The art and science of recruitment has evolved significantly since its infancy during the 2nd World War. In the 1940s, the recruiter scrambled to find workers to meet local requirements, as the lion’s share of able-bodied men were being drafted for the great war. Being a highly adaptable species, recruiting agencies segued into representing and finding jobs for the masses of trained men who flooded the streets after the war. Over the years, as the world went through the four industrial revolutions, the recruitment industry moulded and aligned itself to the changing environment. This business has now grown so widespread that it would be difficult to find a business or job seeker who has not had a touch point with a recruitment agency. So, it is not surprising that the global recruitment outsourcing market is expected to reach $14.5 billion by 2026*.

In the beginning, companies limited their recruitment to the locality in which they were based. Till the 1980s, recruiters primarily depended on newspaper ads and word-of-mouth publicity to source candidates. In the new millennium, job portals and online ads became popular recruitment tools.

Today, robust communication technologies and clear actionables have lifted the physical barriers between employers and a quality workforce. Digitization is the new magic word. Companies that had shelved many healthy ideas due to non-availability of desirable talent are now on the remote work bandwagon. This is witnessed in the increase in popularity of remote hiring over the years. According to the US Census Bureau, 3.3% of its working population worked remotely in 2000. The share of remote workers increased to 5.2%, in 2017. A recent survey by SIEPR projects that 42% of employees in the US work remotely. While this unprecedented increase in remote work can be largely attributed to the pandemic, we believe that this trend is here to stay.

Here’s a look at some of the recent recruitment trends that point to why you should adopt remote hiring.

1. Candidate Experience is in the Driver’s Seat
   According to Deloitte, 83% of talent said that a negative interview experience could bring about a change in mindset about a job or employer brand that they wanted to be associated with. It is interesting to note that an almost similar percentage of talent said that a positive experience could trigger a change in mindset about a job they were doubtful about. That is the power of the recruitment experience. In today’s recruitment scenario, the employer is being reviewed and interviewed as much as the candidate. A company that has invested in the remote hiring model is in a better position to build persuasive candidate experiences.
2. Artificial Intelligence
   AI and HR might seem like chalk and cheese, but the use of AI and its associated tools has streamlined and improved the entire recruitment process. The increase in hiring volume would have impacted many a recruiter adversely, if not for AI. With AI, it is possible to screen candidates based on specific requirements, interact with candidates via chatbots, and assess candidate responses during video interviews. AI can also be used to create personalized job recommendations, automated communications, and custom experiences for the candidate. AI tools ease companies’ transition to remote hiring.
3. Diversity, the Superhero
   According to the Center for American Progress, diversity fosters a more creative and innovative workforce. Diversity is also a key aspect of entrepreneurialism. A gender-diverse company performs 15% better than the industry median. Ethnically diverse companies perform 35% better than companies that have not invested in diversity**. Remote hiring breaks down geographical barriers, providing access to a wider talent pool. A flexible and remote work culture encourages women and differently-abled individuals to join the workforce, fostering diversity in companies that hire them.
4. The Multifaceted Employee
   The World Economic Forum predicts that 35% of the skills considered essential today, will change in the next five years. Companies will be on the lookout for candidates with the adaptability and flexibility to navigate this dynamic environment. They will also look for skills such as creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving while screening candidates. The demand for candidates with skills such as active listening, negotiating, and quality control are also going up. Organizations will increasingly want to hire from the large global talent pool to find candidates with these qualities.
5. People Analytics
   Recent studies by Deloitte indicate that empathy and focus on the human capital are essential to an organisation’s resilience. People analytics uses formal scientific methods to support empathy. This is a relatively new field that is set to trigger powerful innovations in the near future.

Gig: The New Big

A decade ago, musicians and artists referred to their next performance as a “Gig”. Now Gig Economy refers to an on-demand, freelance, and task-based work culture. A recent Forbes article pegged the size of this new way of working at 50 million people. In fact, 50% share of the total US workforce would comprise Gig employees by 2027.
Apart from the flexibility and freedom, it allows the employees, this style of work benefits the employer too. Here are some of the benefits enjoyed by the employer.

• Easy access to experts for services that they do not need on a regular basis.
• Increased scalability. An organisation can easily scale up and down with this model.
• Less investment in healthcare and other benefits

Brian Kropp, Vice President, Gartner, says, “Our research finds that 32% of organizations are replacing full-time employees with contingent workers as a cost-saving measure. While gig workers offer employers greater workforce management flexibility, HR leaders will need to evaluate how performance management systems apply to these workers and determine whether they will be eligible for the same benefits as their full-time peers.”

Be Local, Hire Global

Hiring globally sitting in your office in one corner of the world would have been an uphill task a decade ago. Ask those oil companies that had to build rigs around the world and had to set up administrative offices in each of those locations. However, now that you are armed with the tools of remote recruitment, the world is your oyster. Once you unravel the complexities of local laws and regulations, you can have your workforce working from anywhere in the world without having to relocate them. This is a huge advantage for any organisation that wants to hire the best talent from across the globe.

Benefits of Remote Work Environment

Higher Productivity

If you are able to curb micromanaging and unnecessary team meetings to get “on the same page”, remote workers can be very productive. According to Forbes, employees working remotely are 30-40% more productive than their office counterparts. In fact, the flexibility offered by remote work results in lower absenteeism. This, in turn, fosters higher productivity.

Cost Effectiveness

A remote work environment allows you the obvious benefit of having to invest in less office space. Some remote work arrangements even allow for employees to work with their own equipment. Remote working arrangements would also allow you to negotiate slightly lower pay scales. This enables you to be more cost effective without compromising on the quality of your hire.

Better Employee Retention

According to Deloitte’s 2017 Millennial Survey, there is a strong relationship between flexible working environments and employee retention. According to the Predictive Index, remote workers are 13% more likely to stay than onsite workers.

Wider Talent Pool

Remote hiring brings you the opportunity to access and evaluate talent from a wider pool. You can now hire specialists and experts who otherwise may not have considered working at your company due to various reasons such as family obligations, expenses, and lifestyle changes. Also, remote work effectively removes the boundaries of distance, thus opening up opportunities to a wider populace.

The Green Solution

Did you know that hiring remotely could be your unique contribution to the environment?

