Hiring Assessments for
Smarter Talent Decisions
One Assessment.
A Dozen Free Reports.
Better Hires.
Hiring the wrong person costs your organization times, money, and morale. What if you could understand a candidate's thinking skills, behavioral traits, and motivational interests before you make an offer?
PXT Select is a scientifically validated hiring assessment from Wiley, built on over 30 years of research. it gives hiring managers and HR professionals the data they need to screen candidates, compare applicants to a job-specific performance model, ask better interview and reference check questions, and make confident hiring decisions. Then, continue using the same data to onboard, coach, and develop employees for years to come.
At Work Ignited, we help organizations implement PXT Select quickly and affordably. Whether you want your own dashboard to manage assessments in-house or you'd like us to run them for you, we make it easy to get started - often in just a few hours.
What is PXT Select?
PXT Select is a multiple-choice, online assessment that measures three dimensions of a candidate or employee.
Thinking Style
How a person processes information, solves problems, and communicates.
PXT Select measures verbal and numerical skills and reasoning, giving you a composite picture of a candidate's cognitive abilities.
Behavioral Traits
Nine workplace behaviors that influence how someone approaches their job: Pace, Assertiveness, Sociability, Conformity, Outlook, Decisiveness, Accommodation, Independence, and Judgment. These aren't "good" or "bad." they're about fit for the specific role.
Motivational Interests
What motivates a person. PXT Select ranks six interest areas: Creative, Enterprising, Financial/Admin, People Service, Mechanical, and Technical, helping you understand whether a candidate will find the work fulfilling and stay engaged over time.
The assessment takes most candidates about 45 minutes to complete and uses computerized adaptive testing, which means the questions adjust based on each person's responses. This reduces assessment fatigue and makes the results incredibly accurate.
How PXT Select Works: The Performance Model
This is where PXT Select becomes truly powerful and what sets it apart from simpler personality of hiring tests.
Before you assess a single candidate, we help you build a Performance Model for the role you're filling. A Performance Model is a snapshot of the ideal thinking skills, behavioral traits, and interests for that specific job. It's not a generic template, but a profile based on what actually drives success in that position within your organization. This gets your team on the same page about the qualities of the ideal applicant.
3 Ways to Build a Performance Model
Library Models: PXT Select includes a growing library of pre-built models aligned with common job roles, developed using tens of thousands of top and bottom performers. Use these as-is or as a starting point.
Job Analysis Surveys: Supervisors and others who know the job well complete a survey about job-related activities. This data is combined with a Library model to create a customized fit for your organization.
Concurrent Studies: Assess your current top performers and let the system build a model based on what makes them successful. You can even use low-performer data so you know what to avoid.
We'll work with you to build Performance Models that reflect your organization's unique culture, values, and expectations. So, you're not just hiring based on a job description. You're hiring based on what actually predicts success at your company.
PXT Select Reports:
One Assessment. Over a Dozen Free Reports.
For Hiring and Candidate Selection
Comprehensive Selection Report: The primary hiring report shows one candidate's results compared to the Performance Model in both graph and narrative form, including a percent fit score. Get customized interview questions so you and the hiring manager know just where to probe during the process.
Multiple Candidates Report: Compare finalists for the same role so you can see, at a glance, who fits best and where each person's strengths and gaps are.
Multiple Positions Report — Have a strong candidate who might fit several open roles? This report ranks one person to multiple Performance Models by fit percentage making this perfect for internal mobility, succession planning, and "best seat on the bus" decisions.
For Onboarding and Coaching
Coaching Report: Give this to the new hire's manager to provide personalized coaching tips for each scale, showing how the employee approaches their work and where they might benefit from support.
Manager-Employee Report: Compares the manager's behavioral traits to the employee's, side by side. It provides practical tips for building an effective working relationship from day one.
Individual's Feedback Report: A candidate-safe version with no scores and no Performance Model comparison. Written in a positive, constructive tone, it's perfect for sharing with new hires during onboarding to help them understand their own working style.
