Utah-Based HireVue Acquires MindX
May 31, 2018 – South Jordan, UT-based HireVue, which develops and provides AI-driven assessment and video interviewing solutions, has acquired MindX, a game-based assessments company in London.
MindX’s game-based assessments are designed to speed the hiring process and quickly identify cognitive traits in job candidates. Integrating the latest advancements in psychometrics, Big Data and machine learning from MindX into the HireVue video intelligence platform is expected to provide HireVue’s customers with the capability to seamlessly incorporate game-based assessments into their candidate screening processes for more thorough evaluations and an engaging candidate experience.
“The MindX game-based assessments are a perfect complement to HireVue’s video-based pre-hire assessments solution, as they add the ability to measure fluid IQ, reasoning and problem-solving to the ability of HireVue Assessments to evaluate job-specific knowledge, communication and social intelligence,” said Kevin Parker, chairman and CEO for HireVue. “We’re excited to deliver even more robust and validated tools to our customers worldwide so they can discover, hire and grow more of the best talent, faster in today’s competitive hiring market.”
Objective Measuring
MindX game-based assessments objectively measure candidates’ cognitive abilities using a panel of challenges designed to engage the individuals as they are evaluated. Cognitive traits that are evaluated include: problem-solving, mental flexibility, learning agility, attention, creativity and quantitative aptitude.
Prospects can quickly demonstrate their competencies and personality traits within a highly engaging experience, said HireVue. Instead of simply uploading resumes and filling out online forms, candidates answer job-relevant questions and play a set of scientific mini-games to more effectively show their range of professional and cognitive strengths.
“The MindX team has been working rigorously to enable companies to hire the best talent for the job using cognitive science in combination with technology,” said Clemens Aichholzer, founder and CEO at MindX. “We’re thrilled to be teaming up with HireVue at a time of rapid global expansion. HireVue and MindX share a common vision of using sound science and a data-driven approach to ensure that both recruiting and career development are fairer, more effective and more engaging for candidates and companies alike.”
Greater Flexibility
The addition of MindX will create a uniquely broad, AI-driven talent assessments offering that gives HireVue customers greater flexibility to evaluate candidates and accelerate the process of identifying and hiring the market’s top talent, said HireVue.
The acquisition comes at a time of growth and expansion for HireVue. The company said it is on target to grow new business by almost 40 percent year over year in 2018. Its team, meanwhile, has grown by almost 50 percent in the past two years. Today it has more than 300 employees, 90 of whom are dedicated to product development and data security and privacy.
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Strong customer adoption of HireVue assessments has driven better than 140 percent year-over-year sales growth of the AI-enabled video assessments product, said the company. International sales have increased more than 50 percent year over year and now comprise almost a fifth of total sales bookings.
Globally Available
HireVue is available worldwide in more than 30 languages and has hosted over six million interviews for more than 700 customers worldwide, including more than one-third of the Fortune 100 and brands such as Vodafone, Intel, Hilton, HealthSouth, Qantas and Carnival Cruise Lines. The company, which was founded in 2004, was named among the top 10 “Most Promising Companies” in America by Forbes and is a five-time winner of “Top HR Product of the Year” by HR Executive Magazine.
Assessment Tools to Play Bigger Role In Hiring
Managers estimate that one-in-five employees should not have been hired, according to a study by CEB. This may be because applicants didn’t meet basic requirements (65 percent won’t), the cultural fit with the organization wasn’t there or the hiring manager lacked the evidence-based tools to make a good decision.
Two years ago, HireVue brought aboard Mr. Parker as the new CEO and board chairman, succeeding founder Mark Newman. Mr. Parker, who has upwards of 25 years of leadership and operational experience from numerous public and private high growth companies, was previously a co-founder and senior operating principal of Bridge Growth Partners. He also serves as chairman of Salient CRGT, a Bridge Growth Partners portfolio company.
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Mr. Parker most recently served as CEO of Deltek, a leading global provider of enterprise software and information solutions. Before joining Deltek, Parker was CFO and later co-president of PeopleSoft, a leading provider of management software technology, in the years prior to its acquisition by Oracle.
Game-Based Assessments
MindX is a next-generation predictive hiring and talent analytics platform. Its software tools integrate the latest advancements in game technology, psychometrics and machine learning, empowering employers to attract, identify, engage and develop talent. MindX game-based assessments are valid, fair, and reliable psychometric measures, according to the company. Its technology allows for two-way HR system integration and plays a central role in recruitment process automation.
Before founding MindX in 2014, Mr. Aichholzer was a portfolio manager and investment banker with Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Lombard Odier. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MA from Vienna School of Economics.
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Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Will Schatz, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
