Orpheus helps Chemistry Recruitment make a difference

Chemistry Recruitment is one of the new breed of recruitment companies that offer a fundamentally different service to the market.  As part of this service, they create a full profile on each candidate so that clients can ultimately hire more accurately.   Chemistry use Orpheus, created by Professor John Rust, Director of the Psychometrics Centre, as part of this profiling package.

As Chemistry's founder, Roger Philby, puts it: "Too many recruitment companies base their decisions on gut instinct. Candidates are on a conveyor belt; clients end up with too many false positives on the shortlist - people who look OK in theory but turn out to be a disaster in practice.  Our job is to help clients succeed, not cost them unnecessary money"

So, what's different about Chemistry?

"Firstly, we don't assume all clients are the same. We look at a their businesses in depth. Then we use our own unique model to understand a candidate's intellect, values, motivation, behaviours and experience and assess the fit with the client. To do this we use rigorous, scientific data analysis and best-of-breed instruments. If our consultants need special training to use these techniques we give it to them and we ensure we have specialist expertise. For instance, we have a psychometrician on staff precisely so we use assessments like Orpheus professionally."

The proof of success, however is not in the process, but in the outcomes.

Chemistry combines Orpheus with a Behavioural Event Interview to create a very accurate picture of a candidate's profile. Roger comments: "Research undertaken by The British Psychological Society and at Chemistry Recruitment, indicates that our techniques are over 75% accurate in predicting a candidate's success in a new role, whereas our competitors are only around 25% successful."

Over the last 18 months Chemistry have administered the test to approximately 1,500 candidates for a huge variety of roles in numerous blue chip clients. For example: IT roles at PepsiCo and C&W, sales and marketing roles at Allied Bakeries, Disney and Expedia, executive management roles at Tarmac and Barclays and project management roles at Costain and C&W.

Roger Philby comments: "We have found that Orpheus is an essential predictor of a candidate's success in a new role.  We have used every personality profiling tool on the market and it is one of only two tests we now use every time.  The test is administered quickly, the reports are easy to use and the results consistently deliver an accurate snapshot of a candidate's profile."

Chemistry's clients confirm their success. Isabelle Hung, Head of Resourcing for Yell comments: "Chemistry are creative and flexible and deliver quantifiable results."