When robot recruiters select candidates for jobs

Dubai - Companies have started relying on artificial intelligence (AI) to find the best talents that can match their needs.

If you're looking for a job, there's one thing you must know: Before you can impress HR managers, your CV will have to impress some 'robot' first.
These days, companies have started relying on artificial intelligence (AI) to find the best talents that can match their needs. And recruitment experts recently shared with Khaleej Times how the latest technologies have been redefining the hiring process for both employees and employers.
In one firm alone, over 2,000 local businesses have registered to post vacancies and search through a community of entry-level talent.
"The technology that powers the process enables applications to be vetted for suitability, and for communications between corporates and prospective employees to happen seamlessly," said Jean-Michel Gauthier, CEO and co-founder of Oliv, a recruitment startup.
Oliv receives roughly 20,000 applications each month and has tracked over 6,500 confirmed placements. Almost half of posted positions are in the fields of business development (sales, account and relationship management) and marketing (predominantly digital and social).
With such technologies in place, companies no longer have to sift through thousands of applications in a day. By scanning through all the information provided, AI can instantly cut down the list and remove all applications that don't meet requirements.
And the bots' HR job could even go as far as contacting qualified candidates.
Sharing the upcoming addition to their tech tools, Gauthier said: "Within the next few weeks, we are releasing a new piece of tech - our automated shortlisting assistant named Olivia, who will search for and contact the best suited candidates on behalf of employers, with algorithms that learn and improve over time based on employer feedback."
For another recruitment firm, Searchie, AI is used in the interview process. It advertises jobs on LinkedIn, with a link to the interview attached.
Sahiqa Bennett, CEO of Searchie, said: "Companies can digitally transform their services through technology. The war for talent is going to get worse and companies would benefit on quality rather than quantity. They need to look at how they attract, develop and retain their talent pool."
Education, awareness
While many tech tools are already available, Bennett said firms are still quite 'confused' about how they can make these innovations work for them.
"Companies are looking at how they can improve their recruitment process and turning to technology to make it more efficient. However there is much confusion around what exists in the market and how it can work for them. More education needs to happen around the capabilities of AI.
"It's not either humans or machines which will improve the process, it's both working hand in hand."
Searchie predicts that the job market in the UAE will soon have a host of new vacancies, especially with Expo 2020 Dubai just around the corner.
This 'hiring spree' is expected to benefit data scientists, digital transformation specialists, AI champions, machine learning engineers and head of culture, according to the firm.
- sandhya@khaleejtimes.com