Criteria Corporation

Criteria Corporation
Name	Criteria Corporation
Type	Private
Industry	Employment testing
Founded	1995
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, United States
Area served	Global
Products	Pre-employment assessments, cognitive tests, personality inventories, skills tests
Key people	CEO

Criteria Corporation is a private company based in Los Angeles, California, specializing in pre-employment assessment tools and talent measurement solutions. The firm offers a portfolio of cognitive, personality, and skills-based tests intended for use by human resources and talent acquisition teams across multiple industries. Its services intersect with research and practice in industrial-organizational psychology, psychometrics, and employment law.

History

The company was founded in the mid-1990s during a period of rapid growth in Silicon Valley-era human capital technologies, emerging alongside firms in Los Angeles and San Francisco that pursued digital assessment delivery. Early milestones include adoption by staffing firms and regional employers influenced by methods popularized by researchers at University of Minnesota, University of Iowa, and Purdue University. Over time the firm expanded into international markets, facing competition from legacy vendors such as SHL and newer entrants like HackerRank and Glassdoor-era platforms. Strategic developments occurred during the 2000s and 2010s as organizations such as Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology and standards bodies like American Psychological Association produced guidance that shaped product design.

Products and Services

The company offers a suite of assessments including cognitive aptitude measures, personality inventories, and job-skill batteries used by employers in sectors represented by Walmart, United Parcel Service, Bank of America, and Accenture-style consulting firms. Test offerings are marketed to recruiters using applicant tracking systems developed by vendors such as Workday, SAP SuccessFactors, and Oracle Taleo. Service lines include online proctoring partnerships comparable to those provided by ProctorU and integration services similar to Greenhouse and Lever connectors. Training and consulting are delivered in formats resembling executive programs at institutions like Harvard Business School and Kellogg School of Management.

Assessment Development and Validation

Assessment construction has followed psychometric practices advocated by researchers at Stanford University, University of Cambridge, and London School of Economics. Validation activities reference methods established in seminal work from James McKeen Cattell-era mental testing, contemporary guidelines from Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures and statistical techniques used in publications from Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology. Cross-validation, criterion-related validity, and construct validity processes echo methodologies championed by scholars at Michigan State University and Columbia University. Reliability estimates and item response theory approaches align with standards from Educational Testing Service and technical recommendations from International Test Commission.

Technology and Security

Delivery infrastructure uses cloud services and web technologies comparable to those from Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure. Security measures reference practices in common with National Institute of Standards and Technology frameworks and compliance regimes similar to General Data Protection Regulation and California Consumer Privacy Act implementations. Identity verification and remote proctoring integrate features analogous to biometric offerings by companies such as IDnow and Jumio, while data analytics pipelines utilize methods found in Hadoop and Apache Spark ecosystems.

Corporate Structure and Operations

Corporate governance mirrors private-company models found among firms headquartered in Los Angeles County, with executive leadership interacting with investor and client networks akin to relationships seen at Bain & Company-advised enterprises and growth-stage firms that engage with venture communities in Silicon Beach and Silicon Valley. Operational functions encompass customer success, research and development, sales aligned with enterprise clients like Target Corporation and FedEx, and compliance teams monitoring regulatory developments from institutions such as Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and U.S. Department of Labor.

Controversies and Legal Issues

The use of pre-employment assessments has generated public and legal scrutiny paralleling litigation and policy debates involving firms referenced in cases before courts influenced by Civil Rights Act of 1964 interpretations and enforcement by Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Critiques mirror academic concerns raised by scholars at University of California, Berkeley and New York University regarding adverse impact and algorithmic bias associated with automated hiring tools. High-profile controversies in the assessment industry—like those involving HireVue and algorithmic fairness debates in the United States District Court docket—illustrate the regulatory and reputational risks companies in this space navigate.

Category:Employment testing companies