AI for Recruitment: Distant Future or Immediate Need?

If land was the raw material for Agricultural Age. Iron was the raw material for Industrial Age. Data is the raw material for Information Age. -Alex Ross

Hiring the right talent is always a challenge. The right hiring process requires inputs from not only the human resource function but also the mid and senior level management. Separate time is allocated and schedules are kept free just to make sure that the right kind of talent is hired. Hiring the right talent does wonder for the company. Not only does the right talent infuses the company with right attitude but also takes the company to new heights. But what if the person who was supposed to be the golden egg laying hen turns out to be an ugly duckling? What if the person whose resume shows that he has been an excellent team player turns out to be someone who hates interacting with others?

The consequences of hiring wrong can be disastrous for the company. If the person is not aligned with the values of the company both parties are at loss eventually. Remember Cyrus Mistry and Tata Group debacle? This is a perfect example of hiring based on the professional qualifications and accomplishments and not on the ability of the person to fit in the culture.

It is said that an HR looks at a CV for 5-7 seconds. He/She has only that much time to make an impression. If a positive impression is made from the CV then whatever happens in the personal interview will either strengthen the perception that this person will be the right fit for the firm or make the HR realize that the person will not be able to fit in the organization. It is difficult for an HR to vet each interviewee with 100% concentration. Sometimes some people can perform well in the interview and they make the cut. In this scenario, it would be helpful for the HR to get a consolidated report of the individual that the person is being interviewed.

Tracking social media of the individual will help the HRs in getting the true and a holistic picture. The possibility of the person cheating reduces substantially if a sentimental analysis report is in the hands of HR and he/she knows that the individual is of what type. Specific questions can then be asked accordingly. It will help in finding the right fit for the organization. And in this case, the individual’s competencies can be mapped in the right department as well. He may be able to contribute even more than when he would have been placed in some other department.

But technology like this is not openly available and neither are the companies focused on developing something like an AI Recruiter. Sure, there have been instances wherein the social media was used to hire employees but those instances have been few. Social media listening can be done in various ways. Some of these social media listening tools can also be used to do sentiment analysis of an individual. For example: On Hootsuite, an individual can configure his/her Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. and get insights of the same. Even using Radian6, sentiment analysis of an individual’s Facebook profile can be done. What we lack is a consolidated algorithm that helps keep a track.

It would be great if we have a tool in which we have to feed the name of an individual and a report gets generated which analyses the profile and marks him/her on the pre-defined parameters set by the company. AI-Human collaboration recruiting may very well be the future of recruiting.