Pymetrics

Pymetrics operates as a talent-matching platform that leverages behavioral data and audited artificial intelligence to assist organizations in making more equitable and accurate workforce decisions. The company was founded in 2012 by Dr. Frida Polli and Julie Yoo. Polli, a neuroscientist trained at Harvard and MIT, transitioned from a decade in academia to entrepreneurship after attending Harvard Business School. Her 'a-ha' moment came from observing the inefficiencies and biases in traditional recruiting processes, realizing that the neuroscience research she conducted could be applied to better match individuals with suitable careers, much like recommendation engines for movies or music.

The firm's core offering consists of a series of 12 online games designed to assess 91 cognitive, social, and emotional traits across nine categories, including attention, decision-making, effort, and risk tolerance. Instead of self-report questionnaires, the platform analyzes a candidate's behavior during these gamified assessments to build an objective profile. This data-driven methodology aims to mitigate unconscious biases related to a candidate's background, gender, or race in the hiring process. The platform serves a range of global enterprise clients, including prominent names like Unilever, Accenture, and Boston Consulting Group (BCG), helping them identify and develop talent.

Pymetrics' business model targets corporate clients, offering solutions that span the entire talent lifecycle, from recruiting and hiring to internal mobility and reskilling. By creating custom job profiles based on the traits of a company's top performers, the platform can objectively evaluate candidates' potential for success in a specific role. This service helps clients reduce time-to-hire, lower recruiting costs, and increase workforce diversity. In August 2022, Pymetrics was acquired by Harver, a hiring solutions provider. The acquisition combined Harver's existing assessments with Pymetrics' behavioral AI, aiming to offer a more comprehensive set of tools for talent decisions.

Keywords: talent assessment, behavioral science, AI recruiting, neuroscience games, unbiased hiring, workforce analytics, soft skills platform, talent lifecycle management, predictive hiring, HR technology