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Neil Webster: Employment Hero spokesperson on the growing use of AI in the employment process · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from news Talk zed B.
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  Speaker 1: Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
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  Speaker 2: Now, next time you apply for a job, it might
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  Speaker 2: not be a human deciding your fate. AI is being
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  Speaker 2: rolled out and it's not always without controversy. One recruitment
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  Speaker 2: business has revealed the extent to which AI is being used.
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  Speaker 2: In March alone, they have already run over one thousand
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  Speaker 2: AI interviews and scanned thirty three thousand resumes. Neil Webster
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  Speaker 2: is the New Zealand GM of Employment Hero and with
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  Speaker 2: us right now.
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  Speaker 3: Hi Neil, Hey hether, how are you going very well?
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  Speaker 1: Thank you?
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  Speaker 2: So how does this work? Is this basically like an
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  Speaker 2: early stage screening tool.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so every time an applicant submits a CV for
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  Speaker 3: a job, the AI is reviewing that and providing a
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  Speaker 3: score to the hiring manager so that they can just
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  Speaker 3: aid them in terms of selecting the highest candidates they
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  Speaker 3: can look at. But then we're taking it one step
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  Speaker 3: further and the AI is actually able to do the
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  Speaker 3: first the first interview as well that you might otherwise
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  Speaker 3: get a recruiter to do, but that's a video interview.
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  Speaker 3: It's two way, and so you're you're actually talking to
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  Speaker 3: the AI and explaining why you'd like to have the job.
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  Speaker 2: So, if you are the potential employee or you're the
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  Speaker 2: candidate and you're looking at the screen, are you looking
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  Speaker 2: at what looks like a human talking to you?
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  Speaker 3: No, it's so it's it's videoing you. But the AI
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  Speaker 3: it doesn't have an avatar. It's just a.
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  Speaker 2: Series of voices. Okay. And then what is the AI
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  Speaker 2: screening for? Why does it have to be a video component?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah? So I think the candidates what business owners. The
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  Speaker 3: finding is that the candidates are also using AI obviously
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  Speaker 3: to prepare wonderful written cover letters and cvs, which looks fantastic,
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  Speaker 3: but it's great to see the candidate in action and
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  Speaker 3: see what they really like and see how they kind
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  Speaker 3: of respond on video if you'd like to watch it.
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  Speaker 3: So again, although the AI is is scoring those interviews
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  Speaker 3: if the if the hiring manager would like they can
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  Speaker 3: go back and watch the videodate.
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  Speaker 2: What's the AI scoring it on scoring the candidate on?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, So it's it's based on the questions that the
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  Speaker 3: employer wants to have asked in that stage, So it
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  Speaker 3: may be scoring it on the experience that they've got
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  Speaker 3: in the role. It may be on their reasons or
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  Speaker 3: motivations for wanting the wrong So whatever the employer is
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  Speaker 3: wanting them.
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  Speaker 2: To do, it's extract how well the words is it?
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  Speaker 3: Yes, it's looking for it's it's looking for kind of yeah,
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  Speaker 3: precision kind of on the answers. It's using you know,
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  Speaker 3: all the all the natural language models that we are
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  Speaker 3: familiar with now to just sort of understand the quality
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  Speaker 3: of the answer that it thinks it's making.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, now, am I right in thinking that there is
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  Speaker 2: a limit to this? This is this is a useful
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  Speaker 2: tool if you have, like if you're expect a lot
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  Speaker 2: of applicants for a particular job, or if you if
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  Speaker 2: you go if you're looking to you know, basically weed
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  Speaker 2: out people for the low, lower level jobs. It's not
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  Speaker 2: the kind of thing you're going to be using to
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  Speaker 2: appoint a CEO, is it.
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  Speaker 1: No.
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  Speaker 3: I think I think that's I think that's fair, Heather.
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  Speaker 3: This is definitely an aid for high volume hiring. We
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  Speaker 3: think it's we think it's still valid in the way
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  Speaker 3: that you would still have a recruiter talk to someone.
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  Speaker 3: But it's really important that there's always a human in
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  Speaker 3: the loop. You know that this is not a handoff
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  Speaker 3: to AI. This is this is absolutely helping you narrow
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  Speaker 3: things down and get talking to the right people. But
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  Speaker 3: there's always wants to be a human making that final decision.
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  Speaker 2: There is the risk, isn't there that a really good
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  Speaker 2: candidate could be missed because they don't take the boxer. So,
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  Speaker 2: for example, you might have somebody who gets AI scratches
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  Speaker 2: because they've got a prison record or something like that,
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  Speaker 2: and they may in fact be reformed and fantastic. Is
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  Speaker 2: that fair?
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  Speaker 3: I think the bigger risk that we're seeing right now, Heather,
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  Speaker 3: is that businesses are just inundated with cvs. They're seeing
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  Speaker 3: hundreds and hundreds of people, and the risk is right
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  Speaker 3: now is that they're only able to cover maybe ten
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  Speaker 3: or fifteen percent of them. And so the risk of
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  Speaker 3: missing a good candidate that the human just can't get
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  Speaker 3: to is, if we're seeing, is really big. So I
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  Speaker 3: think I don't think any system is risk free, but
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  Speaker 3: we really think that this is more likely to get
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  Speaker 3: the good candidates popping up to the top of the list.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, and is it possible do you reckon to game it?
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  Speaker 2: Because it is possible because one of the guys I'm
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  Speaker 2: not going to name any names in case someone gets
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  Speaker 2: in trouble told me that they can game a CV
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  Speaker 2: really well because what they do is they or gain
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  Speaker 2: the application leader. So they look at the job, they
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  Speaker 2: look at the job at the job ad, they pick
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  Speaker 2: out the keywords that have been mentioned in the job ad,
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  Speaker 2: they put that in the application leader, and without fail,
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  Speaker 2: I always get an interview. So was it possible to
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  Speaker 2: gain the AI.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's it's always possible to gain the AI.
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  Speaker 3: I think it's possible to of You know, these are
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  Speaker 3: just good tips for putting your best foot forward with
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  Speaker 3: a human recruiter as well, aren't they. It's like, you know,
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  Speaker 3: let's make sure that you put relevant experience, make sure
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  Speaker 3: that you're addressing the things in the in the role description,
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  Speaker 3: make sure that you're, you know, doing all these things.
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  Speaker 3: They're probably just really good tips for putting your best
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  Speaker 3: foot forward with any employer, whether it's AI or a
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  Speaker 3: human being.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, good point. Hey, Neil, thank you very much for
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  Speaker 2: talking us. I appreciate it. Neil Webster Employment hero In
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  Speaker 2: Z General Manager.
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