profile updated Dec 16, 2008, 10:32 AM
Back in the old days, hiring was all about chemistry, which sounds altogether too scientific. Intuition might be a better word.
There were early pioneers like Eldon F. Wonderlic who attempted to introduce scientific methodology to the hiring process, creating tests to assess job candidate's capabilities. But it wasn't until companies began to appreciate the cost of making bad hires that the nascent assessment industry began to flourish.
By the late 1980s, when Shaker co-founders Brian M. Stern and Joseph P. Murphy began working together at a small management consulting firm, many companies were routinely testing their potential hires. In 1990 the two men, with two other partners, started a firm dedicated to executive development and large scale candidate evaluation. It was later acquired by SHL USA, the Americas division of Saville & Holdsworth, Ltd, one of the world's largest assessment publishers.
In 2002 Stern and Murphy formed Shaker Consulting Group, Inc. It delivers highly tailored and custom job simulations testing candidate performance. Branded as the Virtual Job Tryout, it helps predict a candidate's potential for success within specific organizations and jobs. At the same time, it also provides candidates a feel for the job, the skills they'll need and a sense of the corporate culture.
Together with other assessments and metrics-focused analyses of internal company processes, Shaker today provides hiring managers information on the performance potential of specific candidates and gives C-level executives and senior HR professionals a way of understanding how company culture impacts business results. Its assessments and feedback surveys help identify workforce strengths and weaknesses as well as assisting with succession planning.
Its "Realistic Job Preview" improves candidate interest by offering a multimedia overview of a job. It presents what Shaker says is "a balanced overview of the job - pros, cons, challenges, demands, rewards, in a manner that ensures the candidate knows what they are signing up for."
News & Updates 
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Recruiters Not Tracking, Reporting Staffing Waste (Shaker Consulting)
A survey of applicant tracking systems users reports that 72 percent of respondents do not know the cost of on-boarding for their highest-turnover position, and 86 percent of respondents are not asking candidates about their online employment application experience.
Shaker Consulting conducted the survey at the 2008 Taleo World User Conference.
Dec 31, 2008
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Products & Services
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Virtual Job Tryout
Job simulation that incorporates a multi-method assessment in the form of work samples, job relevant work history and work preferences exercises. The Virtual Job Tryout is a company branded, interactive, on-line work sample which can improve your hiring decisions by providing data that predicts on-the-job performance. It also delivers a compelling candidate experience. -
Interview Guides
A suite of interviewing tools that include training on candidate rating, competency questions that include behavioral components and customization of interview questions and techniques.