Startup Profile: Alva Labs

Written by CEO and Co-founder Malcolm Burenstam Linder 

Who Are We? Hiring People, Not CVs 

Traditional recruitment methods, like CV screening and experience requirements, bring bias into the hiring equation. This leaves recruiters with the impossible task of identifying great talent based on their own subjective perceptions, which significantly reduces their chances of finding the right person for the role. 

That’s why at Alva Labs, we offer digital, data-driven candidate assessments that objectively screen and rank applicants based on their job potential and suitability, rather than their personal characteristics and a ‘gut feeling’. We believe that inclusive recruitment is a science. Companies are hiring people, not CVs and cover letters, so employers need a tangible, evidence-based understanding of what job success really looks like. And that’s where we come in. 

How Do the Assessments Work?

Alva Labs’ team of psychometricians have created two industry-leading candidate assessments: logic and personality. These tests can be taken together or separately and take 25-30 minutes to complete, with results immediately available in the form of a report. For the recruiter, candidates are automatically ranked by role suitability based on their results, saving them time and money. 

As well as streamlining the process, Alva Labs helps hiring managers hire with more confidence. Our assessments are more than twice as accurate in predicting job performance than CV screening, meaning that companies can reduce the number of interviews by up to 50%, while still making better hiring decisions. The tests combine AI and machine learning with psychometrics and organisational psychology to streamline the hiring process and create a better, more meritocratic experience for both recruiters and applicants. 

We also believe in giving power to the candidate. For this reason, test result data belongs to the applicant, not the company that they’re applying for, and they can use their results for other applications, saving them the time and hassle so often involved in job searching.  

UK Launch: Promoting Equality and Diversity in the British Job Market

In 2021, Alva Labs launched in the UK, bringing our bias-free solution to the British job market. With firms here hiring at their fastest rate since 2013, our solution to the systemic problems facing companies and candidates could not have been more timely. 

We know that companies that base hiring decisions on data rather than personal opinions are able to recruit with better accuracy and higher diversity. Alva Labs is levelling the playing field for all applicants, including those from minority backgrounds, by promoting equality in the screening process and reducing human bias at the start of the hiring process. 

Our ultimate goal at Alva Labs is to make the global job market a fairer and more efficient place for all. How are we doing it? One candidate assessment at a time.