Lithium Startup to Raise More Cash For Battery That Makes Battery Materials
That is the hope of Eric McShane and Evan Gardner, co-founders of Electroflow Technologies, a Burlingame, Calif.-based startup that wants to use battery cathodes to capture lithium ions directly from salty water.
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Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Companies are relying on aptitude and personality tests more to combat AI-powered job hunters
Employers are overwhelmed with job applications and leaning more on a particular hiring tool. Cognitive and personality tests are becoming mainstream, hiring test providers told BI. Employers are the most interested in testing for soft skills, like emotional intelligence, the firms said. Are you happy? Do you sleep well? Do you have many friends? Are you a workaholic? Those are some of the questions Katelin Eagan, 27, said she had to answer recently when she was applying for a job. She agreed to take a cognitive and personality assessment as part of the hiring process, but was a bit bewildered. Many of the questions had nothing to do with the engineering position, which, after completing the tests and going through several months of silence, she was eventually rejected for. Eagan says she's been applying for jobs full-time since the start of the year. Her efforts haven't panned out yet, which she attributes partly to how competitive her field has become and employers having room to be picky. "I think there's definitely a lower amount than I thought there would be," she said of available roles. But that may be only part of the story. Employers are growing increasingly selective, partly because many are seeing a flood of seemingly perfect candidates, many of whom are suspected of using AI to finesse their applications, according to recruiters and hiring assessment providers who spoke to BI. The solution many companies have come to? Make everyone take a test — and see who candidates really are, irrespective of what ChatGPT suggested they put on their résumés. According to surveys conducted by TestGorilla, one firm that administers talent assessments for employers, 76% of companies that had hired in the 12 months leading up to April said they were using skills tests to determine if a candidate was a right fit, up from 55% who said they were using role-specific skills tests in 2022. Employers seem most interested in testing for soft skills — amorphous qualities like communicativeness and leadership — as well as administering general aptitude and personality tests, Wouter Durville, the CEO of TestGorilla, told Business Insider. TestGorilla's Critical Thinking test was completed more than 100,000 times in the first quarter of this year, a 61% increase compared to the same quarter in 2024. The firm also offers a Big 5 personality assessment, which was completed more than 127,000 times in the first quarter — a 69% increase compared to last year. Demand among US employers in particular has been "massive," Durville said, adding that many firms have turned to tests as a result of being overwhelmed with job applications. The US is the largest market for the firm, which is based in the Netherlands. "The biggest thing is people just want to hire the best people. It's very selfish and it's fine," Durville said. Canditech, another firm that offers hiring assessments, says it's also seen rapid growth in the last year. In 2024, the assessment usage grew 135% compared to the prior year, CEO Guy Barel told BI. He estimates that assessment usage is on track to soar 242% year-over-year. Barel says the surge is partly due to the job market tipping more in favor of employers. In many cases, companies he works with are flooded with "tons of candidates" and looking to "move forward as fast as possible," he said. Criteria, another skills-based assessment provider, says test usage has more than doubled in recent years. "AI is kind of creating this authenticity crisis in talent acquisition, because everyone can and is putting their résumé into ChatGPT." Criteria CEO Josh Millet told BI. "It's all about demonstrating your ability or your skill or your personality in an objective way that's a little bit harder to fake." Jeff Hyman, a veteran recruiter and the CEO of Recruit Rockstars, estimates that demand for testing among his clients has increased by around 50% over the last 18 months. That's due to a handful of different reasons, he said — but companies being inundated by job applications is near the top, thanks to candidates leaning more on AI to gain an edge and send out résumés en masse, he says. Hyman says a typical job he tries to fill for a client has around 300 to 500 applicants, though he's spoken to companies trying to fill roles with more than 1,000 candidates within several days of being posted online. The number of job applications in the US grew at more than four times the pace of job requisitions in the first half of 2024, according to a report from WorkDay. Companies also want to test candidates' soft skills as remote work grows more common, Hyman adds — and they want to be sure they're getting the right person. Depending on the size of the organization, a bad hire can cost a company anywhere from $11,000 to $24,000, a survey conducted by CareerBuilder in 2016 found. According to TestGorilla, 69% of employers who issued tests this year said they were interested in