How We Use Artificial Intelligence in Recruiting

If it�s been a while since you had to apply for jobs, you will be surprised to find out the way job hunting has changed. The longer you have been employed, the bigger the surprise will be. In the past, there was only one thing you needed to have to apply for a job � a resume. Some companies also required a cover letter. Nowadays HR is only going to take a look at your job application only after AI has vetted all the rest of the applicants and has picked you as the chosen one.

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WHAT IS AI FOR RECRUITING?�

There are several AI-based software products that are being used by big and small companies worldwide. Among this software, HireVue is probably the most famous one. It is being used by companies like Unilever, Cathay Pacific, Delta Airlines, Hilton hotels, T-mobile, Vodafone, Walmart, and others.�

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During the hiring process, the candidate is asked to answer a few short questions and record the answers on video. The video is then going to be assessed by AI for verbal and non-verbal cues, tone, speech, and facial expressions, and in the end, the AI is going to create a profile for the candidate based on his performance. The evaluation will include scores for:

– overall fit;

– growth mindset;

– direct communication;

– willingness to collaborate;

– confidence;

– client success, etc.�

The above qualities are thought to be predictors of a person’s success. Only after AI screens all candidates, create profiles and picks the ones that are most suitable for the job, a real person from Human Resources will take a look at the results. According to HireVue, they have saved thousands of hours of human recruitment by automating this process.

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THE PROS AND CONS OF USING AI IN RECRUITMENT

The main difference between human-based recruitment and AI-based recruitment is, well, the human factor. When the HR is looking at your resume, they only see this � your resume. The dates, the name of the companies you have worked for, the school you went to, and maybe some of your accomplishments if you have any. They don�t see the person; they don�t see the potential or the lack of such.�

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Human hiring is biased. Statistics show that the name you put on the resume matter. Victoria or Maria has a higher chance for at least a call interview than somebody whose name is Abdul or Tanesha. Humans do discriminate against race, gender, and ethnicity.�

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In some countries, strict anti-discrimination and labor laws discourage candidates to put photos on their resume. Nevertheless, the person from Human Resources is still judging you by the grades you had at school, by the gaps in your employment, by where you went to school, and how long you studied for.�

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Eliminating the bias in hiring is the big plus of AI-recruitment, but researchers argue that AI is as biased as its dataset. It all depends on the layers of data that are being given to the AI. To remove bias from the hiring process, it is important to create a data set as diverse as possible.�

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It is awkward to interview yourself. On a regular face-to-face interview, you would be looking at the reaction of the person in front of you, you would be assessing their facial and body expression as well as they will be assessing yours. Once you leave the interview, you will intuitively know whether you did a good or a bad job there. Video self-interview can be much more intimidating than answering questions asked by a stranger.

With HireVue, and with most other AI-based recruiting software, questions will be shown to you for a limited amount of time, and you will be expected to be ready with an answer once the time is up. Some people are slow readers, especially when they are nervous, some are dyslexic, some just feel stressed by thinking about how important those few seconds, they have difficulty concentrating and thinking about the answer, some people stutter. AI-based recruitment has been questioned by human-rights advocates. They worry that this approach will discriminate against people with disabilities. For instance, the AI-based hiring process is most likely to discriminate against a person with a speech disability.� ��

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We are a novice to AI-based recruiting, and we have to be careful how much trust we put into machines. As of today, hiring is nowhere a 100% automated process. A human will have to eventually look at and screen the potential candidate.