Written by Li Wenjie
Editor/ Chen Dengxin
排版/ Annalee
"Don't go near the AI interview, it's going to be unfortunate."
It's another year of hiring season, and the new main force in the job market is menacing. According to the data, the number of college graduates in 2024 is expected to be 11.79 million, an increase of 210,000 year-on-year. With such a large number of job seekers, companies are increasingly using AI tools in their hiring process. Among them, AI interviews have become the standard in fields including banks, foreign companies and FMCG.
More and more job seekers have to go through the "magic eye" of an AI interviewer before entering a company, and this is not easy. Judging from the reviews on social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Weibo, job seekers often feel helpless in the face of AI interviewers: "anti-human", "hate all AI interviews", "AI interviews have never been successful...... There are also job seekers who work hard or "beat magic with magic".
However, the large-scale application of AI interview products has become an inevitable trend, and in order to improve screening efficiency and reduce labor costs, many medium and large companies have made AI interviews routine. Recruitment platforms such as 58.com, Liepin and Niuke have obviously noticed this trend and have made frequent efforts in the past two years.
When a "digital human" interviewer in a formal suit appears in front of the screen, it may not only test the worker.
A migrant worker who was stopped at the door by an AI interview
From the moment he received the AI interview notice, Tong Lin became nervous. Although she is already familiar with the AI interview process: first log in to the system to check the information, check the computer camera and microphone, tidy up the grooming, and then press the OK button. Then, an AI interviewer in a formal suit appeared in front of the screen, and Tong Linde did not forget to remind himself when she/he asked a mechanical question, "Smile, don't look at your eyes, and make up enough time to answer." ”
Tong Lin, who is studying at a 211 university in Chengdu, is about to graduate this year, and she has been busy looking for a job since the new year. After receiving frequent notices of AI interviews, she realized that AI interviews have become the "standard" for many large companies. In fact, the AI interview process she experienced was much the same, mainly with the AI interviewer asking the questions, and the job seeker recording a video response, "Most of the time, if you don't answer the same question well, you have the opportunity to re-record the video and answer it again." ”
Although he has experienced no less than ten AI interviews, Tong Lin still feels that "AI interviews are more difficult to play than real interviews", "the interaction with real interviewers is stronger, and the other party's response is more intuitive, and he can quickly adjust his state." But the AI interview always makes me feel like facing an emotionless robot, and you can't get timely feedback from his facial expressions to adjust your own state. ”
Complaints about AI interviews on Xiaohongshu
Like Tong Lin, Fang Ying has also experienced many AI interviews recently, "AI interviews are very procedural, and real people will often ask more targeted questions based on your answers, which may amplify your strengths." But AI interview questions are sometimes repetitive, and you'll need to state similar things multiple times. ”
In order to successfully pass the AI interview, Fang Ying watched a lot of experience sharing on the Internet, specifically on dress and face, English question preparation, Chinese question combing methods, eye direction and so on. Some netizens even shared that they can train the ability of AI interviews through AI conversation tools, "tell AI the job requirements and content, and let the other party simulate as an interviewer" to adapt to AI interviews in advance.
However, in Fang Ying's view, the AI interview of some companies is still "going through a process", "I feel that the probability of screening people is relatively small, as long as it is not particularly abnormal, it can basically enter the next round." ”
In fact, on Weibo, Xiaohongshu and other platforms, there are not a lot of shares about AI interviews. Among them, on Xiaohongshu, there are more than 50,000 notes about AI interviews. There are many job seekers who, like Tong Lin, either don't know how to prepare, or can't adapt, and some netizens said that "use magic to defeat magic", "use ChatGPT to prepare answers, and let AI interview AI." ”
In addition, on the Zhihu platform, the topic of "AI interview" has generated 1.36 million views, and experience sharing posts such as "AI Interview Scoring Points", "AI Interview Summary and Precautions", and "AI Interview Answering Skills and Methods" have high views.
Recruitment giants seize the blue ocean of AI
While migrant workers are struggling with AI interviews, third-party AI interview service platforms are seizing this blue ocean.
In recent years, HR SaaS service providers and online recruitment platforms have been taking advantage of the trend to increase related technologies and products. Among them, the multifaceted · Doris introduced large language models and launched the second generation of AI interview products. According to Dai Kebin, chairman of the board of directors and CEO of Tongdao Liepin Group, he previously publicly stated that the multi-faceted · Since Doris' launch, its customers have grown rapidly and have served four to five hundred companies.
