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Paradox Disrupts High-Volume Hiring: The Benefits of a Conversational ATS

Conversational AI: Transforming Talent Acquisition
Conversational AI: Transforming Talent Acquisition

Today Paradox announced plans to offer a conversational ATS for high-volume companies. This news should be no surprise if you have followed the Paradox story over the past few years. Companies like McDonald’s, Lowe’s, and Great Wolf Lodge have replaced their ATS with Paradox and a conversational experience. And the results include reduced time to fill (weeks to days), improved conversion rates, and better candidate engagement.

We found that 65% of companies with high-volume recruitment needs are not satisfied with their current ATS. Most traditional ATS systems are designed for corporate hiring and lack capabilities to support high-volume recruitment, such as programmatic advertising, scheduling, or communication. Conversational AI is a perfect product-market fit for managers and candidates.

What Does a Conversational ATS Include?

  • Hiring managers can quickly open and post jobs with a few taps in a mobile app.
  • Candidates can apply to jobs in minutes, all via text or Chat
  • Screening for minimum job requirements can be completely automated
  • Interviews can be scheduled (or rescheduled) instantly with qualified candidates
  • Automated reminders can be sent to drive significantly higher show rates
  • Reminders can automatically be sent when a candidate needs to complete other steps in the process

What are the Benefits of a Conversational ATS?

  • Mobile First: Mobile must be the foundation of a candidate communication strategy, especially for hourly workers. By adopting a mobile-first strategy, companies will be better positioned to engage with candidates and meet candidates expectations.
  • Personalization: Ultimately, communication should cater to the needs of the individual – not a collective group- and recognize that all individuals are not the same. According to an Aptitude Research study, ninety-four percent (94%) of companies believe that personalizing communications will help employees do their job better.
  • Consumer-like: Hourly candidates are customers; their experience should mirror a consumer-like experience. Solutions should provide engagement, communication, and simplicity.

What Does This Mean for the ATS Market?

  • Companies Have Better Options: The ATS market is an apples-to-apples market. These systems need more differentiation (except for Greenhouse and Lever). Paradox is the first real disruptor to the ATS market, offering an everyday experience.
  • Text and Chat will Be a Focus: A few years ago, many conversational AI providers were acquired (Stepstone with Mya, Pandologic with Wade and Wendy, and Hirevue with AllyO). As a result, some of the ATS providers will look at the text and Chat landscape and start to make some acquisitions.
  • Professional Hiring is Next: Conversational AI has completely transformed high-volume hiring, and professional hiring is next. Again, candidates, recruiters, and managers should benefit from a simple, personalized experience.

Aaron Matos, CEO and founder of Paradox, has built an incredible team and delivered a vision to reimagine the recruitment experience. I am excited to see what the next year has in store for Paradox.

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Blog Talent Acquisition Technology

Top TA Tech Trends in 2022

Conversational AI: Transforming Talent Acquisition
Conversational AI: Transforming Talent Acquisition

The talent acquisition technology landscape has shifted over the past few years. According to Aptitude Research, 72% of companies are investing in new technology in 2022, but only one in two companies measure the ROI of that investment. Traditional providers are reinventing themselves, startups are emerging overnight, and new categories are being created. Talent acquisition buyers have more opportunities, but they also face new pressures when considering remote work, candidate communication, and employer brand.

Talent acquisition success is measured by its ability to adjust to change. And talent acquisition leaders face pressure to adopt the latest technology innovations in a short time. Keeping up with the latest trends is no small task.

I am excited to share the latest research on TA tech from Aptitude tomorrow on a webinar with Appcast, a leading programmatic job advertising provider. A few of the trends we will discuss include:

