AI for Initial Screening, Human Touch for the Rest
“We are a very customer service-based company, and human interaction is a key piece for us.”
"One of the elements of providing a red-carpet experience for candidates is the element of being cared for and having that human experience"
I received these messages from two Talent Llama prospects who are considering our conversational AI screening interviews to qualify applicants. This might be counterintuitive, but most applicants don't want to deal with a person at the very beginning of the application process. They do, however, want to be confident that their applications will be considered, as many recruiters are overwhelmed with applicants and don't have time to review or respond to all of them. Let's break down why AI is the easy solution to the problem of application screening.
Running an expert phone screen is hard
All too often, initial phone screenings don't accomplish what we want. Scheduling a convenient interview time is a pain. Most screeners are not expert interviewers (at no fault of their own). Recruiters can't always grasp the wide variety of topics they are required to ask about. Knowing when or when not to ask follow-up questions takes practice. It's hard to listen carefully and take good notes during a live interview. These challenges lead to initial screenings ending without a deep understanding the applicant’s capabilities.
Initial screening must be streamlined
When it comes to applying for a new role, applicants want to know immediately if they are qualified before investing more time in the hiring process. We've built Talent Llama specifically for this use case. Email them an invitation to interview right after they apply, and let them take the interview at a convenient time. Your first impression with the applicant will be light-weight, stress-free and enable them to share more about what they know at this early stage in the qualification process.
Applicants prefer AI screening
The overwhelming majority of candidates that take a Talent Llama interview are not only open to taking it, but prefer it over speaking to a human screener. Checkout a tiny sample of the feedback applicants are leaving at the end of theirTalent Llama screening interview.
"Thank you very much. These have been great questions, challenging questions for me, so I've enjoyed this interview."
"I just want to say that this is a pretty cool experience for me as a person, having this interview this way, because it is a way to improve the process, but at the same time, keep it as human as possible"
"This is an interesting interview format, I'm kind of impressed with how well it's parsing my text."
"I just wanted to say I think this platform is really cool."
"Thank you so much. It was actually a great assessment for me."
Embrace change, embrace new technology
As companies consider using AI in their hiring processes, it's important not to over-value the current status quo of human interaction during initial screening. The human touch becomes valuable after the pre-qualification process. This is when you can dig in to more advanced topics, sell them on your company culture, and verify that the candidate's personality fits. Real people are great at this! For initial qualification, use Talent Llama to conduct conversational screening interviews that improve the applicant experience while having a direct impact on your bottom line. Believe it or not, your applicants will thank you!
