In Nov’19, I had the opportunity to visit my University in the US after 25 years of obtaining my master's in HR. I was hosted by my Professor, Dr. Mark Johnson, and was invited to speak at tighter classes out there.
I did speak in one on the impact of AI on HR. The discussion was lively but it was also filled with fear.
One of the first discussions on the impact of HR in the employee life cycle was:
The interview process: Resume screening is now an old hat. But real AI is when the system can pose relevant questions on the skills and competencies highlighted in the resume. Imagine if the AI can ask what certifications and at what levels of competencies is the candidate currently at, and then measure the same against the role requirements while giving out a predictability index on how successful would she be on the job!
Now that is real AI. Is it available right now? Yes and no. But is on the anvil and will soon be a very useful tool.
The next step is actually administering those tests and calculating the results.
Now we come to the interview: the AI conducts the interview online and recognizes facial expressions etc and collates data on it and feeds into the system to understand how close will be the personality of the candidate to what the organization actually needs? Is this Sci-Fi? No. The software for this exists.
Now you’d be wondering what would be the use of recruiters in the future? Good question. Most of the recruitment activity, as we know of it, will be outsourced in the near future. There shall be companies with groundbreaking AI which will take away this activity for you.
The next step will be when AI will manage the life cycle of these people and maybe even keep them on their rolls.
Imagine, an AI taking care of your entire employee life cycle. And thru a completely Avatar-based interactive app. Your leaves, attendance, requirements, hours attended, salary credit, etc all taken care of 24/7.
A company that has this kind of tech can easily keep employees on their rolls, billing their hours to the customer and spare her of all the administrative hassles.
What happens then? Will you really need an HR department? But that’s another story.
Author – Shantanu Dhar, Executive Director, Worc Consultancy Pvt. Ltd.
Shantanu Dhar is an HR leader with 25 years of HR experience in the US, Europe, and India. He has been a CHRO since 2012 and is now an Executive Director with Worc, an HR services company with operations in the US and India. Having worked with companies like Wal Mart Stores in the US, ITC LTD, HCL, Mercer, Dalmia Bharat, etc, he is also a bestselling author who has written India’s first vampire trilogy. Outside work, he spends time in fitness pursuits, cooking for his family, and listening to his Jazz collection at a volume which his neighbors have a few things to say about.
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