  1. The ATS Is Not Enough: The modern talent acquisition system is more than a workflow or a traditional ATS. It includes recruitment marketing, CRM, onboarding, and internal mobility. Many providers have enhanced their interview management capabilities, have dabbled with AI-matching, and have made commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The modern talent acquisition system is an end-to-end platform that supports attracting, recruiting, and hiring talent.
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: DEI is a priority for companies investing in TA tech but not every provider is providing support beyond marketing messaging. We will discuss what tech can and cannot do to support DEI through leadership team, culture, product capabilities, and services.
  • AI Matching: It is difficult to talk about talent acquisition technology without including the impact of AI. Providers have focused on AI matching in a big way over the past year. Many providers are investing in both candidate-centric and employer-centric matching as part of their solution.
  • Internal Mobility: Companies are looking closely at their internal mobility as it relates to talent acquisition. Most providers offer basic capabilities in this area that include dedicated career sites and personalized communication to internal hires. Few providers go deeper with skills frameworks, succession planning, and career development.
  • Foundational Layer: This presentation looks more closely at the foundational layer of the TA tech stack and includes analysis and considerations for integration, data management, and automation. Companies that achieve the most success with their talent acquisition systems are paying close attention to this layer of technology.
  • Programmatic Job Advertising: : Unlike traditional job advertising models that are slow and time-consuming, a programmatic approach solves an immediate need for companies today – greater efficiency. Companies state that the key driver for technology decisions is reducing time to fill and improving overall efficiency. By streamlining advertising and targeting the right candidates, the process of attracting and recruiting talent improves significantly. Aptitude Research found that for companies using programmatic job advertising, 90% are either continuing to invest or will increase their spend this year.
  • Candidate Communication: Candidate communication is a critical part of improving the candidate experience, especially in a remote world. Communication is more than mobile apply and SMS texts. Our analysis of each provider included integration with messaging platforms, conversational AI, and collaboration platforms. 42% of companies are investing or planning to invest in conversational AI this year.

It will be an exciting year in TA tech! I hope you can join us!

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Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

Conversational AI: Transforming Talent Acquisition

Conversational AI: Transforming Talent Acquisition
Conversational AI: Transforming Talent Acquisition

On Global TA Day, we want to highlight one of our favorite areas of TA tech today…conversational AI.

In 2020, Aptitude Research published a comprehensive study on conversational AI to understand key drivers, highlight differentiators, and outline the business impact of these solutions. One year later, the talent acquisition landscape has significantly changed. Companies are feeling intense pressure to improve efficiencies, identify quality hires, reduce bias, and humanize the overall experience for both recruiters and candidates. As companies look closely at talent acquisition technology to help lift the administrative burden of recruiting teams and engage with candidates in a more meaningful way, conversational AI checks every box.

Here are the top findings from our report.

Conversational AI Is Not a Point Solution: Companies are still learning the value that conversational AI brings to talent acquisition. Companies that have leveraged these solutions to improve the application or screening processes are already recognizing the impact it can have on areas such as interviewing, onboarding, and internal mobility. Conversational AI is shifting from a quick-fix, point solution to a critical component in an end-to-end talent acquisition strategy. Conversational AI, unlike chatbots, is not a point solution. The more companies adopt these solutions, the more they recognize the potential throughout talent acquisition, and see advancements in use cases.

Conversational AI Is an Intelligent Assistant: Companies often think that candidates do not want to engage with conversational AI. The reality is that individuals are very familiar with conversational AI in their consumer and personal lives. Siri, Alexa, and other assistants help individuals get answers and guidance, and have become a part of daily life. Similar assistance plays a critical role in talent acquisition, offering candidates a “support team” as they go through various stages of their journey.

The ATS and CRM Markets Can’t Compete: Despite several acquisitions and ongoing discussions about conversational AI in the ATS or CRM solutions, only 30% of companies are looking at their existing providers for conversational AI capabilities. Many ATS and CRM providers partner with conversational AI providers even when they have their own capabilities. Conversational AI      requires deep domain expertise and a commitment to continuing to innovate and enhance the capabilities and intelligence offered.

Conversational AI Is Still More Than a Chatbot: The 2020 Aptitude Research report outlined the differences between conversational AI and chatbots. But, the confusion around the two still persists today. Companies quickly understand the difference when they implement these solutions, but do not always see it during the evaluation phase. According to Aptitude Research, 84% of companies want more than a basic chatbot to support their talent acquisition efforts.  Companies are requiring conversational AI solutions that understand the context around recruiting processes versus basic UI changes from chatbot. They are looking for an intelligent assistant to help both their teams and candidates.

