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Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ

General

What is Retorio?

Retorio is a cutting-edge AI Coaching Platform that fuses machine learning with scientific findings from psychology and organizational research to ultimately take learning and development to a new level within organizations.

At the core of Retorio’s capabilities are its AI-powered immersive video simulations. Through these engaging role-plays, learners using Retorio get to train and develop the necessary skills through realistic scenarios.

Furthermore, the personalized feedback learners receive allows for immediate behavior change and performance improvement. Retorio’s training platform transcends the limitation of scalability and redefines how individuals and teams train and develop, bringing talent development to a new dimension.

What is Behavioral Intelligence?

Behavioral Intelligence refers to the ability to comprehend and impact social interactions through the perception of your own behavior and the behaviors of others. It goes beyond traditional notions of intelligence and encompasses the ability to interpret, predict and adapt one’s behaviors based on internal and external cues.

It is a vital skill in today’s business world, particularly when engaging with other people. Retorio harnesses the power of Behavioral Intelligence to revolutionize learning and development.

By utilizing Behavioral Intelligence, our training platform unlocks a new dimension of personalized training, including on-demand tailored feedback on behavior and data-driven insights.

Behavioral intelligence—this comprehensive understanding of human behavior and change—is what differentiates Retorio’s training platform from other forms of training programs, such as e-learning courses, instructor-led traditional training, certification programs, etc.

What problem does Retorio solve?

HR processes (such as hiring) involve important decisions that are strongly influenced by subconscious factors. The great importance of gut feelings on the part of decision-makers often leads to biases and unequal treatment.

Overworked HR departments often have little time to screen CVs or to prepare for and follow up on their interviews.

They have to rely on their intuition in their accelerated workday. Without new technologies, such as Retorio, it is inevitable that many applicants merely can upload a CV and will not get a fair chance to make a personal impression. 

Can I use Retorio if I don't use any ATS?

Absolutely; you can invite candidates and view all their results without the need for an additional tool like an Application Tracking System (ATS). However, should you already have an ATS, you can easily integrate Retorio into your existing ATS.

 

How is Retorio used?

Retorio is used in pre-screening processes, where our clients collect and analyze video applications in order to give every candidate a chance to leave a personal impression.

Retorio is used in internal assessments to derive a better understanding of an organization's culture and to reveal behavioral patterns that drive performance.

Moreover, Retorio is used in training programs to enable customized soft skill trainings and to enable private users and employees to prep-up for job interviews, client talks, leadership roles, etc.

What companies use Retorio?

Retorio is used by organizations around the globe from < 20 people growth startups to global enterprises with up to 400.000 employees (you will find some of their logos on our website). 

Moreover, we partner with selected HR consultancies, headhunters, and training agencies to serve our global audience. If you are interested in partnering, please contact us through our partner page.

 

Is Retorio GDPR compliant?

We’re committed to ensuring the security and protection of the personal information that we process.

We are based in Germany and exclusively store data within the European Union. We provide a GDPR-compliant and consistent approach to our data protection. Find out more about our Ethics and Privacy.

How will Retorio’s training benefit your teams?

Retorio’s training platform brings an immense amount of tangible benefits for your teams, which in turn help your organization reach its goals. Some ways that teams benefit from using Retorio’s AI-powered video simulations is by: Personalized skill development: Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all training content. We understand the importance of personalization, especially when it comes to training content, and our bespoke training content ensures that each team member receives targeted training and guidance to maximize their potential. On-demand, tailored feedback: We know what the difference between good and great feedback can be, and Retorio’s AI training does so through highly personalized and timely feedback.

Retorio’s AI coach provides real-time, in-context feedback during as well as after training. With feedback given during training to your teams, learners are able to adjust and modify behavior easily to see immediate performance improvement.

High engagement: One of the biggest pitfalls of virtual training is the lack of engagement. Retorio’s training is designed with engagement at its core - our training makes sure team members are fully engaged with our interactive AI simulations, which in turn ensure learners retain the learned knowledge.

How will Retorio's sales training benefit our sales team?

Retorio’s Behavioral Intelligence Platform is designed to significantly improve and enhance the performance of sales representatives by effectively upskilling the crucial skillset required for a sales rep.

With personal AI-powered sales coaching, trainees engage in immersive video simulation content that is tailored to their specific needs, whether it be improving their objection-handling skills, refining their negotiation skills, or perfecting their closing techniques.

The customization factor ensures that reps are only engaging in the training that they need, thus improving efficiency.

Is the training content customizable to our industry and business needs?

Every industry has its own specific demands and needs.

