First Move Assessment vs Predictive Index: Which Actually Fits a Contractor?

Facts checked 8 min read

The short answer: The Predictive Index (PI) fits a company with roughly 50 or more employees that wants one annual platform for hiring, managing and building teams, all built on a short behavioral assessment and a cognitive test. PI says its plans start at $10,000 a year and are sold only as an annual subscription.1 First Move Assessment fits a contracting business that wants to buy assessments one at a time and get a read on the move a candidate reaches for first in the exact trade seat it is hiring for. PI describes how a person tends to behave at work in general and scores that against a target you set for the role. First Move Assessment reads instinct in situations written for one trade seat.

We checked every PI fact on this page against The Predictive Index's own public website on 8 October 2026. Prices and features change, so confirm on their site before you buy. Sources are listed at the bottom.

Who each one is for

The Predictive Index. PI says it is designed for companies with 50 to 500+ employees and that more than 10,000 companies use it.1 Its construction page says PI supports construction firms of every size but is especially powerful once a firm grows beyond 100 employees.2 The platform covers hiring, manager development and team performance under one subscription.1

First Move Assessment. Built for owners and managers who do their own hiring in nine trades: HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, garage door, pest control, commercial mechanical, residential cleaning and commercial cleaning. Every seat in the company has its own written standard, from apprentice and service tech through dispatcher, CSR, comfort advisor, estimator and bookkeeper, up to the chief executive.

What each one measures

The PI Behavioral Assessment measures four behavioral drives: dominance, extraversion, patience and formality. It is untimed and takes about six minutes. The candidate answers two questions from one shared list of adjectives: which words describe how they are expected to act at work, and which words describe them. They are then assigned one of 17 reference profiles.3 PI calls it far more than a personality test and says it is designed for employment decisions.3

The PI Cognitive Assessment is a 12-minute, 50-question timed test of verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning. PI says it does not require job-specific knowledge.4 In PI Hire, you set a Job Target for the role, and PI scores and ranks each candidate's behavioral and cognitive fit against it.5

First Move Assessment measures work instinct: the move a candidate reaches for first when the work gets hard. The candidate reads situations from the seat and picks the move they would make first. The report scores them out of 100 against the seat's written standard, with a margin of error printed beside the score, and shows where their instincts pull away from what the seat needs. It does not test skills or trade knowledge, describe personality or check backgrounds.

What that means in practice: PI tells you a candidate's general behavioral drives and how fast they learn, and how that profile matches the target you set. First Move Assessment tells you which way the candidate leans on the calls one seat runs on: check first or jump in, fix what keeps causing the problem or the one in front of them, handle it or pass it to the right person.

The research behind each

The Predictive Index says its Behavioral Assessment is backed by over 70 years of research and hundreds of criterion-related validity studies, and that both its Behavioral and Cognitive Assessments are certified under the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations test review model.3 PI's validity page says 94% of its studies found significant relationships between PI measures and job performance.6

First Move Assessment is built on situational judgment, a hiring method with 30 years of published evidence. Candidates face real situations from the seat and pick the move they would make first. What the published research on the method has found:

  • A meta-analysis pooling 118 results found situational judgment tests predicted job performance at .26 (McDaniel, Hartman, Whetzel and Grubb, 2007, Personnel Psychology).
  • Tests built around teamwork situations predicted at .38, and leadership situations at .28 (Christian, Edwards and Bradley, 2010, Personnel Psychology).
  • The approach lines up with decades of research on tacit knowledge, the practical know-how that separates experienced performers (Sternberg and Wagner, 1985; Lievens and Motowidlo, 2016).

The limits page explains how these findings on the method relate to this assessment.

Trade-specific content

The Predictive Index gives every candidate the same Behavioral and Cognitive Assessments, and PI describes the cognitive test's format as role-neutral.34 You tailor PI to the job through the Job Target, using PI's benchmark library, input from your team, or the data of your current top performers.5 PI has a construction industry page and a customer story from Builtech, a general contracting and construction management firm.27 Ask PI whether its benchmark library has targets for the seats you hire most, such as a service tech, dispatcher, comfort advisor, project manager or night crew cleaner.

First Move Assessment is trade-specific all the way through. Each situation is written from inside one seat in one trade, in that trade's own words: a night crew cleaner alone in a locked building who finds a floor that is not on the route sheet, or an estimator with a bid due and a scope question the general contractor has not answered. A dispatcher is read against what a dispatch board demands, a bookkeeper against what the books demand.