For Teams, Leadership and Succession Planning
Leadership and Sales Reports: Drill down for deeper insight about an individual's ability to lead or to thrive in a sales role.
Team Report: See how all team members compare across the nine behavioral traits. Each person gets a personalized version with tips for how their style interacts with the team's dynamics. Great for team-building sessions and identifying cultural gaps.
Multiple Positions Report: Compare a high-potential employee to future roles in your organization for succession planning, to understand development gaps, and to define targeted career paths.
Why Organizations Choose PXT Select
Over Other Hiring Assessments
If you've looked at other tools, you've probably discovered that they are either too basic, too complicated, or honestly, not suitable for candidate screening. At Work Ignited, we work hard to ensure we provide only top-rated, scientifically-backed assessment products that are also simple to administer and cost effective for your organization.
Measures the
Whole Person
Many assessments focus only on personality or only on cognitive ability. PXT Select measures both, plus motivational interests. You get a complete, three-dimensional view of every candidate.
Customized
Interview Questions
PXT Select doesn't just give a fit score, it generates behavioral interview questions specific to each candidate, with "listen for" tips so you know what a strong answer sounds like.
The Data Keeps Working After the Hire
Assessments are often lost after the start date. PXT Select fuels onboarding, team building, coaching, leadership, succession planning, and more. The ROI compounds over the entire employee lifecycle.
Backed by
30 Years of Research
Published by Wiley, PXT Select uses computerized adaptive testing for precision and has been validated across industries and job levels worldwide.
Free Report: The State of Hiring
Understand the impact of
Unconscious Bias
on hiring and promotional decisions.
Plus, get ideas for building a more inclusive workplace.
Download our State of Hiring report today!
How to Get Started with PXT Select
Getting up and running with PXT Select is simpler than you think. Here's how it works:
Choose Your
Approach
Choose to manage PXT Select through your own dashboard, or have us run assessments for you. If your hiring volume is low or you just want to try it out, having us manage it is a great way to start. For organizations with regular hiring needs, your own dashboard gives you full control.
Build Your
Performance Models
We'll walk you through building Performance Models for your key roles. This is the most important step, and it's where our experience makes a real difference. We've helped organizations across healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, education, technology, and more get this right.
Become a PXT Select Expert Practitioner
Our free, virtual, self-paced course teaches you to use PXT Select assessments across the entire employee life cycle. Then, we'll help you turn data into actionable insights, while boosting your knowledge, toolkit, and confidence with the tools.
Assess Your
Candidates
You'll have the ability to assess candidates as they apply or after you prescreen them. Results are available immediately.
Plus, you get our ongoing support whenever you need it.
How Much Does PXT Select Cost?
The PXT Select assessment costs $295 including the Comprehensive Selection Report, Leadership and Sales specialty reports, Individual Report for Onboarding, Coaching and Manager-Employee Reports for development, Team Reports, and more. You get the entire suite for each candidate for one low price. Plus, volume discounts are available for as few as 10 assessments and enterprise licenses are available as well.
We'll get you up and running, train your team and your managers, help you build your initial Performance Models.
Your own administrative dashboard and our friendly and responsive service is free, as long as you continue to purchase profiles from us.
Frequently Asked Questions About PXT Select
What does PXT Select measure?
PXT Select measures three areas: Thinking Style (cognitive abilities like verbal skill, verbal reasoning, numerical ability, and numeric reasoning), Behavioral Traits (nine workplace behaviors including pace, assertiveness, sociability, and more), and Interests (six motivational interest areas). Together, these give you a comprehensive view of a candidate's potential fit for any role.
How long does the PXT Select assessment take?
Most candidates complete the assessment in about 45 minutes. Some finish faster, others need a bit more time. The assessment uses computerized adaptive testing to prevent assessment fatigue and adjust difficulty based on each person's responses. Results are available as soon as the candidate finishes the questionnaire.
Can I use PXT Select for current employees, not just candidates?
