Elevate your recruiting to a science.
A Transparent Approach to Data-Driven Talent Assessments
Scientific Background
What makes a person a good fit for any role?
The most effective hiring selection practices
And those that don’t work so well, based on validity coefficients ranging from 0 to 1. The higher the number, the higher the correlation between test scores and predicted job performance.
Research has shown that the assessment that Bryq uses (combined cognitive and personality) have the highest correlation with predicted job performance versus any other measure.
Personality Profile
Objectively assesses behavioral patterns and offers reliable insights into a candidate’s job suitability, potential, and cultural fit
Cognitive Ability
Accurately predicts job performance by measuring logic, problem-solving, verbal reasoning, attention to detail, and adaptability.
Bryq
Matches job attributes with the ideal candidate profile facilitating the screening stage and securing Diversity & Inclusion processes.
Cognitive Skills
Bryq measures 4 distinct skills – Numerical, Logical Reasoning, Verbal, and Attention to detail.
Personality traits
Bryq’s personality assessment is based on a framework known as 16 Personality Factors. British psychologist Raymond Cattell used a statistical procedure known as factor analysis to pinpoint sixteen personality traits that could be used to understand behavior and differing personalities. These primary traits make up his personality test, which was developed over several decades and is used by psychologists, as well as recruitment consultants and individuals for personal and career development.
The I/O Psychology Framework
Bryq is based on established theories of Industrial / Organizational Psychology, that have been thoroughly vetted, verified, and tested over time. We know how we measure, but we also know why these are valid and accurate predictors for job performance.
Why 16PF?
While both are very valuable for some purposes, both fall short when it comes to
accuracy, ease of interpretation, and stability over time.
While the DiSC assessment is widely used and considered more reliable than Myers-Briggs it has not been adequately studied to prove its accuracy versus actual job performance.
In addition, its results can be lengthy requiring special training in order to interpret them appropriately making it difficult to use.
The accuracy of the Myers- Briggs assessment has been debated for a long time.
This is, among other reasons, due to its binary groupings.
It creates a forced-choice situation between two options and has been criticized for not providing results that are stable over time.
Holland Code (RIASEC)
Psychologist Dr. John Holland created a three-letter code that make-up an individual’s three dominant personality types out of six possible choices. Holland classified the personality types in six groups: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional. He believed that occupations could be classified in the same way and that matches between the two can be made. This theory is one of the most frequently applied career development tools and demonstrates Holland’s belief that one’s occupation selection is actually an expression of one’s personality. This theory dates back to the early 70’s and substantial research has been completed on it since, essentially confirming its validity across race, gender and ethnic groups.
The Five-Factor Model
The Five-Factor Model, or “The Big Five”, was developed by several independent researchers who discovered and defined five broad categories of personality traits that may account for individual differences. These traits are Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism (OCEAN). This model is considered remarkably universal and is one of the most commonly used models of personality testing in academic psychology, recruitment, and personal development.
Bringing it all together
Based on these theories, we built the Bryq assessment. For the first time, cognitive skills and personality assessments are combined in such a way as to ensure a well-rounded and complete profiling of candidates.
All an employer needs to do is select the position that needs to be filled. Potential hires are then tested in a pleasant and engaging environment that doesn’t allow for boredom or manipulation.
Interviews are conducted with only the best matches and tailored interview guides ensure a bias-free structured interview process.
This provides three main benefits to an organization: reduction in employee turnover, an increase in hiring quality, improvement in diversity and inclusion practices and reduction of costs associated with hiring and retention.
62% Reduced churn
Better candidate selection leads to better careers, and this effectively reduces employee turnover.
54% Improved time to hire
Candidate selection that used to take two months can now be completed in under one month.
Bias-free hiring for improved Diversity & Inclusion
Set-up an equitable process from the start
Equal opportunity employment is not only a legal requirement, but it has also been proven that more diverse teams create more profitable companies.
But how do you ensure an equitable process is in place when it is impossible to remove bias from the screening process? Bryq achieves that by implementing a blind screening process that is based on objective data .
This can transform your hiring process into an experience that candidates, hiring managers and recruiters will love: faster, more cost effective, bias-free and with significantly better hiring results.
Fight unconscious bias
Using objective, fact-based hiring techniques you can remove bias and increase diversity
Avoid Legal Risks
Reduce chances of EEOC and Title VII discrimination lawsuits
Comply with EEOC Guidelines
Create a process that is compliant with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidelines, as well as with Title VII requirements
Adverse Impact
Many employers are averse to adopting pre-hire assessments as they consider them to be introducing additional litigation and compliance risks into their hiring process.
This is a common misconception; in fact, reviewing federal court cases one will find almost 4 times as many court cases challenging Interview practices than pre-hire assessment practices.
