Facing the bot recruiter

Open your laptop. Boot the app. Switch on your camera. And start your interview. Video-based interviews, either on Skype and Facetime or recorded links have been used for some years now. Now a new and tricky feature has become popular. HR tech companies have begun to deploy artificial intelligence to assess candidates even as their skills are tested on several parameters. 

Companies are using AI-based voice recognition and facial recognition software that reads the candidate in a way that no human can. When a candidate answers questions, AI software reads expressions and measures voice modulation to get into the mind of the candidate. Lying and misleading can be caught. So can inconsistencies in your answers. 

Candidates hear automated voice and see no one the other end as they get time to answer questions while looking into the camera. The recorded videos with accompanying AI-based analysis ranks candidates on pre-set parameters. Each recruiting company can customise the parameters based on role, function and sector. 

The video interview software industry is a category by itself with estimated 100 companies offering varying categories of solutions. Companies such as TCS, Marriott, Goldman Sachs, Unilever are actively using such software for recruitment. 

While it may spook the candidate, it turns out to be convenient to both the recruiter and the applicant. Marriott gets close to 3 million job applications for its properties globally. Other global companies received similar rush of applications. Even smaller companies get more resumes than their HR teams can do justice to.

Unilever has been able to expand the catchment area for college hiring from 840 to 2600 since it is able to manage large volumes of candidates. 

From reading the resumes to interviewing candidates, the AI solution helps everyone. Even the candidates find it convenient to answer questions from anywhere, record interviews and any time. Companies leading the way in AI-based video interviews include HireVue, MRoads, Glider.AI, Gecko Interview Bot among many more. HireVue has celebrated 5 million video interviews. Cost is a great advantage. Gecko software charges about $6000 for 2000 interviews. An effective cost of $3 per interview. 

Some global Indian companies as well as local divisions of global companies are using such software for recruitment. Glider.ai counts Tata Consultancy Services among its clients. Texas-based MRoads has an office in Hyderabad. Home-grown Interview Air has Aditya Birla Group, Sun Pharma and Eureka Forbes amongst its clients.

To be clear, final selection of the candidate is not solely dependent on the AI video interview. The first step is to trawl through hundreds of resumes to shortlist candidates for testing. 

Next is video-based interview. Once applicants clear two to three levels of selection and video interview, they have to finally sit across the table with actual humans. But those human recruiters now have far more insights about the candidate than they ever did. 

This allows the recruiter to find the best fit for the vacancy. 

Experts now offer several tips for candidates who have to face an AI-based video interview. Some tips though. Ensure a good wifi or broadband connection, stay in a noiseless area and make sure you are as well dressed for the interview as you would be when facing a real human recruiter. There are several videos online that help applicants prepare for talking to an AI bot. Remember though, it will no longer be easy to smooth talk your way into a job. The AI bot will see through you faster than a human can.