See What Our Clients Say About Us

I've been working with Kestly Development for years and can honestly say that Mike is extremely knowledgeable about the employment process and always has good counsel on how to recruit, develop and retain staff. Not only is Mike a pleasure to work with, he has great insight on how to improve internal processes when it comes to full circle staffing management.

Jeremy L – Homecare HR Director

Mike has been a great partner. I have had the pleasure of working with Mike in many capacities over the past few decades and he is amazing. Mike's knowledge of assessments and how they can benefit a business is top-notch. I would highly recommend Mike for any support your organization needs.

Jeremy S – Hospital System HR VP

“We have used the products and services of Kestly Development since 2005 when we attended a workshop on succession planning. During the development of our succession planning process, the HR Team used the knowledge we received from Mike Kestly as a spring board. He also introduced us to Profiles International; a company that offers a variety of assessment tools. At the present time, we are using the PXT and the Profiles Sales tool with our succession plan. Based upon our experience, I would highly recommend Mike and Kestly Development.”

Rick – HR Director – Book Publisher

“The tools Kestly Development offers in conjunction with trusted organizations. are well worth the small investment required as they lead to long term cost-savings and a productive, satisfied workforce.

We use the Step One Survey II and the PXT to match candidates to jobs. Mike gives us valuable advice that saves money and produces better results in our employee recruiting efforts. The profiling and other tools that Mike offers are valuable and easy to use. In addition, Mike is always available when service is needed. We have been relying on Mike’s help since 2005. We have needed Mike’s assistance in times such as when we found it necessary to replace a key member of our team. Fifty resumes, twelve interviews, five “PXT’s”, and one offer later, we found our man.  Our experience with our choice over the following months proved the reliability and value of the PXT we obtained from Profiles International and Kestly Development.   We continue to use the PXT to hire and coach our team. The Step One and PXT are now a crucial part of our hiring system and will be going forward.

In addition, more recently, we’ve discovered that the Checkpoint 360 has become a valuable tool for management team members to use in getting to know how best to relate to one another and put the best foot forward.  Furthermore, the Executive Briefing sessions that Mike offers provide many helpful ideas.  We cannot say enough about how much Kestly Development contributes to the success of our organization.”

Dave – President Transportation Company

“Thank you for introducing us to Profiles assessments. The Step One Survey has helped us by giving us another tool to make decisions with confidence about job candidates. With the Step One Survey, we are able to screen out those candidates that do not meet our standards for integrity, reliability, work ethic, and attitude toward substance abuse. The positions that we are screening for are police officers and dispatchers for the City, so the candidates must be of the highest caliber. The name implies that hiring people of good character, who are honest and hard-working, is the “first step” in hiring the right employees – for any organization. I have started to use your Profiles Performance Indicator within our Human Resources Department and found it to be quite accurate and insightful. Overall Profiles assessments are easy to administer, economical and should help us to attract and retain the right employees for us going forward. Thanks for your help and guidance.”

Shari – HR Director Government

“I have had a very positive experience using the Profiles Sales tool and believe it has helped us to identify the right kind of people to be successful in sales positions at the bank.”

Tom – HR Senior Vice President – Bank

“The PXT training session was excellent, and . . . very insightful. All of my managers gained valuable insight into themselves and their employees. This program will no doubt be very helpful in managing, coaching and the hiring of Sales Department staff. Surely, we will reap great benefits from its use in our personal and professional development.”

Dianne, VP Sales, Gaming and Entertainment Industry

“We purchased the Applicant Tracking System program in 2008. Being a small non-profit company, there was little in terms of electronic tracking of data when I arrived as the new HR Director, and was looking for an affordable, off the shelf program that was easy to administer. I needed something that could interface with our web site in order for applicants to apply online. This program has just the functionality we were looking for. It tracks data for EEO-1 reporting, along with providing us a number of report types to manage our recruiting process. We are also able to email candidates directly from the site, which saves us much time in follow up. We are very pleased with the program!”

Robin – HR Director – Ambulance Company

“I would recommend Kestly Development to anyone in charge of hiring and HR at their company. I have used the Step One Survey for quite some time now to test prospective employees. While it is not my only tool in choosing a hire, it is definitely a valuable asset. You really learn a lot about a person from the test, and gain good interview tools such as good questions to ask. It really cut down on employee turnover for me by helping to make the right choice for a new employee the first time.”

Zack – Restaurant Manager

“Kestly Development did an outstanding job of learning our business, understanding our needs and providing a practical solution that fit. Mike did an excellent job of finding and implementing an Applicant Tracking System that now allows for better service to be provided to our managers and more informed candidates! I was not oversold a product that we would not use. Kestly Development understood our process and financial constraints and provided exactly what we needed under budget. Listens, understands and delivers practical cost effective solutions!”

Dan – HR Director – Sales and Manufacturing Tool Company

“The pre-employment Internet assessments have been very accurate and helpful in the hiring of new police officer recruits. Because you utilize the Internet, they are easy to complete and they provide an accurate assessment of basic applicant personality/character traits that help determine an applicant’s qualifications for the position before moving forward in the hiring process.”

Matt – Chief of Police

“Kestly Development’s assessments help staff members to understand the people around them, therefore improving the working relationship.”

