"You can think of her as a super intelligent recruiting colleague," says Aaron Wang, co-founder and CEO of Apriora, a California-based AI recruitment platform. "Her" refers to Alex, Apriora's AI-powered recruiting agent, which is transforming the hiring process.
Founded in 2023, Apriora is already conducting up to 1,000 AI-driven interviews every day, helping companies fill a wide variety of roles, from senior software engineers to baristas. "We've interviewed thousands of engineers using Alex, and hired our last three engineers and two salespeople through the software," Wang says.
He adds that to truly ace the interview, all you need is a reliable internet connection and the confidence to speak clearly about your skills and experience. With these two things in hand, success is within reach, reported CNBC Make It.
The Rise Of AI In Recruitment
Apriora's AI automates much of the recruitment process, from scheduling interviews to evaluating candidates. When a job is posted, Alex reads the job description and creates a tailored set of interview questions. These questions can be further customized by the employer based on specific needs.
During interviews, Alex engages candidates in a conversational manner, responding just like a human recruiter. It can answer questions about the company, adjust its line of questioning depending on a candidate's responses, and generate detailed feedback to help recruiters make informed decisions. "It's like talking to a colleague who's guiding you through the interview," Wang says.
Benefits Of AI Recruiters
AI recruiters have distinct advantages over traditional ones. They can read and analyze resumes quickly, conduct multiple interviews at once, and spend more time engaging with candidates. As Simon Taylor, a former Disney recruiter, points out, traditional recruiters are often pressed for time and may only glance at resumes for a few seconds.
Wang adds that some clients even ask Alex to interview every candidate, bypassing resume reviews entirely. This approach gives each candidate the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, rather than being judged solely by their resume. "It's a very fluid conversation. She won't interrupt you," Wang says.
Alex is also capable of conducting interviews in multiple languages and understanding various accents. She's even equipped with cheat detection to flag suspicious activities, like a candidate having someone else help them during the interview.
Streamlining The Interview Process
Traditional interview processes often involve multiple rounds of interviews. However, with AI-powered recruitment, these stages are often consolidated. Wang shares that when hiring for his own company, he typically uses Alex to conduct an initial interview, followed by a final round with a team member. "It reduces the process to two stages, making hiring much more efficient."
A Candidate's Experience With AI
Paloma Canseco, a graphic designer from New York, had her first encounter with an AI recruiter in October. After applying for a job, she found herself on the phone with a voice calling itself a "virtual recruiter." Initially thinking it was pre-recorded questions, she soon felt the conversation sounded natural — like talking to a real person.
"When it called, I was like, 'Is this for real?'" Canseco says. "I couldn't tell if it was a real person or software or an AI." However, after being asked to recall her last design experience, she hung up, feeling unsettled by the company's approach. "If a company isn't going to spend five minutes screening someone, then it's probably not the kind of culture I'm looking for," she adds.
Despite her skepticism, Canseco's experience is part of a larger trend, with others sharing similar encounters with AI recruiters on LinkedIn.
The Future Of AI In Recruitment
AI recruitment is here to stay, and experts like Brent Orsuga, founder of Pinnacle Growth Advisors, predict that interactive AI interviews will be common by 2025. "It's definitely here, it's real, it's incorporated," Orsuga says. "It's already in place, it's just people embracing it."
Orsuga points out that AI can help eliminate unqualified candidates early in the process, offering benefits for both companies and applicants. Interestingly, AI can bring more "humanity" to human resources by allowing candidates to showcase their abilities beyond resumes.
However, there are concerns about bias in AI's decision-making. "We are the generation that is beta testing all of this," Orsuga says. "There's going to be some mistakes, there's going to be some good, and some bad, but that's for sure."