assessing soft skills, while 50% said they were interested in assessing a candidate's cognitive ability. A separate survey by Criteria ranked emotional intelligence as the most sought-after skill among employers, followed by analytical thinking. "It's about their personality and to see if they are a good fit to the organization, if they share the same DNA," Durville said, though he noted that, in many cases, companies find the results of the tests to be shaky as a sole evaluation metric. TestGorilla, Canditech, and Criteria told BI that employers say they're enjoying the time and cost savings of administering tests. According to TestGorilla, 82% of employers who said they used skills-based hiring — a catch-all term for hiring based on proven skills — said they were satisfied with new hires, compared to 73% of US employers on average. Canditech, meanwhile, claims its assessments can help employers cut down on hiring time by as much as 50%, and reduce "unnecessary interviews" by as much as 80%, according to its website. But Hyman thinks there are some issues with hiring tests. For one, he says employers turn down candidates who don't score well "all the time," despite them being otherwise qualified for the job. The trend also appears to be turning off job candidates. Hyman estimates around 10%-20% of applicants will outright refuse to take a test if employers introduce it as a first step in the hiring process, though that's a practice Canditech's Barel says is becoming increasingly common. Hyman says he frequently has conversations with employers urging them not to put so much weight on test results, due to the potential for a mis-hire. "That's lazy hiring, to be honest. I think that's not the right way to go about it," he said. Read the original article on Business Insider
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Why Citizens Financial Group Stock Soared in June
This year's edition of the Federal Reserve's bank stress test saw all tested institutions pass. Although Citizens didn't have to participate, it benefited from the positive results. The company also substantially added to its existing share repurchase initiative. 10 stocks we like better than Citizens Financial Group › A seriously bulked-up share repurchase plan and good results of the Federal Reserve's latest banking industry stress test improved the share price of regional lender Citizens Financial Group (NYSE: CFG) in June. Over the course of the month, investors traded the bank's stock up by nearly 11% in reaction to this. The rally basically started in the middle of the month, when Citizens announced that stock buyback news. To the satisfaction of its shareholders, the company said it would bolster the existing program by a hefty $1.2 billion. As there was $300 million remaining from the previous authorization, granted in June 2024, the new total is $1.5 billion. For a stock with a sub-$21 billion market cap, that's substantial, and it should have a positive impact on the share price. A more critical, industrywide development occurred at the end of the month with the stress tests. For those unfamiliar, these are an annual set of analyses in which major U.S. banks are tested to see how they would weather adverse economic conditions, some of which are quite drastic. As has become the norm, the institutions under the microscope -- which include the "big four" American lenders, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup -- did quite well. All 22 passed their tests, albeit with the caveat that this year's edition was less rigorous than previous rounds. Citizens Financial isn't sizable enough to go through this wringer annually, instead it's tested every two years, and in 2025 it got a break. Still, there were several regional banks not unlike itself among the 22 tested. All in all, the good results were taken to mean that mid- and large-sized banks in this country are generally doing well, and in the worst-case scenarios can probably cope with catastrophe. I don't blame investors of Citizens Financial -- or any other bank of its size on this market -- for reacting positively to the stress test results. Despite some cuts and scrapes lately, our economy has been performing well, and the smart and disciplined approach of its better lenders is an ever-important factor in this. Having said that, I'm not all that excited about Citizen Financial's performance recently. In its first quarter revenue was essentially stagnant, as was the company's end-quarter deposits figure. And average loans and leases slumped, even as a bump in non-interest income pushed headline net profit 12% higher to $374 million. To me, it's the larger banks that have better potential these days. Before you buy stock in Citizens Financial Group, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Citizens Financial Group wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $699,558!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $976,677!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 30, 2025 Wells Fargo is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Bank of America is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Citigroup is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Why Citizens Financial Group Stock Soared in June was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘How did I get approved for $30,000?': is buy now, pay later headed for a fall?
