The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment in Switzerland

Everyone that has watched Little Britain at some point in her/his/their life, will know the sentence: “The computer says no”. For everyone else, please watch the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4DQPLWAzeY 

Now why am I telling you this? Because the computer might say no to you too. Not at the reception, after Carol Beers has entered your request, but after you have sent in your job application and you did not prepare a flawless CV where you made sure to mention all the important keywords that were mentioned in the job advertisement.

If that is the case, then all I can say is: Unlucky you. Artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more and more important in the recruitment process. If said keywords don’t show up in your application, you are out.  So basically your CV will be reduced to those few said keywords, but the thing is: In most cases the exact same thing will happen with your CV when being screened by a recruiter. Now the advantage of AI here is: You don’t have to wait for weeks or even months till the computer finally says no (or yes).

According to Recruitment & Talent Management Specialist Izabela Hollander-Bolton, time saving is one of the major reasons why companies use AI in the recruitment process. The magazine Digital HR Tech adds to this list, that AI finds the right candidates and improves their experience and most important: removes bias, as you can see in the video below, featuring Tengai, the unbiased interview robot for recruitment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65u2SdMMwpY

Sounds promising, right? But what if I told you, that there are AI algorithms that are considered to be able to predict character traits of you, based on an application video? With AI used for videos, algorithms determine who advances in the selection process and who is filtered out based on data from facial expressions, speech, and amount of words per minute, among other items. One of the companies in Switzerland, that is using AI provided by the Swiss Software Company Vima this way, is the Manpower Group.

Sascha Frühholz, Neuro Scientist at the Zurich University, said to the tv channel SRF (tv show 10 vor 10 held in German, starting at minute 16:30), that the error quote of those programs are still high and that companies risk missing out on great candidates because the algorithms sort them out too early in the process.

In South Korea, jobseekers are taking courses in order to avoid being sorted out by beating the algorithms of AI:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30oCHwwLxy4

What is your opinion on the use of AI in recruitment? Please let me know in the comments below!

You already beat AI and got a job interview in Switzerland? Then check out my other blog post on how to Get Ready for Your Job Interview In Switzerland. 

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