How the ‘New Normal’ Has Advanced a Wave of Automation in Recruitment

As the world grapples with the ramifications of the COVID crisis, the current workforce is still coming to terms with the increasing possibilities of a ‘new normal’. Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella mentioned in one of his recent talks that Microsoft has seen years’ worth of digital transformation in the past two months alone!

Companies are bringing automation projects forward and for all the right reasons. The recruitment space has seen very significant and widespread changes. The use of digital technology and artificial intelligence (AI) were earlier considered “good-to-have” but have now become a necessity.

Due to the pandemic and the worldwide lockdown, organizations are using remote tools and seeking talent from all corners of the world. From first level screenings to successive levels of interaction, technology-led hiring has, ironically, turned into a walk in the park.

Asynchronous video interviewing is a savior for time management

The ‘new normal’ has pushed recruiters and candidates to work from home under restricted conditions and resources. Along with managing work, everyone is juggling multiple responsibilities like childcare, management of household chores, and the pressures of seemingly endless work calls and personal calls.

Asynchronous video interviews, which allow for scheduling and recording candidate responses to audio and text questions, serve as a respite from having to add more remote communications to our already-choked calendar of calls.

With the help of SHL’s asynchronous interviewing tool, recruiters can set up interviews within minutes with the help of pre-recorded questions that assess job-related competencies. The interview recordings can be later assessed by the hiring managers collaboratively.

In addition, we can include AI in the interviewing technology which creates a more standardized scoring of interviews and enables scoring for job-related skills and competencies by evaluating the candidate’s spoken content.

AI scores coupled with manual evaluation help recruiters to scientifically and objectively evaluate candidates to make prudent hiring decisions. Apart from process standardization, this allows recruiters to conduct interviews at scale to save time and resources.

For example, a leading multinational bank automated its evaluation process with the help of our assessments and video-interviewing to select the right candidate for its coveted program for young bankers. The bank was able to completely automate its interview process and evaluate 20,000 candidates across 33 cities within 3 days, thereby saving 4000 interview hours!

AI scores coupled with manual evaluation help recruiters to scientifically and objectively evaluate candidates to make prudent hiring decisions.

SHL Live Video Interview is the go-to platform for conducting interviews in COVID-19 times

Just as work meetings have gone online — face-to-face interviews must also go virtual. But just using any video calling app is not the right choice for companies when it comes to attracting the right candidates.

As all processes are going virtual, companies are struggling to distinguish their brand and provide seamless candidate experience to attract the best talent and avoid the drops in joining ratio. To the extent possible, interview experiences should aim to reduce bias, be professional, and personalized to the company’s brand — SHL Live Video Interview is tailor-made for these requirements. Companies can easily brand the tool to ensure consistency in their brand messaging.

It is important that the final set of real-time interviews add value and help make informed choices remotely. SHL Live Video Interview enables the recruiters to do that with ease. They can access a vast library of predefined questions and evaluation parameters that standardize the interview — saving on time, money, and resources. SHL Live Video Interview’s unique, detailed question-level rubrics help to more objectively rate the interview and minimize interviewer bias — ensuring equitable hiring.

For future reference, the tool allows recruiters to add feedback and take notes at any point in the interview and refer to them later instead of relying only on memory or a pile of hand-written notes. Another advantage is that the interviews can be recorded for evaluation at a later stage or for sharing with other hiring managers and decision-makers.

SHL Live Video Interview’s unique, detailed question-level rubrics help to more objectively rate the interview and minimize interviewer bias.

Proctoring technology has become indispensable to assessments

The lockdown has forced recruiters to level-up their hiring strategies rapidly. Online assessments are now being used as a stand-in for face-to-face meetings and proctored tests at assessment centers. Companies need strong remote proctoring technology to ensure the integrity and security of candidate interactions.

Fraudulent behaviors occur in various ways in an online test. SHL’s talent assessments and virtual interviewing solutions can be enabled with auto-proctoring technology to keep fraud in check for remote evaluation.

Our AI-powered, auto-proctoring capability measures plagiarism, multi-face/no-face detection, and keystroke dynamics. In addition to the candidate sharing their score and responses, the interviewing tool shares a detailed account of proctoring that can be easily used by the recruiter while evaluating the candidate.

The future is now

Automated hiring tools help to create a structured, systematized, and fair hiring process — making them the first choice of companies worldwide. They can amp up hiring potential by automating the candidate assessment process into a scalable, sustainable recruitment solution. This also massively improves performance metrics.

The automation wave has come in much earlier than expected and in very troubled times. But the worst times are the best to develop resilient strategies that stand the test of difficult, unforeseen days and foster future-proofing.

Contact us to learn more about how SHL can help you save resources and increase hiring efficiency through our AI-enabled interviewing tools!