Absolutely. Many of our clients use PXT Select for onboarding, coaching, internal promotions, team development, succession planning, career pathing, and more. The Coaching Report, Manager-Employee Report, Multiple Positions Report, and Team Report are specifically designed for these purposes.
How is PXT Select different from other assessments like DiSC, WorkPlace Big Five Profile, Predictive Index, and Hogan?
Everything DiSC measures behavioral styles for communication, teamwork, and development. It is not advised to use DiSC for candidate screening, as people can adapt their behaviors during the process. The WorkPlace Big Five Profile and Predictive Index are authorized for candidate screening, however, they are one dimensional tools that only measure personality or behavioral traits. PXT Select measures personality traits, thinking skills, and motivational interests for the same price. Hogan provides powerful assessments that are typically more complicated to understand, require deeper certification levels, and come at a higher price point.
Do I need certification to use PXT Select?
No. Certification is not required. A self-paced, virtual program will get you up to speed very quickly. Then, we provide hands on support for creating Performance Models, dashboard training, and helping you identify the best way to make PXT Select come to life in your organization.
Can I get my own dashboard to manage assessments?
Absolutely. In fact, we always say, "the keeper of the data has all the power!" We'll set up your dashboard at no charge, train you to use it, and support you on an ongoing basis as long as you continue to purchase your profiles from us. If you're hiring volume is low, we can also run assessments for you on a per-assessment basis.
What industries use PXT Select?
PXT Select is used across virtually every industry. Our clients use it in healthcare, manufacturing, financial services, technology, sales, education, not-for-profits, sports and entertainment, and more.
Is PXT Select best for certain levels within an organization?
PXT Select can be used at any level in an organization from entry level to executive level positions. The Performance Model library contains hundreds of proven profiles from all industries and levels within organizations.
A unique report is available for Leadership so you can understand how someone will set vision, develop people, and perform other leadership functions. A Comprehensive Selection Report has also been customized for sales positions, with the most notable difference being the types of interview questions the report recommends. A Customer Service Profile has been developed for those in front line service roles and a Step One Survey is available for the most entry level positions. All of these tools are included in your dashboard.
What if we're not interested in testing for cognitive ability or thinking skills?
PXT Select is available in a "non-cognitive" version that only assesses for behavioral traits and motivational interests. In some cases, you might choose to use this version. However, know that many studies have shown that cognitive skills are a strong predictor of performance in many positions. Also, cognitive skills are very difficult to build through development. So, in most cases, we encourage you to use the full assessment.
Why Work with Work Ignited for PXT Select?
Hi. I'm Amy Pearl.
I love assessments. What I love even more is helping people like you bring them to life in your organization.
For over 25 years, our team at Work Ignited has helped HR and talent acquisition professionals implement assessments that take the guesswork out of hiring. PXT Select is one of the most comprehensive tools we've ever worked with and our clients love how much value they get from a single assessment.
Whether you're hiring for one critical role or building an enterprise-wide selection process, I'll help you get started quickly and make sure you have everything you need for success.
Organizations That Trust Us With Their Assessments
Why Work With Us?
Responsive and Friendly Service: We answer your questions quickly, usually the same day.
Expert Training and Support: Our training and support gets your team and your leaders confident with PXT Select fast.
Step-by-Step Implementation: We'll walk you through your dashboard, Performance Models, assessments, and results.
Flexible and Budget-Friendly Options: Whether you want a full dashboard or a done-for-you approach, we make PXT Select work for your budget and your hiring volume.
25+ Years of Assessment Expertise: We've implemented assessments in just about every way imaginable in organizations of every size, across every industry. We know what works and we'll share our secrets with you!
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Human Skills Are Still the Biggest Differentiators
Human Skills Are Still the Biggest Differentiators
Last month, I shared 10 Challenges Facing Today's Learning Professionals. Throughout 2026, I'll dive into each challenge and provide practical solutions like those below.
