Proctor & Gamble Case Study

Background

Proctor & Gamble (P&G) is the leading manufacturer of household goods with products in five main categories: laundry and cleaning, paper goods, beauty care, food and beverages and health care. The company employs more than 100,000 people and reports annual sales of nearly $40 billion.

Impetus

While they are the world’s largest household products maker, they needed help with hiring the right people. Thus, P&G hired Avatar and Saville Holdsworth, Ltd. to develop an effective new employee selection instrument, which was capable of predicting a candidate’s likely success of working with a self-directed work team.

Solution

Avatar developed a video-based realistic job preview and a psychometric test  for new applicants. Both devices depict actual demands from true P&G workplace situations, and applicants respond to the test as they would when placed in those situations. This format provided two benefits. It enabled the company’s hiring managers to determine an applicant’s ability top function in its workplace culture. Secondly, it allowed applicants to decide if the job was right for them.

Results

The process has been used successfully throughout P&G as one step in their multiple-hurdle approach to new employee selection.