Conversational AI Is Completely Transforming High-Volume Recruiting: Conversational AI is becoming the standard in high-volume recruitment. Currently, 65% of companies have some high-volume recruitment needs that include hourly, gig, volume of hires, and number of applicants. Conversational AI gives these companies a competitive advantage, helping them to compete for talent, fill positions quickly, and improve quality of hire.  Companies are automating 90-95% of process, screening and scheduling in under three minutes, and hiring in two days.

Recruiters in Professional Hiring Also See Massive Benefits: Recruiters are bogged down every day with repetitive tasks that keep them from doing the work they enjoy and the work that impacts the business the most – finding and meeting with more talented people. Companies in centralized, professional recruiting organizations state that 72% of recruiters are more likely to stay at their current job with the use of conversational AI, largely because time spent on administrative tasks is reduced by 50%.

The Audience for Conversational AI Is Expanding to Employees: Most companies are familiar with the use of conversational AI to support sourcing, apply, and interview scheduling. But, the interest in this solution for onboarding and internal mobility has increased this year. Conversational AI is not only candidate-centric, it is people-centric. Nineteen percent (19%) of companies using conversational AI are leveraging these solutions in the new hire process and 12% in internal mobility. Remote recruiting is the primary driver for the increased demand in these areas. Most companies rely on their HRMS or ATS for onboarding capabilities, and while these solutions include workflows and forms compliance, they do little to enhance the new hire experience.

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Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

It is a Good Time to Be in TA Tech: Investments, Acquisitions, and Conversational AI

Since we last published the Aptitude Talent Acquisition Index Report last month, providers have taken more investment from venture capital and private equity firms, increased partnerships and alliances, and acquired smaller providers. If you are interested in TA tech, make sure to follow George LaRocque and WorkTech for all of the latest news on investment in this space. Investment increased significantly in 2020 and continues to be a focus in 2021. Unicorns no longer look like unicorns since these mega-rounds of investment have become the norm.

But, how important is investment to buyers? Should it be? According to Aptitude Research, only 13% of companies identified the amount of money a provider has raised as key criteria in decision-making. We think companies should consider a provider’s investment history for the following reasons:

  • It may impact leadership and retention for the provider.
  • Providers may be able to execute on their product roadmaps, or they may change their product roadmaps based on the investor.
  • Customers may experience some growing pains that will impact product, culture, and support.

Investment is not the only big topic in TA tech. Mergers and acquisitions have also increased in the past year. Providers are looking for partners to help expand their global footprint, customer base, or product portfolio. Conversational AI, analytics, video, and branding were driving many of these decisions. ATS providers are looking for opportunities to provide customers with better experiences and more capabilities. A few of the acquisitions included:

Some ecosystem providers and Core HR providers are laser-focused on conversational AI this year. Ceridian announced the acquisition of Ideal. Stepstone announced the acquisition of Mya. And Pandologic announced the acquisition of Wade and Wendy. Pre-pandemic, HireVue acquired AllyO and AMS acquired Karen. Conversational AI is clearly becoming the future of TA tech, and we found that companies that invest in these providers improve efficiency, experience, and quality. The beauty of conversational AI is that it starts working for companies on Day 1, and companies are expanding the use cases into onboarding and employee experience.

We have been busy working on new research on conversational AI, so these acquisitions are top of mind, and I have a few early thoughts…

  1. Chatbot vs. Conversational AI: Many of the misperceptions around conversational AI stem from the belief that it is simply a chatbot. Chatbots are transactional. They provide value in giving responses to candidates in real-time. These responses are typically canned answers to basic questions delivered through text. Conversational AI offers a more sophisticated and more personalized solution to engage candidates through multiple forms of communication. Conversational AI gets smarter through use and connects recruiters and candidates in a more meaningful way. 39% of companies using conversational AI state that the most significant benefit is improving the candidate experience (Aptitude Research). Companies must be careful to recognize the difference between providers offering canned communication and transactional TA and those that are truly conversational and engaging.
  3. Market Potential: Conversational AI is still a growing market. The demand has increased, but companies are still figuring out what they need and what problems these solutions can help solve. The potential is there. Acquisitions (done right) can help some providers reach that potential by empowering them with more resources and expertise to build solutions that companies need. Acquisitions (gone wrong) can have the opposite impact. They can negatively impact potential, create obstacles, and make it difficult for providers to grow. Companies should carefully consider what these acquisitions will mean for existing customers and prospects.
  5. ATS Providers: While many ATS providers have made acquisitions over the past year, few have invested in conversational AI. SmartRecruiters is one exception with the acquisition of Jobpal. It will be interesting to see how the ATS providers respond to these recent acquisitions and look at a build, buy, or borrow strategy for conversational AI moving forward.