Adverse treatment is intentional employment discrimination. For example, a requirement for a college degree that applies only to Latinx.
Adverse impact is unintentional employment discrimination. For example, a requirement for a college degree constitutes adverse impact.
Does this mean that most job postings out there with college degree requirements (or even a prior experience requirement) run afoul of EEOC regulations? Luckily this is not the case, because unlike adverse treatment (which is always prohibited), selection procedures with an adverse impact are allowed when they are justified (UGESP § 1607.3.A and Title VII).
Justified in this context means that the selection process results are related to the performance of the role in question and that no other, better selection process is known. For example, a French-language assessment would not be justified for all Sales role in a company; it would be justified for those roles that are specifically targeting French-speaking customers.
There is ample evidence in I/O Psychology research that a combination of cognitive skills and personality traits assessment is the best predictor of future job performance. (Schmidt, Frank & Hunter, John. (1998). The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology. Psychological Bulletin. 124. 262-274. 10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.262.).
Bryq represents an objective set of standardized criteria used for hiring, both in terms of selection and interviewing. It has been shown that the usage of systems such as Bryq that contribute to enhanced reliability and validity are also viewed by the courts are enabling the interview to protect against unlawful employment discrimination (Williamson, L. G., Campion, J. E., Malos, S. B., Roehling, M. V., & Campion, M. A. (1997). Employment interview on trial: Linking interview structure with litigation outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(6), 900–912.).
Bias should not enter the hiring funnel either at the start or at any other point along the way. The later on in the process that bias emerges, the less visible and traceable it is likely to be, and the more likely it is to influence a final decision about the applicant.
For an equitable process, blind recruitment is a requirement and, as a top of funnel assessment Bryq scores and ranks candidates based on fit for the role. The objectivity follows the candidate throughout the process as it also allows for tailored structured interviews based on fit for the role.
4 easy steps to Bias-free hiring with Bryq
Objectively define job requirements
You no longer need to guess which assessment makes sense and what results you are looking for. Bryq comes with a database of job profiles for hundreds of roles – based on proven Organization Psychology theories and not simply on intuition.
Blindly screen candidates
Unconscious bias begins with resume screening. Stop trying to read between resume lines to find the right fit and assess candidates objectively on required skills and traits.
Shortlist based on fit
Bryq ranks candidates based on how well they performed in the objective assessment and how well they fit the requirements of the role – with absolutely no impact from their ethnicity, gender, name, education, age, personal interests or any other factor.
Perform objective, standardized, behavioral interviews
Traditional, unstructured, interviews have been proven to be biased and ineffective. Bryq’s detailed reports and interview guides help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate allowing for structured interviews along the hiring stages.
Creating a bias-free hiring process no longer needs to be painful, slow or expensive.
Want to know how? Schedule a demo and we’ll show you in 30′.
Cognitive Skills Assessment
Cognitive ability is the most important cause of job performance and the relationship between ability and performance is stable over time. (Frank L. Schmidt, 2002)
Research has shown that tests that combine cognitive and personality like Bryq, have the highest correlation with predicted job performance versus any other measure.
Bryq assesses abilities involved in thinking - logical reasoning, attention to detail, verbal and numerical ability - using questions designed to estimate applicants' potential to use mental processes to solve work-related problems or to acquire new job knowledge.
Numerical Reasoning
Numerical reasoning is the ability to understand, comprehend, and draw logical conclusions from numerical data. In numerical reasoning tests, numerical data are presented in the form of a graph or table that requires interpretation to answer the question or a problem that needs to be solved.
Verbal Reasoning
Verbal reasoning is the ability to understand, comprehend, and critically evaluate written information. Verbal reasoning tests typically provide a passage with information, around a paragraph in length, and require candidates to answer questions related to the information presented in that passage. Questions will be presented in multiple-choice format, and candidates will likely need to choose one of 3-5 possible answers.
Logical reasoning
Logical reasoning questions measure a candidate’s ability to logically and rationally solve problems based on observed patterns. Candidates are provided with a series of questions that take the form of shapes, missing parts, as well as number or shape sequence identification following a pattern. Candidates will need to choose between 4-6 possible answers.
Attention-to-Detail
Attention-to-Detail tests assess whether a candidate has the patience, focus, and willingness to be thorough in his/her work, so it does apply to all jobs. It measures an individual’s ability to quickly grasp errors with speed and accuracy in answering a question. Candidates are presented with either alphanumerical data or almost identical pictures that the candidate must identify and after observation decide if the options available are the same or different.
How do calibrated assessments work?
The cognitive part of the Bryq assessment has been developed with the goal of fully covering all essential skills and sub-skills.
The assessment was initially calibrated using a sample of 2,142 subjects. Calibration means that people will score on average 50% and that 66% of the candidates will be within roughly 35% and 65%. This is meant so that you can determine at a glance if someone is above or below average. Less than 2% will score above 90% in any given subject.
