them make precision hiring decisions to ensure the best people are brought on board," said Joseph P. Murphy, SHAKER executive vice president. "As indicated by our stellar performance in the first half of 2015, Virtual Job Tryout fills a definite void in the market for an intuitive and informative pre-employment assessment tool that delivers an engaging candidate experience and the talent analytics needed to improve quality of hire. As we look toward the rest of the year, we expect this momentum and interest in Virtual Job Tryout to continue to grow as more employers recognize its power in helping them identify the candidates who can truly make a difference in their organizations."
Product Enhancements and Expanded Capabilities
SHAKER continually fine-tunes and expands the capabilities of Virtual Job Tryout, ensuring it meets the most pressing needs of today's hiring companies. Among the innovations introduced in the first half of the year include the release of a new call center agents suite, which includes five standard Virtual Job Tryouts geared toward the call center industry. As the industry is known for high turnover, this new suite provides the tools call center hiring managers need to hire well-qualified, engaged candidates and improve retention.
The company also launched a new Hiring Our Heroes initiative, aimed at supporting its clients' veteran hiring programs. By analyzing Virtual Job Tryout results, SHAKER identifies career-fit strengths among veterans entering the workforce that are less obvious to recruiters when comparing corporate experience against military backgrounds. As a result, companies can more clearly see the unique skills and expertise that veterans can bring, while giving veterans critical information about the civilian role to boost their understanding and confidence as they pursue civilian opportunities.
SHAKER continues to pioneer the use of mobile Virtual Job Tryout assessments. Recognizing how job candidates increasingly rely on their mobile devices to learn about companies and their open positions and apply, SHAKER's expanding team of selection scientists has been actively developing mobile assessment capabilities to meet this market shift and deliver a streamlined application process. In addition to leading the industry in developing job simulations and multi-method assessments to be conducted on mobile devices, SHAKER has also performed extensive research on the impact of such mobile assessments. The company collaborated with large global and regional retailers to gauge the effectiveness of mobile assessments on entry-level and management positions, and shared its forward-thinking expertise on the subject of mobile assessments in a comprehensive white paper.
Expanding Client Base
A growing number of organizations have partnered with SHAKER to transform how they hire qualified talent, relying on the company's Virtual Job Tryout to make informed, data-based hiring decisions. Among the new clients SHAKER gained in the first half of the year include the market leader in the aerospace industry, a major player in the internet-based retail space and a large global convenience retailer. Each of these companies is leveraging Virtual Job Tryout to improve the way they hire key talent, whether mid-level managers, store managers, field consultants or customer service agents. In addition to these new clients, SHAKER expanded its relationships with numerous existing clients across the financial, retail, healthcare, manufacturing and travel and leisure industries.
Strategic Additions
Among SHAKER's key strengths is its ability to continually innovate and bring new functionality to market. To achieve this goal, the company relies on a highly qualified, and always growing, team of Industrial-Organizational (I-O) psychologists and other professionals who can carry out the company's mission and maintain its momentum. Within the first six months of 2015, the company welcomed several key additions to the team, including:
- Jensen Mecca, Ph.D., content analytics associate, Design Build Team
- Jennifer Wason, communications specialist
- Derek Mracek, Ph.D., content analytics associate, Insights and R&D Teams
Growing Industry Presence
In addition to the team, client and product growth, SHAKER has also expanded its position as a thought leader. For instance, the company was featured prominently in an article in The Wall Street Journal on the topic of pre-hire assessment tests. SHAKER played a significant role at the Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology's 30th Annual Conference, SIOP 15. Held in April, the company presented at 10 sessions during the conference, highlighting its expertise in recruiting and assessments. In addition, SHAKER's executive vice president, Joseph P. Murphy, shared his insight and expertise, delivering a session at the recent Oracle HCM Users Group (OHUG) 2015 Global Conference and as a guest on the DriveThruHR internet radio show.
Looking Ahead
"The first half of 2015 has been extremely successful for SHAKER as we continue to meet market demand for innovative and intuitive solutions that revolutionize how companies objectively improve their quality of hire," said Murphy. "This strong performance sets the stage for continued positive results for the rest of the year as more talent acquisition professionals recognize the benefits of our unique Virtual Job Tryout technology and how our talent analytics lead to a faster time to hire, improved new hire retention and a more productive workforce."
About Shaker
SHAKER's Virtual Job Tryout® (VJT) technology, enables recruiters to combine the best of predictive analytics and human judgment. Recruiters identify best-fit candidates with more precision, increase new-hire retention and improve quality of hire. Virtual Job Tryout technology delivers pre-employment assessments as day-in-the-life experiences that educate and engage while obtaining a work sample that predicts job-fit and competencies critical for success. Virtual Job Tryout technology is available in standard as well as custom configurations. It has been deployed in most industries for entry level to mid-management positions. More information can be found at http://www.shakercg.com.