Interviewer.AI is an audiovisual assessment platform that screens applications within seconds. The software gives recruiters the chance to preview candidates’ motivation, drive and energy before inviting them for an in-person interview – saving time and effort.
Hiring is broken”, says Sunny Saurabh, co-founder of Interviewer.AI – a Singapore-based startup participating in the Innovation Programme of InsurTech Hub Munich. “The reason referral programs work is because it’s a hack, since the Application Tracking Systems (ATS) in most companies don’t work. It is all about access and networking.” It appears that, when it comes to recruiting, it matters more who you know than who you are. Sunny and Boon Khai Lim want to change that.
With Interviewer.AI, they aim to bring more fairness to the hiring process by removing unconscious bias, racial, age-related, or gender discrimination and focus and what really matters – the candidate’s skills and suitability to the role at hand.
“Unstructured questioning techniques during screening rounds fail to accurately assess soft skills or understand candidate’s weaknesses, relying more on the interviewer´s intuition. Therefore it is not uncommon to hire people who may not be ideally suited for the position. It’s hard to assess entrepreneurial mindset, passion and energy levels or communication skills from a CV. 70-90% of candidates are rejected at this stage because it’s impossible for an HR staffer to interview ‘every’ candidate”, Sunny explains.
How to save time? Combine resumé and interview screening
“Resumé screening and interview screening are two different parts of the recruiting process, when it should be just one”, Sunny adds. Thus, Interviewer.AI’s solution aims to merge both aspects.
Speaking of mergers: Sunny and his co-founding partner Boon Khai Lim come from very different backgrounds and know that a sound division of talents is crucial to any startup’s success. Sunny has worked for LinkedIn and Google, gathering over 12 years of experience in Sales Strategy, Product Management and Partnerships. Boon Khai Lim is a full stack software engineer and has worked for Skyscanner for almost 3 years. At Interviewer.AI, he contributes his expertise in software engineering and large scale data processing to analyze video data and provide insights to the employers.
Sunny and Boon first met two years ago at a speed dating event for founders at the Entrepreneur First Programme in Singapore. During the three months course of the programme they developed the concept for their company and were able to raise their pre-seed and seed funding.
A software to assess all necessary soft skill parameters
Interviewer.AI provides scientifically-proven questionnaires to accurately assess culture, value and job fit. “We see great variations in company culture and huge differences in local job markets”, explains Sunny. “You wouldn’t believe the environment and the needs in Germany and, for example, the UK to be so different. That’s one of the first takeaways from our participation in the ITHM Innovation Programme”. The Interviewer.AI software uses natural language processing, computer vision, and voice analytics to evaluate core competencies such as likeability, emotion, passion, positivity, communication skills or pace and clarity of speech.
This way, Interviewer.AI not only reduces screening time by 80%, helping Hiring Managers to be more efficient so they can focus on quality candidates and hire the best talent. It also gives candidates the opportunity to request a feedback to their video interview and comprehend why they made it to the next round – or why they didn´t.
Furthermore, with Machine Learning, the accuracy of sorting candidates gets better as the platform learns about the culture, values, and past candidate shortlisting decisions within a company over time. And it makes Interviewer.AI’s solution even more adaptable internationally.
The corona crisis is going to change how we work
“Due to the coronavirus, every market assumption we made is being relooked into right now,” explains Sunny. “The virus is going to change how we work and also how we hire people. People are going to get used to working remotely, collaborate over video conference and use productivity tools. Geography will not be a limitation if you have the right skill sets. And very soon, hiring someone, you have never met in person, will become commonplace.”
Text: Daniel Lange