Given the popularity of Bryq, many tens of thousands new subjects are evaluated every month; their results are evaluated continuously for the purpose of maintaining calibration and internal consistency.
The questions used are constantly amended with new equivalent questions, for the purpose of presenting candidates with different variations of questions on the same sub-skills.
Bias and the case of Gender -
Cognitive skills differences
The case of gender gap is certainly one of the most talked-about since men and women started competing in the workplace. There are always unbacked myths that have become established stereotypes over time stating why women are different especially when it comes to cognitive skills.
We conducted a study based on the findings of 8,000 candidate assessments and mapped the difference between men and women on their cognitive skills scores. The results indicated the average scores between male and female candidates presented a negligible difference.
Bryq Cognitive Skills Avg. Scores, Men vs. Women
Personality Assessment
16 Personality Factor Model
- The sixteen personality factors or 16PF psychometric test assesses various primary personality traits in order to provide feedback about an individual’s disposition
- Personality characteristics have been linked to job performance and satisfaction within occupational roles, showing that not only will some individuals perform at a higher level in a specific job, but they are also more likely to gain greater satisfaction and fulfillment from a job that is suited to their character
- The 16 traits measured by the 16PF can also be grouped into five broad dimensions, known as the Global Factors, which correlate strongly with the Big Five.
The 16 Personality Factors
The traits have 2 ranges and are evaluated are as follows:
Warmth
Reserved - Warm
Indicates friendliness towards others and willingness to participate.
Concrete - Abstract
Indicative of cognitive ability and intellect
Reactive - Adaptive
Refers to an individual’s ability to adapt while under stress and whether they are easily upset.
Cooperative - Assertive
Ascertains to levels of aggression, assertiveness and co-operation.
Serious - Enthusiastic
Indicates whether an individual is likely to be cheerful or expressive as opposed to introverted or serious.
Non-conforming - Rule Conscious
Conveys attitudes towards authority and likelihood of obedience.
Hesitant - Outgoing
Refers to whether an individual is likely to be timid or shy as opposed to being uninhibited or out-going.
Objective - Sensitive
Considers whether an individual is compassionate and sympathetic to others or if they tend to be more objective.
Trusting - Skeptical
Specifies how trusting, accepting, or suspicious the individual may be around others.
Practical - Imaginative
Refers to being imaginative or solution orientated but can also suggest being impractical.
Forthright - Diplomatic
Indicates how forthright or non-disclosing an individual might be.
Confident - Apprehensive
Describes whether someone may be more self-assured or insecure.
Conservative - Open to change
Flexibility and a liberal attitude as opposed to being attached to the familiar.
Group oriented - Self-reliant
Identifies how self-sufficient or group orientated an individual might be.
Non-conforming - Rule-conscious
Refers to self-discipline and precision as opposed to impulsiveness.
Easy going - High energy
Conveys the likelihood of being time-driven or impatient instead ofrelaxed and patient.
Bryq Personality traits Avg. Scores, Men vs. Women
Bias and the case of Gender -
Personality traits differences
The case of gender gap is certainly one of the most talked-about since men and women started competing in the workplace. There are always unbacked myths that have become established stereotypes over time stating why women are different in disposition or leadership qualities that would not make them a good fit for one role or another.
We conducted a study based on the findings of 8,000 candidate assessments and mapped the difference between men and women on the 16 personality traits. The results indicated that for most personality traits the average scores between male and female candidates presented no difference and in the cases where there was a difference it was negligible.
Leadership potential is one of the most sought after skills in candidates.
These preconceptions lead to wrong choices. Leadership can take many shapes and forms. According to Prentice what makes a successful leader is understanding people’s motivations and gaining employee participation by bringing together individual needs and interests to the group’s purpose.
Substantial research has been conducted on the subject of leadership – and there is a consensus that most good leaders share some common traits. These traits have been codified in Bryq’s leadership profile . People who are closer to this profile are more likely to be successful in managing teams.
The Candidate Experience
Your candidates are important to us
When adding an assessment in your hiring process we know that you are not simply interested in the results but also about the candidate experience and satisfaction. Providing an engaging experience for the candidates is pivotal for us as it is for you.
92%
Completion Rates
85%
Participation
Engaging Format
The assessment is a chat over a messaging interface similar to slack or skype. Different executives from a fictional company introduce themselves and ask questions based on their specialization. Research has shown that assessments that are engaging have higher completion rates.
Constant Improvement
Our aim is to constantly improve and deliver experiences that satisfy both employers and candidates. We constantly collect feedback from candidates on their experience with the assessment and strive to deliver any improvement necessary.
Find the format engaging
Find it appropriately challenging
Overall satisfaction with the assessment
What candidates say
The Candidate Journey