When Nicole Hartman purchased her home in Berwick, Pennsylvania, in 2019, the place needed remodeling. The 44-year-old home help aide needed to replace the hot water heater, get two new appliances and fix a water issue, along with making the home more medically accessible for her children. With loans taken out for the home itself, it was impossible for Hartman, 44, and her husband to get personal loans to cover the renovations, so for the first time in her life, she opened up credit cards. And after maxing out those cards, she went on to use Affirm, which offers buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) services that allow customers to pay out their purchases in installments. By 2023, Hartman had $30,000 of debt on Affirm and $88,000 of credit card debt. Her household income is $150,000 a year. 'How I was able to, at one time, have almost $30,000 on Affirm is insane to me,' Hartman said. 'Like how did I even get approved for $30,000? It just blows my mind.' Credit card debt has ballooned to more than $1tn in the US over the last several years, and consumer advocates are worried that the debt burden is even worse with the growth of BNPL. 'Companies like BNPL because it leads people to spend more and make things look more affordable than they are, by focusing people's attention on one-quarter of the price rather than the full price,' said Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center. 'It can lead people to take on more debt than they can really afford.' Interactive In recent months, BNPL companies such as Klarna and Affirm have been expanding their reach across different retailers, partnering with companies such as DoorDash, Walmart and eBay so that nearly every purchase can be made using BNPL. At the same time, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the US federal agency that was built after the Great Recession to be a consumer watchdog, has largely been gutted by the Trump administration. Last month, the CFPB said it wouldn't enforce regulation against BNPL companies that put them under similar regulations that credit card companies must follow. Related: New York watchdog warns Trump cuts will usher in 'open season' for scammers BNPL companies say that their services offer a healthier alternative to credit cards because they are fixed terms and can be interest-free. And the BNPL companies are more accessible for those who don't have high credit scores as BNPL doesn't require the same hard credit score checks as credit cards. But easier access to credit often comes at a higher price. 'Each purchase is essentially a different line of credit, and so each has a different repurchase schedule. You buy something and every two weeks, you get a deduction from your bank account, and that can be difficult for people to manage,' said Ed deHaan, a professor at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. 'You can do what's called 'debt stacking': max out one BNPL, and go to another.' Research that DeHaan and colleagues published in 2023 found that while many BNPL users were able to make their payments without problems, other users were prone to overspending with BNPL and started to see early indicators of financial distress, such as not paying down other credit balances, within weeks of using the services. 'What you need to think about is the rest of the consumer's portfolio. If they're making BNPL payments … maybe they're not paying off their credit card, maybe they're not paying their cellphone bill, and that's actually more concerning,' DeHaan said. 'They're essentially substituting one payment for another.' The CFPB in January published a report showing that the majority of BNPL borrowers had multiple loans at once and were more likely to have higher balances on other forms of credit, such as credit cards. Kelly Klingaman, a financial adviser in Austin, Texas, said that she often works with clients who have built up BNPL debt with purchases that they bought largely on a whim. 'It's offered to you anytime you check out now,' Klingaman said. 'You may not be fully aware of the total interest you're paying and how it may be really jacking down your overall finances.' Now that BNPL can be used to make smaller purchases, like everyday groceries or necessities, data has shown more Americans may be turning to it for necessities. In a recent survey from LendingTree, nearly a quarter of BNPL users in the US said they have used the service to pay for groceries. Four out of 10 users also said they've had a late payment on the platform. Data compiled by the Federal Reserve shows that about 68% of BNPL users with family incomes under $50,000 said that using the services were the only way they could afford their purchase. Only 32% of those with family incomes over $100,000 said the same. And the service is used more by Americans with lower credit scores. Only 10% of those with credit scores above 720, which is considered to be a very good credit score, use BNPL, compared with 30% of those with credit scores below 620. BNPL 'is promoted as purely free, interest-free, affordable payments that are ended fairly quickly. It could be useful for occasional larger purchases, but it's really quite ill-suited for everyday use. It makes no sense to put off three-quarters of the price of this week's groceries when you have more groceries to buy in the coming weeks,' Saunders said. 'It prompts people into spending more than they can really afford.' In the first three months of 2025, Klarna said that its customer credit losses, which are due to late or missed payments, shot up 17% compared with the same period last year. The company absorbed $137m worth of these losses. Overall, the company said it doubled its losses from the first quarter from $99m this year compared with $47m last year – reports about which led many on social media to believe that Klarna was going bankrupt. But the company said that its losses stemmed from one-time costs, including from reducing its workforce by 40% after making heavy investments into AI. And the company actually saw its revenue increase 13%, to $700m, in the first three months of the year, compared with the same period last year, and its user base climbed 20%, to 100m. In a statement to NBC News, Klarna said that the increase in consumer credit losses 'does not tell you much about the US consumer' and said that credit losses made up 0.54% of all 'gross merchandise value' for loans – a slight increase from 0.51% last year, 'but still very low', the company said. Under the Biden administration, the CFPB had started to regulate BNPL servicers such as credit card companies, requiring that BNPL companies provide users with legal protections that are offered to credit card holders, such as the right to dispute charges. Last month, the CFPB said it will no longer enforce these regulations against BNPL services, saying that it will 'keep its enforcement and supervision resources focused on pressing threats to consumers'. Hartman said that while she was initially grateful that she was allowed access to more than $100,000 in credit, which she ultimately paid down completely, the process of learning how expensive it was to use such easy credit was painful. 'It's just so eye-opening how much interest you're getting charged on, for things you didn't really need,' she said. 'It helped us when we needed it, but we ended up paying probably twice as much than we needed to.' Hartman said that self-education, including learning the dangers of easy credit, enabled her to pay down her consumer debt in less than two years. 'Had I been taught these things in school, I would have had a different outlook,' she said. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
