# Candidate assessment for enterprise buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "pre-employment assessment platform" and as "skills testing tool for hiring", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of an enterprise B2B company. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/talent/candidate-assessment/2026-11/enterprise

**Standing:** SHL leads with 41% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 51 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [SHL](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/shl/index.md) | 41% | 2% | 43 |
| 2 | [Criteria Corp](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/criteria-corp/index.md) | 22% | 2% | 41 |
| 3 | [HireVue](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/hirevue/index.md) | 8% | 24% | 38 |
| 4 | [Codility](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/codility/index.md) | 4% | 7% | 30 |
| 5 | [Vervoe](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/vervoe/index.md) | 4% | 5% | 21 |
| 6 | [The Predictive Index](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/the-predictive-index/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 13 |
| 7 | [iMocha](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/imocha/index.md) | 4% | 0% | 10 |
| 8 | [HackerRank](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/hackerrank/index.md) | 2% | 13% | 39 |
| 9 | [CodeSignal](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/codesignal/index.md) | 2% | 7% | 14 |
| 10 | [TestGorilla](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/testgorilla/index.md) | 2% | 29% | 35 |
| 15 | [Harver](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/harver/index.md) | 0% | 0% | 21 |
| 16 | [Mercer | Mettl](https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/vendors/mercer-mettl/index.md) | 0% | 6% | 18 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 102 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: SHL; alternatives Harver, HireVue, Mercer | Mettl
- GPT-5.4 mini: HireVue, SHL; alternatives TestGorilla, The Predictive Index
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Criteria Corp, SHL; alternatives Chally Assessment, CodeSignal, HackerRank, HireVue
- Perplexity Sonar: HireVue; alternatives Codility, HackerRank, SHL, Vervoe
- Grok 4.20: Codility; alternatives Criteria Corp, HackerRank, TestGorilla
- Mistral Small: SHL; alternatives Codility, HackerRank
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Codility, SHL; alternatives Criteria Corp, HackerRank, TestGorilla
- Llama 4 Maverick: no first choice
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: SHL; alternatives Criteria CCAI, HackerRank, Pymetrics, The Predictive Index
- Kimi K2: HireVue, SHL; alternatives Criteria Corp, Harver, Mercer | Mettl
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Criteria Corp; alternatives HackerRank, Harver, TestGorilla
- MiniMax M2.5: SHL; alternatives Criteria Corp, HireVue
- GPT-6 Luna: SHL TalentCentral+; alternatives Criteria Corp, HireVue
- Muse Glimmer 30B: SHL; alternatives Codility, Criteria Corp, HackerRank, Harver

## Sources the answers cite

75 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- leadchangegroup.com: 25 answers, 35 citations
- criteriacorp.com: 23 answers, 40 citations
- bestrecruitingtools.com: 20 answers, 25 citations
- capterra.com: 19 answers, 24 citations
- softwareadvice.com: 19 answers, 23 citations
- resources.rework.com: 19 answers, 20 citations
- vervoe.com: 19 answers, 19 citations
- g2.com: 18 answers, 30 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://leadchangegroup.com/pre-employment-testing-software/enterprise (21 answers)
- https://bestrecruitingtools.com/blog/best-pre-employment-assessment-software-enterprise-2026 (19 answers)
- https://vervoe.com/best-skills-assessment-platforms (19 answers)
- https://resources.rework.com/tools/recruiting-ats/best-pre-employment-assessment-tools-2026 (18 answers)
- https://capterra.com/pre-employment-testing-software (13 answers)
- https://codesignal.com/blog/best-skills-assessment-software-2026 (13 answers)
- https://equalture.com/blog/pre-employment-assessment-tools (13 answers)
- https://firsthr.app/compare/hiring/pre-employment-assessment (11 answers)
- https://kurums.com/best-pre-employment-assessment-software-2026-comparison?v=653f5ac96a69 (10 answers)
- https://testlify.com/top-10-pre-hire-assessment-platforms-for-enterprises (10 answers)

## Warned against

- TestGorilla: 10 of 35 labels negative. "Pre-Employment Assessment Platforms to Avoid or Be Cautious About ... TestGorilla ... has shallow normative databases at enterprise scale" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt)
- HireVue: 9 of 38 labels negative. "AI-Powered Video Interview Platforms (e.g., HireVue) - Concerns: Significant bias and ethics issues, lack of transparency in AI decision-making" (Kimi K2, negative prompt)
- HackerRank: 5 of 39 labels negative. "HackerRank: While excellent for coding, their pricing is often per-test or per-user, which can become unpredictable" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, budget prompt)
- Pymetrics: 2 of 6 labels negative. "Neuroscience/Gamified Assessment Platforms (e.g., Pymetrics) - Concerns: Ambiguity and opacity in how games translate to job performance" (Kimi K2, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 13 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: SHL at 41%.

- SHL: 20% to 41%, +21. Cleared the floor by 8 points · rank 1 of 102, unchanged.
- Harver: 13% to 0%, −13. Inside the floor by 0 points · rank 4 → 15 of 102.
- iMocha: 16% to 4%, −12. Inside the floor by 1 point · rank 2 → 7 of 102.
- Criteria Corp: 13% to 22%, +9. Inside the floor by 4 points · rank 3 → 2 of 102.
- TestGorilla: 9% to 2%, −7. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 5 → 10 of 102.
- Codility: 0% to 4%, +4. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 15 → 4 of 102.
- Vervoe: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 11 → 5 of 102.
- The Predictive Index: 2% to 4%, +2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 10 → 6 of 102.
- CodeSignal: 0% to 2%, +2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 16 → 9 of 102.
- Mercer | Mettl: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 9 → 16 of 102.
- HireVue: 9% to 8%, −1. Inside the floor by 12 points · rank 6 → 3 of 102.
- HackerRank: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 13 points · rank 8 of 102, unchanged.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/hr/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/hr.