The psychology technology and machine learning expert plans to hook up with a traditional-style dating agency enabling lonely hearts to cut through personality smokescreens and navigate a quicker, more reliable route to finding “the one”. The move into a new market follows £230,000 of investment for London-based Innerworks, a startup that launched last year offering free tests for individuals and licensing matchmaking recruitment and management products for businesses.
A shift in workplace culture accelerated by the pandemic has increased remote assessments while an estimated £1.4billion is spent a year by UK firms rectifying the fallout from bad hires.
“Can tech compete with human intuition in these remote times, how can it capture the true nature of a person? That is where personality testing comes in,” says Innerworks chief executive Oliver Quie.
“We take the science very seriously and crowdsource anonymous opinions about your personality over time. You own and control the data, privacy isn’t compromised.
“Most personality tests are self-assessments so they only show you how you see yourself, or how you choose to present yourself in that one moment. But knowledge of how other people view you is critical.
“Our tests help individuals develop self-awareness very quickly and we will always offer a free version. They are being used all over the world. From a business perspective understanding people is fundamental to good management.
“But this is even harder when working remotely,” adds Quie. “Our Innerworks 360 personal model is designed to enable honest, constructive feedback back between employers and teams, removing the feedback fear factor. There are no good or bad profiles.
“Innerworks’ technology helps co-workers understand each other’s behaviours and managers who can be a good group fit. We aim to be the Trustpilot for people.”
The verification model uses objective, credible data and the company is developing adaptive technology “using machine learning to make sure no test is the same so cannot be manipulated,” says Quie, an expert in building algorithms analysing CVs.
He joined forces with co-owner and chief technical officer Joe D’Alessandro, a machine learning expert, after they both agreed “the recruitment industry was making decisions based on fundamentally biased CV data. People will answer in whatever way they think to improve their chances of landing the job”.
Their wisdom-of-the-crowd approach proved a pivotal moment and generates tests that are inherently viral – people have to share them with others to find out what they think.
Now their team has grown to six scientists and engineers and the tie-up with dating, which has a lot in common with recruitment, is expected to go ahead this summer, enabling daters to benefit from more coaching support too.
Other future applications include the military where trusted teamwork plays a huge part in operations. A further angel-funded raise is planned for Innerworks in 2021.
“We don’t use technology for technology’s sake but want to create the biggest and most accurate dataset of personalities in the job market,” says Quie.
“Everything is planned to help our user understand where they fit in the world and help them be happier and more fulfilled.”
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