Pricing

The Predictive Index says plans start at $10,000 per year, priced by headcount. Every plan includes unlimited users and unlimited assessments. PI does not sell per assessment and has no monthly option, and it can set up a free trial through its sales team.1 Workshops, PI certification and single sign-on are paid add-ons.1

First Move Assessment charges per assessment. One assessment is $149. Packs run $595 for 5, $995 for 10 and $1,995 for 25. The Practice License is 100 assessments a year for $4,950. Every seat costs the same, assessments never expire, and the first one is covered by a 30-day refund. Full details are on the pricing page.

The honest math: PI's starting price of $10,000 a year would buy about 200 First Move Assessments at Practice License rates, or about 125 at 25 pack rates. A company that runs hundreds of candidates a year and wants PI's management and team tools as well gets more from a PI subscription than from hiring assessments alone. A shop that puts 20 to 50 candidates a year through pays far less buying assessments one at a time. Ask PI for a quote at your headcount and compare it with what you spent on hiring last year.

Setup and support

The Predictive Index includes onboarding and rollout support, on-demand support and access to PI-certified consultants in every plan, and says it is built for HR teams of one.1 PI is browser-based and lists 97+ integrations with HR, applicant tracking and collaboration tools.1

First Move Assessment takes almost no setup. Your account email arrives within a minute of buying, and you set a password from it. Pick the seat, type the candidate's name and email, and the link goes out. The candidate finishes on their phone in about 10 to 20 minutes, with no app and no account, and the report lands in your inbox. Questions go to support@firstmoveassessment.com.

How each one uses AI

The Predictive Index builds an AI assistant called Obi into its whole platform.1 PI Hire's Interview Builder uses AI to create interview questions for each candidate, and PI offers AI-generated summaries of interview feedback.58 PI says Obi has been trained not to make decisions, that its tools should be one of many factors in a hiring decision, and that Obi can be switched off.9

First Move Assessment: AI tools helped draft the seat standards and the situations a candidate reads, and checked them against occupational research. Every standard then had to pass a fixed set of rules and was approved before use. No AI takes part when a candidate sits the assessment, when it is scored, or when the report is written.

Frequently asked questions

Can I buy Predictive Index one assessment at a time?

No. PI says it is sold by annual subscription based on company size, with no per-assessment or monthly option.1 First Move Assessment is sold per assessment, starting at $149 for one.

How much does The Predictive Index cost?

PI says plans start at $10,000 a year and are custom-priced by headcount, with unlimited users and assessments.1 Ask for a quote at your size.

What does the PI Behavioral Assessment measure?

Four behavioral drives: dominance, extraversion, patience and formality. It takes about six minutes and places the person in one of 17 reference profiles.3

Is The Predictive Index validated for hiring?

PI says yes. It cites hundreds of criterion-related validity studies and EFPA certification for its Behavioral and Cognitive Assessments.3

Is Predictive Index too big for a small contractor?

PI says it is designed for companies with 50 to 500+ employees. Its construction page says PI supports construction firms of every size but is especially powerful beyond 100 employees.12 Below that size, compare PI's quote with what per-assessment pricing would cost for the candidates you actually run.

What is the difference between Predictive Index and First Move Assessment?

PI measures general behavioral drives and learning speed, then matches them to a target you set for the role.345 First Move Assessment reads the move a candidate reaches for first in situations from one trade seat, scored out of 100 against that seat's written standard.

Which one covers commercial mechanical and cleaning companies?

PI's industry pages cover construction, manufacturing, hospitality, healthcare and others, and do not name cleaning or building services, though PI says it applies to any company or industry.110 First Move Assessment has written seat standards for commercial mechanical, residential cleaning and commercial cleaning, including project managers, estimators, night crew cleaners, day porters and commercial supervisors.

Sources

PI facts checked on predictiveindex.com on 8 October 2026.

  1. PI plans and pricing: https://www.predictiveindex.com/plans/
  2. PI for construction companies: https://www.predictiveindex.com/industry/construction/
  3. PI Behavioral Assessment: https://www.predictiveindex.com/assessments/behavioral-assessment/
  4. PI Cognitive Assessment: https://www.predictiveindex.com/assessments/cognitive-assessment/
  5. PI Hire: https://www.predictiveindex.com/software/hiring/
  6. PI assessments validity: https://www.predictiveindex.com/assessments/assessments-validity/
  7. PI customer story, Builtech: https://www.predictiveindex.com/customer-stories/builtech-case-study/
  8. AI at The Predictive Index: https://www.predictiveindex.com/ai/
  9. PI Legal AI FAQ: https://www.predictiveindex.com/ai/legal-ai-faq/
  10. PI industries: https://www.predictiveindex.com/industry/

The Predictive Index, PI Behavioral Assessment, PI Cognitive Assessment, PI Hire and Obi are trademarks of The Predictive Index. First Move Assessment is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Predictive Index.

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