Global Workplace Analytics states that if employees in a remote-friendly job decided to work virtually half the time, they would help save:

• 54 million tons of greenhouse gas
• 640 million barrels of oil
• 119 million miles of highway driving

In spite of all these advantages, remote hiring has its own set of drawbacks. It is difficult to build a feeling of community and team spirit within a team of remote workers. Organisations would need to find unique ways to fill this gap. Organizations that want to introduce remote work would need to restructure their processes so that communication does not fall by the wayside. Leadership and management would need to put in extra effort to remain visible to employees and ensure that remote workers feel that they have equal visibility as their onsite counterparts.

Once you’ve made the decision to hire remotely you would need to ensure that your HR practices are aligned to make this work optimally and smoothly. Remember that technology is the cornerstone of any remote hiring process. There are a variety of tools and services out there that you can equip yourself with to hire the best talent from the global pool. Online recruitment tools such as Applicant Tracking Systems, Recruitment CRMs, Skill Testing Tools, Psychometric Tools, Video Interview Platforms, Candidate Satisfaction Surveys, Background Check Tools, Reference Check Tools, and Onboarding tools allow you to streamline the entire recruitment process. At HirePro, we specialise in various aspects of virtual recruitment and amalgamate people analytics with the best candidate experience.

Sources:
*  businessinsider.com
**  mckinsey.com

Forbes.com
Gartner.com

The year 2020 brought unprecedented challenges all around. Our work world, as we knew it, experienced a tectonic shift. Companies worldwide were left with little choice but to adopt remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, technological aids such as video conferencing software, virtual recruitment platforms, and other collaboration tools made the transition smooth.

The pandemic normalised remote work – a far cry from the days when it was frowned upon or grudgingly allowed under pressing conditions such as having a sick person in the family to care for. Remember that time in 2013 when the CEO of a leading web services provider banned working from home and ordered all employees to work from office as part of an “era of collaboration”? Back then, it left several employees of that company annoyed and industry leaders perplexed. But now that the pandemic has forced remote working, both employers and employees have learnt to make it work.

A win-win situation

One of the most popular benefits of remote working, for employees, has been the elimination of the drudgery of long office commutes which, in turn, helps save money and promotes better work-life balance. Studies have shown that in spite of employees dealing with the stress of a global health crisis, managing kids, homeschooling and other challenges, work productivity has remained stable or even increased for some companies.

Businesses have been able to reduce costs by reducing corporate real estate. Many companies are thriving in this environment of greater flexibility in hiring and are able to choose from, and tap into the best remote talent pool through virtual hiring.

Some employees have been able to change their place of stay and have moved to more affordable locations.

Not all roses though

However, remote work is certainly not without its pitfalls. While stable internet connectivity has proved to be a big challenge for many remote workers, from the employers’ point of view, innovation has taken a hit. The reason for this could be the absence of intense collaboration and face-to-face interaction when most employees are working from home. Not everyone is able to function optimally while working remotely. Organizations need to put in conscious effort to ensure that their staff feels connected with their colleagues, despite the isolation that they may feel.

How can we ensure that remote work really works?

With remote work being the new reality, some must-haves have become very clear. Clearly defined and quantified work goals are crucial to ensure that work goes on unhindered. Constant and open communication between remote workers is also extremely essential.

Businesses face the challenge of engaging remote employees in such a way that they feel connected and included in both day-to-day business and the larger picture of the company as a whole. Earlier, team events and even coffee breaks played a major role in fostering a sense of belonging in employees. These have now either stopped or moved online. Though virtual events might not be as effective as events at the office, yet they could help employees gain an insight into the work others are doing and also help in developing new work relationships.

What does the future look like?

Will the pandemic reshape our future and the way we live and work?

Yes.

We might not go back to our old normal anytime soon. Organizations are, thus, starting to view remote work and access to a global talent pool as a given. Video hiring and virtual job fairs could become the new normal.

Slack’s Future Forum research of 4,700 knowledge workers found that most workers do not want to go back to the old way of working. Only around 12% want to return to full-time office work, and 72% want a hybrid remote-office model. Hence, we will see that some organizations will adopt a hybrid model to balance the efficiencies gained by remote work with the benefits of social interactions, creativity, and innovation generated by working in-person with others. Other companies who choose to go completely remote, will use video communications to maintain productivity and collaboration.

One thing has never been more clear: we are living in a world where distance is increasingly becoming irrelevant. Technology has been a great enabler to meet our challenges at a scale we never imagined!

References:
– shrm.org
– weforum.org
– think-boundless.com
– forbes.com

Until a few years ago, artificial intelligence (AI) was an extraordinarily futuristic concept thought up by extremely creative imaginations. Today, AI is a functional part of human lives. From automotives to education, and marketing to advertising, AI has disrupted almost every aspect of different human experiences.
But what exactly is AI? AI can be defined as the technology in-built in computer systems to perform functions, replacing human intervention. From self-driving cars and voice assistants, to targeted advertisements, AI usage is designed to streamline, automate high-volume or mundane tasks, and reduce operational cost and time.

AI FOR RECRUITING

With such widespread usage it was inevitable for AI to become a vital part of the recruitment process. AI is also changing the way companies hire. Companies, these days, have multiple positions to fill, for which often thousands of people apply. AI helps sort through the piles of resumes, shortlisting the ones best suited for the role at hand. From video interviews and online assessment to shortlisting, screening, predicting future performance, and onboarding Digital Recruitment – The journey so far and the Road Ahead recruitment has undergone a drastic change, thanks to AI.

Talent sourcing

In the race of hiring the top talent, sourcing candidates is the first hurdle. AI-based tools can interpret a requirement, and translate it to a job description that is relevant and sans biases.
These tools are also capable of scraping databases from various platforms to match you with the best candidate, before your competitors. Recruiters can even automate the outreach once the candidates have been shortlisted.

Talent screening

Manually screening resumes is still the most time-consuming aspect of talent acquisition. For a single hire, recruiters end up spending hours of their time pouring over countless resumes.
AI-based tools can help recruiters streamline the process by facilitating quick and efficient collection of data through varied personality and skill-based screening tests.

Talent assessment

Companies spend a lot of time assessing prospective employees. Using machine learning, AI can analyse answers and video interviews and gauge whether it fits your requirement, helping hiring managers make better and informed decisions.
AI can also help improve the quality of hire. Using the data it has collected, AI can match companies with the candidate best suited to the role, giving them an edge over their competitors.

