Crimson specialise in the provision of contract and

permanent IT recruitment solutions. Based in Coleshill they

operate throughout the UK and employ around 50 staff.

Offering a single source of high calibre and hard to find

IT specialists, Crimson have a customer-driven approach

that looks at business issues from a client perspective

and customises solutions to fit the requirement. They are

committed to high quality customer relationships built

around the values of innovation, integrity and knowledge.

The Challenge

Helen Artlett-Coe, Senior Consultant at Crimson

explains, “We work in a highly competitive marketplace

– to stand out you have to be different. We set

ourselves apart by giving customers exceptional value

and measurable business benefits. Having the capability

to offer objective candidate testing and analysis is an

important part of this. We needed assessment solutions

that would ‘add substance’ to our existing services.”

The Solution

“We use Thomas PPA to add value on selected senior

appointments and large retained campaigns. The report

allows us to consider how candidates’ behavioural traits

may influence the way they perform in a particular role.”

Thomas PPA is a series of 24 questions on a forced

choice ‘first impressions’ basis, taking no longer than

eight minutes to complete. It assesses an individual’s

behaviour in the work environment and can answer

questions such as: what are their strengths and

limitations? Are they self starters? How do they

communicate? What motivates them?

“For each position we create a Job Profile against which

we compare the applicant’s PPA profile. This helps us

pinpoint individuals who have the right behavioural

traits for the job and who will fit in with the

organisation’s culture.”

Job Profile is a template for a job – the behavioural

requirements of the job itself. Like PPA, results are

plotted on a graph which allows you to compare the

two and assess how well a person will ‘fit’ a role.

Case studyCrimson

“We set ourselves apart by giving customers exceptional value and measurable business benefits. Having the capability to offer objective candidate testing and analysis is an important part of this.”

T +44(0)1628 475 366 E info@thomas.co.uk www.thomasinternational.net

“PPA is also useful in situations where a client is

struggling to choose between two closely matched

candidates. By profiling the candidates and the

Manager they will report to we are able to evaluate the

potential strengths and limitations of each relationship.

We can then advise clients on each partnership’s

potential for success.”

“Business change and the way Managers deal with,

or roll out change is a huge concern for clients at the

moment. We want to make sure the Managers we

recruit are able to manage change effectively. PPA tells

us how well an individual is likely to cope with change

and if they have the potential to help an organisation

mitigate the effects of change.”

“To help Crimson staff sell-in Thomas assessments

to clients we asked the whole team to complete a PPA

profile. It was a great exercise to get everyone’s buy-in

and the staff found the results very accurate. Having

tried and tested PPA in-house gives us real authority

when speaking to clients about how the assessment

could benefit them.”

“We have been using the Thomas system for around

18 months now and retention of candidates recruited

using PPA has been excellent. Clients like the suggested

interview questions found in the PPA report and find

the extra ‘layer’ of candidate information helps them

to make more informed decisions.”

“For us the Thomas system delivers quality information

with the minimum of fuss. Assessments are easy

to administer, PPA takes candidates just eight minutes

to complete and reports are generated instantly.

Reports are detailed, accurate and easy to read.

The whole process can be completed in just a few

minutes, so we can react to client demands quickly.”

“We pride ourselves on our CV to interview to placement

hit rate, and PPA makes a valuable contribution to our

success. Offering a robust behavioural profiling service

enhances our integrity and demonstrates we have the

resources and expertise to provide full candidate

evaluation. It shows we care about placing the right

person in the right role and helps us to meet client

expectations without burdening them with lengthy

assessment processes or unnecessary costs.”

T +44(0)1628 475 366 E info@thomas.co.uk www.thomasinternational.net

“We pride ourselves on our CV to interview to placement hit rate, and PPA makes a valuable contribution to our success.”

“PPA tells us how well an individual is likely to cope with change and if they have the potential to help an organisation mitigate the effects of change.”