Last year, 58.com also launched a new intelligent AI interview tool - AI Recruitment Superman, which has functions such as generating recruitment notices and interview questions; Zhilian launched AI Yimian, claiming that it can "combine video analysis technology, speech analysis technology, deep semantic understanding technology, face feature recognition technology, measurement technology, etc., to conduct a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the candidate's job quality, and finally analyze the candidate's talent portrait"; Ye Xiangyu, CEO of Niuke, an HR recruitment SaaS platform focusing on campus recruitment, has predicted that 2024 will be the year of the explosion of AI application products, and the AI-driven "new generation of recruitment leaders" in the recruitment industry will come.
AI Yimian launched by Zhilian
The latest news is that, according to the recent announcement of the State Intellectual Property Office, Ping An Bank Co., Ltd. has obtained a project called "Intelligent Robot Interview Methods, Equipment, Storage Media and Devices", with an authorization announcement number of CN111126553B, and the application date is December 2019.
It can be seen that the AI interview track is surging. And how exactly does this track make money?
Zinc Scale understands that the AI interview service platform on the market mainly provides two charging models: one is charging per person.
Taking Niuke as an example, according to its official customer service, the basic price of the AI interview service is 35 yuan per person, and the corresponding discount can be provided for the large amount. When asked if there was a long-term package, the other party said, "In essence, it is also charged per person." In addition, according to the information provided by the customer service of Haina AI interview, its charging standard is also mainly charged according to the number of people, "A person interviews are about 15-30 yuan." ”
The other is to cooperate with enterprises for customized projects, and the fees for such projects range from more than 100,000 yuan. According to the zinc scale, most of the current large and medium-sized enterprises mainly choose the mode of charging per person.
Will AI interviewers replace HR?
According to a survey conducted by 36Kr "Wind Vane" in May last year, 75% of the HR surveyed believe that their positions will be partially replaced by AI; 3% of HR surveyed believe that AI will completely replace their jobs.
And this concern is not unfounded. Amazon tested an "automated candidate assessment" algorithm in 2021 and quickly laid off hundreds of HR people the following year. In 2023, the e-commerce giant has carried out a second round of layoffs of about 9,000 people – with the human resources department and the retail department being the hardest hit areas.
It is undeniable that there are many pain points in the traditional recruitment scenario. For example, it is often the case that HR is unable to quickly interview and screen a large number of candidates in a short period of time. Another example is that China has 850 million blue-gray collar workers and 350 million white-collar workers, and blue-gray collars are more mobile. As Tiger Sniff writes, about 300 million blue-collar workers are looking for jobs three times a year, and there is a lot of room for rent-seeking.
So, what changes can AI interviews bring to enterprises?
Unilever, a fast-moving consumer goods giant, once released a set of data: AI systems have saved 100,000 hours of interview time, which can save 1 million recruitment costs every year.
According to "Tech Planet", Liepin's AI interview product "Multi-faceted · Doris" said that a bank's school recruitment, only in the interview process, if the traditional offline 5-minute quick interview is adopted, 20 HR need to complete 5,000 interviews in 3 days, and if the multi-faceted AI digital officer Doris is used, 5,000 interviews can be completed in 48 hours, which is equivalent to a digital interviewer can complete the workload of 20 HR in 2 days for 3 days.
The AI interview results are intuitive
"In fact, from the perspective of HR, the current AI interview is more like an assistant, which reduces part of the work burden." Liu Yinyin, an HR person at a large company, felt tired during the recruitment season, especially in the initial screening stage, "Many times I can really only randomly select resumes to read." But through the AI interview for the initial screening, she only needs to screen the candidates with higher scores through the background for a second time, "because it will give a basic overall score, and then there will be specific details such as English speaking evaluation and logical analysis ability, which is simple and clear, and it does save a lot of time in the initial screening." ”
However, she also mentioned that most companies are still running in with AI interview services, "Sometimes looking back at the interview video, many people do feel more unnatural when facing the camera, which affects the score, but in fact, they are not bad in terms of work experience and work ability." That's why we sometimes ask interviewers about their experience with AI interviews. ”
In addition, some HR said on social media, "The work done by HR is not only interviews, but even if AI can currently take on part of the interviews, it cannot completely replace HR." Especially for some high-end talents, experienced HR is often needed. ”
Therefore, it may be too early to talk about AI replacing HR, but it is not difficult to see that AI tools are further revolutionizing the recruitment market, and both job seekers and companies will face new challenges. And for the major recruitment platforms, can they grasp this outlet?
(All names in the article have been changed)