Ratio’s Intelligent
Assessment Framework
Built on 20 years of recruiting experience and informed by leading research in organizational psychology, our framework evaluates how candidates apply their expertise in realistic, job-specific scenarios.
Behavioral
Assess past experience to predict future success
Situational
Test real-time decision-making in job-specific scenarios
Applied Skills & Knowledge
Validate skills through practical, hands-on challenges
Why Traditional Interviews Fall Short
After 20 years in recruiting, we saw the same hiring mistakes repeated. Traditional screenings often rely on unstructured conversations that do not predict success.
Increased Bias
Unstructured interviews are subjective, relying on gut instinct rather than evidence, and often fail to predict true success.
Inconsistent Evaluation
Without a consistent framework, interviews vary widely, making fair comparisons difficult and turning hiring into guesswork.
Relying on Self-Assessment
Most screenings simply confirm experience (“Are you strong with Excel?”) instead of proving real skill or problem-solving ability.
Subject Matter Gaps
Recruiters are not always deep subject-matter experts, making it difficult to accurately assess specialized or technical roles.
Read our new white paper, Transforming the Candidate Experience, to see the data behind skills-based hiring. Don’t miss out on great talent!
Ratio is your blueprint
Providing you with assessment questions and answer guidelines to empower better, more confident hiring decisions.
Three Question Types
That Predict Performance
Research shows that Ratio’s question formats are the strongest predictors of job success.
Behavioral
Assess past performance and core competencies through specific examples of how candidates have handled real situations.
- “Tell me about a time when you...”
- “Share an example of a challenging...”
- “Describe a situation where you had to...”
Tell me about a time you had to present complex financial analysis, like P&L variances, to senior management. What was your approach to ensure clarity and actionable insights?
Situational
Evaluate judgment and problem-solving abilities through hypothetical but realistic scenarios tailored to your job.
- “Imagine you discover a problem with...”
- “What steps would you take if you noticed...”
- “If you identified a significant weakness in...”
Imagine you discover a discrepancy in the general ledger during month-end that does not reconcile with a sub-ledger. What is your immediate approach to investigate and resolve it?
Applied Skills & Knowledge
Test practical application of technical knowledge and domain expertise in real-world contexts.
- “What are some accounting challenges you’ve encountered...”
- “When dealing with intercompany transactions...”
- “How do you identify bottlenecks in accounting processes...”
Can you briefly outline the key steps you follow to ensure an accurate and timely month-end financial close, especially when dealing with multiple ledgers?
Empowering You
to Hire Like a Subject Matter Expert
Hiring teams of any background can confidently and objectively score candidates using clear, predefined criteria, enabling data-driven decisions and minimizing bias.
Knowledge is Power
Support your recommendations with structured criteria
Conduct standardized screenings that reduce bias
Ask better questions that correlate with performance
Conduct expert-level screenings for complex roles
Uncover actual competency in 15–20 minutes
Senior Accountant | Analytical Problem Solving
Imagine you are tasked with investigating a significant, unexplained variance in the budget. Walk me through your approach to define the problem, gather relevant data, and arrive at a conclusion.
What to listen for:
- • Precise definition of the variance’s business impact.
- • Gathering data from the general ledger and forecasts.
- • Formulation and testing of hypotheses to pinpoint causes.
- • Collaboration with operational teams for context.
- • Development of key recommendations for management.