The science behind the software

Our tech is underpinned by research in the fields of Behavioural Psychology, Behavioural Economics, Statistics, and Logic

The science behind the software

How the tech works

Rather than using experts to assess individual questionnaires (with all the risks of biases and inconsistencies), our AI simultaneously factors in over 10,000+ candidates’ performance, and uses this data to profile and rank them for positions. This work would have been impossible without the pioneers in Formal Epistemology at the University of Bristol, as well as the researchers at The Centre for Information and Bubble Studies, University of Copenhagen.

Sigma Polaris - The science behind the software

This is the part of the platform where candidates answer questions. Our assessment uses excellent academic works on assessing both hard and soft skills to accurately evaluate the relevant variables. The skills we evaluate are ones that the majority of employers want in varying degrees of aptitude.

These questions take roughly 35 minutes to answer and have been carefully balanced to evaluate candidates using a large array of academic fields: behavioural economics, ethics, linguistics, logic, behavioural cognitive psychology and mathematics.

The questions assess seven skills: four hard and three soft skills. We only use questions that have been scientifically validated and can be evaluated without bias. For this reason, we don’t attempt to evaluate other skills, like leadership ability or friendliness, as there is potential for bias.

For each candidate who takes the assessment, you will have access to their profile, in the shape of a spider graph, with the results of their scores for each of the seven skills.

Hard skills For the four hard skills we use a scale of 1 to 100. The higher the result, the better the performance. The result on each skill compares the candidate’s performance to the thousands of other candidates that have taken the assessment. For example: a score of 80 in problem solving means the candidate is in the top 20% of all the people that have taken the assessment.

Soft skills The soft skills assess an individual’s work preferences. These are useful in understanding how a candidate likes to work, and how they would fit into an existing team. Evaluating these can help to increase performance, work satisfaction and employee retention.

The final and most crucial piece of the Sigma Polaris offering is the ranking. This ranks all the applicants for a particular role based on their suitability. The suitability is determined by prioritising the different skills and work preferences for a particular role, and then having the AI match the candidates’ profiles against that job-profile.

The AI uses only the objective profiles generated from the assessment, and no data containing bias like age, name, or other compromised CV data.

The system also finds talent who are amazing but not a fit for the job they applied for. For example: a candidate with excellent hard skills who displays a very strong preference for working in a team may not be right for a role working in isolation.

However, they could potentially fit another role in the company. These talented candidates are displayed separately, so that your company never loses out on great applicants.

Seven skills assessed

Sigma Polaris | Seven skills assessed

Hard skills

Arithmetic reasoning

Does your job require maths or modelling? Are you looking for an accountant or a programmer? If so, you would focus on candidates who score highly in this area.

Critical verbal reasoning

This skill focuses on a person's critical and constructive thinking ability. It is also linked to qualities including perception, understanding, and logical reasoning.

Problem solving

Do you want someone who can identify and solve a problem effectively, and has the ability to consider complex abstract problems? If so, make sure you highlight the importance of this skill when creating your perfect applicant profile.

Eye for detail

You may need a new hire who notices mistakes or remembers details that others forget.

Soft skills

Risk taker vs averse

Do you require someone who prefers to try new things, or someone who prefers to embrace proven methods? Both can be incredibly useful but depend a lot on the role and remit.

Solo vs team

Is this a role that sits within a team or one that will work entirely independently? Depending on your answer, you will want to look for someone who answers these questions one way or the other.

Ideation vs implementation

Are you looking for someone who can come up with big picture ideas or someone who can implement big picture ideas? Our software can differentiate between these and offer the right profile for your particular job.

Reach out to know more about the science behind the assessment

Enhance your intuition, don’t replace it

Sigma Polaris is all about empowering your search for the perfect fit. It’s not designed to replace your recruiters but to make their job easier and your results better. Dynamic, real-time ranking of applicants lets your team find the gems in your candidate pool quickly and easily without manually filtering applicants or resorting to keyword-searching, heavily-biased software.

Enhance your intuition, don’t replace it

Find the right person for the job And the right job for the person

Sigma Polaris has built upon years of research to find you candidates with the right skills. It tests both soft and hard skills to find who can deliver at the job – and who can excel. Great Job Fits bring more than a job well done: they increase retention and satisfaction, while reducing job stress and burnout.

Find the right person for the job And the right job for the person

People can be biased, this platform can't

We have been fighting against hiring bias since 2019. And by the end of 2022, we aim to have prevented 100,000 instances of bias. Where other AI-HR solutions can actually increase biases, we have developed Sigma Polaris to filter out all unconscious prejudice from the screening process – delivering more diversity to your team and more fairness to the hiring process.

People can be biased, this platform can't

The perfect tool to help find the perfect fit

Sigma Polaris doesn’t just compare profiles dynamically. It delves deeper, providing you with better insights: so you’ll know more about each candidate before you even schedule an interview. Meaning that when your team does interview anyone, they’ll feel far more confident that they are talking to someone that can do the job well.

The perfect tool to help find the perfect fit