Tag Archive: HR Technology

  1. Get Ready to Hire in a High Unemployment Market

    It’s hard to believe, but way back in the early days of 2020, one of the biggest challenges that companies faced was sourcing candidates. They simply couldn’t get enough people to apply for jobs. Fast forward to today, and everything has changed.

    As the COVID-19 pandemic crept across countries and around the world, unemployment rates began to tick higher and higher. Industry experts, journalists, and the like began to draw comparisons to other economic downturns. While today’s circumstances are different, the Great Depression and Great Recession offer some context, evidence that this too shall pass. And pass it will. 

    On the other side of crisis, employment will likely look very different – and not only from a work environment perspective. Yes, many workers will remain remote, while others will continue to wear masks and gloves to work. Most jarring, though, will be the 40 million Americans (and millions more globally) looking for work. As states reopen and hiring freezes lift, companies will be flooded with more applicants than they’ve ever seen before. 

    Most recruiting teams, save for those who worked through the last recession, have no experience hiring in this type of market. Here’s how to prepare: 

    Think digital

    Imagine what shelter in place and the remote work infrastructure would have looked like 20 years ago. There’s no way the early 2000’s could have supported 50% of jobs being done from home. One thing that’s made the current situation slightly easier to navigate is the availability of online tools.

    Many of us were already connected digitally, even while sitting next to each other in an office. Social distancing challenged companies to tie up loose ends so that entire functions, like recruiting, could be done 100% digitally. 

    With companies like Twitter announcing “work from home forever” policies, there’s a real possibility that office work becomes a thing of the past. If that’s the case, everything from interviewing to onboarding will need to be done remotely.

    The tools you need to interview, assess, and hire candidates digitally are already available, but a piecemeal solution is never a long-term solution. Starting now, hiring needs to become a digital experience to meet the needs of recruiters, hiring teams, and candidates who are separated by distance and may never physically meet during the hiring process. Or after.

    Lean on technology

    As the economy began to recover from the Great Recession, it wasn’t uncommon to see 100 applicants or more per opening, and recruiting teams faced the surge mostly unprepared.

    What we have today that we didn’t have then is more sophisticated technology that not only increases productivity through automation, but uses AI to deliver customized experiences to candidates, and at the same time, bring highest potential talent to the attention of the recruiting team. This helps recruiters focus on the right candidates at the right time, while also keeping the passive pipeline engaged and informed between touches.

    Where in the past, resumes went overlooked, collecting dust somewhere inside the ATS, today’s technology is designed to seal the cracks, streamline the process, and connect people both in and outside the company.

    People who need work will flock to open positions, including positions they may not have considered before. Equip your teams with technology so they can remain effective with an increased workload, and so that candidates aren’t left in the dark with a poor impression of your company.

    Show your human side

    Fortunately, we’ve already seen that being remote and connecting digitally doesn’t have to feel cold and distant. In fact, by working from home and seeing people in their “natural habitat” with dogs and kids and Zoom mishaps, we’ve had opportunities to show empathy and connect more closely with one another.

    The same is true with candidates. Candidate experience became a priority when the talent market was tight, but the same rules apply in “loose” market: Treat candidate interactions with care and compassion, whether you’re looking at 100 candidates or 10. 

    Your ability to weave people and technology together into a seamless digital hiring experience will differentiate your company in the coming months. At Outmatch, our data already shows an uptick in hiring activity, and one of the biggest differences between this economic downturn and others is that recovery can start as soon as state-by-state restrictions are lifted. Which means the opportunity to re-staff and get back into growth mode might be only moments away.

    You were blindsided by crisis. But you can be ready for the hiring surge. Learn how digital hiring can help.

  2. How Crisis Has Shifted Hiring in 4 Big Industries

    After years of growth and low unemployment rates, there’s no question that the COVID-19 pandemic changed the hiring landscape almost overnight. By mid-April, the number of unemployed reached 22 million, wiping out a decade of gains in just four weeks.

    At the same time, the crisis created a boom in certain pockets of the economy, including essential businesses and businesses that had (or were able to quickly pivot to) an online model.

