Criteria Corp Review: Unlock 7x Sales Revenue with Better Talent

Struggling to find the right talent fit?

If you’re evaluating hiring tools, you’re probably juggling endless resumes and unstructured interviews, hoping to pinpoint candidates who will actually perform in the role.

It’s tough—bad hires keep draining your team’s productivity and end up costing you time, morale and money every single day.

Criteria takes a scientific approach, using validated assessments, structured interviews, and analytics to help you objectively identify, engage, and develop great people—far beyond just resume screening.

In this review, I’ll break down how Criteria helps ensure better hires and stronger teams through their suite of pre-employment and development tools.

During this Criteria review, you’ll get a deep dive into its features, real-world use cases, current pricing, limitations, and how it stacks up against other platforms you might be considering.

You’ll come away knowing the features you need to simplify decision-making and boost your hiring confidence.

Let’s get started.

Criteria Overview

Since 2006, Criteria has been focused on psychometric assessments. Based in West Hollywood, their mission is helping companies like yours use objective data to build more engaged and productive workforces.

They serve a broad market, from growing businesses to large enterprises. What really sets them apart, in my experience, is their deep commitment to scientifically validated pre-employment testing, moving your hiring decisions beyond just the resume.

The recent acquisitions of Revelian and Alcami Interactive were smart. You can see the impact in how they’ve integrated game-based tests and video interviewing through this Criteria review.

Unlike competitors focused on single features, Criteria provides a complete and integrated assessment platform. You get the feeling it was built by people who actually understand the entire modern hiring process from start to finish.

They work with thousands of organizations across nearly every industry. You’ll find them used by growing businesses and large enterprises that need to make more objective, data-driven hiring decisions at scale.

I’ve noticed their current strategy is clearly shifting beyond just pre-hire screening. Their focus now includes the entire employee lifecycle, with development tools aimed at boosting your team’s engagement and long-term retention.

Now let’s examine their capabilities.

Criteria Features

Tired of endless resumes and gut-feeling hires?

Criteria features offer a powerful, integrated solution to elevate your talent acquisition and development strategy. These are the five core Criteria features that make a real difference in building high-performing teams.

1. Comprehensive Pre-Employment Assessments

Struggling to find the right candidates beyond their resume?

Relying solely on resumes can lead to mis-hires and high turnover. You might miss crucial skills or personality traits that predict real job success.

Criteria’s assessments provide scientifically validated insights into cognitive ability and personality, helping you objectively identify candidates with the right potential. From my testing, the CCAT is particularly effective for understanding problem-solving skills, which is invaluable. This feature takes the guesswork out of candidate evaluation.

This means you can dramatically improve your quality of hire and reduce costly recruitment mistakes.

2. Structured Video Interviewing

Are traditional phone screens eating up all your time?

Manual phone screening can be slow and inconsistent, introducing bias and delaying your hiring process significantly. This often frustrates both you and your candidates.

Their video interviewing capabilities, both live and on-demand, help you shortlist candidates up to 75% faster while ensuring consistency. What I love is how easy it is to standardize questions and evaluation criteria, minimizing bias in your initial reviews.

This means you can streamline your early-stage recruitment, getting to the best candidates more efficiently and fairly.

3. Interview Management

Do your live interviews lack structure and consistency?

Unstructured interviews can lead to inconsistent candidate experiences and unreliable hiring decisions. You might struggle to compare candidates objectively across different interviewers.

Criteria offers tools to make every live interview a success, with a vast library of ready-made questions and templates. Here’s what I found: all candidate results are centralized, making it simple for hiring managers to collaborate and make informed decisions.

This means you can ensure a standardized, stress-free interview process that actually leads to better, more confident hiring choices.

4. Talent Development (Develop™ by Criteria)

Is talent nurturing falling off your radar after hire?

Ignoring post-hire development can lead to disengaged employees and higher attrition rates. You might be missing opportunities to grow your team’s potential from within.

Develop™ by Criteria extends beyond hiring, offering tools for continuous employee growth through science-backed insights. This feature empowers managers with targeted coaching strategies to boost performance and engagement. Your team gets the support they need to thrive.

This means you can foster continuous growth, improve retention, and build a more engaged, productive workforce.

5. Customization and Integration

Are your assessment tools difficult to adapt to your specific roles?

Generic assessment packages might not accurately reflect the unique requirements of your various job positions. This can make it hard to find a true fit for specialized roles.

The platform offers robust customization, letting you tailor test packages to specific job profiles easily. From my testing, the ability to create custom job profiles and integrate with standard ATS systems really shines. This flexibility helps integrate assessments seamlessly into your existing workflows.

This means you can quickly adapt the platform to your specific hiring needs and integrate it with your current HR tech stack.

