Interview questions analysed by AI

I was speaking with a client this morning, who had just finished an interview with the hiring manager. This was as a result of an interview with the talent acquisition person last week.

This interview had been on Zoom, she was told at that interview that it was going to be recorded and that her answers to the questions over a 45 minute period, was then going to be analysed by the ‘AI Engine’ to basically assess, her answers she gave where good enough,? to progress her to the next level, which was a face to face with the hiring manager.

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Originally, she had applied for the role online, along with over 300 other people whose CV’s had then been dropped into an ATS system. She was one of a small number of people who had been selected by the ATS system to then move to this stage with the AI Engine assessment software, basically this was part of the screening process., It was part of a trail the company was conducting to see how much technology could be used in the recruitment process. She was told that it was a piece of software that the company had on trial, and her CV had been selected. She asked if it was possible to have a copy of the recording afterwards and was told they were not geared up to offer her a copy.?

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It does bring up some interesting privacy issues, who would have access to the file, was it just the company that recorded it, was it going to be sold to other companies or would it be anonymous or attributed to her and her CV and any other data they held on her and her application?

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Many of these AI engines can see, hear and analyse recordings, pick up the words they are seeking, that you may or not say in the response that you give, but they can’t analyse the tone, or the level of enthusiasm you provide at the time.

You also need a huge amount of data, to find out if they have got it right but they may make a huge number of mistakes before they get it right and the proof can take a long time to surface – who was the best hire based on the data at the end of the year or even in three years’ time? They could not give her a copy of the recording so it would take a ‘freedom of information order’, to get a copy of the recording after the fact.

One of the main things these AI engines simply cannot do, at this stage or any stage is capturing behaviour, you can attempt to do this by converting behavioural traits into skills but it’s a poor compromise at best. The other aspect is if you are looking for the right cultural fit, they can’t do that and let’s face it culture changes so quickly in a company.

The other aspect is “Do they get it – do they get you – do they get the culture” and will they fit in. Historically or traditionally getting the right fit, is left to an individual or a hiring manager who knows what to do and has a track record of getting it right. But it’s also about making sure that you don’t just hire on skills and experience and end up sacking people due to behaviour, if you hire on skills, experience and behaviour then you are far more likely to ‘get it right first time’ and this is something that no AI can do and ever likely to be able to do.

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The whole Digital recruitment process (AI Engines & ATS Systems) is still in its early days and will take the next few years before it really starts delivering true value. It has a lot of bias coded into the software and its hard to get rid of it once it’s in the process.

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So, use AI engines and ATS systems to streamline the process and replace the recruiting partners of old, but make sure you keep as much of the ‘Human Elements’ in the process as possible, this will certainly help keep everyone happier and get you the best results.

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About the Author ?- ?Howard Longstaff

Over the last 20 years Howard has coached 1000’s of people, staff, clients and candidates, either career coaching or general life & business coaching. Now as a ‘Full-Stack People Consultant, he is a certified counsellor and spends his time coaching people.? The last 30 years he worked as a recruiter, head-hunter, executive search consultant & business owner building teams for clients, working extensively in the UK, Europe as well as the US & Canada.

[email protected] +44 (0) 7710 907 988