Endorsed by a variety of companies worldwide, the Saville Wave Professional Styles Assessment is a well-regarded and researched international psychometric tool that is widely used in various organisational settings for employee selection, talent management and leadership development.

Sheffield regularly uses the Saville Swift Analysis Aptitude Test, which measures a candidate’s critical reasoning, numerical ability, and verbal comprehension. These assessments provide valuable insight into how quickly and accurately individuals process information, solve problems, and make decisions - core capabilities in today’s complex work environments.

In the sections below, we explore both the Professional Styles and Swift Analysis assessments in more detail - highlighting what they measure, how they work, and the specific value they bring to recruitment and talent development.

Personality assessment

The Professional Styles assessment is grounded in the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality - also known as the "Big Five." Originally conceptualised in the 1950s and refined through extensive research in the decades that followed, the Five Factor Model identifies five broad dimensions of personality: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability. 

This model has become one of the most widely accepted and empirically validated frameworks in personality psychology. Its enduring relevance lies in its robust cross-cultural validity, predictive power, and strong correlations with workplace behaviours and performance outcomes. By aligning with the FFM, the Professional Styles assessment provides a scientifically sound foundation for understanding how an individual's personality traits may influence their behaviour, preferences, and potential in professional settings.

Key strengths of the Professional Styles assessment include:

• Comprehensive view of personality:  Measures a wide range of personality traits, motivations, emotional intelligence and behavioural patterns, making it highly effective for understanding how a candidate or employee will perform in different scenarios.  This holistic approach helps to evaluate how a candidate might perform in the workplace, interact with others, and fit into an organisational culture. 
• Proven predictive validity:  In psychology, predictive validity refers to the ability of a test or measurement to accurately forecast a future outcome or behaviour.  The Professional Styles assessment has a strong evidence base showing that it reliably predicts job performance, particularly for leadership and managerial roles.  This gives employers the ability and confidence to make data-driven decisions about candidate suitability, increasing the likelihood of selecting individuals who are a good fit for the role and the organisation.
• Customisable:  It offers flexibility in the way the assessment is tailored to the organisation’s needs.

Aptitude Assessment

The Swift Analysis complements the personality insights gained through the Professional Styles assessment by providing an objective measure of a candidate’s cognitive ability - specifically, how efficiently and accurately they process information, solve problems, and make decisions under pressure. It includes timed assessments in three core areas: verbal, numerical, and abstract reasoning.

Key strengths of the Swift Analysis include:

• Efficient and insightful: Designed to be completed in a short timeframe (typically under 30 minutes), the Swift suite delivers powerful insight with minimal disruption. It enables organisations to assess cognitive agility - essential for roles that demand complex decision-making, problem-solving, and the ability to absorb and analyse new information quickly.
• Job relevance: The tests are aligned with real-world workplace demands. For example, verbal reasoning assesses comprehension and interpretation of written information, while numerical reasoning evaluates the ability to work with data and perform accurate calculations. Abstract reasoning provides insight into an individual’s ability to recognise patterns and think strategically - key in innovation and leadership roles.
• Benchmarking and fairness: The aptitude results are benchmarked against a large, international norm group, ensuring robust comparison and fairness. This makes it easier to identify high-potential candidates, especially when evaluating a large or diverse applicant pool.

When used alongside the Professional Styles, the Swift Analysis offers a well-rounded view of an individual’s capabilities - not just who they are, but how they think. Together, these tools enable better hiring decisions and more effective development strategies, giving organisations confidence in the potential of their people.

By combining personality and cognitive data, these tools give a fuller, more accurate picture of individual potential - something that’s increasingly essential in today’s complex and fast-moving work environment.

At Sheffield, we’ve chosen to partner with Saville Assessment because of the depth, rigour, and proven validity of their assessments. The combination of the Professional Styles and the Swift Analysis offers a powerful dual lens - providing both behavioural insight and cognitive data to inform smarter, evidence-based decisions. Together, they help us uncover not just who a person is, but how they are likely to think, act, and perform in a specific role and environment.

In a hiring landscape where the cost of getting it wrong is high, these tools provide the clarity and confidence our clients need to select the right people, develop future leaders, and build high-performing teams. It’s this level of insight that makes the partnership so valuable.

If you’re interested in how these tools could enhance your next hire or leadership decision, we’d welcome the opportunity to talk through what’s possible.