With Retorio’s AI training platform, companies have the opportunity to plug in existing content and pick from Retorio’s wide library of training content, or build new training programs for sales, after-sales, customer service, and leadership training within just a few clicks.

Furthermore, with generative AI, it is possible to create new learning material with ease. This way, training content can be 100% tailored to your industry needs, and you can make sure your talents are trained with relevant material.

This commitment to customization ensures Retorio’s training is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

How can leadership training programs help develop effective leaders within our company?

Organizational change has become a constant, and the ability of an organization to navigate these shifting tides rests heavily on the shoulders of its leaders.

Retorio addresses this critical need by empowering leaders with ongoing training and reflection opportunities. Through engaging AI-powered simulations, leaders can immerse themselves in realistic role-plays, mirroring the challenges they encounter in their day-to-day roles. This experiential learning approach allows them to learn, adapt, and refine their leadership skills in a risk-free environment, ultimately enhancing their self-awareness and effectiveness in real-world leadership situations.

What leadership training programs does Retorio offer?

Retorio offers a range of leadership training programs designed to empower leaders to develop effective leadership skills, gain self-awareness and personalized feedback for self-improvement in a psychological safe setting.

Our leadership training programs are carefully crafted to address key leadership competencies and can be tailored to meet specific organizational needs, such as: GROW model, conflict resolution, performance appraisals, trust management, crisis communication, and more.

Aside from our library of bespoke content, organizations have the ability to create Al-generated content with absolute ease and roll out training in a matter of hours to their leaders.

Why is customer service training essential for businesses today?

Exceptional customer support and reactive service are the cornerstones of thriving organizations, paving the way for customer loyalty, word-of-mouth referrals, and sustainable growth.

Yet with escalating customer expectations, it has never been more challenging for companies to make every interaction an opportunity to foster loyalty.

With Retorio's Al-powered role-play training, customer service representatives get the opportunity to master the art of reactive support even before talking to real customers. Through interactive video simulations, tailored scenarios, and real-time feedback, Retorio's training enables customer service reps to create an unforgettable customer experience and drive business success.

How does after-sales training contribute to customer loyalty and repeat business?

After-sales training plays a pivotal role in fostering customer loyalty and driving revenue through cross-selling and upselling opportunities. When organizations train their after-sales representatives, it contributes significantly to to customer loyalty and repeat business by ensuring that customers have a positive and memorable post-purchase experience.

When customers receive excellent support, and personalized solutions, and feel valued by the brand, they are more likely to not only return for additional purchases but also engage in cross-purchasing, increasing their overall lifetime value to the business.

Furthermore, employees feel more prepared and self-aware after relevant training and can apply their learnings with confidence in critical customer service meetings.

About Retorio AI

What's the science behind Retorio?

Retorio is a spin-off of the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Using advanced AI technology, Retorio incorporates observer assessments into its assessment framework, which encompasses a range of scientific models, including the Big Five personality traits model.

This comprehensive approach evaluates individuals by analyzing video clips, providing valuable insights into their behavioral characteristics and performance. Retorio’s Behavioral Intelligence Platform plays an important role in facilitating successful interpersonal interactions, empowering individuals to navigate through a wide range of social interactions, forge meaningful relationships, and achieve goals in both their personal and professional contexts. By integrating the aforementioned principles of Behavioral Intelligence, Retorio’s technology represents an innovative approach to contemporary employee training.

By decoding the intricacies of human behavior, Retorio’s platform empowers sales, after-sales, customer service professionals, as well as leaders, to engage in more meaningful, personalized interactions, foster trust, enhance customer relationships, and create a culture of growth and empowerment within organizations.

Furthermore, this ensures that employee training programs are engaging and sustainable by delivering targeted, effective training, thereby maximizing the retention of learned skills in trainees and shaping the future of training and development.

How does Retorio analyze videos?

Retorio relies on machine learning methods to analyze behavior in videos. Machine learning denotes statistical procedures that result in prediction models.

The models have neither consciousness nor intuition. They rely on data as experience. That is, an Al is an accumulation of experience (data points).

The experience base is thus crucial to the basis on which an Al later makes assumptions. It is not only the mass of data that is decisive but also the type of data, the variety of data, and the data quality.

On what data is Retorio based on?

Retorio's Al only learns under supervision. Retorio's models have been trained to predict a person's impression based on a representative dataset.

The dataset comprises thousands of videos clips of people around the world that have been assessed by observers according to the Big 5 taxonomy.

In total, we used more than 2,500 observers from five continents. The individuals in the video clips were also divided equally in regard to sex, ethnicity, and age. To promote objectivity, multiple ratings per video were obtained.