Onboarding

It is no secret that seamless onboarding is a necessity to ensure a superior candidate experience. AI has eased the administrative burden by simplifying and automating the tasks involved in onboarding employees. The tasks could be as varied as document verification, and guiding new employees and answering their questions through AI chatbots.

THE CHALLENGES OF AI IN RECRUITING

By screening resumes, shortlisting candidates, assessing talent, scheduling interviews, and predicting their performance – AI can make hiring effortless and efficient for you. However, though the results are promising, there are a few challenges that need to be addressed before you dive headfirst into the world of AI.

AI is built by humans and trained on human data, which is why it sometimes picks up on human biases. However, innovative training techniques and the right set of inputs have made a significant difference when it comes to eliminating some of these biases.

Ethics and privacy are two other significant concerns when it comes to AI. To function accurately, AI needs a lot of data that some people might not be comfortable sharing. So, it is important you maintain transparency and work towards empowering your people with information so they trust you enough to give informed consent. In some cases, skepticism about new emerging technology may also discourage the early adoption of AI.
Another challenge that AI is yet to overcome is the lack of human touch. While AI can successfully match a candidate’s skills to a job requirement, there may be dimensions of aptitude, attitude and personal capabilities that it is learning to gauge and assess.

BEST PRACTICES

Recruiters need to focus on acquiring or building ethical AI considering its pitfalls. So, where do you start? Work towards instilling a sense of confidence amongst employees and candidates so that they are aware of what they are getting into and can provide relevant data for efficient machine learning. Providing transparency on the process and the data collected is also an essential aspect of educating your employees.
Take steps to avoid human biases from seeping in during the development of AI assessment. For this, you need to make sure that training sets are diverse and unbiased. If you are looking to outsource recruiting, test the algorithm with different groups and evaluate the results.
With a pandemic underway, incorporating AI in your day-to-day business is no longer an option, but almost a necessity. At HirePro, the complete hiring life cycle is powered by AI. This ensures that the recruitment process is authentic and credible in its entirety.
With our technology platform, you can find the best talent from anywhere, anytime, and at any scale. Harness the power of AI in recruiting with HirePro. For questions and inquiries, call us at 080 6656 6000 or write to us at sales@hirepro.in.

HirePro, established in the year 2004, has been a preeminent technology platform for enterprise recruitment. The company recently launched Momentum, a platform for thought leaders in recruitment to share insights that help participants construct their business progress. The first edition of Momentum took place on December 18, 2020. A panel discussion was held on the topic Digital Recruitment – The journey so far and the Road Ahead.

The discussion was expertly moderated by Tanya Tikkoo – Editor-in-chief and co-founder of ObserveNow, which is a knowledge-based, B2B/2C experiential news media platform. The panel comprised eminent names from the recruitment space:

Mr. Sridhar Akshanthula – Head of Transformation and Talent Acquisition at Wipro
Mr. Rohit Jhamb – Vice President, Human Resources at Accenture
Mr. Amit Mathur – Vice President, Human Capital & Real Estate & Workplace at Myntra
Mr Pasupathi Sankaran – Chief Operating Officer at HirePro

Here’s a rundown of the key conversations and the main takeaways during the webinar discussion.

Recruitment industry’s journey to digital transformation.

The COVID-19 outbreak had severe economic consequences across the globe, and it left no country unaffected. The initial months of the pandemic (most significantly the April-June 2020 quarter), saw businesses turned on their heads and industries dealing with a significant downfall in business. The economic and health crisis left recruitment in most sectors teetering.

Pre-pandemic times had seen most companies going digital in certain areas of their recruitment process. However, the pandemic forced companies to go completely digital and digital transformation in recruitment soon became a necessity!

The good news was that all the panelists concurred that hiring levels had returned to normal during the latter quarters of 2020.

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Mr. Sridhar Akshanthula, an industry veteran at Wipro, pointed out that the lifecycle of recruitment had seen a tremendous amount of disruption. Over the years, Wipro had digitized several of its recruitment processes. In the year 2019, Wipro focused on digitizing its onboarding process, since the company had observed some dissonance in the system. Wipro made a timely investment in tools and digitization of the onboarding process, thus streamlining and enhancing the operation. This investment stood Wipro in good stead, enabling the IT major to onboard remotely without a hitch once the pandemic struck!

Like most organizations faced with uncertainty, the multinational professional services company, Accenture was cautious in its hiring outlook in the initial few months of the pandemic. However, with many industries deciding to leverage technology more than ever before, Accenture was tasked with investing in enabling these organizations. This led to a notable increase in hiring across all levels of Accenture, according to Mr. Rohit Jhamb, Vice President, Human Resources, at Accenture.

Mr. Amit Mathur, Myntra, stated that 2020 had been an evolving year for the company. Initially, the pandemic did have an impact on the e-commerce business due to the lockdowns. This led to a dip in the hiring numbers for the organization. However, thereafter, business boomed for e-commerce and there was no looking back for the company. Myntra saw its hiring numbers in the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2020 (corporate hiring as well as supply chain) at 20-25% more than the numbers during the corresponding period in 2019.

Mr Pasupathi, HirePro, acknowledged that between March and April 2020, the atmosphere of unpredictability had led to a temporary standstill of hiring activities. Though attrition reduced at this time; hiring also went downwards. However, by September 2020, most companies saw a strong uptick in business. This led to the need for hiring and companies realized that digital recruitment was the only solution given the unusual situation we all find ourselves in!

The Digitization Advantage

For Wipro, an area of challenge had been sourcing the right kind of talent. Technology turned enabler in this situation and they were able to procure an AI-based platform that helped them source the right candidates. HirePro’s AI-based technology has also helped Wipro in evaluating and assessing candidates based on their competencies.

Wipro, for years until the pandemic, insisted on at least one face-to-face interview with the candidate. But the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 made such interviews an impossibility. HirePro’s video interview platform and its proctoring technology, based on AI, have enabled Wipro to be able to see and authenticate a candidate without any face-to-face interaction and make the transition to non-contact hiring.

Mr Rohit Jhamb disclosed that considering the scale at which Accenture operates, it touches almost 2 lakh candidates every year! They faced challenges in engaging with talent at scale and hence, digitization was an absolute necessity for Accenture. The journey of digitization for the multinational behemoth was initially gradual.

