Disruptors: How Pymetrics is changing the way in which companies recruit

. 2 min read

Pymetrics is a startup that is disrupting the recruitment industry by placing candidates in positions based on algorithms and online quizzes. The company makes games that will determine whether a candidate would be a good fit, in a specific role, within a company. Think of it as a Netflix for jobs. Just as Netflix provides the customer with suggestions based on their algorithms, Pymetrics provides recruiters with insight into the suitability of a candidate for a specific role. It has been thought for a long time that resumes were not the best thing to be using to hire the most suitable candidates. A study in 1998, found that work experience was one of the weakest indicators of future job-performance. Despite these findings, HR departments have continued to lean on the traditional resume to find suitable candidates. Co-founder, Frida Polli spent a combined decade as a cognitive neuroscientist at Harvard/MIT, where she studied the various ways to measure people’s cognitive and emotional attributes. Whilst studying, it became increasingly clear to Polli that certain assessments would be able accurately measure an individual’s cognitive and emotional abilities. However, the issue that these tests took over four hours to complete still existed. In 2012, Polli co-founded Pymetrics and built a platform that was both scalable and applicable to the hiring world. The startup built a number of games that take around 30 minutes to complete and require the candidate to complete a dozen tasks. The software then uses AI to measure a variety of traits including multi-tasking and problem solving. The results of the games inform a hiring company how likely the candidate is to succeed in a particular role by comparing their results to the company’s best performers. How is the concept being received? Pymetrics already has a number of large clients such as LinkedIn, Unilever and Accenture. How do they make money? Pymetrics uses a software-as-a-service model and charges clients based on the number of applicants a company receives per year. Is it working? The results have been promising with a number of companies doubling the % of candidates they invite for in-person interviews, retention rates increasing up to 60% and companies reporting better job performance amongst new candidates. How are they different to the competition? There are plenty of competitors that assess recruits for specific roles. However, Pymetrics is different to the competition as they measure traits across several areas of emotional and cognitive science. These results are then compared to the role within the company. Embracing change As more workers are looking for new careers, due to new technological innovations, AI and automation will be candidates best chance of landing a job in which they have no experience in. Rather than focusing on an individual’s experience, Pymetrics has created a solution that focuses on a candidates potential. By BMC Global Services