SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Paradox, the conversational recruiting software which helps global brands like Unilever and McDonald’s simplify hiring through automation, announced today the acquisition of Traitify - a mobile-first assessment platform which uses human interaction with images to create the fastest validated talent assessments in the market. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

The acquisition marks the latest milestone for Paradox, which was founded in 2016 and has experienced rapid growth since, recently being ranked in the top 5% of the prestigious Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. 

“Our goal has always been to build a software company that solves real problems for our clients,” said Paradox founder and CEO, Aaron Matos. “I’m so proud of the work we’ve done to get to this point and thrilled to add Traitify to the team. They share our passion for recruiting and our philosophy that software should make things simpler, faster, and easier — not add more work.” 

Unlike traditional assessment technology, Traitify was built to be fast, visual, and mobile-first - increasing assessment completion rates to more than 96%. On average, candidates can finish Traitify’s visual-based assessment in less than two minutes, generating insight on their own personality and helping employers better predict the candidate’s suitability for the role. 

Traitify is already integrated with Paradox, serving joint clients like ResultsCX and McDonald’s to work alongside core HCM platforms like Workday, iCIMS, and more. The company’s growth took off in 2017 when Traitify launched the industry’s first mobile-first assessment based on the Big Five framework - a model of personality backed by over 50 years of scientific research by I/O psychologists. 

“We’re incredibly excited to join the Paradox team who share our passion for putting people front and center in the recruiting process. We’ve already seen tremendous success together, and this acquisition positions us to build the best experiences for candidates and talent acquisition teams across the globe,” said Dan Sines, CEO & Co-Founder of Traitify. 

Paradox Chief Product Officer Adam Godson said the acquisition will serve an essential and powerful purpose: Removing hurdles for hourly candidates trying to find a job fast, and further simplifying hiring for managers and high-volume recruiting teams, who often operate under serious time constraints. 

“I’ve always subscribed to the idea that there’s never a good time to make a bad hire,” said Godson. “Traitify is playing a key role in helping its clients hire the best candidates for the job, faster - and that’s never been more important than right now in the high-volume hourly segment. I can’t wait to see what our teams will do together.” 

Speaking to Recruiting News Network, Paradox Chief Marketing Officer Josh Zywien added: "Beyond the obvious connections at a business level, there's a huge cultural connection. Within an hour of sitting down with each other we just knew we had a great fit". Godson added: "They're just so smart - having multiple Stanford PhD's, like Dr. Heather Myers, on their team just adds to it. We're excited to get our people together to solve big problems."

The plan is to offer clients assessments as needed, not make the product a requirement. Godson: "If clients are interested in adding assessments, or have a solution they aren't happy with, that's when we'll step in. Personally, I've been leery of assessment tools - the approaches have never really evolved, are too time-consuming, and often lack accuracy. With Traitify it's almost as if we're offering something utterly new to the market: assessments that actually make sense, are easy to complete, and give the candidates incentive to complete them. We see this as a huge strategic advantage for our clients - particularly the ones who are focuses on high-volume. It's a terrific offering."

In addition to combining two strong cultures, the acquisition provides Paradox with offices in Baltimore (Traitify's location). Zywien is excited about the prospect. "It gives our clients one more point of contact, and additional coverage across time zones. We're in Scottsdale, Chicago, Da Nang, Tel Aviv, and now we have a location on the east coast of the United States. I love how we're growing the footprint."

Related: The Impact of Happiness on Workers: An Interview With Dr. Heather Myers of Traitify

About Paradox 

Launched in 2016, Paradox is building the world’s leading conversational recruiting software to drive automation with a human touch. Serving global clients with hiring needs across high-volume hourly and high-skilled professional roles, Paradox’s conversational assistant Olivia does the work talent teams don’t have time for — streamlining tasks like screening, interview scheduling, and more through fast, easy, mobile-first interactions. In 2021, Paradox also acquired Traitify to include simple, visual personality assessments as part of its product offering. 

In just five years, the Scottsdale-based startup has earned the trust of the world’s largest employers — including Unilever, McDonald’s, CVS Health, PepsiCo, Lowe’s, and General Motors — and won numerous awards, including Human Resource Executive's Best HR Product of 2019 and consecutive honors in 2020 and 2021 as one of Forbes Top Startup Employers. The company was also recently named the 225th fastest growing company in the country in the Inc 5000.

About Traitify

Founded in 2011, Baltimore-based Traitify is a human insight platform that uses patented mobile-first, visual-based assessment formats to unlock the potential of high-volume workforces. Their product solutions deliver the fastest insights in the industry, allowing HR to optimize the talent experience from attraction through employment. Traitify's current customers include more than 1,000 organizations in a range of industries, among them McDonald’s Canada, Coles Supermarkets in Australia, JO-ANN Stores, Lowes Foods, and SSP America. The Traitify team is made up of technology-industry veterans with experience in software, design and multimedia as well as an in-house psychology team, and is backed by experienced software investors, including JMI Holdings.