    Since the crisis began, our data shows a spike in the number of companies using video interviewing software. This tells us two things: that hiring is still happening, and that video is key in supporting the shift to a digital model, one that may stick around long after the outbreak ends.

    Leading the shift to digital hiring are these four industries:

    1. HR and staffing
    2. Manufacturing
    3. Health and medial
    4. Retail

    Graph of video interview adoption by industryOther early adopters include baking and financial services, education, sports, and IT. Here’s a look at what’s happening in the top 4 industries: 

    HR and staffing

    It seems only logical that HR and staffing would be among the first to adopt video interviewing, as they represent a cross-section of industries. Outside of specialized staffing where demand has fallen, companies continue to rely on these services during the pandemic.

    While the staffing industry has shown it’s ability adapt to a digital model, there’s concern about hiring managers, who are in uncharted territory. As Human Resource Executive magazine points out, “Managers typically receive training in the basics, but now, we’re in a whole new world. How do we help them through the nuances of video interviewing, virtually onboarding new hires, building a virtual team?” 

    Getting the right tools in place makes this transition easier, especially as hiring slows in some industries and picks up in others. And should remote work become more popular on the other side, the organizations that took the time to prepare will be well-positioned when the hiring resurgence happens. 

    Manufacturing

    In manufacturing, supply chain disruptions have some companies ramping up production to meet increased demand. Similar to HR and staffing, manufacturing touches multiple sectors, including many on the frontlines.

    Reports USA Today, GE Healthcare is hiring additional manufacturing employees to help meet the need for personal protective equipment like face masks as well as ventilators, CT machines, ultrasound devices, mobile X-ray systems and patient monitors. The same is true of cleaning supply manufacturers and others creating newly necessary items.

    The only problem is, as MarketWatch shares, “In the manufacturing industry, many employers are actually struggling to fill openings because the positions have become more technically sophisticated than they were in past decades.” 

    Here’s where the right recruiting technology solutions can help these organizations source, screen, and assess potential candidates, working to make sure reqs are filled with the right people, even when in-person interviews aren’t an option.

    Health and medical

    Since the U.S. declared a public health emergency at the end of January, health and medical organizations have been working around the clock to find workers to take care of patients.

    The Office of Personnel Management even implemented new guidelines as part of its COVID-19 Excepted Service Hiring Authority initiative to expedite the hiring process. States like California have changed the rules to “free up more doctors and nurses,” contacting those already retired and relying on the support of advanced students.

    The health and medical arena are also in the midst of digital disruption, as telehealth becomes increasingly useful. 

    Between the need for qualified talent and a call to move patient interactions online, video is apt to serve a larger number of organizations in the coming days, weeks, and months. No surprise that a quick Indeed.com search for “healthcare” in the U.S. yielded close to 65,000 openings, ranging from medical assistants to patient care specialists. 

    Retail

    Though retail as a whole isn’t doing too well, with temporary and permanent closures across the country, there are pockets of hiring going on. Most of this activity is taking place in grocery and hardware stores, both of which are considered essential in most states, including the hardest-hit like New York and New Jersey. 

    Convenience store chain 7-Eleven is hiring 20,000 for positions across the U.S. The parent company of Safeway and Acme is looking to hire 30,000 new associates. In March, Kroger was planning to hire 10,000 new workers but ended up hiring more than double that. Tractor Supply Co. and Ace Hardware are following suit, while online retailers like Amazon continue adding to their workforce, hiring 100,000 in March and another 75,000 in April.

    Even for temporary roles, high-volume scenarios necessitate a structured approach to hiring, one that makes it possible to interview multiple candidates in a short time frame. 

    When the pandemic ends…

    It will have changed recruiting and talent selection as we know it. If you’re considering making digital hiring part of your strategy, you’re in good company. No matter what industry you’re in, digital hiring will provide a way for you to continue operating in crisis, or support you on the road to recovery.

    Learn more about the benefits of digital hiring, or use our digital hiring solutions free for 60 days.

