By Mette Babitzkow Boje, Head of Assessment Tools at CfL. March 2026
Like many other organizations, Brdr. A&O Johansen is experiencing increasing pressure when it comes to recruiting trainees. Young people have many options, and long, test-heavy recruitment processes can quickly cost you the best candidates.
That’s why the organization made a conscious decision:
The 6 Factor assessment should not be used as a screening tool in recruitment, but instead as a development and matching tool after hiring.
“If we want the best candidates, we need to move quickly. And that means not scaring them away with tests and lengthy processes.”
Brdr. A&O Johansen uses the 6 Factor personality assessment as a consistent element throughout the entire trainee journey. The tool plays different roles along the way, but with one shared purpose:
to create the best possible conditions for both the trainee, the manager, and the business.
The process can be divided into three phases:
Shortly after starting, trainees complete the 6 Factor assessment as part of their probation follow-up. The focus is not on evaluation, but on understanding.
Trainees gain:
““It gives them confirmation of things they may already have sensed, but never had the language to express.”
At the same time, managers and HR gain a shared foundation for dialogue. In an organization with many highly skilled professionals, but not necessarily formally trained leaders, the 6 Factor provides a concrete entry point into more challenging conversations.
“It gives managers a completely different starting point for understanding who they’ve brought in—and what they themselves can do differently.”
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Meet Michala and Kim Ane
Michala Duvier works with talent development and organisational development, with a focus on strengthening both employees and the organisation as a whole. In her work, she is dedicated to creating frameworks where talent can grow, and where leaders are equipped with the right tools to support learning, collaboration, and performance in everyday work.
She works strategically to closely align the development of employees and leaders with the organisation’s goals and direction. Through facilitating development programmes, fostering a feedback culture, and encouraging reflection, she helps create a shared language around behaviour, well-being, and collaboration. As part of this work, she uses the 6 Factor tools as a framework for dialogue.
Kim Ane Christensen is HR Director at Brdr. A&O Johansen A/S, where she works strategically with organisational development, leadership, and employee development in a company operating across Denmark and Sweden, with a strong digital presence. She is focused on closely linking HR to the business and fostering a culture where learning, feedback, and development are a natural part of everyday work. In her work with trainees and leaders, she has introduced the 6 Factor tools to create a shared language around behaviour, collaboration, and development.
Throughout the trainee programme, the 6 Factor assessment is actively used in the dialogue between the trainee, manager, HR, and school. Here, the tool supports both individual development and day-to-day collaboration.
This means, among other things, that:
"The tasks are the same, but we can frame them very differently—depending on what motivates each individual.”
A concrete example illustrates how a trainee who was close to being let go during the probation period is now permanently employed and a key employee—because both the trainee and the manager gained insight into each other’s preferences.
“We would have let him go if we hadn’t had that shared language.”
As the trainee programme approaches its conclusion, the role of the 6 Factor assessment gradually shifts.
From being primarily a development tool, it also becomes a tool for selection and matching.
Brdr. A&O Johansen uses the insights to:
“In practice, the trainee period becomes a long recruitment process—just with a much stronger decision-making foundation.”
At this stage, the focus is not on where the trainee can function, but where they have the best conditions to succeed.
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For the trainees, this approach means:
For the managers, it means:
“The question is not just whether the trainee can adapt—but what we can adjust along the way to bring out the best in both parties. That’s why we don’t use assessments to filter people out, but to help them succeed.”
The international educational institution DIS, with more than 600 employees, uses DiSC to create a shared language around behaviour and collaboration, as well as for team development and leadership onboarding.
The international educational institution DIS, with more than 600 employees, uses DiSC to create a shared language around behaviour and collaboration, as well as for team development and leadership onboarding.
Let me begin with an example: Helle is a department manager in a large private knowledge-based company. She is responsible for a team of specialists and has for several years delivered stable results, high quality, and low employee turnover. Now the conditions are changing. The organization is growing, the pace is increasing, and decisions need to be made more quickly.
It’s late in the afternoon. The last candidate has left the meeting room, and the recruitment interviews have stretched across two long days. The hiring manager and the HR partner lean back in their chairs. It’s quiet. Not because the choice is clear. Quite the opposite.
P: +45 53 67 67 91
E: mba@cfl.dk