Kira Talent

Kira Talent is a Canadian start-up company. The company operates a cloud-based holistic admissions assessment platform designed for use by academic admissions departments to assess and enroll students. Organizations are able to create a customized assessment and record video questions, receive candidate responses, and evaluate the responses virtually within the platform.[1][2] Presently, Kira Talent’s office is located in Toronto and the CEO is Emilie Cushman[3].

History

Kira Talent was founded in 2012 by Emilie Cushman and Konrad Listwan[4] It was named the Most Outstanding Venture among the Next 36 (Canada’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative) participants of 2012.[5][6] The Next 36 Program provided seed capital and mentorship.

Kira Talent's founder and CEO, Emilie Cushman, was named to the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 for Education. [7]

Product

Kira Talent’s cloud-based applicant assessment platform was introduced as an alternative to in-person and phone interviews. The interviewer records his or her questions over video and sends them over to candidates with an established deadline. After viewing each question, an interviewee has an allotted amount of time to think over the query, after which the webcam turns on and another specified time frame is given for a response. After applicants have responded the reviewers can log-in to see, rank, share, and compare the results.[8][9]

In 2017, Kira introduced the ability to upload documents like resumes and written essays [10] as well as a number of admissions-specific review tools like rubrics and analytics. [11]

In 2019, Kira Talent partnered with Turnitin to offer a plagiarism checker for college admissions. [12]

Publications & Speaking

Kira Talent maintains a blog and bi-weekly newsletter, The Admissions Roundup, on higher education admissions and recruitment [13].

Notable publication releases include Breaking Down Bias in Admissions [14] Demystifying Holistic Admissions: The Comprehensive Guide to Holistic Review [15] and 2019 Admissions Conference Landscape [16].

In 2018, Kira's team spoke on admissions and enrollment at the Ontario University Registrars' Association (OURA) Conference [17], the Graduate Management Admissions Council Annual Meeting, [18] as well as the Council of Graduate Schools Annual Meeting. [19]

Kira Talent representatives also participated in a holistic admissions workshop at James Madison University in late 2018 [20]

Financing

In October 2012, Kira Talent closed a seed capital investment round led by Relay Ventures[9] and supported by 18 investors, including entrepreneur Tony Lacavera,[21][22][23] business strategist Roger Martin[24] and financier David Shaw.[25]

In August 2016, Kira Talent raised a $5 million Series A.[26]

Schools using Kira Talent

Schools using Kira Talent include:

  • University of Toronto Rotman School of Management [27]
  • University of Washington Foster School of Business [28]
  • Washington University Olin Business School [29]
  • Western University Ivey School of Business [30]
  • University of South Wales [30]
  • Boston University Questrom School of Business [30]
  • Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western University [30]
  • Johns Hopkins University Carey School of Business [30]
  • UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
  • Queen's University Smith School of Business [30]
  • Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University [31]
  • Yale School of Management at Yale University [32]
  • INSEAD
  • London Business School
  • Imperial College London
  • University of Waterloo School of Engineering
  • McMaster University Faculty of Engineering [30]
  • Oxford Saïd Business School
  • The York School

References
  1. Bolkan, Joshua (July 7, 2015). "Kira Talent Launches New Recruitment Tool" 'Campus Technology.'
  2. Tossell, Ivor (April 22, 2013). "Kira Talent's video platform simplifies the search for high-caliber candidates" The Globe and Mail. Retrieved July 2nd, 2012.
  3. [https://betakit.com/the-future-of-education-requires-smarter-admissions-decisions-using-ai/ "The future of education requires smarter admissions decisions using AI" 'BetaKit'
  4. "How Kira Talent went from a classroom to a fast growing venture". Financial Post, Armina Ligaya | November 25, 2013
  5. Farr, J.M.(March 28, 2013)."Toronto's Kira Talent and Unhaggle StartMeUp Ryersons Slaight Communications Business Plan Competition Winners" The Star. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  6. " Konrad Listwan-Ciesielski: There’s no hiding in this university admissions test". PAUL ATTFIELD, The Globe and Mail, Sep. 02, 2014
  7. "30 Under 30 Education". Forbes, 2018
  8. "Toronto's Kira Talent and Unhaggle StartMeUp Ryersons Slaight Communications Business Plan Competition Winners". Toronto Star, J.M. Farr. April 3, 2013
  9. "How HR startups are bringing hiring into the 21st century". Financial Post, Anwar Ali | July 21, 2015
  10. "Document Review, Question Sequences, and Overall Communication Scores: What’s New in Kira!"]. Kira Talent Blog 'Emilie Cushman, July 7, 2017'
  11. "Rubrics, Results, and Reviewer Analytics: What’s New in Kira! "]. Kira Talent Blog 'Emilie Cushman, May 17, 2017'
  12. "Turnitin Partnership Adds Plagiarism Checking to College Admissions"]. Campus Technology, Rhea Kelly. June 26, 2019
  13. "Sign up for the Admissions Roundup". Kira Talent
  14. "Breaking Down Bias in Admissions",
  15. [https://start.kiratalent.com/demystifying-holistic-admissions/ "Demystifying Holistic Admissions"
  16. https://start.kiratalent.com/2019-admissions-conference-landscape/ "2019 Admissions Conference Landscape"
  17. "OURA Conference"
  18. http://www.cvent.com/events/annual-conference-2018/event-summary-5cbcb8c199874870897bee28fa4a7533.aspx "GMAC Annual Meeting 2018"
  19. "CGS Annual Meeting 2018 Website"
  20. Choosing the best candidates for admission to graduate school at James Madison University Alyse Lehrke, October 30, 2018.
  21. "Startups With C$100 Million Canada Tech Fund". Bloomberg Business, January 21, 2016 Gerrit De Vynck
  22. "Five things you should know before you start your workday on Jan. 22". Financial Post, Sharon Lindores | January 22, 2016.
  23. "Wind Mobile founder Tony Lacavera returns to tech investing with $100M venture capital fund". Financial Post, Gerrit De Vynck, Bloomberg News | January 21, 2016
  24. "How the former dean of the Rotman School is investing his money". BRENDA BOUW, The Globe and Mail, Feb. 07, 2016
  25. Liu, Ted (November 30, 2012)."Kira Talent secures seed financing from Relay Ventures and angel investors" Canadian Private Equity. Retrieved July 2nd, 2013.
  26. "Kira Talent Raises $5 Million Series A To Develop a Talent Assessment Platform". 'BetaKit', August 10, 2016
  27. Da Silva, Niki (September 15, 2015). "Video in MBA Admissions: A Case Study from the Rotman School of Management" 'The Newsletter of the Graduate Management Admission Council.'
  28. McCracken, Molly (September 11, 2017) "How Foster’s MBA Program Uses Kira to Select the Best-Fit Applicants"
  29. Lemley, Nikki (October 20, 2015). "Using Video in Specialized Master’s Program Admissions: A Case Study from Washington University’s Olin Business School" 'The Newsletter of the Graduate Management Admission Council.'
  30. Kira Talent "Kira Talent - Customers"
  31. Beat the GMAT (September 26, 2014)
  32. Beat the GMAT (September 26, 2014)
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