  3. How to Get the Most Bang from Your Pre-Hire Assessment

    Pre-hire assessments come in different shapes and sizes, and there’s more than one way to use them – which makes versatility one of this technology’s most intriguing benefits. Post implementation, organizations often discover exciting use cases and additional value from a tool that’s historically been a one-trick pony.

    For some organizations, using a pre-hire assessment means testing for job-critical soft skills and cognitive abilities before investing in a new hire. For others, the assessment is used to provide a bias-free understanding of a potential hire’s culture fit, which job in the company they’ll be best at, or how their personality and work style will contribute to the team. 

    How and when you use your pre-hire assessment is up to your organization’s talent acquisition strategy, but to ensure you get every drop of value from your chosen solution, here are a few things to keep in mind:

    Choose an assessment that’s easy

    The last thing you want is a promising solution that could have been great – if only people had used it. 

    To help grease the wheels for adoption and change management, choose an assessment with a simple and intuitive UI. This is important for reporting and analytics, too. Modern assessments have come a long way, so look for one that empowers your teams to make quick and intelligent decisions, without needing to be specially trained or have an I-O psychologist nearby to interpret the findings.

    The assessment experience should be equally friendly for candidates. Many newer assessments can be completed in 10 minutes or less, using images, optimized test design, and even games to keep candidates engaged while collecting valuable information about their potential for success and ideal career path.

    Connect with a video interviewing tool

    Most companies are already using some type of assessment, and adoption of video interviewing software is on the rise.

    Together, these tools make a perfect team, with assessments providing much-needed data and objectivity, and video interviewing adding a human layer that allows candidates to express their uniqueness and be seen as a person, not just a score. According to Deloitte Insights, “Video interviewing can reduce pre-hire assessment questions from 200 to just five and raises the possibility of one-interview hires.” That’s a heck of an endorsement!

    The best thing you can do is integrate these tools into a seamless workflow for candidates. Just as important, you want results to be seamless for hiring teams. Rather than seeing assessments and video interviews as separate data points, find an integrated solution that can aggregate information into a comprehensive candidate profile.

    Stay agile with AI

    How can assessments predict success when jobs and skills and companies are constantly changing?

    If you’re going to use an assessment to match the right person to the right role at the right time, then you need the right profile – one that’s been proven to work in organizations like yours, or a custom profile. Or, you might be using an assessment to measure culture fit, something that’s less job-specific. Either way, precision is key, and you need a solution that can use data from successful hires to create the perfect profile for your needs.

    This is how machine learning works in the world of assessments, taking in continuous streams of information, analyzing the data, and improving on its performance. This approach ensures the assessment is an accurate predictor of success, even in super-agile environments. No matter how your business pivots, an AI-powered assessment will keep pace. 

    Integrate post-hire

    Assessments are deeply rooted in the talent acquisition space. Hence the name “pre-hire assessment.”

    But, the best way to get more bang for your buck is to use this talent acquisition tool outside of TA. Take hi-po identification, for example. Gartner tells us that “high-potential employees exert 21% more effort than others, and have a 75% chance of succeeding at roles that are critical to business performance and the future leadership pipeline.” The problem is, without a way to identify hi-po’s in your company, you won’t be able to tap into or develop their potential. 

    From talent discovery and internal mobility to career pathing, development, and succession planning, assessments help in every instance – if you leverage them. So, break out of your comfort zone and forget what assessments are ‘supposed to do.” Instead, imagine what they can do. 

    Explore what’s new in assessments

    With more companies using assessments than not, it’s fair to say they’ve become a talent acquisition staple, adding important structure and rigor to the hiring process.

    That doesn’t mean you can’t get creative and have a little fun with assessments, too. There’s a wave of next-gen assessments on the market offering flexibility, engaging experiences, and analytics that didn’t exist before – without sacrificing the predictability organizations have come to know and respect about these solutions.

    Finding the right use for your needs requires careful thought and consideration, paired with a healthy dose of experimentation. When it comes to getting your biggest bang, it’s up to you to push the limits!

