Field notes on hiring people for frontline work.
Hire smarter with our best articles, case studies, tips and tools.
2026 Pre-Hire Assessment Spend: The Data Breakdown
Companies are investing heavily in evaluating candidates before they even make an offer. But exactly how much are they spending, and where are those budgets going? If you want to understand the modern hiring landscape, you need to look at the numbers. At ThriveMap, we recently surveyed 200 talent acquisition leaders to uncover exactly how […]
AI Detection: A Small Feature That Solves a Growing Problem in Hiring
One of the biggest shifts in hiring over the past year hasn’t been a new tool, it’s been behaviour. Candidates are increasingly using AI to help them prepare, practise, and sometimes even complete pre-hire assessments. It’s understandable. The tools are accessible, the pressure to perform is high, and the line between “preparation” and “assistance” is […]
Are your hiring assessments legally defensible?
A bad hire hurts. But using assessments that can’t be legally justified? That can cost far more — in tribunal payouts, reputation, and compliance penalties. From the UK to North America, employment law is converging around one principle: selection tools must be fair, evidence-based, and clearly job-related. Regulators, candidates, and courts are now asking what […]
How to identify quality candidates (and why it’s not about who looks best on paper)
Hiring at scale can feel like a gamble. The CV looks strong, the interview goes well, they start. Then three weeks later, the person quits, underperforms, or just wasn’t the right fit. Identifying quality candidates is essential to long-term profitability. The cost of a bad hire in the UK ranges from 1.5 to 4 times the […]
Criterion Validity: How and Why To Measure It
Hiring is a guessing game. Almost 1 in 2 hires fail in the first 18 months and, if we’re honest with ourselves, we don’t usually validate that what we’re looking for in new hires is what we should actually be looking for. Some basic KSAs (knowledge, skills, and attributes) are more important than others depending […]
Construct Validity: How to Measure It and Why It Matters
Imagine you’re about to shoot an arrow at a target. You’ve been boasting to your friends about how accurate a shot you are, and this is your opportunity to prove it to them. You shoot the arrow and it hits the centre of the target. You load up the next arrow, it hits the centre […]
6 Critical Steps for Job Analysis: Find the Right Candidates
Jobs are constantly evolving. Roles and responsibilities change in reaction to new technologies, externalities, and cultural norms. And as the people in our organisations change, so do the jobs themselves. It’s easy to lose track of these changes, making it difficult to hire the right candidates. New tasks and responsibilities require new knowledge, behaviours and […]
Realistic Job Preview: 7 Great Examples to Inspire You
As humans, we naturally set expectations for the new experiences we take on in life. However, expectations don’t always align with reality. Often things aren’t as they seem from the outside. After reading a job description, a candidate may develop dangerously unrealistic expectations for their daily responsibilities, employee benefits, and work culture. But there are […]