Trish – VP Marketing

“My organization has worked with Mike and Kestly Development for a number of years. We have found the offerings to be helpful in selection of new talent, as well as making sure that existing talent is in the right position to maximize their gifts as well as benefit our company. Mike has done an exceptional job with service and training my team to get maximum use from the products he represents. I would recommend Mike and his Profiles products to enhance any business and Human Resources Department.”

Tim – President – Service Organization

“The Checkpoint 360 feedback process offered through Kestly Development offers our employees the opportunity to accurately evaluate their strengths, areas for improvement and overall job performance; laying the foundation for individual professional development planning and career growth, while increasing productivity and job performance. The aligning Checkpoint SkillBuilder series offered through Kestly supports this 360 feedback process by addressing individual skill needs. Our organization has worked with Kestly Development a long time, and have found the products and service to be both valuable and reliable.”

Linda – Professional Development Coordinator

“Faced with some upcoming changes within our industry and our organization, and as part of a strategic review of HR and Talent Management capabilities, I determined that we could benefit from the use of an assessment tool to aid us in measuring the outcomes of some employee selection and development initiatives. In consultation with Mike Kestly, the decision was made to utilize the PXT to enable us to target the critical areas of selection, development and training.

In the several months since we have begun to use the PXT, our managers have been able to more effectively hire and feel very secure in their use of the PXT Selection Report.

In addition, since we utilized the PXT assessment for existing staff, we have been able to provide managers with a coaching and development tool which has allowed them to enter into thoughtful, development discussions with their staff members that focus on measurable short and long-term outcomes. The PXT is allowing us to hire the “right talent for the right job at the right time”, and is also providing us with an effective tool for coaching and personal development. Mike Kestly’s support, insight and guidance through this process has been invaluable.”

Robin, HR Leader, Gaming and Entertainment Industry

Prior to using your instruments, our rate of retention was 3 out of 10 technicians. It is now 7 out of 10 technicians which has resulted in an additional 5 percentage points of gross profit, which for my department is well over $100,000 a year!

Two years ago I started using these two tests in my hiring process, at that time our turnover was 14%. Our turnover rate now is 2.23%. This has been an unprecedented change for our division.

Your products help keep us focused on the job and help us save time by qualifying the candidates throughout the selection process. The Profiles assessment system has helped us establish a framework to quantify those skills, interests and abilities that we are seeking in the individuals that we hire. The interview questions have been extremely helpful!

The Success Patterns generated by your studies prove to be very valuable, and certainly has helped us to focus on the important traits of our most successful managers. The Profiles assessment system is an excellent tool for training and promoting employees as well as new hires.

What impressed me most about the results of the surveys was the fact that in every case, people come out where I expected them to. It proved to be reliable and foolproof. I found it particularly interesting that the lower performers on my team were also the lower scorers on the assessment.

It allows us to understand why some of our sales people struggle and tell us what needs to be done to improve performance. In some instances it cut our losses short and put a better qualified person in the field. It keeps us from making costly mistakes that gut feel hiring can lead to.

It saves us $45,000 each time we can avoid hiring the wrong person!

The Step One Survey gives us the image of a savvy, organized company that insists on honesty, punctuality, and a drug free environment. The surveys suggested questions help us focus on areas of concern. We recommend it for small businesses like ours.

Everyone from HR to Operations to Marketing benefited from the Checkpoint 360 in identifying strengths and areas for improvement through the eyes of the team! We especially like the involvement of peers and direct reports in the performance review process!

Profiles is one of our partners who have developed assessment centers for each of our countries, where we can assure the quality of our recruiting process. Not only does Brenntag use Profiles for recruiting, but Profiles assessments are also employed for coaching, training, succession planning, and teamwork. Using Profiles’ tools has made a significant difference In organizational efficiency studies, we were able to improve the sales of bottom performers thirty percent, giving an annual increase of $500,000 in sales.

Bruegger’s partnered with Profiles International to identify the traits present in an ideal candidate. By utilizing the Step One Survey and the PXT, Bruegger’s now has the ability to select candidates who are best suited for these types of management positions. Turnover of managers and employees decreased significantly, resulting in substantial savings each year. PXT is now being implemented for selection of corporate employees as well. Moving forward, Bruegger’s plans to continue using these assessment tools and will expand usage into coaching and leadership development activities.

DeVry partnered with Profiles to offer internal pre-employment assessments. DeVry utilizes the PXT within a sales organization and the Customer Service Profile within their human resources, student services and student financial services departments. DeVry is also looking forward to expanding its use of Profiles’ tools for succession planning and coaching.

Profiles began a partnership with Planet Tan and is proud to be a partner of this forward-thinking organization. Through use of PXT, PXT-Sales, Step One Survey and employee background checks, Planet Tan (tanning superstores) is equipped with the tools needed to make informed decisions about who would best be suited to join this dynamic team. Usage has been expanded to include succession planning and coaching.

DMJM Harris selected Profiles International as their strategic partner after evaluating the tools of 60 firms who provide leadership assessments and services. We began with a small project working with the 21 top executives, then expanded to include 75 additional leaders located throughout the US. DMJM reviewed the success of the first two phases of the project and then made a commitment to move forward with Phase three to an additional 500+ leaders. Since then, DMJM Harris has chosen Profiles to partner in the development and administration of a Mentoring Program with both the Profiles Performance Indicator and PXT.