Accenture, keen to give its potential talent a very immersive experience at each stage of the hiring process, is focused on myriad areas in terms of digitization. It wants to be seen as a preferred employer of choice and run multiple hiring programs at scale.

With the aim of providing candidates a seamless hiring experience, Accenture gave potential candidates the option of choosing their preferred interview slots and getting real-time notifications during the interview process. They leveraged technology to run a country-wide hiring program across campuses. Online assessments were run across the country for students in various campuses. Based on their performance in the assessments, students were stack-ranked. This industry-leading recruitment drive conducted by Accenture, leveraged technology intelligently and enabled the selection of the best talent from campuses.

Without fraud detection, it becomes embarrassingly easy for a fraudster to pose as a candidate and attend interviews on the candidate’s behalf. Accenture also wanted to alleviate its level of engagement and communication with candidates and reduce fraud and malpractices at the entry-level. Technology-enabled identity verification and remote monitoring helped the multinational overcome this issue.

For a Brighter Way Forward

Though Accenture had solved the problem of quality of talent, Mr Rohit felt that there was a demand-supply imbalance in the talent that is needed and the talent that is available. He expressed the need for a digital platform connecting the entire ecosystem that would showcase the demand and supply of talent across the skills spectrum. Another issue that he felt needed to be addressed was the fact that cheating and impersonation happened in spite of proctoring. There was no doubt that technology needed to get smarter there!

With people across the world affected by lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, e-commerce sales surged in the year 2020. This led to increased stress on various aspects of business operations such as logistics and supply chains, support functions, and delivery personnel. Blue-collar industries faced recruitment challenges since talent was in short supply. Mr. Amit from Myntra rued the fact that they had not been able to find a robust and holistic digital recruitment platform for blue-collar hiring. He admitted that they were on the lookout for such a platform and had approached HirePro to help them with getting a platform up in this space.

Enabling the digital transformation

Traditionally, investment in technology had been more around the human resources space (for example tools were built for payrolling, employee engagement, and leave management). Automation of recruitment was not always a priority for organizations and recruitment teams often did not have budgets to invest in technology. Over the last 10 years, the focus on building automation has been on a continuous basis. The initial investment in automation has been for specific areas of recruitment, the main pain points for companies – such as onboarding and sourcing.

COVID-19 resulted in a situation where companies were forced to shift to complete automation. Organizations that needed support in this area reached out to companies like HirePro who are experts in the recruitment space.

The pandemic saw a depth and breadth of diverse customers reaching out to HirePro for their products and solutions. This included even schools and colleges that needed help with proctoring for exams. What was significant to note was that some of the sectors that had always believed in offline processes, were forced to move to online processes.

Digital recruitment – Here to Stay!

All the participants in the discussion agreed that the world of recruitment was changing as digitization and automation spread. The future would see the widespread adaptation of digital recruitment. Digital transformation in recruitment helps both companies and job candidates by making the hiring process smoother, more personalized, and simpler. Right from sourcing the right candidates, meeting candidates right where they are, and wooing them till they are ready to join – technology takes care of it all! The need of the hour is for companies to identify the right systems and processes for effective digitization of their respective recruitment journeys.

The webinar ended with the panelists answering the questions of the webinar attendees. The discussion was precisely and expertly summarized by Mr. Mridul Kumar, Senior Vice President, Products, HirePro, who pointed out that digital recruitment had graduated to mainstream adoption during the pandemic. He opined that companies had seen gains in all the key pillars of recruitment due to digitization – whether it was in user experience, business benefits, or process efficiency.

This was a great launch for Momentum and the panel discussion offered a ton of information for recruiters and the recruitment industry. Call us at 080 6656 6000 or write to us at sales@hirepro.in for a demo of our digital recruitment solutions.

Talent Acquisition (TA) remains one of the top challenges faced by businesses. Acquiring and retaining the best talent requires that TA should align first with business strategy, so that recruiters can connect with the right professionals when needed. Organizations need to be proactive to hire the best talent. Candidate sourcing requires screening of thousands of profiles at a time, and Recruitment Managers have to be able to reach a wider audience and improve hiring efficiency.

A shrinking world and a mobile workforce means that potential candidates expect a pleasant hiring experience. Processes for background screening need to meet compliance and legal requirements. Besides that, vigilance is needed to ensure there is no personal bias, a common anomaly in recruitment. Maintaining a human-connect, while assessing many candidates at the same time demands more recruitment resources.

To a large extent, technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) can mitigate some of these challenges, and help companies use their resources more efficiently. While use of AI during recruitment is not new, we now see a huge difference in the extent to which it is used at all stages of the recruitment process, right from candidate sourcing and initial screening to hiring and onboarding. The COVID-19 pandemic has given an impetus to remote hiring and made virtual assessment centres, remote interviews and online assessments the norm.

TA – Transforming with AI

Businesses rely on data all the time for taking decisions. The recruitment process generates a huge volume of data, which are put through data analytics to refine candidate engagement and outreach programs. Using this data efficiently will improve hiring efficiency and help get the best people on board.

AI can play a key role in many areas of Talent Assessments, leading to a transformation of traditional hiring.

Candidate sourcing

Candidate profiles are available across a variety of sources – social media, career portals of companies, via referrals and job sites, to name a few. The inflow of profiles for a single position could be in thousands. If there are multiple openings, there is an exponential increase in the volume of profiles requiring screening. This is where AI comes into play.

AI-based applications can automate screening from multiple sources in mere seconds, saving valuable time for recruiters. This reduces the time to hire, especially when 75-80% of resumes that come in for a specific job description do not meet the criteria. AI applications can help build a strong talent pipeline, which recruiters can turn to when needed.

Candidate Engagement

Virtual recruitment assistants can be used to gather candidate information and engage them by providing information about the company and its work culture, give virtual tours and even offer career advice.These chatbots are available 24/7, and can update the candidate anytime, providing an enhanced candidate experience.

Besides this, the entire onboarding process can be seamless and automatic, right from document collection, verification and even planning and organizing relevant induction sessions.

