Success is Through Staff Selection and Requires AI.

By Gabriele Molteni, CEO of Arca24

The importance of the world of staff selection.

Today I want to talk to you about my world, the world of staff selection, in which I have been working for over 20 years. It is a topic that actually affects all our lives and also has social weight: consider that workers represent 60% of the world’s population.

It concerns both our daily lives as individuals and also companies: “The success of any organization goes through the people who work within it.” The basis of my statement emphasizes how human capital is a strategic asset, which, if well guided and nurtured, can become the key to achieving the goals of any company; but it is not static, it is characterized by the dynamism of change, as people change jobs or retire, and to guide it, therefore, the governance of talent acquisition becomes fundamental.

Problems related to talent acquisition.

Managing selection is not simple and straightforward, but often encounters obstacles.

The first one arises from the digital revolution that has definitively changed communication and, therefore, the way of recruiting. Recruiters are constantly overwhelmed by an ever-increasing number of CVs, due to the multiplication of online application tools, from the website, to job portals to social media, thus finding themselves having to evaluate hundreds of curricula vitae daily, often irrelevant to the position sought. The real challenge, therefore, is to achieve effective management of this information.

The other problem is related to Talent Shortage. A World Economic Forum survey found that three out of four companies fail to find the profiles they are looking for, a figure up 120% from ten years ago and showing no sign of stopping. A threat that can negatively impact the already difficult economic recovery, given that, according to the Upwork’s Future Workforce report, 70% of organizations have predicted an increase in their own human capital in the face of the identification of specialized profiles and the economic magazine The Fintech Times has estimated that by 2030 over 85 million jobs will remain unfilled due to this shortage of talents for an economic damage of almost 450 billion dollars.

In these two needs, we can identify a common thread: before carrying out any type of evaluation, it is necessary to be able to find what we really need. On the one hand, recruiters have many resumes at their disposal and on the other, the skills they are looking for are fragmented or very rare and the shortage of suitable candidates forces them to analyze all the CVs to find the needle in the haystack.

Technology as a help to staff search.

If everything remained frozen and this status quo was maintained, some skills would never be found and some candidates would never reach the job they really desire or for which they are particularly suitable.

Fortunately, every time there is a problem, an innovation is born. Technologies have been developed to facilitate the work of HR including Blockchain, which can for example be used for data verification or the evaluation of candidate qualifications, and Artificial Intelligence, which we will specifically address today.

What is AI?

We can define it as a machine that performs actions or as software that helps us process an amount of data that would be humanly impossible to manage, either because there are too many or too complicated.

We have definitely already heard about artificial intelligence, maybe without fully understanding it as a concept. Even if we do not realize it, it is now present in our daily lives. If you are wondering “Where?”, try to think about the alarm clock, the smartwatch, the car navigator, social networks, Spotify, Google translate, Alexa, Netflix…

Artificial Intelligence in Service of Talent Acquisition.

Currently in the world of human resources, artificial intelligence techniques are used to support the identification of suitable skills to perform certain tasks, analyze written text, create interactive bots, read and interpret facial expressions, analyze voice, and much more. Even though some of these techniques have a very high error rate, AI nonetheless remains a crucial resource for recruiters.

In the field of talent acquisition, AI is often employed within Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), useful software for managing applications that speed up the pre-screening work of CVs, transforming the life of recruiters: from spending entire days analyzing resumes to just a few seconds to obtain a ranking of candidates compatible with the searched position.

AI-driven ATSs can be used to analyze and score resumes and CVs, identify and extract the most relevant information, such as educational background, professional experience, skills, and competencies. These systems also facilitate the task of identifying the most suitable candidates, based on the specific criteria of each vacancy.

Moreover, AI can also be used for job postings optimization, to ensure that they are reaching the right candidates. This technology can help to identify the right keywords and to better understand the job market.

In addition, AI can also be employed to conduct automated interviews and simulations, to assess the skills and abilities of the candidates. This can help to save recruiters’ time and to ensure a more objective evaluation of the candidates.

Finally, AI can also be used to provide feedback to candidates, making sure that they are informed in a timely manner about their status in the recruitment process. This can help to create a better experience for them and to reduce attrition in the hiring process.

The Future of AI.

Even though it’s undeniable that innovation will bring about changes, technological evolution always carries with it positive effects. That’s why my company consistently invests a lot of energy in the development of the artificial intelligence of our ATS, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, with continuous updates. This is because more and more companies understand the importance of this change and are starting to take advantage of it.

We can thus consider artificial intelligence as a “virtual helper” that manages large amounts of data, automates repetitive and low-value-added tasks, leaving HR managers to use their industry knowledge to make decisions, perform evaluations, and keep the selection process human.