Biometrics can help identify careers: Manish Naidu,founder,Brainwonders

Can biometrics tell what is the right career for a candidate? Or even help make mid-career corrections so that it’s a win-win for companies and candidates. Mumbai based career counselling startup Brainwonders uses Taiwan’s DMIT (Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence Test) software to arrive at what’s best for the candidates.

It uses fingerprint scans to generate a report which can give clues to abilities of candidates and what career might be best suited to their skills. In an interact with ET, Manish Naidu, founder, Brainwonders, explains the idea behind DMIT and expansion plans in India.

Can biometrics give an idea of future prospects of a student? How accurate is the methodology?

We use DMIT technology which is Dermatoglyphics Multiple Intelligence Test. Derma is the skin and glyphics are the regions on the skin. We use biometric scans to identify innate strengths, weakness, characteristics, left & right-brain dominance, which ultimately leads to the question of what next. What is my career choice?

How can you determine that with fingerprint scans?

Most of us are either pressurised to do something because of peer or parental pressure. In terms of career many people face this so called, mid-life crisis at the age of 30-35 years because by that time they would have done 3-4 jobs and perhaps realize that this was not their cup of tea. So, one opts for a career where your aptitude and interest both match up, that is the best career for you. Striking the right balance between passion and ability is important. We can help identify careers.

How does the process work?

We have a biometric scanner and candidates take a fingerprint test. We take biometric scans (all fingers) and then a 24-page report comes out.

Career is the end result. The data science is entirely based on your fingerprints. Fingerprints give you a lot of data points. Once we take the fingerprints there are ridge counts on it, through ridge count there is a nerve growth factor that happens. Through the nerve growth factor, DMIT (a non-invasive genetic test) will tell the details about how the person’s innate potential is and how over the generations it has kept on revising.

For example, earlier, if the whole family was into carpentering, children used to follow the same generation after generation because the innate potential of that particular generation used to get passed on to the next. But then every person has his own unique characteristics and that’s how they started deviating from their familiar core points. When the report comes in we talk to you about all the factors which will help you choose your career.

It sounds like palmistry. How credible can this be?

The idea is to tell candidates what is good for them. It’s up to them to decide what to do. Once the test is taken, that is the fingerprint scans have been submitted (a five-minute process) - we send it to the Well Gene Science Lab in Malaysia for an analysis and the report is generated in three days. Once we have the report, we have a team of 183 clinical and career psychologists who interpret the report for the students and other clients- complete with guidance and recommendations. This gives them a way ahead.

What happens when your test says that a certain person may be good at something but his/her interest is in something else?

This does happen because your interest in not based on your aptitude. Your interest depends on what is prejudicing you at that moment of time. Your interest can change time to time, so you will keep experimenting with your areas of likes and dislikes till the time you find the compatible aptitude to support it. So, what we tell you is to keep pursuing your interest(s) but also guide you that your intelligence is in this particular sector and the moment it matches up, is where your career will shoot up. So the interest level can keep on changing, once the changed interest level matches with your genetic intelligence level is when you get your actual match and get your success story.

How many institutions do you work with?

We work with 230 schools across the country. A few companies (their HR departments) have also shown interest. We are also in talks with NSDL.

With Brainwonders, Founder Manish Naidu revolutionized the concept of educational counselling. Also a recipient of an Indian National Educational Award.