Open Communication, Emotional Intelligence, and Leadership Drive High Performance Even Among Remote Teams
As AI accelerates, work structures shift, and roles continue to blur, many organizations assume performance depends on better tools, smarter systems, or tighter processes. Those are all certainly important (especially to someone like me with a Conscientious/Dominance DiSC style), yet I am constantly reminded of the importance of the more relationship-oriented, Influence/Steadiness side of the DiSC circle.
I've been working with an executive team that dropped the ball on role clarity and expectation setting. That led to misunderstandings and the misperception that expectations were not being met. Couple that with passionate team members and the end result was catastrophic. In some situations, team members stopped communicating. In other situations, emotions flared and communication became disrespectful and unprofessional. Eventually, the lines between accountability and hostility became blurred and formal complaints were lodged - a mess that could have been avoided with more intentional communication and higher levels of emotional intelligence.
Research explains that. Recent Wiley Workplace Intelligence research reinforces what Learning & Development professionals already know from experience: teams perform best when people feel safe, understood, and clear, regardless of whether they work in an office, remotely, or somewhere in between.
Across industries, emotional intelligence, communication, and leadership remain the strongest predictors of high performance, not just engagement or culture, but real business outcomes. Despite how dramatically work has changed, the human side of work still matters most.
Psychological Safety Is a Performance Multiplier
Psychological safety continues to stand out as one of the most powerful drivers of team effectiveness. Wiley's research shows that employees who feel safe speaking up, asking questions, and challenging ideas are 31% more likely to be part of high-performing teams.
This isn’t about comfort or consensus. It’s about creating conditions where people:
Share ideas earlier
Surface risks before they escalate
Engage in productive disagreement
Take ownership instead of withdrawing
When psychological safety is missing, performance suffers quietly. People comply instead of contribute. Talent stays, but energy leaves.
Performance problems are often relational problems in disguise.
Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Still Drive Results
The research is consistent: effective leadership is a top predictor of high team performance with 90% of survey respondents citing this as key. Not far behind, is emotional intelligence with 83% citing this as important.
Leadership and emotional intelligence are deeply connected. Emotional intelligence enables leaders to:
Understand their impact
Regulate reactions under pressure
Listen without defensiveness
Navigate conflict without eroding trust
When leaders lack these skills, communication breaks down quickly, even with the best intentions. Feedback gets avoided. Meetings feel tense or unproductive. Decisions stall. Over time, trust erodes.
The good news? These are not fixed traits. They are learnable, coachable, measurable skills.
The Remote Work Insight Leaders Often Miss
I'm seeing more and more organizations demanding 3, 4, and 5 days of in-office work. I get it - I grew up in the 100% in office days when a jeans day was the only way to let loose. I appreciate the natural camaraderie that builds, the informal learning that takes place, and the visibility for those looking to be promoted that happens when everyone is sitting near each other. But, it's a new day.
One of the findings from the research challenges a long-held belief: while 26% of survey respondents feel remote work hurts performance, 85% of remote workers report being part of high-performing teams.
This doesn’t mean remote work is inherently superior. It means performance depends more on how people communicate and collaborate regardless of where they sit.
Remote teams often succeed because they are forced to:
Be clear, focused, and structured in communication
Document decisions
Focus on outcomes rather than visibility
Build trust more intentionally
In other words, remote work exposes weak human skills and rewards strong ones.
What Happens When Emotional Intelligence and Communication Are Weak
When organizations underinvest in human skills, familiar issues appear:
Meetings drain energy instead of creating alignment
Misunderstandings turn into conflict
Feedback feels risky or personal
Decisions are challenged or revisited repeatedly
High performers disengage quietly
L&D is often asked to solve these problems with more team building, but the real need is psychological safety, clear ground rules, shared expectations, disciplined practice, and ongoing reinforcement.
6 Practical Ways to Strengthen Psychological Safety, Emotional Intelligence, and Communication
The goal isn’t to add more programs. It’s to embed human skills into everyday work so they become habits, not events.
1. Anchor Human Skills to Existing Rhythms
Instead of standalone workshops, integrate communication and emotional intelligence discussions into:
Team meetings
One-on-ones coaching conversations
Project kickoffs and debriefs
Simple, repeatable questions can change behavior over time:
What helped us work well together this week? What got in the way?