You’ll appreciate how these Criteria features work together to create a holistic talent management ecosystem, from hire to development.

Criteria Pricing

Need to know the real cost?

Criteria pricing uses a custom quote model, meaning you’ll need to contact their sales team to get a personalized cost that matches your specific business needs.

1. Pricing Model & Cost Factors

Their pricing is custom-built.

Criteria’s pricing is subscription-based with a 12-month minimum contract and uncapped usage within your chosen tier. What I found regarding pricing is that it depends on your selected plan, whether Professional, Professional+, or the Talent Success Suite, along with any multi-year or bundled offers.

From my cost analysis, this means your monthly costs will be tailored to your specific assessment and talent management requirements.

2. Value Assessment & ROI

Is the investment worthwhile?

Criteria offers flexible pricing that user reviews describe as “extremely reasonable,” often leading to significant cost savings compared to traditional hiring methods. Budget-wise, you gain science-backed insights that improve hiring quality and retention, ultimately boosting your team’s productivity and revenue.

This helps you justify the investment by connecting the cost directly to measurable business outcomes and better talent.

3. Budget Planning & Implementation

Consider total cost of ownership.

While exact figures require a sales consultation, expect costs to be influenced by the comprehensiveness of your chosen suite. What’s important is how their approach avoids hidden fees by offering uncapped usage within your tier, providing predictability for your finance team.

So for your budget planning, you can anticipate transparent, tailored pricing that scales with your organizational growth rather than surprising you.

My Take: Criteria’s custom pricing ensures you pay only for the features you need, making it a cost-effective solution for businesses ranging from small to large enterprises seeking flexible, comprehensive assessment tools.

The overall Criteria pricing offers flexible value aligned with your specific talent needs.

Criteria Reviews

What do real customers actually think?

This customer reviews section dives into real user feedback and experiences with Criteria, giving you balanced insights into what actual customers think about the software.

1. Overall User Satisfaction

Users seem quite satisfied overall.

From my review analysis, Criteria maintains a strong overall score of 4.5 out of 5 on G2, based on over 100 reviews. What I found in user feedback is how most users appreciate the platform’s effectiveness in improving their hiring processes, consistently giving high marks for utility.

This means you can generally expect a positive experience with their assessment tools.

2. Common Praise Points

The ease of use consistently delights users.

Users frequently highlight Criteria’s user-friendly design and the intuitive nature of its assessment platform. Review-wise, I noticed many commend the responsiveness and helpfulness of customer support, often mentioning dedicated customer success managers by name for their proactive assistance.

This suggests you’ll find their support team a valuable resource if you need assistance.

3. Frequent Complaints

Integration challenges surface occasionally.

Some users have reported difficulties in seamlessly integrating Criteria with their existing Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). What stands out in customer feedback is how a few desire more comprehensive specialized testing capabilities, indicating specific niche needs aren’t always fully met.

These issues appear to be more about fine-tuning rather than fundamental flaws in the core offering.

Overall, Criteria reviews reveal strong user satisfaction with minor integration and feature requests being the main areas for improvement.

Best Criteria Alternatives

Which talent assessment platform is right for you?

The best Criteria alternatives include several strong options, each better suited for different business situations and priorities regarding talent acquisition and development.

1. HireVue

Prioritizing video interviewing capabilities?

HireVue excels when your primary focus is a seamless, highly streamlined video interview experience for both candidates and hiring teams. From my competitive analysis, HireVue offers superior video interview features compared to Criteria’s broader assessment suite, making it ideal for remote hiring.

Choose HireVue if video interviewing is your main need and you prioritize a top-tier candidate video experience.

2. Harver

Managing high-volume enterprise hiring?

Harver is designed for enterprise-level companies with high-volume hiring, offering more robust reporting and integration capabilities for complex needs. What I found comparing options is that Harver provides more comprehensive reporting and integrations than Criteria, though Criteria has stronger candidate screening.

Consider this alternative for complex, high-volume hiring when extensive reporting and integration are critical.

3. TestGorilla

Need a more budget-friendly assessment tool?

TestGorilla offers flexible, lower-cost pricing options, including a free plan, making it an excellent alternative for budget-conscious businesses of all sizes. Alternative-wise, TestGorilla is a cost-effective solution for basic pre-employment testing, but lacks Criteria’s live video and advanced anti-cheating measures.

Choose TestGorilla if budget is your primary concern and you need an affordable, basic pre-employment testing solution.

4. The Predictive Index (PI)

Seeking deep behavioral and cognitive insights?

PI focuses heavily on behavioral and cognitive assessments to deeply understand candidate drives, needs, and team dynamics. From my analysis, PI specializes in profound behavioral insights for role fit, while Criteria offers a broader range of assessment types beyond just behavior.

