Selection by Design
Hiring is too important to leave to chance.
A structured hiring system for making talent decisions based on data, not guessing.
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Most companies would never run finances or operations on gut feel.
So why are your most expensive hiring decisions not based on data? Résumés, interviews, and instincts don't answer what you actually need to know: "Can this specific person succeed in this specific role in this specific environment?"
A Structured System for Talent Decisions
Selection by Design transforms how you approach hiring, promotion, and placement as design decisions.
1. Clearly Define the Role First
Upstream
Eliminate risks for your most expensive decisions, using the CAPACITY Method™ for job benchmarking to surface what the role really requires.
2. Align Candidates to the Role
Midstream
Assess candidates with TriMetrix HD, measuring against clear standards for what the role actually needs instead of against other candidates.
3. Engage the People Who Stay
Downstream
Stronger role fit leads to better engagement and lower turnover rates. Clear expectations from day one have better outcomes for both employers and employees.
Performance = Capacity x Alignment
Make the hiring decision predictable. Selection by Design defines the two parts of the hiring equation to get strong performance from the start.
Capacity
What the role requires, defined by job benchmarking the eight dimensions that determine what it takes to succeed in the seat.
Alignment
How well the person matches, measured by multi-science assessments comparing a candidate's behaviors, motivators, judgment, and competencies to the benchmark.
The CAPACITY Method™
Elevate2Grow's structured approach to job benchmarking.
CAPACITY captures the full set of role demands across eight dimensions. Built on validated TTI Success Insights® multi-science methodology and Hartman-based acumen science.
The 8 Dimensions of CAPACITY
Together, these eight dimensions are a structured way to define what the seat requires before the first résumé is read.
Personal Drivers
The intrinsic motivators that will keep someone energized in this seat, and the ones that will drain them.
Approach
The behavioral style that matches the work. How decisions get made, how communication needs to flow, and how the person operates under pressure.
Context
The environment the role lives inside. Team dynamics, reporting relationships, pace, structure, and the cultural conditions that shape day-to-day performance.
Impact
The measurable outcomes the role exists to produce. If you cannot define the result, you cannot measure the hire.
Talent Alignment
How the person fits with the team around them, the leader above them, and the people who depend on them.
Yield
The return the organization should expect when the role is filled correctly, and the cost it will absorb when it is not.
Making the Right Hire with Selection by Design
- Clear, defensible hiring decisions: No more gut-feel tiebreakers or conflicting scorecards. You have a standard to measure against.
- Faster onboarding and ramp time: Expectations are clear before day one. New hires know what success looks like and can start delivering faster.
- Better retention: People placed where they can actually succeed stay longer and perform better. Role fit is the single biggest driver of engagement.
- Targeted development: When you know what the role requires and where gaps exist, development becomes strategic instead of generic.
- A repeatable system: Once you've done this for one role, you have a process you can apply across every critical hire in your organization.
Does Your Hiring Experience Lack Clear Role Definition?
Three inputs drive most hiring decisions:
- Résumés — Tell you what someone has done, not whether they can succeed in your environment
- Interviews — Reveal personality and communication style, not judgment or motivational fit
- Instinct — Based on gut feel and comparison to other candidates, not alignment to a clear standard
Without a clear definition of what the role actually requires, every interview evaluates against a moving target, asking the question of “Which candidate is better than the others?”
The real question should be: "Can this person succeed in this seat, in this environment?"
That question can only be answered when the role is clearly defined first.
The Cost of a Bad Hire
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Only 20% of employees worldwide are engaged at work.
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The direct cost of a bad hire is minimum 30% of annual salary — up to 5x for senior roles.
80% of employee turnover can be attributed to poor hiring decisions.
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Manger engagement has dropped 9 points since 2022.
Job Benchmarking & Selection By Design FAQs
What is job benchmarking?
Job benchmarking is the structured process of defining what success actually requires in a specific role — before any candidate is evaluated.
It captures:
- The outcomes the role exists to produce
- The level of judgment it demands
- The behaviors that drive performance in that environment
- The motivators that will sustain someone in the seat over time
Job benchmarking helps to eliminate risks for your most expensive decisions.
How long does job benchmarking take?
A CAPACITY benchmarking session typically takes 2-3 hours with the subject matter expert (SME).
That includes:
- Defining why the job exists
- Grouping key accountabilities
- Ranking + weighting
- Setting up assessment input
Do I need to benchmark every role?
No. Start with your most critical roles — the ones where a bad hire costs the most. Once you see how it works, you can expand to other roles.
Can I use this for current employees?
Yes. Job benchmarking isn't just for hiring. It's also valuable for promotion decisions, succession planning, and leadership development.
What if we're already in the middle of a search?
Great timing. You can still benchmark the role and use it to evaluate candidates currently in your pipeline. It's never too late to add clarity.
Do we need to use TriMetrix HD?
TriMetrix HD is the assessment we recommend because it measures all the dimensions that matter — behavior, motivation, judgment, and competencies. But the CAPACITY Method can work with other validated assessments if your organization already uses them.
What's the investment?
Contact us to discuss your specific hiring needs and get pricing details. Investment varies based on the number of roles and whether you're benchmarking for a single hire or building a repeatable system.
Why Leave Your Most Expensive Decisions to Chance?
You can design hiring instead of guessing at it.
Start with the role on your desk right now.