[retain]health

How we assess candidates.

If we're representing you for a role, we apply a structured assessment called the Retention Index™. You should know what it is, what it looks at, and what it does not.

Candidate notice · Version 1.0 · July 2026

The short version

Before we introduce you to an employer, we assess how well a specific role fits you — not whether you're capable of doing it. We assume you're qualified; that's why we're talking to you. What we're trying to work out is whether this particular job, at this particular organization, is one you'd actually want to stay in.

The assessment is scored by a person, using evidence from our conversations with you and from your references. A person makes every decision about it. No software decides anything about your candidacy.

What it looks at

Five things, each scored against written criteria that are the same for every candidate:

Role alignment
Whether the actual day-to-day work matches what you've done and what you've told us you want.
Culture fit
Whether you align with the organization's mission and how it makes decisions. This means shared values, not whether you resemble the current team — we assess coherence, never similarity of background, style, or personality.
Career trajectory
Whether this role moves you forward on the path you're on, and whether the organization can keep offering that.
Stability
What you need in order to stay, and whether this seat can offer it. We never score the length of a gap, and you are never asked to explain personal circumstances behind a move.
Onboarding readiness
What you'd need to succeed in the first ninety days, and whether the employer is prepared to provide it.

What it never looks at

No part of this assessment records, infers, or scores any of the following. There is no field for them, and they play no role in any rating:

Race · Ethnicity · National origin · Sex · Gender identity
Age · Religion · Disability · Pregnancy or parental status
Marital or family status · Sexual orientation · Immigration status
Military or veteran status · Genetic information · Any other protected characteristic

A note on career gaps. People step away from work for all kinds of reasons — caregiving, illness, a layoff, a move, further study. We don't score the existence of a gap. We score whether we understand what happened and can explain it to an employer. If there's something in your history you'd want us to understand properly, tell us. That's the whole point of the conversation.

It scores a pairing, not a person

This is the part most people find surprising, so we want to be direct about it: the assessment produces a score for you in one specific role. The same person can score at the top of our range for one job and at the bottom for another, in the same week.

A low score is never a judgment about your ability, your professionalism, or your worth as a candidate. It's a judgment about a match. If a role isn't right, we'd rather tell you that than place you into something you'll leave in eight months.

What we do with it

The score, and the reasoning behind it, is shared with the employer when we introduce you. It's advisory. The employer runs their own interview process and makes their own hiring decision — the Index doesn't decide anything for them, and it isn't a substitute for them getting to know you.

We keep the completed assessment — the ratings, the evidence recorded for each one, and the decision — for a minimum of four years. We keep it so that if anyone ever asks why a decision was made, there's a real answer on file rather than a recollection.

What you can ask for

1
To see your assessmentAsk, and we'll walk you through your scores and the reasoning behind each one.
2
To correct the recordIf we've got a fact wrong, tell us. We'll re-score the affected part and note the correction.
3
To be considered without itYou can ask us not to apply the Index to your candidacy. We'll represent you on the strength of your experience and our conversations instead. Declining costs you nothing and we won't ask why.
4
To have it deletedAsk us to delete your assessment and we will, subject to any record-keeping obligation we're under — in which case we'll tell you what that is and when it expires.
5
To read the full methodologyThe complete scoring methodology — every dimension, every criterion, every weight — is published in summary at How the Retention Index™ works, and the complete version — every dimension, criterion, and weight — is available on request.
Questions or requests

Kimberly Cook, MPH · Founder + CEO, RETAIN HEALTH

contact@retainhealth.co

We respond to requests about your assessment within five business days.