If any of you are entrepreneurs or in the business world and if you don’t know AI, then you’re the equivalent of somebody in 1999 saying, “Yeah, I’m sure this internet thing will be okay, but I don’t give a shit.” It’s the same thing
This was the billionaire investor Mark Cuban speaking at CES 2020 earlier this year. The comment was directed at entrepreneurs, but it rings true for large and small companies as well. If they are not taking technology seriously, they might quickly become irrelevant. Also, Cuban was speaking only about Artificial Intelligence (AI) here. But this situation is true for so many other new technologies apart from AI. Blockchain, machine learning, virtual reality, augmented reality, and connected environments are just some of the newer technologies which have progressed beyond being mere buzzwords. More and more companies are incorporating these new technologies in multiple spheres of their activity. Expectedly, the executive search community isn’t insulated from these changes. As we begin this new year 2020, it would be instructive for the executive search industry to assess the latest technology that has begun to impact this industry. Let us look at three such developments which have got the top executive search firms in Bangalore and the rest of the country all excited.
Video Screening
The use of web conference services to conduct interviews has been around for some time now. But video screening is being used more and more effectively for mass screening before doubling down on the shortlisted few. Instead of getting all interviewers and applicants to travel to a location, video screening allows for a collaborative interview process and is also convenient to the candidates. Prospective candidates can record video responses to standard interview questions at their convenience or opt for a live video interview at a time of mutual convenience to speak in real time. Scheduling of interviews becomes much easier, and it helps to cut down time to hire. Anything you should worry about? Yes, in case your connectivity isn’t robust, video screening will play havoc with your process. Also, for senior positions, video screening can, at best, be a handy way to reduce the number of prospects. It can never replace a (series of) face to face interactions as the executive search team understands the candidate completely. Notwithstanding some of the possible stumbling blocks in video screening, this is fast becoming a popular tool in the hands of executive search firms, and there are several tools tools available to help with efficient and effective video screening.
Gamification
The world has come a long way from the days of Super Mario and Pacman. Gaming is today an industry that clocks revenues in excess of $150 billion annually. The successes of games like Pokemon Go or PUBG are well documented, but way back in 2015, Cody Colburn, the gaming technology guru, estimated the number of games to be in excess of 17000! More and more executive search companies are using gamification for assessment of candidates today. Gaming provides prospective employees a positive and comfortable assessment experience. For prospective employers or for executive search companies, gamification provides a tool for making fair assessments and generating quality insights. The only challenge for employers is to get interviewees to be themselves. Some experts liken gamification to an executive search firm throwing a grand party for the applicants. The applicants look forward to having fun. But just before the party starts, applicants are told they would be assessed on their behavior at the party. Chances are the party wouldn’t be half as fun after that. Also, it is important for the recruiter/assessor to clearly understand the underlying science beneath the games that applicants will be playing. That way the purpose of the game would be clear and the assessments would be more relevant. Unilever, AXA Group, and the law firm Taylor Wessing are just three of the big names who have incorporated gamification in their hiring process.
Virtual Reality
Virtual Reality (VR) stares back at you everywhere you go today. No wonder, then, that it is set to cross $10 billion in revenues as an industry in the next few years. And yes, you guessed right! The executive search industry hasn’t been left behind in this rush to adopt VR. The first and most obvious benefit of a VR based interview process is, of course, to the applicants. Experts say a well made immersive experience for a candidate can be much more effective than the best written job description. Especially for senior level positions, a VR walk around headquarters and the manufacturing/office facilities can help to provide a flavour of the organization that no powerpoint presentation can. From the point of view of the recruiting organization, a VR environment can be a very useful assessment tool, especially in areas where skills need to be tested. Jaguar, for example, has actually got an app developed which would test the software engineers whom they intend to hire. For more mass recruiting events like career fairs, organizations can profitably use VR to give a better account of themselves than the brochures. Even the armed forces of many countries give VR enabled presentations of aircraft, battle tanks, and aircraft carriers on their recruitment drives.
We are at the beginning of a new decade in 2020. During the last decade, we were fortunate to witness historic changes in technology. The first iPad and iPhone were launched. The first prototype of Google Assistant was released. SpaceX came closer to becoming a reality from an impossible dream, and so did driverless vehicles. These are just a few stories we all know. But across the world, these ten years have been pathbreaking in changing every aspect of our lives beyond recognition. Which is why the coming decade promises to be even more exciting. Therefore, it is a no brainer that hiring numbers will be even greater for technology based roles in the coming decade than what we have witnessed in the last 30 years. Therefore, it behoves executive search companies, CHROs and even entrepreneurs (who handle their hiring themselves) to embrace the use of technology while recruiting such techies. To paraphrase a well known song, and add some words of our own, it can safely be said that ‘You have come a long way, baby. But the fun is just about to begin!’