Candidate evaluation

Video interviews can be enhanced with facial and speech recognition software. AI can be used to analyze body language, tone, and voice modulation, to determine fitment. Online assessments, both technical and soft skills, can deliver precise results. AI-powered platforms can be used to detect fraud and conduct ID verification of candidates to check if the interviewee is the registered candidate.

Proctoring platforms enable fraud-proof online assessments and interviews. This can be done with or without human intervention. Auto-detection of suspicious behaviour and live automated warnings reduce or eliminate fraudulent behaviour during online tests.

HirePro offers AI-powered video interviews and proctoring platforms to prevent impersonation and fraud during tests.

Predictions related to future performance

Finding the right candidate is just the beginning, and one of the key questions in every HR Manager’s mind is “How do I ensure continued employee success?” Predicting performance is tricky at best, and there is no set formula. While using AI for predictive analytics related to candidate performance is still in the nascent stage, certain tools can co-relate job application requirements with applicant characteristics, suggesting how a candidate might perform at work and whether they are likely to complete a tenure.

Reducing personal bias

Humans are prone to personal bias, and using AI-generated system data in tandem with human intuition helps to minimize any unintentional personal biases during recruitment.

Ramp up with AI

While AI is driven by data, the human-connect in recruitment is crucial to its success. Recruiters must learn to use AI applications optimally, and not replicate what they do. Here are some recommended practices on effective use of AI in talent assessments:

Identify your business needs, and focus on one or two key areas. For example, do you conduct coding assessments for hundreds of candidates at a time? HirePro’s coding assessment platform enables screening tests, capability assessments and hackathons, and is powered by AI to detect fraud automatically.

Use AI applications to gather tactical and strategic results. For instance, for the role of a medical assistant, AI-based evaluations could throw up candidates who demonstrate empathy. This is more difficult to pick up in direct human interactions, but a relevant set of AI-based tests and evaluations could give recruiters relevant results.

Improve the quality of hire with AI by using meaningful training data sets and updating them continuously.

Standardize data collection processes for every candidate, so that an AI application can understand and recognize patterns

Ensure that data from AI applications integrate with your recruitment workflow so that the experience for candidates and recruiters remains seamless. HirePro’s onboarding platform does precisely this and ensures that new employees settle in with ease while taking care that all HR compliance needs are met.

AI Innovations in Recruitment

Recruitment involves large volumes and precise decision-making. Both of these aspects can be powered by AI. Using physical interview bots to assess personality traits and soft skills is under research. AI can be used for conversation analytics to understand if interviews are standardized and consistent, as well as to check if key competencies are being evaluated.

Time-consuming tasks such as background and reference checks, identification of internal candidates, and connecting with the internal talent pool are other innovative uses. The employee onboarding process can have bots to guide new hires, making it faster and easier to integrate them into the organization.

The Changing Role of the Recruiter

In the not-so-distant future, AI applications and Human Resources will co-exist and complement each other. Recruitment teams will use Augmented Intelligence to make themselves more efficient and effective.

The use of AI will let recruiters focus on the tasks that need a human connect with the candidate. They would be able to spend time on hiring strategies rather than the mundane day-to-day high-volume operations. The quality of hire is expected to improve, and recruiters will be able to share hard data as evidence to justify hires.

Talent acquisition stands to benefit from AI, right from pre-screening tests to employee onboarding. Recruiters need to apply AI to the right stages in order to gain the best benefits from it.

To know how HirePro optimises its AI powered assessment platform, please visit, Hirepro Coding Assessments.
For queries regarding how it works, call us at 080 6656 6000 or write to us at sales@hirepro.in for a demo.

Over the years, organizations, big and small, have realized the importance of finding fresh talent through campus recruitment. They invest big in terms of resources required for end-to-end recruiting from campuses.

Campus or university recruitment is a long drawn out process for enterprises. From finding the right campuses to liaison with, visiting the campus with a pool of HR professionals and technical recruiters, interacting with students to shortlisting candidates from the ones who appear for the assessments and interviews, companies spend over 2 to 3 days on campus.

However, post the onset of the current pandemic, new standards are being seen in the field of recruitment. Talent Acquisition (TA), be it lateral or campus recruitment, is going through a complete face-lift, with Artificial Intelligence playing a huge role in it. The inclusion of AI systems in TA is to majorly reduce human effort and increase the speed of task completion and attain higher accuracy levels.

One of McKinsey’s forecasts claims that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will have a nearly $13 trillion impact on the global economy. A sizable chunk of that impact will be felt in talent acquisition too.

Let’s see how AI in assessments helps campus recruiters.

Role of AI in Assessments

AI-based assessments are fast becoming an obvious and first choice of recruiters across industries. From chatbot-type conversations to algorithm-based inputs, AI enhances candidate as well as recruiter experience. With AI improving the quality of talent assessments, unbiased talent acquisition seems inevitable in modern times.

Elements That Make AI Vital For New-age Assessments

Use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) or Machine Learning in Digital Interviews

AI has the ability to analyze and interpret vast amounts of data. Machine Learning algorithms are widely used in predictive analytics that helps recruiters make accurate decisions about candidates. Pattern matching helps in reducing human tasks such as facial recognition and identifying emotions. Natural language processing with its text and speech analytics can be extremely useful in identifying underlying meanings during the interview process.

Intelligent Screening to Shortlist Candidates

Think about sifting through thousands of applications to choose the right candidates for the next round of shortlisting. This is where AI, with its advanced machine learning algorithms, helps in eliminating these complex processes. Shortlisting of candidates is done quite easily and accurately, based on the preferences you feed into the AI system.

Recruiter Chatbots to Engage in Conversation

Recruiter chatbots are the next innovation in the AI space. This is being tested to initiate interaction with candidates and assess them by asking questions about the job and their skills. The chatbots also provide real-time updates on the next steps to be followed. With constant upgradation, recruiter chatbots can help improve candidate experience to a large extent.

Advantages of AI-based Assessments

There are significant advantages in using AI-based assessments in the space of campus recruitment. Automation with the help of AI ensures faster turnarounds for tasks such as candidate registration, ID card generation, ID verification, the authenticity of candidate (detecting impersonation), etc. The resultant time saved enhances candidates’ experience and increases the efficiency of the HR team.

Precise Analysis

It is a given that AI can handle and analyze massive amounts of data efficiently. A task that might be impossible by human effort. With AI’s advanced algorithms, candidate data can be analyzed accurately to help make precise decisions.

