As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Dr. Frida Polli, co-founder and CEO of pymetrics which utilizes neuroscience and AI to assess candidates and employees across a range of cognitive, social, and emotional traits and algorithmically recommends the best-fit talent to companies. Using algorithms that are trained on high-performing employees at a company, Pymetrics builds a trait profile of a company's top performers to select best-fit talent.
Their major differentiators include their focus on soft skills, AI fueled by plenty of data which maps skills to wide range of occupations and validation across several global customers. Throughout the presentation, the word “unbiased” came up often (especially when it comes to ethnicity and gender), with concerns about bias being built into machine learning algorithms.
She makes a strong case for why measuring soft skills is critical. She quotes that 89% of HR leaders believe that failed hires lacked appropriate soft skills. She believes such skills are inherent, durable and future-facing.
Pymterics has patented a set of 12 core exercises which capture cognitive, emotional and social traits. They measure soft skills like generosity and focus which have been matched to various occupations. They are supplemented with assessments of quantitative and communication skills.
It is a testament to how the workforce environment has changed when she says half the use cases she sees now have an internal mobility/reskilling and workforce insights focus. When they started a decade ago, it was primarily focused on talent acquisition.
She covers wide ground including ROI from her platform and 3 case studies (including two in Asia/Pacific). That brings out nuggets about soft skills across global cultures, and the applicability of her tools to entry level staff v experienced hires.
I was introduced to them by Workday Ventures. They are an investor along with many others like General Atlantic and Khosla. It is a fascinating conversation with someone who is a Harvard PhD and has spent plenty of time in the cognitive sciences.
