As artificial intelligence (AI) goes mainstream, it's being plugged into every type of solution you can imagine. But what most people don't realize is that today's AI is more like a search engine that follows complex commands than true "intelligence." Sure, there are traditional and generative forms of AI, but even the smartest AIs we have today operate more like a filter than an autonomous brain.

The recruitment industry was an early adopter of artificial intelligence technologies beginning with the introduction of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) in the 1990s. However, the rise of AI and machine learning (ML) capabilities has paved the way for a new solution - the interview intelligence platform.

Interview Intelligence

So what exactly is an interview intelligence solution? It can be explained as a hiring platform that leverages the power of AI and natural language processing (NLP) to analyze candidate responses to interview questions and predict their potential fit for a role. Platforms like Pillar are designed to help recruiters and hiring managers make better-informed hiring decisions, eliminate biases, and drive meaningful hiring metrics like diversity and inclusion.

Interview intelligence is also programmed to provide insights into a candidate's skills, personality traits, and cultural fit when compared to job descriptions and hiring criteria. In other words, how accurately does their skill set align with the needs of the role? This helps recruiters identify the top candidates and saves them valuable time by only focusing on those who are most likely to be a good fit.

The History of Artificial Intelligence

Because of movies and other cultural icons, we tend to think that the concept of "computer intelligence" is new. But that's far from the truth. The idea of machines that think like humans goes back to the early 1700s. In 1726, "The Engine" was used to reference a machine in Gulliver's Travels that would think and write books. We saw another form of "thinking machine" in Samuel Butler's 1872 novel, "Erewhon." Not long after, in 1885, Isaac Asimov began the Three Laws of Robotics. These laws are still talked about and referenced today when it comes to discussions about "AI ethics." But it was in 1955 that the term "artificial intelligence" was officially penned at Dartmouth during a workshop held by John McCarthy.

Today, as artificial intelligence reaches early levels of adoption, it's critical to understand the profound impact that it's having- and how it's changing the hiring process. First, AI sourcing tools comb the internet for potential candidates for your open positions. They then seamlessly integrate these candidates into your applicant pool and upload their profiles to your applicant tracking software (ATS). Finally, they give you interview insights to help you make better hiring decisions.

This growing reliance on AI in the hiring process brings up a question, "Are artificial intelligence interviews better than human ones?" Tech giants like Google and Amazon have tried this approach only to realize its weaknesses. Some of the smartest human beings on their teams developed AI hiring tools that showed bias and discrimination and were ultimately scrapped due to their inability to assess in an unbiased way. Human beings on the other hand have also been shown to allow biases into interviews - often unconsciously. But a combination of both; leveraging the strengths of human interviewing backed by the power of AI, shows great promise as the future of interviews.

Interview intelligence systems like Pillar run in the background as interviewers ask questions, engaging the candidate in what's best described as a structured interview. This approach offers the best solution for both an objective evaluation of the candidate and an efficient interview process.

Interview Intelligence Software

As interview intelligence software has evolved, it's become a groundbreaking tool for recruiters. While there are many options on the market today, interview intelligence platform reviews clearly show that there are one or two choice options for the top recruiting teams.

The best interview intelligence platforms are the ones that don't remove the human touch from the interview process. While varied in their approach and features, they all seem to share a common goal of keeping human engagement and interactions at the center of the interview process.

Next, the leading online interview intelligence platforms seek to provide deep insights into the candidates, true compatibility with the role. This means using tools like interview insights to deliver a realistic perspective on how their experience, skills, and personality would fit into a company's culture.

All of the leading interview intelligence platforms share another thing in common- comprehensive verbal and non-verbal communication analysis. This means looking at micro-expressions, tonal changes, and other factors to assess not just what candidates say but how they say it. Another noteworthy element of all the top platforms is their integration with common applicant tracking systems (ATS) and onboarding systems- giving a seamless experience from applicant pool to offer letter.

Recently, many of the top interview intelligence platforms have switched to structured interviews, or methodologies to maintain consistency and objectivity in candidate skills assessments. If you're new to this concept a structured interview is one that standardizes interview questions and hiring criteria ensuring equal opportunity for all candidates. This approach creates fairness and helps interviews prepare for interviews faster. If you'd like to see how structured interviews work in real-time, click this link and paste your job description into the text field - in a few minutes we'll email you a personalized interview guide with structured interview questions for your role.

The last notable point that many of the top interview intelligence solutions share in common is a focus on diversity and inclusion. By harnessing the power of machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), and artificial intelligence (AI), the best solutions are able to help recruitment teams conduct efficient, effective, and equitable interviews. These platforms offer a tiny glimpse into the future of hiring, where data-driven decisions pave the way for more successful recruitment outcomes and opportunities for candidates.

Exploring Artificial Intelligence In Interviews

Now, let's look at the interplay between humans and AI in interviews. Exploring artificial intelligence in interviews used to require a bit of a leap. As the rapid adoption of these technologies began to impact hiring processes, recruiting teams were split on how to use them most efficiently without creating negative effects.

Today, the "marriage" between the two is almost imperceptible. AI is writing interview intelligence questions for structured interviews and piggybacking on the interview to provide predictive insights and an analysis of the candidate's skills. Interview artificial intelligence is getting so smart, that it can assess how a candidate might perform in the role and respond to different scenarios that are part of the job responsibilities based on their resume, skills, and experience - but AI's impact is actually far bigger than assessment alone.

As we discovered in the first section, AI is sourcing candidates today, looking at resumes and LinkedIn profiles to fill a candidate funnel with qualified applicants so recruiters green-light the next step. AI automation tools will then schedule an interview and make an email introduction between the candidate and the interviewer. This step alone saves an estimated 4 hours per candidate.

Once the candidate and interviewer meet, the AI helps the interviewer run an effective interview by prompting structured interview questions, triggering interviewer responses, and providing a real-time analysis of the candidate's responses based on tone, word choice, and other non-verbal cues. Not only that but once the interview is over, AI algorithms can analyze what made a successful hire for similar roles in an organization- enabling more accurate assessments of potential candidate's skills in the future.

One of the key strengths of artificial intelligence in interviews is its ability to reduce or eliminate bias from the process. This is not only good for the candidates, it's also great for the brand. As global transparency around fair hiring practices and diversity increases, AI helps recruiting teams to stay ahead of the curve and protect the brand's reputation, legal compliance, and ethics.

In closing, AI has revolutionized hiring. It's estimated that hiring teams that use AI save 12- 14 hours per role, which is significant if you're hiring 5 or more people at a time. By working hand-in-hand with human recruiters, hiring managers, and interviewers, AI-powered interview intelligence platforms are lowering cost-per-hire, shortening time-to-hire, saving time, and increasing diversity by as much as 30%+.

We're nowhere near the top of the bell curve for the solutions, and yet they're still having a tremendous impact on the hiring process. As AI continues to evolve and improve, we can only imagine what new and innovative solutions will emerge in the future. Will AI become the sole decision-maker in hiring? Probably not for a while... and only time will tell, but one thing is for sure- it's definitely transforming recruitment as we know it.

If you're new to interview intelligence in hiring, and you'd like to see how these tools work in real-time, book a demo today. Our team would love to help you discover how these tools can become multipliers in your recruitment and selection processes and help you make better hiring decisions, faster!