How Science and Experience Guarantee the Right Hire
In the crowded landscape of hiring tools, most platforms promise results, but few deliver genuine insight. Talent Wiring, used at Lean Six Search for Senior searches, sets itself apart.
Jeff Yates, the steward of this approach and Talent Wiring expert, joined us for a conversation in which he answered common questions about this tool and what makes it accurate at predicting successful hires.
Where Talent Wiring Comes From
The test was developed in the early 1980s by three expert psychologists and psychiatrists inspired by the need for a tool that looks beyond surface behavior to a candidate’s deep-rooted, permanent traits.
“They understood people and had access to the Library of Congress’s vast data, which allowed them to advance deep research,” explains Jeff Yates, Career Transition Specialist and Talent Wiring expert.
Candidates take a single validated assessment. Their results benchmark internal wiring (unmovable, real traits) against the wiring profile needed for the open role. But it goes further. As Jeff illustrates, “We can take the job description and analyze that and create what we call a talent pattern, it’s a benchmark that shows you how people should be wired for a job like that.” Recruiters then chart entire teams, visually exposing gaps, balance, and complementary strengths.
The Secret Sauce: Why It Works
Talent Wiring doesn’t just help hire for skills but for fulfillment, engagement, and culture fit. Its mapping features enable recruiters to visualize gaps and synergies across entire teams. This fosters resilient cultures where differences are strengths, not sources of inertia or dysfunction.
When a workable mix of detail-oriented and big-picture thinkers is achieved, companies don’t just fill seats; they build organizations primed for accountability, creativity, and healthy conflict, the ingredients for lasting growth.
Notably, Jeff Yates highlighted that brochures or slogans don’t define culture; it’s set by who leads and how teams communicate. Talent Wiring helps organizations see beneath the surface, identifying who will thrive, bring balance, and push their companies forward through change and pressure.
Benefits and Advantages
Permanent fit: “We’ve literally tested people decades apart, you are who you are on the inside.” The wiring never changes, shielding hires from the shifting sands of behavior and personality fads.
Unmatched accuracy: “It’s extremely accurate—96% accurate in the reliability ratings. That’s who this person is, wiring-wise, no matter what they’re telling you.”
Easy to use: “Reports are written at an 8th-grade reading level…designed for everyone to use this on an ongoing basis every day, not just for leadership.”
Team synergy: The technology charts team members, exposing not just sameness but much-needed diversity of thought and perspective. “Dangerous to have everybody see things the same way because…nobody’s challenging the way of thinking and creating accountability,” says Jeff.
One size fits all: the assessment works for every role, and the platform compares a candidate’s wiring to multiple roles simultaneously, sometimes redirecting a promising applicant to the perfect role.
Can Talent Wiring Be “Beaten”?
No system is perfect, but Talent Wiring’s questions and benchmarking are structured such that candidates can’t deduce what answers recruiters are hoping to see.
The test doesn’t telegraph right or wrong choices; only the candidate’s actual wiring is exposed. Unlike Predictive Index, which coaching candidates can hack to “circle” desired words, Talent Wiring’s design eliminates pattern gaming.
Other tools, like DISC, measure behavior that changes with the wind, how you act to fit in or get along. Talent Wiring digs deeper. “All of those tools are very good…but they all measure one aspect of a person, the external view, behavior. And behavior…can change overnight.” Talent Wiring is built to measure hardwiring, not just habits.
8 million in savings
Talent Wiring’s impact is tied to its relentless pursuit of real human potential.
It’s not about making everyone the same or fitting a cultural template. “That’s dangerous,” Jeff warns. Instead, Talent Wiring is about balancing a team on fundamental wiring, not gut instinct.
One US client saved $8 million in warehouse hiring costs in a year and slashed turnover by over 25% using this method. The platform’s soon-to-launch AI will “immediately generate a report that shows you how these people work together, where their pitfalls are, where they’re going to struggle.”
Surprising results
In our interview, Jeff Yates shared one of the most unusual discoveries from running Talent Wiring across countless industries. “Every now and then, you’ll find someone whose wiring pattern seems to defy any logic—maybe they’re off-the-charts both artistically and conventionally, or they possess deep investigative traits matched with extreme enterprising drive,” Jeff recalled.
These rare combinations challenge assumptions about what’s possible, and remind us that “sometimes, the quirkiest profiles end up making the biggest impact in places no one would expect.”
Seeing a candidate who at first glance doesn’t “fit the mold” but ends up thriving once placed in a non-traditional environment, Jeff said, is one of the most gratifying and eye-opening moments for recruiters willing to trust the science.
Jeff Yates is a partner with iWorkZone Systems, LLC, and the Vice President of Marketing/Business Development for S3 Management Group, LLC. Having spent much of his career owning/running businesses and managing people, Jeff brings a unique perspective to his clients. He has lived through every scenario and understands the challenges firsthand. Jeff is an industry expert in hiring, training, and retaining human capital, working with organizations of all sizes. Jeff’s focus is on identifying areas of opportunity for clients and working with them to achieve new levels of success