  4. How to Improve Candidate Experience in a Tight Talent Market

    Engaging top candidates today isn’t easy. Blame Millennials or Gen Z if you like, but the fact is, the candidate market is completely different than is was 10 years ago. All of us (yes, you included) now have incredibly high standards for the experience we have when doing something, be it streaming TV or applying for a job.

    Whether your candidates are ‘digital natives’ or ‘digital immigrants,’ everyone in today’s workforce expects and appreciates a simple, personalized hiring experience. If you want to be a competitive employer, you need to give them that.

    Your next challenge is to find a way to get the data you need for sharp, unbiased decision-making without sacrificing the experience. Do that, and you create a win-win for everyone. Here’s how:

    Tell a good story

    You can’t expect candidates – who enjoy rich, vibrant experiences online and nearly everywhere they go – to raise their hand for a less-than-exciting job opportunity. Generalities, like saying, “This is a great place to work!” won’t cut it anymore. (Did it ever?) To get candidates to click APPLY, you must first give them a taste of your company, the job, and the team they might be working with. Do this by telling stories.

    First, craft a narrative about your company’s history, vision, or culture, and weave it into every experience through the hiring process. Then, look for ways to spotlight company wins and employee success stories. A video about an employee’s growth within the company, a great relationship with a client, or a community outreach event are just a few ideas. Whatever it is that makes your company interesting or unique, that’s the story you should tell.

    Make it feel easy

    Because everything is on-demand, the days of applying and waiting are nearing their end. Candidates need to be nurtured, gratified, and kindly escorted from one step in the process to the next. Your job is to make the job of applying for a job easier than ever.

    That means all the great storytelling videos you create should be accessible and easy to find up-front. After than, think about how to architect a seamless workflow that will keep candidates engaged and moving forward – such as, auto-launching an assessment at the end of the application, or providing the option to schedule a video interview immediately after the assessment.

    It goes without saying that everything should be mobile-optimized. And, the more flexibility you give candidates to complete steps when it’s convenient for them, the better.

    Improve your interviews

    Interviews are your chance to get to know candidates on a deeper, more personal level. They’re also a chance for candidates to get to know YOU. So make sure your interviews give back to the candidate as much as they take – which can be easy to forget when using technology.

    For example, if you use pre-recorded video interviews, you can help make the experience feel two-way by having real employees on screen, introducing themselves before asking an interview question. This way, candidates will have ‘met’ a handful of team members in your company, and will be able to put faces to names.

    Ask the right questions

    Candidates can tell the difference when hiring managers are prepared with questions, and when they’re winging it. By providing on-demand interview guides with questions that are tailored to the candidate and job, you ensure the interview is a good experience for busy managers and potential hires.

    Ideally, you want interview guides to be structured and align with your company’s core values, and at the same time, be relevant and personalized to the candidate. Asking the right questions leads great job-related conversations, and makes the most of everyone’s time.

    Add a personal touch

    If you’ve implemented a good hiring workflow, then you’re nurturing candidates throughout the process. It’s important to have built-in touch points to let candidates know they’ve successful completed a step and what’s coming next. Much of this can be automated. But, you don’t want your process to be completely robotic.

    Make sure at least some of your candidate outreach or follow up comes from a real recruiter or hiring manager. Savvy candidates know the difference and will appreciate a little undivided attention. Your goal should be to automate the mundane, repetitive tasks so that hiring teams have more time to personally connect with candidates.

    To learn more about innovative recruitment…

    See how Verisk, a Forbes’ Best Employer, is attracting and engaging top college grads.

  5. How to Assess a Candidate’s Skills before an Interview

    According to new LinkedIn research, 69% of professionals believe that skills are more important than a college degree when looking for a job, and 76% wish there was a way for hiring managers to verify their skills so they could stand out amongst other candidates.

    Recruiting teams share the same wish – to see a more complete picture of a candidate, beyond the resume. But how?

    Pre-hire assessments add an additional layer of intelligence to help solve the visibility problem in hiring. Using assessments, candidates can show off their skills, and recruiters can be sure match the right people to the right roles, every time.

