Are psychometric tests worth the money?
Cost per candidate set against the cost of one hire that does not work out, with the figures from our own client pool.
Pricing
Cognitiveaxiscorp pricing for AI screening and psychometric assessment in New Zealand
Cognitiveaxiscorp charges a fixed price per role for AI screening and a fixed price per candidate for psychometric assessment, so you know the total before you commit. No per-seat fees, no credit packs that expire, and no charge for setup or calibration.
$2,300
Entry price per role
$0
Setup and calibration fee
250
Applicants included per role
14 days
Payment terms, invoice only
Packages
Three ways to buy, depending on the seat you are filling
All prices are in New Zealand dollars and exclude GST. Volume roles suit the screening packages, senior and specialist roles usually need the deeper assessment on top.
Starter screening
$2,300
One role, up to 250 applicants
- Role intake call and competency model build
- AI scoring of every application
- Ranked shortlist with written reasoning
- Structured interview question pack
- Shortlist delivered in 48 hours
- Additional applicants at $7 each
Most chosen
Full screening
$4,750
One role, up to 250 applicants
- Everything in Starter screening
- Psychometric shortlist testing, up to 20 candidates
- Panel debrief with our assessment lead
- Fairness and adverse impact report
- Hiring support for 30 days after offer
- Candidate feedback letters included
Deep assessment
$1,450
Per candidate, senior and specialist roles
- Full psychometric battery, four domains
- 45-minute interpretive debrief call
- Team fit comparison against your staff
- Written summary for your hiring file
- Interview probes tailored to the profile
- Re-test available at $420 after six months
Service one
AI Pre-Hire Screening pricing in detail
The screening service is priced by role, not by applicant, which is the part most clients care about. You buy a package, you get one scoring rubric, one ranked shortlist and one interview pack. If the applicant pool is bigger than the package allows, you pay $7 per extra applicant rather than buying a second package.
Public sector and not-for-profit organisations get 15 per cent off any package, applied at the invoice stage. Ongoing recruitment partners pay a flat $6,900 a month for unlimited roles up to 1,200 applicants a month, which works out cheaper from the fourth role onward.
Read about AI Pre-Hire ScreeningWhat is included in every screening package
| Role intake and competency model | Included |
| AI application scoring | Included |
| Ranked shortlist with reasons | Included |
| Structured interview questions | Included |
| Extra applicant beyond 250 | $7 each |
| Re-run for a second role | $1,150 |
| Rush delivery under 24 hours | $480 |
Service two
Psychometric Fit Assessment pricing in detail
The psychometric service is priced per candidate because the time cost sits in the interpretation, not the test itself. Each candidate sits a validated battery covering reasoning, conscientiousness, emotional stability and team fit, then one of our psychologists spends forty-five minutes walking you through what the results mean for this role.
If you are assessing five or more candidates on the same role, the per-candidate rate drops to $1,180. For whole-team benchmarking, where we assess your existing staff to build an internal reference, we charge $980 per person and cap the project at $14,500.
Read about Psychometric Fit AssessmentPsychometric pricing at a glance
| Single candidate assessment | $1,450 |
| Five candidates or more, same role | $1,180 each |
| Team benchmark project | $980 each |
| Re-test after six months | $420 |
| Extended written report | $260 |
| Additional debrief session | $310 |
Bundles
Combine both services and save without losing anything
Most clients end up running screening across the applicant pool and assessment on the final shortlist. Buying them together is cheaper than buying them separately, and it means one report instead of two.
- Screening plus five assessments: $9,650 instead of $10,900
- Screening plus ten assessments: $13,900 instead of $16,300
- Quarterly retainer with three roles a quarter: $11,400 per quarter
Public sector rate
Councils, Crown entities and registered charities take 15 per cent off any package, every time.
Volume rate
Hiring more than three roles a quarter? Ask about the flat monthly retainer instead of per-role pricing.
Invoice terms
Fourteen days from invoice date, direct bank transfer or card. No credit card stored on file.
Refunds
Cancel before the screening run starts and we refund in full. Read the refund policy for the detail.
Choosing
How to work out which package you actually need
Here is the shortcut we give clients on the intake call. It usually takes about two minutes to land on the right number.
Case 1
More than 60 applicants, low skill ceiling
Support, retail, warehouse or contact centre roles. Starter screening is enough and it is the cheapest thing we sell that works.
Case 2
Mixed volume, real judgement needed
Analyst, coordinator, technician roles with a proper interview stage. Full screening covers the pool and the shortlist assessment in one go.
Case 3
One seat, high salary, high risk
Senior, specialist or leadership roles with fewer than fifteen applicants. Deep assessment per candidate is the better spend, and you can skip the pool screening entirely.
The maths
What a bad hire costs against what screening costs
A mid-level New Zealand hire that does not work out sets you back somewhere between $28,000 and $60,000 once you count the recruitment fee, the salary during the failed period, the onboarding time and the productivity you lost covering the seat again. A senior hire is worse.
Full screening costs $4,750. If it stops one bad hire in eight, it has paid for itself several times over. If it stops one in twenty, it still has.
$28k+
Cost of one failed mid-level hire
$4,750
Full screening package
11%
First-year attrition with screening
19%
Without it, same job families
Questions
Pricing questions we get asked every week
No. The intake call, the competency model and the scoring rubric are all part of the package price. The only things that cost extra are extra applicants, rush delivery and optional products like extended reports.
You pay $7 per applicant beyond the 250 included, billed at the end of the run. We will tell you the moment the pool crosses 250 so there are no surprises on the invoice.
No. Add as many hiring managers, HR staff or panel members to the account as you like. The price is tied to the role, not to how many people log in.
Yes, up until the screening run begins. After that we have already done the work and the invoice stands. The refund policy sets out the cut-off clearly.
We do. Send us the scope and we will return a fixed price with a delivery schedule you can put in a tender response. Public sector discounts apply on top unless the tender requires a single all-in price.
Never. Candidates sit our assessments at no cost and receive feedback on request. The employer pays, and only the employer pays.
From the blog
More on what you are actually paying for
What AI screening actually changes in New Zealand hiring
Where the time savings really come from, and which parts of the process stay exactly as manual as before.
Next step
Get a fixed price for the role you are filling
Send us the job description and the number of applications you expect. We will come back within one working day with a fixed price, a start date and a short note on anything in the role that might change the recommendation.
- Fixed price quoted before you commit
- No setup fee, no seat fees, no lock-in
- GST exclusive, invoiced in NZD
- Public sector and not-for-profit discounts available
Questions first? Call +64 9 582 7143 or email cognitiveaxiscorp@gmail.com. We are at 109 Fanshawe Street, Auckland 1010.