“The sharp rise in candidates means more talent acquisition teams will need to operate like high volume hirers, even when they aren’t.”
— Zubin Fitter, Sales & Partnership at Curious Thing
Article Highlights:
- Purpose of a Screening Tool
- Why AI Voice Interviews
- The benefit of AI Voice Interviews
- Who Benefits From AI Voice Interviews?
Recruiting saw big changes in 2020. The pandemic caused businesses to rapidly switch to remote practices and while certain markets experienced a sharp increase in hiring demand, others dried up. The job market is still in flux. I won’t try to predict what will happen this year but it’s clear there is a surplus of candidates on the market.
We recently hired a Marketing Associate at Curious Thing expecting about 100 candidates and were surprised when over 400 applied for the role!
The sharp rise in candidates means more talent acquisition teams will need to operate like high volume hirers, even when they aren’t. This can be tricky and daunting when many talent teams are spread thin.
Screening candidates more efficiently can help tackle this challenge. There are plenty of ways to do this from resume screening to chatbots. In this article, I’d like to introduce a new screening method: AI voice interviews. Before I discuss why and how to use this tool, let’s talk about why a screening tool exists in the first place.
Purpose of a Screening Tool
A good screening tool is one that shortens the recruitment process by collecting valuable information about candidates that can be used for smarter shortlisting.
The right screening tool will also reduce operational costs and save time, thereby increasing hiring velocity.
Resume screeners, chatbots, AI video interviews, and psychometric tests are common screening solutions. AI voice interviews like Curious Thing are a new option on the market.
AI voice interviews can work with solutions like resume screeners and chatbots or they can stand alone near the top of the recruiting funnel.
They are different from other options because they test for key behavior traits like motivation and adaptability without ‘seeing’ candidates. AI voice interviews use just the voice!
Candidates are not judged on their appearance, manner of speaking, or even their resume. It’s only how they answer the questions at hand that matters. This increases fairness and offers recruiters valuable insights that can be used while shortlisting.
Why AI Voice Interviews?
Think of AI voice interviews as a replacement for manual phone screens, except the AI does the interviewing. The AI asks questions over a phone call, just like you would. The benefit is while you can only conduct one phone screen at a time, the AI can run multiple simultaneously. Candidates can complete interviews at any time so you recruit while you sleep!
On top of this, instead of just getting a ‘feel’ for the candidate during phone calls, AI voice interviews can offer data about important behavior traits like lifelong learning and business acumen giving recruiters more intel to work with when shortlisting. This can lead to a better Net Hiring Score as screening is based on criteria relevant for long-term success in the role.
The Benefit of AI Voice Interviews
- Interview more candidates without increasing headcount
Whether you’re screening a few hundred or several thousand candidates, AI voice interviews increase efficiency with a consistent and streamlined process.
By adopting AI voice interviews, Stellar interviewed 100% of their candidates, reduced screening costs by 65%, and cut 26 hours of screening time a week! They used this time for more strategic tasks like tailoring the next stage of their assessment process. In just 10 days, Stellar hired 500 people for their new contact center.
- Improve shortlisting
Assessing behavioural traits early in the recruitment process allows recruiters to make shortlists with more information in their arsenal.
When hiring a Change Manager, RWWA used data from AI voice interviews to create shortlists and better tailor questions during the next round of interviews. The team’s final choice was validated by the data and insights gained through the process.
- Create a great candidate experience
While AI voice interviews may sound impersonal, candidates love them! In fact, 86% of candidates strongly agree or agree that AI voice interviews provide a better experience compared to chat or video interviews.
The AI is programmed to listen and ask follow-up questions which make candidates feel heard and the neutral nature of the AI allows candidates to feel like they are getting a fair shot.
RPO service provider Viventis replaced resume assessments and manual phone screens with AI voice interviews. In doing so, the team enhanced candidate experience, in turn improving the attendance rate for their next on-site assessment round from 20% to 100%. As a result, they surpassed their targets in just 6 weeks and saw a 125% increase in their hiring success rate.
Closing Thoughts: Who Benefits From AI Voice Interviews?
If you already use manual phone screens as part of your recruiting process then you’ll likely see immediate benefits from switching to an automated option. If you do not yet measure behavior traits during your screening process, you might find AI voice interviews to be a great addition.
Most of all, talent acquisition teams that face an influx of candidates without the tools to screen everyone fairly will love a solution that gives candidates a fair go and provides recruiters with valuable data for decision making.