Fraud-proof Assessments

With image and voice recognition technologies pre-built in the AI-based assessment systems, suspicious behavior can easily be detected and avoided. Any suspicious movement or change in facial behaviour can trigger warnings. This helps shortlist the right candidates for an organization.

Reduce Bias

Recruitment, whether accepted or not, could be influenced by a certain level of personal bias. This can affect the selection process significantly. With the use of AI-based assessment systems, recruiters can get rid of any underlying biases to select only the best candidates for job openings.

Artificial Intelligence has, indeed, transformed the way the world lives and does business. With all its advantages, AI could surely turn out to be a boon to the recruitment industry as a whole. With AI being used right from sourcing and interviewing to onboarding and coaching new recruits, it seems to welcome greater possibilities in talent acquisition.
Hirepro’s AI-powered assessments help organizations achieve high levels of precision in conducting campus recruitment. For more details on how you can leverage Hirepro’s expertise in AI-powered assessments, please email us at sales@hirepro.in or contact us at 080 6656 6000.

What are virtual assessments? A quick trip down the memory lane.

From paper and pen assessment to the addition of audio/visual technology, assessments have come a long way through the ages. From a hiring perspective, the concept of an assessment center took off during World War II. The origin of such centers was in a military context to help armies recruit hands in large numbers. In the 1950s the concept was adopted into commercial use by large organisations such as Sears, GE, and AT&T among others. Soon assessment centers evolved and turned out to be an effective means for consulting psychologists to help organizations select and train managers and personnel.

With the advent of technology, assessment centers were perceived to be on the brink of either an even more significant transformation or facing the risk of becoming obsolete. Fortunately, with many firms embracing new technology to develop virtual assessment centers (VACs), it was the former that became a reality. With globalization and the rise of MNCs, technology makes it possible for an enterprise to conduct virtual assessments for its employees across its branches or holdings in the world.

The components and application of virtual assessment

VACs are a technology-enabled means for an employer to use standardized forms of evaluation. For example, an online assessment test that can be taken simultaneously by geographically dispersed candidates. VACs are used to assimilate information such as work experience, domain expertise, background, and areas of interest, from groups of candidates.

They are also used to conduct:

• Information or teaching sessions, followed by a quiz
• Question-and-answer (Q&A) sessions based on the material taught
• Group exercises
• Case study-based exercises
• Tutorials and follow-up sessions
• Job interviews, video interviews, presentations, and Q&A
• Pre-employment testing, and software-based examinations
• Continuing education modules and learning assessment

In fact, current and emerging technologies have brought forth a suite of products and tools that drive talent management across the entire hiring cycle – from recruitment tests to upskilling through the career path.

Metrics and analytics for virtual assessment

Recent trends like the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), immersive technologies like virtual reality (VR), and the creation of interactive, collaborative virtual environments have led to increased adoption of virtual assessment. COVID-19 has given added impetus to the development of virtual assessment, and to online assessment tools for recruitment in particular.

Virtual assessment processes are particularly effective when they leverage data and analytics for individual as well as team assessments. Doing so, reduces decision bias and promotes effective decision-making. It can also provide a dashboard view of an individual or team’s performance over a specified time, highlighted strengths, and flagged areas that need improvement.

Metrics in the virtual assessment scenario are designed to correspond to a framework of quantifiable activities that enable an employer to remotely monitor and assess the efficacy or other objectives of e-learning programs.

Enterprises today use metrics ranging from standard metrics such as completion rates, time spent on a particular module, or learning hours completed, to highly intuitive metrics that are in sync with avant-garde technologies such as VR-driven training programs. They include the tracking of not just user data, speed of completion, progress rates, etc., but also body movements and retinal tracking.

Off-the-shelf and bespoke assessment tools: when to apply what

Virtual assessment tools can be customized as per the goals and objectives a company is trying to meet. However, companies can deploy a standard suite of products for more mundane processes. For highly interactive and immersive virtual reality training or recruitment programs, such as those for flight training, combat, or surgery settings, the complement of assessment tools and metrics would be completely different and customized to a significant extent.

How COVID-19 made virtual assessment popular

Due to COVID-19 and the massive shift to working from home, virtual assessment took on a new life, and new learnings and insights came to the fore. Virtual assessments were in turn assessed and fine-tuned as per requirements. Some of the elements examined were:

• How comparable is an in-person assessment with a virtual assessment?
• Can there be an element of bias, however, inadvertently?
• What sort of alternative assessments can companies come up with, on the fly, to reflect and do justice to these changed circumstances?

The key is to strategize, run trials, and validate using metrics. Artificial intelligence, which learns from new “experiences” and data inputs and then builds upon itself, can help, too. AI, incorporating inputs from HR experts, psychologists, and interviewers, can mimic in-person, competency-based interviewers. Furthermore, using a natural language processing AI, video interviews can be conducted in a ‘speech to text’ manner, providing a legal, fair, and transparent recruitment process. This provides a layer of objectivity to hire more diverse talent.

COVID-19 has driven organizations to come up with alternative modes of virtual assessment. The full impact of this agile switch to virtual assessment, in terms of cost and time optimization, resource utilization, operational scalability, and the like, will be evident in future outcomes.

Reference

–COVID-19 and Virtual Assessments – Are They Equivalent to Interviewing in Person?
–Developing A Virtual Assessment Center
–Virtual Assessment Centres: What To Expect And How To Succeed

Virtual Hiring Takes Center Stage

Digital transformation has taken the world by storm, spurring growth in almost every sector of the economy. The integration of digital solutions into every facet of business has made value delivery fast and substantive. Just when organizations around the world were warming up to the idea of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science, the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has only amplified the need to hop on the AI-bandwagon.

The arena of recruitment and talent acquisition is seeing a fair share of adaptations on these lines. Hiring strategies have been long overdue for a change, and in this context, advanced digital and AI-based solutions are proving to be the game-changer. The pandemic has changed the way we work. It has made the hybrid remote-office model the order of the day. And now, in every sector, virtual hiring is increasingly being accepted as a mainstay in recruitment plans.

Online assessments and video interviews are turning traditional in-person interviews into a relic of the past. By unshackling hiring managers and candidates from the constraints of space and time, remote hiring platforms are enabling a truly seamless and superior hiring experience for all the stakeholders involved. This has greatly improved the efficiency of the hiring process while significantly pruning hiring life cycles.