    Aberdeen research from a few years ago found that 2/3 of companies use pre-hire assessments. And that number has surely grown. At most companies, “pre-hire assessments are a fundamental part of the hiring strategy.” Without them, assessing the skills and strengths of your candidate pool would be slow and subjective, at best.

    What to assess?

    Pre-hire assessments come in many forms. There are hard skills assessments, like LinkedIn launched earlier this year, that measure software or coding skills, for example.

    Then there are soft skills assessments, which are becoming increasingly important as 80% of professionals say soft skills are critical to company success. According to LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends report, soft skills like creativity, persuasion, and collaboration are in high demand – but, less than half of companies have a formal process in place to measure them.

    There are also cognitive assessments that measure skills like logical reasoning or reading comprehension, similar to a college entrance exam. Abstract reasoning is a popular cognitive assessment because it measures an individual’s ability to learn, which can help you gauge their trajectory or long-term contribution to your company.

    Finally, there are culture fit assessments that measure values and motivations in comparison with the company’s CulturalDNA. Does a potential hire value collaboration above precision? Are they more motivated to drive results or delight customers? There’s no wrong answer, but knowing these aspects will help ensure happy, successful hires.

    With different assessments to illuminate different skills sets, you’ll begin to see candidates as real, multi-dimensional people – much more than bullet points on a page. It’s a quick and objective way to assess candidates for job fit, culture fit, and career potential so you immediately know who should move on the interview stage.

    Ah, the clarity!

    Most assessments can be completed in under 20 minutes, depending on the skill or type of job you’re assessing for. Once completed, your team will have data you can use to rank or shortlist candidates, as well as insight on hidden strengths and career potential that you wouldn’t have gotten from a resume, a phone call, or even an in-person interview.

    Using assessments, you’ll see your entire hiring process become more streamlined, with improved decision making every step of the way. Recruiters can focus on pursing the most promising candidates, and because results can be shared, hiring teams are aligned and able to collaborate on decisions like never before.

    Some assessments (like ours!) even generate an interview guide based on the candidate’s potential weaknesses and areas for improvement. That way, interviewers know exactly what to ask and can learn the most about a candidate in a limited amount of time.

    Best of all, candidates’ skills can finally shine through. Today, 52% of professionals say they feel their skills have been overlooked in the hiring process in the past. We’re on a mission to change that – so job seekers can get the jobs they deserve, and employers like you never miss a great candidate again!

    START YOUR JOURNEY WITH ASSESSMENTS TODAY

  6. HR Tech 2019: Top Trends from Josh Bersin’s Keynote Address

    The world’s largest HR Technology Expo was jam-packed this year, with over 10,000 in attendance at the Venetian in Las Vegas.

    The industry’s beloved Josh Bersin gave the opening keynote address, with a forward-looking discussion of trends in the market as well as opportunities and challenges facing HR leaders today.

    Bersin’s insights set the tone for the conference on navigating the coming year, and the 500+ HR technology vendors in the expo hall below. Here’s a recap:

    “We’re not building software for HR anymore—we’re building it for employees.”

    The photo above from Bersin’s keynote address says it loud and clear: Employee Experience is king. HR leaders are hungry for employee-centric tools, and so, we’re seeing a new wave of ‘experience’ providers emerge.

    This focus on experience is a response, not only to the tight talent market, but to the uncomfortably high burnout rate – according to CNBC, nearly 40% of employees say they’ve considered quitting their jobs because of burnout.

    With that in mind, the conundrum we face now is: Can we squeeze more productivity out of employees? Maybe, but this shift in the market seems to show that giving employees more ownership of their experiences and discovering what’s important to them is equally important.

    “AI is more mature in recruiting than any other part of HR.”

    This statement spotlights the fact that innovation in HR technology is still largely focused on Talent Acquisition. Which is great, but there’s also a huge opportunity to drive innovation on the post-hire side of the house.

    In his keynote, Bersin called out that 2/3 of people say it’s easier to find jobs outside versus inside their companies. That means, even if we have great development programs and learning content, something’s still missing. How do we discover employees’ skills and potential so we can match them to programs and content – before they’re out the door?

