Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the talent acquisition (TA) space is a rapidly changing and innovative field. There are a number of companies that provide AI solutions for talent acquisitions but for this review we'll focus on three that interest us the most: Olivia, Mya and Arya. The value proposition for AI in TA is twofold; automate sourcing and most of the candidate qualifying process, and provide an enhanced candidate experience to raise your employer brand. A company's internal sourcers and recruiters, as well as external partners, are an expense that can be difficult to evaluate and to legitimize (especially during financially difficult quarters/years). It's assumed as fact in business, talent acquisition and the activities around the process do not guarantee the best hire (few companies actually measure quality of hire), are hard to automate, hard to measure, and often are an unpleasant experience for everyone involved (employer and candidate). For example, a recruiter on average takes 6 seconds to review and evaluate a resume. On average, 250 candidates apply to a job posting. Is that the right time to properly qualify talent? How many of those resumes are even relevant to the job posting? How much time did each candidate spend completing the application? How many of them will ever hear back? The experience for internal staff is so time consuming, confusing and wasteful that the real risk is next time a hiring manager faces a  chronic underperformer, they'll think twice about dealing with it for fear they'll have to backfill the role.

This is where AI comes in. Mya for example, answers company questions for inquiring applicants, eliminates irrelevant resumes, provides candidates with updates and feedback, and delivers more insights and data for recruiters to enhance their decision making abilities. 6 seconds doesn't cut it. The makers behind Arya use machine learning, leverage big data, and behavioral patterns to help recruiters focus on interested & qualified candidates only. Olivia focuses on these items too but it's true value is in candidate experience and helping employers develop a a better 'employer brand'. Top candidates need to be drawn to a new employer, an attraction, a higher purpose and culture; this starts with the first text received on their cell phone, "Hi, I'm Olivia". Throughout a text conversation a candidate answers questions starting with personal info and background experience ultimately enabling Olivia to complete a job application. It's a comfortable, friendly experience throughout. And yes, she will follow up and let them know where they stand in the intimidating process of interviewing. 

RATINGS: TBD

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Strength: All three providers are customizable and plug in with most Applicant Tracking Systems. AI in talent acquisition reduces sourcing time, proactively sources hard to find skill sets, eliminates talent acquisition waste, enhances recruiter and hiring manager decision making abilities, delivers performance data and instantly changes candidate experience. 

Weakness: Pricing on these three options is customized per organization. AI isn't widely available yet either, most of these solutions have a wait list or are on beta versions. Reviews are also very sparse. Finally, AI can learn bias behavior from the decision makers if the right parameters aren't set and respected. 

Best Use: A company with a large number of transactional or technical roles would be the best fit for AI at this stage of innovation. AI can qualify candidates well on technical skills at this point but is not fully capable to evaluate behavioral or leadership capabilities and so is limited for roles that have more fluidity in 'what success looks like'.