As the world of portable devices and advanced technologies gets more accessible for the final customer, we have the possibility to imagine a different type of future. If a few decades ago it would’ve been difficult to think about self-driving cars and smart objects, talking with each other, nowadays, it’s not uncommon today to speak directly with your phone, not just as a means of communication with other people.
Intelligent assistants like Siri and Alexa changed the way people use technology. And, even though we can’t have Ironman’s amazing assistant Jarvis, we need to pay attention to Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
AI & Machine Learning Applications in the Real World
According to the latest trends of AI-based solutions, there is hardly any decisive sector or industry that does not rely on smart algorithms and automation to perform highly advanced tasks that would be impossible for most humans.
But, as AI and ML become more mainstream, it’s easy to oversee their involvement in day-to-day activities. For instance, these algorithms are not just on our phones. We can also find them on various websites, such as e-commerce retailers that use AI algorithms to provide each user with a personalized experience, friendly chatbots, and in various corporate software applications.
A good example comes from the world of Human Resources – a section that’s inherently about managing human beings and their future within a company. Many companies use Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to identify and sort through the best possible candidates for a position.
Having AI support on human-based decisions is not a complicated idea. With a few Machine Learning courses that are specially designed for regular people, without advanced technical knowledge, it’s easy to understand why there are so many applications of advanced technologies in the real world.
Moving forward, we will take a look into how ML and AI can help improve HR departments everywhere and why the technology is so well-received by everyone.
Advanced Tech in the World of HR
Given the multitude of tasks on their plate, it’s quite easy to overwhelm the HR department. However, smart technologies can make the burden lighter, by taking over some repetitive tasks.
Talent Recruitment
When looking for fresh talent, talent management teams must browse through hundreds or thousands of applications, identify the ones that show potential, and decide which ones to call for an interview.
This is a time-consuming process that can easily exhaust a human being due to its repetitive and non-stimulant nature. As such, the company invests resources in an activity that’s not as productive as it could be, while employees lose the passion and drive for the work.
Luckily, this situation can now be avoided by training machine learning algorithms to take over the task. These algorithms learn the patterns and can easily identify the best candidates in a matter of minutes. Furthermore, they can put together and send out personalized quizzes, to sort out unfit candidates.
As a result, HR employees can work on more interesting and higher value tasks, like interviewing the best candidates in a face-to-face meeting.
Remote Hiring
2020 brought a series of challenges, and remote hiring was one of them for HR people. So, how do you make sure you found the right people for a job opening when you can’t meet them face-to-face.
As it turns out, smart algorithms can also help with this aspect. Besides using advanced technology to analyze each candidate’s profile, these algorithms can also be useful during a video conference or during the test period.
During the video conference, smart tech can be used to analyze the behavior of each interviewee including facial expressions, voice tone, and more. During the test period, companies can use various apps and software tools to measure productivity and identify issues that could be problematic in the future.
However, since we are talking about remote employees, it is important to be transparent about the use of smart technologies. Data privacy is of the utmost importance and should follow every aspect of compliance.
Improved Performance
According to a case study performed at Canada’s largest bookstore chain (Indigo), the use of AI and machine learning algorithms to screen job candidates and decide who to hire has led to an increase in overall productivity.
The bookstore chain employs, on average, about 6,500+ individuals. This is a sizeable load on human resources for hire, manage, and guide. As a result, executives had to invest considerable financial resources into finding fresh talent, hiring people, training them, and so on. Of course, not everyone proved to be a good fit, which only meant the process had to be reset.
However, since they started using a virtual assistant for processing and interpreting around 2200 applications on a weekly basis, their workload changed. The virtual assistant optimized the screening process to identify the best possible applicants. As a result, the bookstore chain could hire more qualified candidates, reducing the cost per hire by up to 71%.
In addition, using a virtual assistant for this kind of task also improves the performance of the HR department. HR employees are free to cover more demanding tasks, plan out training sessions, and pay attention to existing employees’ needs and progress.
How AI Supports Human Decision Making
Making reports, browsing through mountains of applications, and overall collecting data is a repetitive and exhausting job for a human being. However, this process is something that comes naturally to an artificial brain trained to recognize specific patterns.
It makes sense to use them in all sorts of domains where we need speed and attention to detail. This does not mean humans will be replaced by machines, rather the AI-supported suggestions for human decisions; our work environment is evolving and we need to adapt. To stay competitive in business sectors evolving faster than ever before, it’s never been easier to adapt to new situations and environments with the speed of machine learning.