Early in my career, I spent considerable time defending client employee selection practices to prove that they were sound. I realized that if I could teach those clients and their HR teams the right way to set up and run a legally sound, scientifically-based employee selection process that I might have a sustainable business. This is the story of how I traded a secure job as a tenured college professor for the opportunity of a lifetime to transform employee selection for personnel in the paper industry and beyond.

Baby Boomers. Hard workers? Yes. But what happens as they leave the work force in droves?  Is there a way to navigate through this “Silver Tsunami”?

Until now, employee selection has been the least effective and most costly process that employers use. 

How costly? The average cost per employee that works for 20 years with pay and benefits of $100k is $2,000,000.00!

In light of this trend, here’s a proven approach to make employee selection an effective, respected, and lasting process. 

“Why do we have to interview everybody we test? Especially when there is a test score below which we definitely would not hire.”

There are three reasons...

It’s possible to consistently run an employee selection system at a yield that provides a nine in ten chance of success. If winning in the marketplace is tied to the talents and abilities of people on the team, who wouldn’t want such a guarantee?

What happens when organizations use tests with low validity (e.g. personality style assessments) to make employee selection decisions that have long-term consequences for an organization?

“Why do robust employee selection systems need to be based on the use of sound practices and established principles?”

“The real competitive advantage in any business is one word only …, people.”

— Kamil Toume, Writer and thought leader

"It's fine to have social media that connects us with old friends, but we need tools that help us discover new people as well."

-- Ethan Zuckerman, MIT Professor

I once knew a maintenance mechanic who had a completely organized toolbox. Literally blindfolded, he could reach into the box and find the right tool for the job. I wish we could all be that organized. I thought about the tools that are available to us for selecting people for a job and how to tell the “right” tools from the “wrong” ones.

A client once asked me, “What is selection decision-making really about?” I replied, “Discrimination.” He said, “That’s a rather harsh term, isn’t it?”

The demand for rigorous selection remains high despite the fact that I have worked for almost 40 years refining, designing, and installing the Nowlin Selection™ Process in many organizations.

Late in 2018, I joined an incredible team with a vision and skill set that helped revitalize and rebrand the Nowlin Selection™ Process as the 15dots Selection™ Process to 15dots. I was on fire with this new set of partners.

I am excited by the opportunity to enable organizations large and small to elevate, ah heck, revolutionize, their employee selection success.