    “We need discovery tools on top of learning management,” Bersin concluded. So, expect to see more emerging tech that points AI and selection logic inward to help companies discover their internal talent marketplace.

    “Curiosity is actually becoming a competency.”

    When we think of the skills gap in the workforce, our minds usually go to technical skills, like programming. But, as Bersin pointed out, most people have good software skills coming out of college.

    What companies need most, he said, are behavioral skills. Because repetitive, assembly-line-type tasks have been automated, CEOs are now looking for curiosity and creativity in their people.

    You might use different words, like ‘agility’ or ‘innovation’ or ‘entrepreneurial spirit,’ but the point is, these behavioral skills are just as critical to the future of work as robotics and engineering. So, start thinking about how you identify curiosity, and how you catalyze creative thinking across your organization.

    We hope to see you next year at HR Tech 2020!

    Until then, please feel free to check out our resources and learn how Talent Discovery can prepare you for the future of work.

     

  7. Machine Learning vs. Predictive Analytics: What HR Should Know

    If you thought machine learning and predictive analytics were one and the same, you’re not alone.

    Though the terms ‘machine learning‘ and ‘predictive analytics‘ aren’t interchangeable, they are complementary – less like apples to apples and more like apples and caramel. Excellent apart and unstoppable together.

    Food metaphors aside, in today’s hyper-competitive landscape, the only way to get ahead is to be future-ready. To predict things before they happen so you can put your business in a favorable position. Luckily, with all the data that’s available to HR, you don’t have to be a soothsayer to answer questions like:

    • Which candidates in our applicant pool will become top performers?
    • Who on our staff has the greatest growth potential – and who is at risk of turning over?
    • When will I experience my next staffing shortage?
    • What will my expected time to fill be in next year’s economic climate?
    • How will projected business growth effect employee engagement?

    Machine learning and predictive analytics can work together to answer HR’s most burning questions.

    How does it work? Think of predictive analytics as the what and machine learning as the how.

    Predictive analytics is a practice that attempts to quantify possible future events. Predictions are made by finding patterns in current and historical data, often through sophisticated mathematical and statistical models.

    Fun fact: Predictive analytics dates back to World War II when it was used to decode encrypted German messages.

    Machine learning is a way to apply AI to predictive analytics so that predictions can be made without human guidance. Machine learning gives us a superhuman edge because its algorithms can analyze massive amounts of data and identify every possible pattern (and remember – patterns are key to predictions!)

    While predictive analytics can be done without AI, machine learning unlocks new predictive power. Free from the constraints of human analysis, machine learning can use continuous data streams to make real-time predictions, then analyze the outcomes and improve its own performance.

    How can your HR team bring machine learning and predictive analytics into practice?

    As other arms of the business (looking at you, Marketing, Finance…) sharpen their predictive intelligence, the expectation is that HR do same. But where to begin?

    If our peers can predict buying patterns and market trends, then the same capability should be available to HR. And it is! In fact, it’s built into many of the tools that your team is using today, or will be using in the near future.

    Modern pre-employment assessments, for example, are really predictive analytics tools using machine algorithms to identify the highest potential candidates in your applicant pool. You’ll also find predictive analytics and machine learning in resume screening software, recruiting chatbots, and video interviewing platforms, which are beginning to use speech and facial analysis to predict job performance.

    Whatever tools you chose, make sure they’re tied to the questions you’re trying to answer (Who are our high potentials? Where are our risk areas? What resources will we need…?). Implementing predictive analytics or machine learning without a defined purpose won’t do you any good. It can even get you into trouble.

    So go! Explore the brave new world of HR and become the strategic player you’ve always wanted to be. But also, be smart and don’t succumb to everything that’s shiny and new – especially when it comes to AI.

    For help cutting through the hype and investing wisely in new tools…

    Download the HR Buyer’s Guide: How to Evaluate HR Tech in the Machine Learning Era.

