“No talent should ever be held back due to any conscious or unconscious hiring bias.” – Jahanzaib Ansari
Knockri was founded in 2016 as a solution to our own problems of facing discrimination in the hiring process.
The idea sprung when Cofounder Jahanzaib Ansari, would apply to jobs and never hear back from employers. While feeling confused and looking for answers, Maaz Rana stepped in and suggested to Jahanzaib that he anglicize his name. This rather insignificant adjustment completely turned things around — the anglicized Jahanzaib was given interviews and job offers by the very hiring managers that overlooked him.
Realizing the extent of the broken hiring process, and an increased focus on the importance of soft skills, Jahanzaib and Maaz got together with their childhood friend, Faisal Ahmed, a Machine Learning Scientist. They began their study with a renowned Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychologist to create Knockri, a skills assessment tool deeply rooted in I/O Psychology, and built Knockri from the ground-up with ethical AI and inclusivity in mind.
To date, Knockri has assessed thousands of candidates worldwide. We’ve helped reduce hiring bias, cut costs, and have significantly improved candidate experience during the hiring process. Due to our tool’s amazing results, Knockri was awarded Innovator of the Year by Ascend, one of North America’s largest diversity groups, and has been given a seat at the World Economic Forum’s Global Council on Equality and Inclusion!