Choose The Predictive Index if your main goal is understanding specific candidate behaviors and drives for team synergy.

The best Criteria alternatives really come down to your specific hiring priorities and budget rather than a one-size-fits-all solution.

Criteria Setup

What about the Criteria implementation process?

This Criteria review section offers practical guidance on what to expect during deployment, focusing on real-world preparation and the overall complexity you’ll encounter.

1. Setup Complexity & Timeline

Getting started is surprisingly straightforward.

Criteria’s setup is consistently praised for its ease and efficiency, making it much quicker than many other HR tech solutions. From my implementation analysis, you can expect a high ease of setup with a straightforward onboarding process that saves valuable administrative time.

You’ll get productive quickly, allowing your team to focus on talent acquisition rather than prolonged software configuration.

2. Technical Requirements & Integration

Minimal technical hurdles for most businesses.

Candidates only need a stable internet connection and a modern browser for assessments, while employers will find standard ATS integrations, SSO, and MFA support. What I found about deployment is that Criteria works well with existing IT infrastructure for seamless security and workflow.

Plan for standard browser compatibility checks and ensure your ATS is ready for integration, but avoid major infrastructure overhauls.

3. Training & Change Management

User adoption should be smooth and intuitive.

The platform’s user-friendly design and comprehensive resources mean your team won’t face a steep learning curve. From my analysis, the intuitive interface reduces training burdens significantly, leading to quicker proficiency and high user satisfaction with the system.

Focus on leveraging Criteria’s support resources and a clear communication plan to ensure your team fully embraces the new assessment workflows.

4. Support & Success Factors

Exceptional vendor support ensures a smooth rollout.

Criteria is highly praised for its responsive and proactive customer success managers who understand your business model and provide tailored assistance. From my analysis, dedicated support significantly boosts implementation success, helping you maximize the system’s benefits from day one.

Engage with your dedicated CSM early and often to leverage their expertise and ensure your deployment aligns perfectly with your hiring goals.

Overall, the Criteria setup process prioritizes ease of deployment and quick time-to-value, making it accessible for businesses of all sizes.

Get Criteria Setup Support →

Bottom Line

Is Criteria the right talent assessment solution for you?

My Criteria review concludes that this platform offers a robust, science-backed approach to talent management, proving ideal for organizations prioritizing objective, data-driven hiring and development.

1. Who This Works Best For

Organizations prioritizing objective, science-backed talent decisions.

Criteria is best for HR Managers, Talent Acquisition Specialists, and Business Owners across all company sizes seeking to enhance quality of hire, reduce turnover, and boost productivity. From my user analysis, businesses aiming for bias reduction and enhanced diversity will find immense value in its validated assessments.

You’ll succeed if your current hiring process lacks scientific rigor and you desire evidence-based insights for talent development.

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2. Overall Strengths

Science-backed assessments deliver superior hiring outcomes.

The software excels through its wide array of scientifically validated pre-employment assessments, which effectively predict job success, reduce bias, and streamline recruitment processes. From my comprehensive analysis, its user-friendly interface and strong customer support stand out, simplifying administration and maximizing user adoption for your team.

These strengths directly translate into improved quality of hire, significant turnover reductions, and enhanced workforce productivity across your organization.

3. Key Limitations

Integration and video features need further refinement.

While robust, some users reported challenges with seamless integration into existing ATS, and the video interviewing module, though functional, lags behind specialized competitors. Based on this review, your team might experience workflow disruptions if you require highly advanced, custom integrations or a premium video interviewing experience as a core need.

I consider these limitations manageable for most users, but they warrant careful consideration if these specific functionalities are paramount for your business.

4. Final Recommendation

Criteria is a strong recommendation for data-driven organizations.

You should choose this software if your business prioritizes a holistic, science-backed approach to talent assessment and development, valuing objectivity and comprehensive insights. From my analysis, your return on investment will be significant if you’re committed to improving hiring outcomes and fostering employee growth.

My confidence in this recommendation is high, especially for businesses ready to embrace a data-driven talent strategy.

Bottom Line

• Verdict: Recommended for data-driven talent management and development
• Best For: HR, Talent Acquisition, and Business Owners prioritizing objective hiring
• Business Size: Small businesses to large enterprises needing comprehensive talent insights
• Biggest Strength: Scientifically validated assessments predicting job success
• Main Concern: Integration challenges and less advanced video interviewing features
• Next Step: Contact sales for a demo to assess feature-set fit

This Criteria review demonstrates strong value for organizations focused on talent optimization through science-backed assessments.

See If Criteria Fits Your Needs →