  8. HR Automation and 3 Things Recruiters Could Do With Extra Time

    HR automation is not a new concept, but it’s certainly top of mind in the modern economy. Software solutions are getting smarter, and the workforce is buzzing with concern that technological advancement will result in a colder, less personal touch, especially in the recruitment process.

    But what if automation means keeping things more human as opposed to less?

    Take email, for example. We all spend a ton of time sending and reading email. How much time exactly? A recent webinar on HR tech automation asked:

    How much of your work week is spent on email?

    For the average worker, the answer is 35%. So, assuming you receive 50 emails a day, you’ll spend 229 hours on email each year. In that time, you could have:

    • climbed Mount Everest twice
    • taken 21 road trips across the U.S.
    • or, read the entire Harry Potter series 12 times

    Spending this much of the week on email leaves less time for other meaningful work. For recruiting teams, many of these remaining hours will be spent screening and interviewing job candidates. Another poll asked:

    How much of your work week is spent on phone interviews?

    For a recruiter working 10 recs and interviewing 10 candidates per rec, the answer is 30%.

    HR automation can give you back the equivalent time it takes to climb Mount Everest twice in one year, just by reducing the amount of time you spend on email or in phone interviews.

    Of course, your teams can’t go cold turkey email or the phone, but you can adopt technology to help reduce the time they spend doing things the old fashioned way. TextRecruit, for example, is a tool that helps recruiters communicate with candidates at scale through text messaging and live chat. Reaching people in real time is more efficient and more engaging, plus your teams will spend less time slogging through email. 

    To reduce time spent phone screening, video interviewing is a great solution. Companies like Walmart, Colgate, and Virgin Atlantic have replaced the traditional phone screen with pre-recorded video interviews to reduce candidate screening time by up to 70%.

    What can your teams accomplish with all that extra time?

    In How to Keep Your Hiring Process Human in the Age of Automation, Imo Udom, co-founder of the video interviewing tool Wepow, walks us through how automated solutions can help teams reclaim much-needed time to build stronger relationships, increase performance – or even climb a mountain.

  9. HR Technology: How to Avoid Bias

    2019 is a big year of growth for your organization, and your Human Resources department needs help reducing time spent on repetitive tasks so they can focus on recruiting the right candidates and strengthening the team.

    Now for the task of vetting HR software products with buzzwords like machine learning and AI that all make lofty promises. Finding the right solution – whether you’re looking for a chatbot, a video interviewing tool, an onboarding assistant, or a performance management platform – can be a daunting task.

    The good news is, you don’t have to be a software engineer to know the right questions to ask about how these products leverage machine learning and AI. The differences between ‘black box’ and ‘gray box’ technology is one subject of which a high-level understanding will guide you in making the right decision.

    What you need to know about HR technology: ‘Black box’ vs. ‘gray box’ 

    Because machine learning and AI are reliant on the data that goes in to generate answers, even the most sophisticated algorithms are subject to human error and bias. Simply put, if the data going in is biased, the results may be as well (which is what happened with Amazon’s AI recruiting tool in 2015). Here are a few quick tips that will help guide your conversations as you dig deeper into different software providers. 

    Beware of the black box.

    Black box technology is prescriptive and claims it can make decision on behalf of the experts in your department. In a human-first industry like HR, it’s critical to avoid solutions that (1) remove humans from decision-making, and (2) don’t provide transparency into how decisions are made. Considerations like diversity and inclusion may fall to the wayside without human oversight. 

    Stay in the gray.

    Gray box technology is suggestive and delivers recommendations rather than final answers. This keeps humans in the loop and helps avoid unintended bias that can occur in black box technology. Coupling recommendations with insights into the data and what the algorithm was looking for, gray box solutions arm your team with powerful knowledge to make more informed decisions with a personal touch.

    As you begin conversations, remember that utilizing AI and machine learning isn’t a magic bullet capable of solving all your HR problems. A product merely arms the talented people on your team with information to help them make more informed decisions and manage their processes more efficiently.

    To learn more, check out our webinar: How to Keep Your Hiring Process Human in the Age of Automation.