We know that the pandemic has brought a drastic change in our lives. The everyday routine of working in the office from 9 to 6 has also changed. As a result, multiple types of working styles have emerged in the past four months. Talent500, which has been in the recruitment and skills development business, is embracing a new system to prepare workers differently to the needs of the post-COVID world — including full time, project-based, part-time and remote-based workers. Vikram Ahuja, Co-founder of Talent500 gives us an insight into their process of contactless recruitment and assessment of candidates.
Excerpts from an interview:
Having associated with more than 100 of the global Fortune 500 companies for talent assessment and interviewing solutions, how has this pandemic has changed the recruitment process and talent assessment of candidates?
During a pandemic like this, the nature or idea of work has already changed. The fashion of working in the office from 9 to 6 doesn't exist anymore. We will see that the future of work will include multiple types of employees including full time, remote-based workers, gig economy, project-based and so on. Keeping with the changing times, our assessment and recruitment has also been made available through software based on Artificial Intelligence. This software can gauge the requirements of the candidates as well as the recruiter.
How do you assess the candidates using AI?
Once we find a candidate, our AI technology is designed in a way that it matches them with a particular company. There are over 100 parameters to assess the candidates. During this assessment, we mark them on their core strengths. This helps the recruitment manager to place them in a proper position of work in the company. After this assessment, we present the candidate to the company with their CV. We even provide them with video CVs where the recruiter can see how the candidate communicates and presents themselves. Apart from this, the candidates are provided with knowledge on coding, basic skillsets required for a job.
At a time when a lot of companies are laying down people, what is the scene in the recruitment industry?
There are three different things happening in the market currently. Yes, a lot of companies have already laid off people. On the other side, a lot of companies want to hire candidates but they have kept their decision on hold due to this uncertainty. The most interesting part of the pandemic is a lot of companies or global MNCs are seeing this as an opportunity to increase their strength in terms of technology and we are working towards more talent engagement. But there are a lot of candidates who work in the start-ups and are applying to work with bigger companies. A lot of people are coming forward to freelance or work on a contract basis.