The overall dataset consists of more than 12.000 people.

How precise is Retorio?

Our system has a prediction accuracy of around 92%. Imagine asking thousands of people how they perceive a person on video in terms of personality.

We achieve the same results to 92%. 92% accuracy means that we can expect an unsystematic estimation error of ca. 8%. That means, the AI might sometimes be a bit off, for which reason we recommend to merely use it as an assistent system.

What is the validity of Retorio?

The Retorio observer based assessment can be expected to show higher external validity than self-assessment of personality traits.

Since personality traits are crucial predictors of job behavior, it is essential taking these into account when making hiring decisions. For more background on the validity of Retorio, click here.

 

How does Retorio avoid discrimination?

We ensure that Retorio does not systematically discriminate against people based on their ethnicity, age, gender, religion or culture. We do so by  by checking the estimates in our datasets for possible systematic biases (e.g., discrimination).

"Algorithm-based differentiations become discriminations in particular if they constitute an unjustified disadvantage of persons characterized by protected characteristics (in particular age, gender, ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, or disability)"
(Source: German Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency)

Retorio ensures that only factors that are within the applicant's control are included in the results. For example, in our datasets, we compare mean scores on the Big5 dimension Extraversion between Caucasians and Blacks. When we discover significant mean differences attributable to group membership, we adjust the mean and distribution to compensate for discriminatory bias in the training and test sets.

We regularly test the corrected models against large, scientifically sound datasets, such as UCLA's Fairface dataset, which contains approximately 100,000 individuals from different cultures, age groups, etc. We publish our results transparently. Our research clearly indicates that Retorio assesses applicants regardless of their skin color, gender, or age.


How much effort is it to set up Retorio?

Retorio's AI does not need specific training to provide helpful output. Send out assessment links and receive video applications from day one. Over time you can add more data about your teams and your culture to increase the precision of Retorio's predictions.

For Candidates

How long does a Retorio interview take?

Usually, a Retorio assessment shouldn't take longer than 5-15 minutes, with roughly one minute scheduled for each question and several trials per question. However, the length of the assessment depends on the number of questions posed by the recruiter.

What do I need to record a video?

You will need a recording camera, functioning voice recording and quiet environment, preferably a white the background and sufficient light.

How do I perform well in an interview?

Just like there's no right or wrong personality in a partner or friends -they either fit your character or they don't-, there is no right or wrong personality for a job in general.

Most importantly, Retorio will assess a fit between the candidate's personality and job tasks, as well as the company culture and existing team. Performing well therefore means attaining a high fit.

But here it gets very individual and candidates should at all costs avoid faking responses, gestures or mimic. It is most important to try and behave naturally, lean back and relax. As a fit that's not based on your actual personality will neither be helpful for candidate nor company.

To which extent is your assessment objective?

We make it our objective to assess candidates' personality as objectively as possible. We guarantee high objectivity and reliability by removing single observer-based bias from the data and using multiple observer ratings.

We also set value on removing any biases resulting from gender, age, ethnicity or skin color.

Which parameters of a person do you analyze?

The combined rating of the AI makes use of visual input from facial expression and gesture, as well as auditive information like speaking speed, language sentiment and engaging language.

Can I cheat on the assessment?

Just like humans, any AI can be tricked. For you to cheat, there would have to be an ideal state the cheating aims at. In personality assessment, there can be multiple ways to reach a goal. In general, we do have a high test-retest reliability.

That is, if the same person takes the test in the morning or evening, only a deviation of around 9% occurs.

However, if you decided to intentionally act in a different role from your own personality, reliability can be hypothesized to be somewhat lower, just like in a face-to-face interview or on the job itself.

Do backgrounds, clothes, etc. matter?

No test procedure is 100% reliable and every human being makes mistakes. A certain error is therefore always to be expected.

When using Retorio, this measurement error is even desired to a certain extent. In both recruiting and training contexts, it is quite desirable that participants try to leave as good an impression as possible.

Accordingly, factors that you can actively influence are sometimes taken into account in the AI's evaluation.

For instance, if you apply in a suit instead of an undershirt, this may allow important conclusions to be drawn about your future behavior.

The background of your video is also in your control and thus you should avoid backgrounds that might make a bad impression. For instance

Empty beer bottles in the background may leave a different impression than a bookshelf. A video application from a bathtub may create a different impression than a video application in front of a beautiful painting.

Accordingly, you should take these factors into account and ensure a neutral background and decent clothes.

For further questions

Feel free to send us a message to contact@retorio.com or chat with us on our website

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