Remote Proctoring Paves the Way Forward

Online interviews, despite all their bells and whistles, are at a nascent stage of evolution. Glaring gaps in maintaining the integrity, authenticity, and security of virtual interviews, have made hiring managers mull over better and smarter ways of preserving the sanctity of the online recruitment process. To fill these gaps, remote proctoring of online interviews and assessments has emerged as the most advanced, secure, and reliable tool.

Online remote proctoring allows candidates to appear for interviews and assessments from remote locations, under the vigilance of live proctors or AI. It ensures the integrity of the recruitment process by employing advanced monitoring software and AI-algorithms to meticulously evaluate the suitability of candidates in an unbiased manner. By employing advanced software and tools, it detects fraud, impersonation, and suspicious activity during online interviews and assessments, with a fair amount of precision. This way, only candidates of the highest calibre make the cut.

Fraud Detection to Counter Gaming of the System

At present, recruitment has become highly competitive. In the light of the peculiar loopholes that stand to be exploited in online interviews and assessments, some candidates may resort to unscrupulous means to sail through with impunity.

They can potentially resort to a host of fraudulent means to gain an unfair advantage. They could switch browser tabs to find answers on the web or in local documents, use smartphones or other devices to seek answers, let an impersonator take the interview or assessment test on their behalf, obtain answers from a third-person present in the room, share their screen with others, or use auto coding software to qualify on coding assessment tests.

Remote proctoring technology factors in all these possibilities to ensure fraud-proof and tamper-proof credible monitoring of virtual interviews and assessments. The precise weeding out of ill-suited candidates is made possible with advanced features such as continuous candidate ID verification, face and voice recognition, auto-detection of suspicious behavior, live automated warnings for suspicious activities, permission to take action against suspicious activity, anti-cheating tools, and cheat score categorization based on behavior analysis.

Fixing Systemic Issues from Within

Aside from the threat of suspicious activity, some systemic issues are a cause for concern. Doubts have arisen on the feasibility of long-term adoption and use of remote proctoring, its compatibility with different devices and browsers, and the likelihood of disruptions caused by patchy internet connectivity, low bandwidth and speeds.

Having acknowledged the inconvenience caused by these systemic snags, remote proctoring platforms are addressing them with panache. They provide users with user-friendly and responsive designs for smooth workflows, seamless plug-and-play integration for access on multiple devices and browsers, high-quality usage at low internet bandwidth and speed for uninterrupted sessions, and software compatibility for home, office, and mobile networks.

Additionally, some of the advanced features offered by remote proctoring platforms are: AI-powered multi-factor candidate ID verification; image, audio, and video recording for subsequent review and audit; monitoring of the screen, browser, environment, and behavior of candidates; serving of instant warnings by live proctors or AI in case of fraudulent behavior such as candidate change, cross-conversations, missing candidate, and blocked camera; and maintenance of detailed logs of sessions with auto-highlight and timestamps of violations. These features create a truly robust and secure proctoring system.

Custom Modes to Suit Every Need

Remote proctoring is available in the following custom modes to cater to specific needs and requirements.

Live Proctoring: The Human Touch

In this mode, online human proctors monitor candidates in real-time. The live proctors are permitted to pause, stop, or resume the session as and when necessary. They are allowed to communicate with candidates via live chat, serve warnings in case of suspicious behavior, and even disqualify candidates in case of violations. The presence of human proctors, albeit online ones, makes this mode very similar to the offline proctoring of interviews and assessments.

Automated or AI-Powered Proctoring: The Magic of AI

Automated or AI-Powered Proctoring is the cutting-edge of remote proctoring. It deploys advanced AI Algorithms and software to automatically monitor the candidate’s behavior, screen, and environment. By auto-detecting and flagging suspicious behavior, it guarantees the highest accuracy in the identification of suspicious activity. It provides a cheat score at the end of the interview or assessment after analyzing reams of data on the candidate’s overall behavior. A wide range of anti-cheating features and tools offered by AI proctoring fortify online interviews and assessments, making them effectively fraud-proof.

Remote Proctoring of Video Interviews: A Winning Formula

Non-proctored remote video interviews rely largely on the interviewer’s perception, which can fall prey to human error or become susceptible to manipulation by unscrupulous candidates. As a result of this, impersonation, cheating, and fraudulent behavior are easy to carry out, without the added layer of security provided by cheat-poof remote proctoring software.
Proctored remote video interviews, whether live/synchronous or pre-recorded/asynchronous, allow strict monitoring of the candidate’s behavior to detect and prevent suspicious activity. In this mode, both audio and video feeds of the sessions are recorded. These recordings are stored safely for later review (in a fast-forward mode). Moreover, the AI-driven auto-detection feature accurately flags suspicious activity, thereby, bringing precision to the online interview process.

Choosing the right Remote Proctoring Solution for you

Virtual proctoring offers numerous benefits to ensure you hire the right candidate every single time. By monitoring candidates belonging to remote locations, it allows access to a larger talent pool. It also facilitates the unbiased assessment of technical and functional skills. It shortens the hiring cycle by promoting the speed and consistency of the interview process. It also reduces the cost of hiring. With all these advantages, the next question is — which remote proctoring solution to choose?

Identifying your specific requirements is the first step to selecting the right remote proctoring platform for you. Check to make sure that the online proctoring platform you choose: uses the latest advanced proctoring technology; offers superior audio and video analytics and reporting favoring real-time validation; safely stores and protects data as per the data protection laws; does not share any information with any unauthorized third-parties; and provides end-to-end automation and customized solutions.

Conclusion

Online remote proctoring enhances the success rate of the hiring process, offering a flexible, scalable, and effective means of acquiring top-notch talent for your team in a hassle-free, budget-friendly, and time-sensitive manner. No more doubtful-hires, and no more mis-hires.

The future of interviews is here. Are you ready to seize it? Try HirePro’s revolutionary
AI-powered remote proctoring solution today and level up instantly.