Get my Team Retrospectives Grab-n-Go Learning Kit with 16 posters for evaluating teamwork, problem solving, and initiative planning.
Consistency matters more than complexity.
2. Build a Shared Language for Behavior
Assessments like Everything DiSC Workplace give teams a neutral, practical language to discuss communication styles, stress responses, and adaptability.
Use it to build shared language that reduces defensiveness and helps teams talk about behavior without making it personal. If you're a Catalyst user, check out Your Groups -> Conversation Starters for free 15-minute teambuilding activities you can integrate into your next team meeting.
3. Normalize Short, Frequent Feedback
Psychological safety grows through regular, low-stakes conversations, not annual reviews.
Encourage managers to use brief check-ins focused on:
What’s working
What’s unclear
What support is needed
Frequent clarity touchpoints prevent unnecessary stress and misalignment.
4. Teach Leaders to Adapt, Not Default
Emotionally intelligent leaders don’t rely on one approach. They adapt based on context, people, and pressure.
Agile EQ™ helps leaders explore eight mindsets they need for success and teaches them to expand their range so they can respond intentionally rather than reactively, especially during change, conflict, and stressful situations. In fact, you can check out my blog post: How to Coach Leaders to Adapt in Stressful Situations to get the full scoop.
5. Establish Ground Rules
We set goals for the work that needs to be done. That's how we get results in the short-term. But, what about the long-term? For that, we need ground rules for how the team works together regardless of the task at hand.
Use current projects, decisions, or tensions as learning moments rather than hypothetical examples to create behavioral expectations: What went well that we need to repeat? What went poorly that we need to fix? In the future, how will we communicate, solve problems, and make decisions as a team?
Relevance and action planning drives the right behaviors.
6. Run an “Assumptions vs. Reality” Reset (Remote-Friendly)
Remote and hybrid teams are especially vulnerable to miscommunication because context is limited and assumptions fill the gaps.
This simple activity helps teams surface hidden assumptions and strengthen clarity.
How it works:
Step 1: Individual Reflection (5 minutes)
Ask each team member to privately answer these prompts about a current project or recurring workflow:
One assumption I think others are making about my role or availability is…
One assumption I’ve made about someone else’s role, priorities, or constraints is…
One thing I wish others understood about how I do my work is…
Step 2: Small Group Sharing (10–15 minutes)
In breakout rooms of 3–4, participants share:
One assumption they had that turned out to be wrong
One clarification that would make collaboration easier
Step 3: Team Debrief (10 minutes)
Bring the full group back and ask:
What assumptions showed up most often?
Where are we relying on “mind-reading” instead of clarity?
What’s one communication norm we should adopt to reduce assumptions going forward?(Individuals reflect on assumptions they’ve made or believe others are making)
Small groups share one assumption and one needed clarification
The team agrees on one communication norm to reduce assumptions going forward
Common outcomes include norms like:
“If it’s urgent, we say so explicitly.”
“Decisions live in writing, not just meetings.”
“We ask before we assume.”
This builds psychological safety, emotional intelligence, and communication by encouraging brief perspective-sharing without judgment. It builds awareness of impact, not intent. It reinforces psychological safety by normalizing clarification. And, it strengths trust without forcing vulnerability.
You can even keep it simple by running a 10-minute version each month by using just one question: What's one assumption we should clear up before it becomes a problem?
That's where the real power is...small, consistent resets.
Why This Matters for Learning & Development
Human skills are not a “nice to have.” They are the infrastructure of performance.
As work continues to evolve, L&D professionals are uniquely positioned to influence how leaders lead, how teams communicate, and how safe people feel contributing their best thinking.
This isn’t about doing more. It’s about focusing on what actually moves the needle.
Human skills are timeless and right now, they are more critical than ever.
The tools will change.
The technology will evolve.
Human skills will continue to separate good teams from great ones.
