Artificial-intelligence-based hiring tools are already transforming the recruitment process by allowing businesses to vastly speed up the time it takes to identify top talent. With algorithms able to scour applications databases in the fraction of a time it would take a human hiring manager, AI-assisted hiring has the potential not only to give precious time back to businesses, but also draw in candidates from wider and more diverse talent pools.
US company Harqen has been offering hiring technologies to some of the world’s biggest companies for years, partnering with the likes of Walmart, FedEx and American Airlines to streamline and improve their hiring processes. Originating as an on-demand interviewing provider, the company has now expanded into AI with a new platform that it says offers a more dependable and bias-free means of matching employers with employees.
The solution, simply called the Harqen Machine Learning Platform, analyses candidate’s answers to interview questions and assesses the type of words and language used in their responses. According to Harqen, this allows it to put together a profile of psychological traits that can be used to help determine a candidate’s suitability for a role.
Combined with a resume analysis, which provides a more straightforward determiner of whether a candidate’s professional and educational background fits with the requirements of the job, Harqen says its machine-learning platform is capable of making the same hiring decision as human recruiters 95% of the time. In one campaign that assessed approximately 3,500 job applications with “a very large US diagnostic firm” in early 2020, Harqen’s machine-learning platform successfully predicted 2,193 of the candidate applications that were accepted, and 1,292 that were declined.
Key to Harqen’s offering is what the company’s chief technology officer Mark Unak describes as the platform’s linguistic analysis, which can identify word clusters that are specific to certain job types but also offers a personality analysis based on the so-called “big five” traits, also known as the OCEAN model (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism), which can help hiring managers determine a candidate’s enthusiasm for the position.
“We can also use a linguistic analysis to analyse the grammar,” he adds, noting that about 60% of our vocabulary consists of just 80 words. Those are the pronouns, the propositions, the articles and the intransigent verbs. “The remaining 10,000 words in the English language fill in that 40%. By the analysis of how you use that, we can get a psychological trait analysis.”
According to Unak, using a machine-learning system that determines a candidate’s suitability based on linguistic analysis is a more accurate and impartial method than those that rely on facial-scanning or vocal-inflection algorithms. Such machine-learning techniques within hiring are on the rise and are increasingly being adopted by major companies around the world.
By only analysing the linguistic content that has been transcribed from recorded interviews, Harqen’s algorithm never factors in appearance, facial expressions, or other self-reported personality traits that could be unreliable. Unak says the company will also retrain its models on a regular basis as new data comes in, which will help ensure that algorithms don’t get stuck in their old ways if candidates begin giving new answers to questions that are equally relevant.
Diversity – whether based on gender, race, age or otherwise –has been show to play a significant role in the success or failure of workplace productivity and collaboration. Whether AI-based hiring tools can help here remains to be seen, and ultimately depends on whether they can be implemented in a fair and impartial way.
Beyond diversity, Harqen is exploring how its machine-learning tool could help businesses get the best return on investment form their hiring choices. The magic word here is delayed gratification: the ability to accurately identify employees who can resist the temptation for immediate rewards and instead persevere for an even greater payoff in the future.
“It’s grit, it’s persistence, it’s the ability to imagine a future and it’s the ability to develop and execute a plan to get there,” says Unak. “Isn’t that what hope and delayed gratification mean? I hope for a better future, I can imagine it, my hope is realistic and that there’s a plan or a way to get there, and I’m going to work towards it.”
Voice Advantage – Virtual Phone Interviews
To help you prepare for a HarQen job interview, here are 30 interview questions and answer examples.
Why are you the right fit for this particular position? This is a good time to highlight the skills you possess and show the interviewer that you are the best choice for the position.
“I feel that I will be successful in this position because I am passionate about what your organization stands for. I can clearly see your vision and have already drafted some great ideas on how I can help you to get there. My organizational skills will be a major asset to you and I also bring with me a strong track record of increasing sales and client base.”
“In addition to meeting the must-haves for this role, I also bring 3 years of industry specific experience in human resources. I have researched your organization to a great extent and feel that our values align very well.”
“First and foremost because I believe that I have an educational background that matches this position very well. Secondly, this position in this company is an incredible match in regard to what speaks to me personally. If you asked me to describe the optimal job for me, this position would match that description very well.”
Stephanies Feedback for the Answer Above
This response is headed in the right direction but could use a bit more development. This response should focus more on your “value add” and less on the fact that the job feels optimal to you. After all, interviewers are generally very focused on what YOU can potentially do for their company rather than the other way around. In the “Revised Answer” section, I have included a template of how this response could be re-structured.
“My educational background in___________________________matches the requirements of this position very well. I believe that transferrable skills from my previous employment has well-prepared me to ___________________and ____________________________(specific duties from the job description.) Addtionally, HarQuens values of _______________and ____________________speak to me personally. I am very enthusasitci for this opportunity and believe that my skills would be a great fit for the team.”
How would you rate Stephanies Feedback?
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FAQ
What kind of questions are asked in a video interview?
What are the 10 most common interview questions and answers?
- Why should we hire you? …
- Why did you leave your last job? …
- What is your greatest weakness? …
- What can you tell me about yourself? …
- Why do you want this job? …
- Where do you see yourself in five years? …
- What is your dream job? …
- What are your greatest strengths?
