“Apart from the continued focus on using AI and data for the hiring process, one game changer in the recruitment space could be the use of Generative AI like ChatGPT. It can have both positive and negative influence on recruitment,” said Krishna Priya, Head of People, (India) Branch International.

In an exclusive interview with HR.com, Priya discusses innovative human resources (HR) strategies, the pivotal role of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in recruitment at Branch International, and the delicate balance between technology and human touch in HR processes.
  Excerpts from the interview:

Q: What are the methods you adopt to maximize the recruitment process in your organization?

Priya: Removing the ambiguities between the stakeholders on the requirement is one of the first steps that we take in ensuring an efficient recruitment process. Once that is in place through a robust job description and a detailed in-take discussion between the business and talent acquisition (TA), we try to maximize the possibilities that are available within our applicant tracking system (ATS). Many a time, as we are in a rush to close the numbers, we tend to overlook how the processes can be made efficient using the existing tools and resources that we have.
 

Another huge part of our recruiting process is making use of hiring committees. This helps us avoid bias in hiring, as hiring decisions are not made by a single person. We leverage the international nature of our business by having a diverse hiring committee, often consisting of employees from our different operating countries, assessing different skill sets during the recruitment process. This has worked well for us. Another strategy we adopt is to diversify our talent sources to enable access to a wider pool of talent.

Q: In what ways do you use AI, automation, and analytics in your organization's recruitment and TA processes?

Priya: One of our core values as an organization is to be data-driven in whatever we do, and we follow this in our recruitment processes as well. Analytics on our recruitment data has helped us to be extremely agile while working on positions and, of course, correct our strategies to achieve efficiencies. This has also been a key factor in gaining the confidence of our business stakeholders. Feedback is important to us at Branch, and we attach a feedback form to rejection emails we send to unsuccessful applicants who have interviewed with us.

We periodically analyze the feedback received via this form and use the insights obtained to refine our recruiting processes and make them more efficient. Many parts of our recruitment and onboarding processes are currently automated with the help of our ATS and HRIS (human resources information system), and this has helped us tremendously in streamlining both processes with a laser-sharp focus on candidate experience. We also use the built-in AI features in our ATS to help us with the screening of candidates, especially for those positions where we get a huge inflow of applicants.

Q: Can you share an example of where data insights and automation led to successful hiring decisions?

Priya: For one of the divisions, we do a recurring bulk hiring, and while going through the data about the funnel and timelines, it came to our notice that there were too many redundancies and related inefficiencies that were causing increased efforts from our TA team, and unwarranted delays in fulfilling the requirement. By automating parts of the process, we saved more than 50% on efforts by the TA team, enabling quick onboarding to meet the dynamic business requirements.

Q: What have been the top challenges while implementing these technologies? How did you address them?

Priya: One of the top challenges has been the adoption of the systems by all the relevant stakeholders. Providing the right training and support and nudging them periodically have helped us in tackling this issue. The adoption was better when people saw the value in it, and our responsibility was to help the team get there faster. The other ongoing challenge is to balance the human touch in the recruitment process while using tech to augment it. We are very conscious about the experience that we provide to our candidates, and this has been achieved consistently by using the right mix of tech and human touch points.

Q: What is your top priority currently?

Priya: Our top priority currently is to strengthen our employer brand to be amongst the top employers of choice for top talents in India. We have a great culture at Branch that is truly transparent, inclusive, and conducive to high performance and growth. Since we are on a high-growth path, we must do everything intentionally to preserve and enhance our culture while we continue to grow. Sharing our stories and our employee value proposition is very important for us to attract the right kind of talent that can fuel our growth journey. The above two things go hand-in-hand, and we are exploring ways in which we can achieve this.

Q: What are the new trends coming into recruitment and TA space?

Priya: Apart from the continued focus on using AI and data for the hiring process, one game changer in the recruitment space could be the use of Generative AI like ChatGPT. It can have both positive and negative influence on recruitment. Tools like ChatGPT can be used for multiple things like hastening the screening and sourcing process using the natural language processing capabilities, thereby reducing the human bias in the process, creating a chatbot that can make the candidate experience better throughout the recruitment process, making the onboarding process seamless by providing continuous guidance for the new joiners, etc.

While these are the upsides to this, some practices, like candidates using ChatGPT to create their resumes or cover letters or complete their assessments, etc., would force the recruitment fraternity to rethink the relevance of these methods.


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