Automation Gets a Promotion

Everyone’s heard by now that automation – industrial robots and automated systems – will steal your job and leave you standing in the unemployment line. Maybe you reject this negative prediction and align yourself with optimists that say automation will create new jobs for people. But what if automation were in charge of the hiring process for those new positions?

Love it or hate it, automation undeniably shakes up employment.

Automation has history of soaking up low-skill blue collar jobs. Of course this has led to new forms of employment and allowed human workers to do safer, easier types of work.

More recently, we’ve seen pink collar, service industry jobs becoming automated. Automation has worked its way up the ladder, and it’s in line for a new promotion.

Automating the hiring process

Automation has been used to help employers sift through resumes for more than a decade. A program combs through applicant resumes to find only the most qualified candidates. Employers then interview from the list of remaining hopefuls.

But now the actual interviewing process is becoming automated.

HireVue is a video interview software that allows employers to conduct interviews without the need for a human interviewer. Applicants simply record a video response to prerecorded questions.

The program uses predictive algorithms and machine learning to assess human qualities such as word choice, facial expressions, tone of voice, and eye contact.

Does it work?

One of the big selling points for video interview software is that it helps eliminate cognitive bias. It looks for the best, most qualified candidates rather than being swayed by superficial things such as age, gender, or ethnicity.

Of course automation also increases the speed, efficiency, and reach. Automated interview software allows employers to interview more people, in more places, in less time. This opens up the talent pool for employers.

Will it replace face to face interviews?

Several large companies use software to hire employees, but people have mixed feelings about automated interviews.

Some worry that automated interviews could exclude certain people. Maybe some aren’t good with this talking to a screen, but they are good with person to person interactions.

Cutting out the human element can make things more complicated for certain people. Automated interviews are still very new, and we don’t have enough data to show us whether or not they will replace traditional interviews.

One thing is clear, however. Automation will continue to grow in importance as technology improves. Make sure your machines are ready. Call 479-422-0390 for support for Indramat industrial motion control systems.