How Artificial Intelligence Will Affect Your Job Search in 2020
I will keep this simple. Artificial Intelligence will not have any impact on your job search...yet. After three talent acquisition conferences this year and numerous articles on the subject, I am here to report that the term artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) will not have a significant impact on whether or not you get hired in 2020. Many of the things that use AI or ML are mostly unnoticed by you (LinkedIn’s “who may know” feature as an example), but all that will change in the future.
Today, most job boards, company career sites, and applicant tracking systems have not adopted any of the recruiting solutions that are seeing billions of dollars pumped into this robot recruiting space. We are in the early adapter stage of AI recruiting, so most employers are sitting back and waiting to see what sticks.
Here is a funny thing. What would the job seeker do to “optimize” their chances of being found by a robot? It’s 2019, and most can’t optimize their resumes and online profiles so they can stand out from the crowd and get noticed using today’s technology. In the future robot recruiting world, the hope is the job seeker may not even have to worry about optimizing their resume since the robots will “compile” it using all your data points it finds in anything you have ever done on the internet.
The AI that is being used today in recruiting is getting some rave reviews. My main goal today is to let you know some of the AI and ML recruiting solutions that are being used to help recruiting departments. This will give you great insight into understanding what the future holds.
Interviewing Chat Bots AI
You may apply to a job and then get a text message, what app, or messenger notification asking you if you can interview via one of these mediums. The interview will be done by a robot who can answer your questions, dig into your background, correct any errors on your resume, and either deny you or set up your next interview automatically with another robot or maybe even a human. Companies like Mya and Paradox are leaders in the chatbot interview space. If one hundred people apply for a job, these chatbots can interview everyone at the same time. Huge time saver for the HR department. For job seekers, it gives you a chance to make an impression and be considered for the next interview, even if your resume is not optimized. The AI in the chatbot uses millions of data points to make sure they ask you the right questions, analyze your answers against current top performers, and make the job seeker experience much better. I have always said being turned down for an interview is better than hearing nothing back from an employer once you applied.
Interviewing Video AI
Many of you may get a link from an employer asking you to answer some questions via a video chat on your cell phone or computer. The leader in this technology is HireVue. When you answer questions, the AI looks at all your facial expressions and compares them to thousands of other interviews with one goal in mind; determine if you will be a good fit for the job. What? Think about it this way. If they ask you if $50,000 is an acceptable salary should you get the job, but you really need $70,000, but still say $50,000 would be acceptable, your facial expressions will let the employer know you need more. Most companies will not let your facial expression be a knock out punch, but when you do meet a human employer, the employer will be prepared to ask you about money in detail.
AI that predicts when you are ready for a job change
If a company is looking for a property claims adjuster in Orlando, this AI uses millions of data points to find claims adjusters at other companies that may be ready to make a job change and sends this list to the employer with contact information. Companies like IBM Watson and Human Predictions are the current leaders. How does this work? This AI has the power to look at all your data from anything you do on the internet. If you say in a Twitter post, how frustrated you are with your job, you become a candidate. If you are at a company that the average tenure of a property claims adjuster is four years and that is how long you been there, you become a candidate. The powerful thing about this AI is you don’t have to do anything to get noticed since this technology primarily builds your resume by compiling everything you have ever done on the internet (social networks, public records, blogs, mentions, likes, etc.)
Meet Tengai. AI interview Robot.
Companies using Tengai are certainly on the cutting edge of interviewing. But this is happening! Unlike a lot of the AI recruiting products, this one is a physical robot that sets up a face to face interview with you. Tengai objectively assesses soft skills and personality traits through the use of blind interviews. The interviews are about 15 minutes long, and all candidates get the same open-ended questions. Since this robot isn’t human, it can access soft skills, language, and fit based on tons of data points. It is unbiased because everyone is treated the same.
Have I scared you yet? I hope not since many of these products are not being rolled out everywhere... yet. What I like is the fact that if 100 people apply to the same job, a chatbot or robot initial interview may give you a great chance to get to the next stage. Today, only a small percentage of the applicants get any correspondence. I also think if you are suitable for the job, and your resume isn’t optimized to scream your matching qualifications, a chatbot conversation will undoubtedly give you the chance to state your case against the anyone who has optimized but doesn't have the precise skills to do the job.
I will keep you posted on the how to make sure one day you are optimized, so the robots come calling!