References:

–It’s Your Yale
–CNBC
–Otomeyt
–Business Today

The current pandemic brought in its wake a lot of changes to the way businesses work. One of the major things industries, and the education sector, in particular, have had to endure is a setback in the way assessments or exams were conducted.
With students or candidates unable to take assessments in prescribed centers, a huge question mark arose in the selection process of candidates in campus recruitment.
Emerging technologies have hugely impacted the space of assessments, with educational institutes and organizations slowly moving towards online assessments. Any exam or assessment would definitely need a proctor, a person overseeing the candidates taking up the assessment. With assessments shifting online, proctoring also shifted online.

What is Online Proctoring?

Online proctoring is still a new technology that not many organizations or educational institutions are completely aware of. Online or e-proctoring is a way to proctor assessments conducted online. Monitoring software is used in places where the online assessments are conducted to oversee the candidates taking up the assessments. Many organizations have come forward to invite educational institutions and recruiters from other organizations to test online proctoring software for their examination and recruiting needs.

Types of Online Proctoring

There are three main types of online proctoring:

• Live Online Proctoring:
  A proctor monitors all the candidate’s camera, microphone, and screen during the course of the assessment.
• Recorded Proctoring:
  A proctor plays back recordings of audio-video and screen share feeds of candidates to check for any suspicious activity.
• Advanced Automated Proctoring:
  An AI-backed proctoring records assessments in real-time, alongside monitoring the feeds for suspicious activity.

Why Online Proctoring?

The idea of online proctoring could still be new for organizations and educational institutions to adapt to. But one point that cannot be ignored is that the advantages that come packaged with it makes it possible to assess students and recruit candidates very effectively.

Assessments more scalable & accessible
With assessments going online they became more scalable and accessible. Organizations have the option to conduct interviews and assessments remotely, and candidates have the option to take them from anywhere in the world. This opened doors to more candidates being reachable for recruiting or selection.

Flexibility
Online assessments have brought in a lot of flexibility to candidates and recruiters alike. The advent of online assessments and proctoring have brought in the freedom to schedule assessments at a mutually convenient time or conduct asynchronous assessments. Recruiters can schedule assessments and candidates can take it anytime convenient to them.

Works for any type of assessment/ interview
Online proctoring works just fine for any type of assessment or interview. Technical, functional, coding, anything. Be it multiple-choice questions, essay type, or aptitudes, with online, there is no boundary to proctoring or conducting assessments, which makes it versatile and convenient.

Detects frauds accurately
Online proctoring, with the latest technology available, can detect frauds more accurately than in-person proctoring. A slight change or movement on the side of the candidate can easily be found out with the help of online proctoring software.

Prevents impersonation
Along with detecting fraudulent activity, online proctoring also prevents impersonation. There is no scope for a candidate to let another person take an assessment when online assessment tools have analyzed and saved candidate information accurately.

Overall, with online proctoring, the candidate and interviewer experience is only bound to increase multi-fold, in a positive way, that is! Anytime, anywhere assessments, with no need of inconvenient, time-consuming commutes! Perfect recipe for a wonderful candidate and interviewer experience, alike.

Scope of Online Proctoring

The scope of online proctoring is only bound to increase in the coming years, with a lot of big organizations investing in the technology. Considering the advantages and ease of use, it is safe to say that online proctoring is here to stay.
HirePro’s advanced online proctoring technology helps you achieve your remote recruitment and assessment goals with efficiency and ease. Write at sales@hirepro.in or call us at 080 6656 6000 to know more about how we can help your organization set up an online proctoring tool for your recruitment needs.

The global health crisis due to COVID-19 changed the face of recruitment overnight. With social distancing rules in force at most places, in-person interviews are not as feasible as earlier. Companies have had to face this new reality and rethink ways to still find the right person for the right job! The pandemic augmented the need for virtual hiring with the help of the appropriate technology.

Proctored technical sessions, if needed, followed by video interviews are fast becoming the norm. Gone are the days when companies looked at hiring just as a transaction – with the need to fill a vacancy. These days the focus is on building a relationship with the candidate right from the get-go. This is where video interview software with online-proctoring capabilities helps. They allow companies to assess the trust factor also.

When interviews are scheduled online, online proctoring software helps in verifying the authenticity of the candidate appearing for the interview. Is the candidate attending the interview the same as the candidate who registered for the interview? If this authentication is not done in a foolproof manner it can result in the hiring of a fraud. This is, of course, a scenario all companies wish to avoid at all costs!

Here are some steps for ensuring that the online-proctored interviews conducted by you go without a hitch!

1. Ask the candidate to schedule the interview time as per convenience.

This will save hiring managers a lot of time, especially when multiple positions need to be filled.

2. Send the candidate a checklist to ensure that they are ready on the day of the interview.

Good internet speed to be able to attend the interview, a good quality web camera, and a top-notch microphone are essential. Let the candidate know that no other open windows on the computer system would be permitted during the interview process.

3. Inform the candidate about the software prerequisites of the platform that you plan to use for conducting the interview.

If the candidate is expected to install any particular software before the interview process, inform the candidate of the expectation well in advance. This will help the candidate get familiar with the software.

4. Suggest seating in a quiet room with enough light.

5. Ensure that your proctoring software can:

•   Check webcam quality, microphone quality, network strength, and light in the candidate’s room.
•   Perform an identity verification by taking the candidate’s photo to ensure the veracity of the candidate.
  This authenticity check of the candidate gives recruitment teams the confidence that a genuine candidate is being interviewed and in turn, possibly hired.

6. Record the interview.

If your video interview software allows it, record the answers spoken by the candidate. This recording would then be available for you and your team to view later at your convenience. Multiple teams can watch the candidate’s answers and contribute to the decision-making process.

7. Ensure that the candidate does not engage in any behavior that violates
standing testing/interview norms.

Proctoring software sets off an alert message to the designated interviewer if any suspicious activity is seen, or any sound or background activity is noticed. The software is quick to catch behavior that indicates an attempt to cheat. AI-enabled remote proctoring software is even able to differentiate general anxiety gestures from actual malpractice during interviews.

AI-enabled remote proctoring software enables recruitment teams to vet candidates thoroughly and discourages cheating, fraud, and malpractice. Pandemic or no pandemic, one thing is for sure – the hiring and recruitment landscape has changed forever! HirePro offers AI-powered proctoring for fraud-proof assessments and interviews. If you are interested in a demo of HirePro’s proctoring software, call us at 080 6656 6000 or write to us at sales@hirepro.in