How our B.E.S.T. model helps you hire exceptional talent

In a fast-moving talent marketplace how do you identify, attract and retain exceptional talent? 

12 March 2026

TL;DR

How our four-part framework helps to deeply understand a person’s potential, ability and fit. 

When sector giants dwarf opportunities in status and budget, when your runway is short but you don’t want to hire in haste, how do you ensure you’re hiring someone not just with a great CV, but who will thrive in your environment and deliver the results you need to succeed?

Why hire exceptional talent?

For fast-scaling organisations, great talent isn’t just a nice-to-have. The right people become force multipliers, bringing more than knowledge to your business. 

Top-quartile performers are said to be eight times more productive, help you hit growth targets three times faster and raise the next round twice as fast. 

They improve retention four-fold, set new, high-performance standards and magnetise people to your business, attracting two to three more top performers.

Our B.E.S.T. model

Focusing on behaviours, experience, skills and traits during the selection and assessment stages of recruitment, we’re able to identify people who hit these high notes and also fit your mission, culture and tech stack. 

Our four-part framework helps to deeply understand a person’s potential, ability and fit. 

Behaviours – how someone actually works.
Behaviours are hard to change, so we prioritise them heavily.

Experience – what they’ve done before.
Past success is the best predictor of future success.

Skills – what they can do.
Skills can be learned more easily than behaviours or traits, so they get less weight.

Traits – who they are.
Traits are nearly impossible to change, but if behaviours are right, traits usually follow.

This model is a cornerstone of Akaina’s Talent Intelligence – an approach anchored in partnership that prioritises you and your specific requirements. 

References

 

1.
8x productivity statistic: McKinsey & Company research on high performers in complex, information-intensive roles (2018). A study published in “Focus on the five per cent” shows that high performers are 800% more productive than average workers in roles such as managers, software developers, and project managers.

Growth acceleration: Based on extensive research from McKinsey Global Institute and First Round Capital, showing that companies with exceptional talent and formalised talent strategies achieve significantly faster time-to-market and milestone completion.

 

Combined with our industry experience, marketplace knowledge and strong networks we ensure your scaling company identifies, attracts and retains the exceptional people who will become your unfair advantage.

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