13 April, 2023 - Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) technologies have seeped into the operations of several top companies, and have enabled them to launch advanced products and services that drive their growth.
Talent acquisition (TA) and HR companies too, have built their identities around these technologies, catering to companies and individuals through upskilling, hiring, exam proctoring and bias-free interviews.
Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Human Capital Management 2022 research note found that “AI drives automation of the recruitment process and provides decision-making support to TA professionals, hiring managers and candidates, during talent sourcing, screening, marketing, interview scheduling and onboarding.”
Other solutions such as chatbots and virtual assistants are also available, but according to Gartner’s inquiry, AI-enabled sourcing and screening currently represents the most concentrated demand.
InstaHyre, an AI-based hiring platform, is an example of how AI is used to screen and match candidates to suitable companies. Companies such as Amazon, PayPal, Google, and Uber use InstaHyre for hiring employees.
In a conversation with businessline, Sarbojit Mallick, co-founder and CBO, InstaHyre, said, “Using AI, we train the machine to understand which candidates will be great for a company. We match the company and the candidate, and also ensure a cultural fit. InstaHyre uses its proprietary technology, Insta Match, to match the correct candidates to the company.”
Catering to the companies and individual users directly, the hiring platform currently offers a free experience to the latter. “We have around 45 to 50 million candidates registered on our portal. With regards to the B2B aspect, we have about 10,000 to 12,000 companies registered on our portal.”
Apart from showing candidates relevant companies (and vice versa), the platform also displays candidates the probability of them landing the job they applied to.
Companies like iMocha, a skill assessment solution API platform, offer upskilling solutions to companies on a large scale, which helps in cases where fresh talent cannot be found in the labour market. The AI-driven company, for instance, helped two fortune 500 companies upskill over 30,000 employees when it was time to hop on the 5G train.
Amit Mishra, founder and CEO, iMocha, outlined how the company employs AI, ML and NLP in their products, catering towards businesses that are hiring. A notable use case is the ‘AI Logic box.’
“This is a technology patented by iMocha which can auto-score candidates for open-ended questions during tests,” he said.
To prevent cheating during written tests offered by companies, iMocha helps validate candidate identity. “We use facial recognition APIs and AI, and scan candidate retinas with consent. The Government IDs of 110 countries can currently be validated,” Mishra said in an interview with businessline.
iMocha also aims to provide a ‘Bias-free’ hiring experience and prevent human biases that might get in the way when interviewers are aware of the candidate’s gender, ethnicity, location, etc. “To remove this, all questions framed are Equal Employment Opportunity (EOC) compliant. The interview is recorded; candidate details are masked and the evaluator can only access the answers,” Mishra said, adding that since iMocha’s AI services are developed in a controlled environment, the possibility of machine bias is also reduced.
Gartner’s report warns, however, that AI in the field of HR should be used with caution. As obstacles such as the maturity of AI capability, and the need for ethics and regulatory compliance still exist, it is recommended that companies “increase AI solutions’ chances of success by following a framework for implementation that focuses on prioritised use cases and high-touch moments to deliver the most value,” the report adds.
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