PDI Ninth House Career Opportunities

PDI- A Pioneer in Talent Management

Founded in 1967 by Marvin Dunnette, an industrial/organizational psychology pioneer and author of the world renowned Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Personnel Decisions International (PDI) has been at the forefront of merging science and business into practical talent management applications ever since.

Dunnette and Lowell Hellervik took the company’s early focus on assessments and developed ground-breaking organizational effectiveness methods. They led the field in developing early employee opinion surveys and behavioral description interview programs. PDI became the first to offer executive and managerial development centers utilizing assessment-based technology.

Early Innovation

In 1975, Dunnette and Hellervik split the company into PDRI, a non-profit research firm led by Dunnette and the for-profit, PDI, led by Hellervik. Contracting with the U.S. government and Fortune 1000 businesses, PDI gained international recognition when Dunnette published the 1976 Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology—the primary text used by I/O graduate students worldwide. Throughout the 1980’s and ‘90’s PDI continued to develop revolutionary techniques and programs for talent management including executive coaching, 360 feedback tools, career management services, personality-based measurements of conscientiousness and dependability, personality inventories, web-based planning tools and leadership development programs.

Responsive to Today’s Leading Business Trends

Today, in harmony with its values, PDI continues to develop innovative techniques in response to its clients—often producing new methods as a result of a client’s unique needs. The popular book, Successful Manager’s Handbook grew out of response to a specific client’s desire to have on-going on-the-job development activities. As did PDI’s widely used PROFILOR® and TalentView® applications. In addition to creating methodology, PDI owns and operates strategic offices near its many clients, allowing large corporations to have easy access to PDI’s expertise and assessment facilities.