From A Traditional Approach To A Modern Solution

A traditional HR approach would have been to invest hundreds of minutes interviewing scores of applicants for a post. With increasing competition and population, it sure was becoming a tedious exercise akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Enter AI into this space and the whole equation changes.

Delhi-based recruitment company, Mettl, was one of the first players to recognize the power of AI in this field. But in 2010, every investor they presented their idea to, told them that it was something unheard of and not worth investing into. Today, founder KetanKapoor’sMettl is serving more than  1000 companies and has over 220 employees working from six different offices. Add to this, they are running profitably since 2013.

Has HR Finally Embraced AI?

It sure seems like that. Various startups have now ventured into this space. Names like Talview, PiQube, Zeta and Belong are all putting AI to use in recruiting and managing employee payrolls. And the best part is they all are running profitable. JayadevMahalingam, founder of PiQube, is of the view that the HR sector has finally taken the queue and gotten onto the AI bandwagon.

The Bandwagon

Here are some of the startups that are transforming the HR space forever.

EdGE Networks : Founder and CEO, ArjunPratap’sBengaluru-based startup is working towards providing the latest workforce planning solutions to its clients. Takinga data science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based approach,this startup is working towards finding the right person for the right job. The platform goes through masses of data to extract insights into the right employee management approach and to achieve optimized talent acquisition. For this, the startups is using semantic analysis, data science, machine learning and predictive modeling.

Connectifier : Started by CEO and Co-founder,John Jersin, Connectifier’s some of the prestigious clientele includes Netflix and PayPal.  It is based out of Palo Alto, the startups uses AI to use publically available info on potential applicants and create personal profiles to see if they are the right match for the job.

Innotrieve : Started by Jerry  Thurber,this Colorado-based company goes beyond mere keywords in its approach. It uses data to establish correlation between the applicant’s past experience and the job role, thus solving a huge problem of job title mismatch. For e.g. traditional search engines will show a web content manager’s profile overlapping with journalistic skills and produce wrong results. Innotrieve solves this problem.

Profitability and The Future

Most of the HR startups are doing pretty well for themselves. Mettl is already profitable since 2013 and has not had the need to raise funds since then.  This positive trend can be attributed to the fact that most big companies can afford their services and don’t shy away when it comes to getting the right mix of human resource capital. HR Fund, launched in 2012, came into being with a corpus of INR 50 crore to support such AI-enabled startups. It now has various other investors willing to invest in this sector. HR  Fund’s last two investments were in association with Inventus Captial for PiQube, while the other one was with Luminous Partners for Sherous, a career network focusing on women employees.

But how important is the presence of human element in such automated processes? Share your thoughts in our comments section below.

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