We will share our latest recent on conversational AI in the next few weeks, but these recent announcements have given me a lot to consider, and I am looking forward to following this market this year.

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Blog Talent Acquisition Strategies

HireVue Acquires AllyO: A New Look at Conversational AI

Eightfold AI: What’s Next?
Eightfold AI: What’s Next?

Companies are increasing their investment in conversational AI for talent acquisition. In research we conducted earlier this year, 36% of companies invest or plan to invest in these solutions this year compared to 7% in 2019. The value goes beyond speed and efficiency. Conversational AI improves the overall experience and helps to keep candidates engaged throughout the process. When recruiting and hiring teams are asked to do more with less, this is non-negotiable.

From an analyst’s perspective, this has been an exciting tech area to watch over the past year. Customers are more innovative in how they use these solutions. Providers are expanding their capabilities, and investors are looking for new opportunities. Companies in a variety of industries are looking at how these solutions can improve their talent acquisition efforts. All eyes are on conversational AI.

And yesterday, HireVue announced plans to acquire AllyO, a leading conversational AI provider that offers interview scheduling, onboarding, and employee experience capabilities. The acquisition helps to strengthen HireVue’s interview and assessment offerings with an improved experience.

Here are some of my thoughts on the acquisition:

  • Expanded Use-Cases: Some of the misperceptions of conversational AI are around the use cases. Companies tend to think that these solutions can help anyone applying for a job or anyone interested in learning more about the company. Conversational AI provides value throughout the entire candidate’s journey from apply to onboard and even employee experience. This acquisition by an interview and assessment provider will allow clients to engage with candidates and simplify scheduling and screening in the interview to hire stages.
  • Omni-Channel Communication: Candidate communication is a priority for companies, but what works for one candidate or one job might not work for another. Companies need a broad set of communication tools to engage with candidates where they are most comfortable, including video, chat, messaging, and text. This acquisition gives HireVue clients a broader set of communication tools to reach talent.
  • Future Acquisitions: The question remains…Is the future of conversational AI in a stand-alone market or part of a larger talent acquisition suite? When one provider gets acquired, others tend to follow. It will be interesting to watch how HireVue integrates with AllyO and how customers respond.

We will keep you posted as we continue to learn more, but overall, this acquisition further validates the staying power of conversational AI and TA’s future.

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New Research: Conversational AI in Talent Acquisition

One of the biggest changes in talent acquisition technology over the past year has been the uptick in conversational AI. Companies are looking for better ways to communicate with candidates, improve efficiencies, and offer simplicity- especially through the past three months.

I am excited about Aptitude’s latest research report on this topic in partnership with Paradox. Currently, 38% of companies are investing in conversational AI compared to 7% last year.

Below are some of the key findings from this research:

1. Conversational AI is more than a chatbot. Many of the misperceptions around conversational AI stem from the belief that it is simply a chatbot. Chatbots provide value in giving responses to candidates in real-time. These responses are typically canned answers to basic questions delivered through text. Conversational AI offers a more sophisticated and more personalized solution to engage candidates through multiple forms of communication. Conversational AI gets smarter through use and connects recruiters and candidates in a more meaningful way. In fact, 39% of companies using conversational AI state that the most significant benefit is improving the candidate experience (Aptitude Research). By referring to this technology as “chatbots,” companies miss the many use cases for engaging talent and the numerous benefits beyond saving time.

2. Companies that use Conversational AI see high adoption and satisfaction. Low adoption and poor satisfaction are two common complaints with talent acquisition technology. According to Aptitude Research, 79% of companies see the value in their conversational AI investment. One reason is that these companies see greater adoption across their talent acquisition teams. While companies are using only 3% of their ATS functionality and only 2% of their recruitment marketing functionality, nearly 60% of companies are using all of the capabilities in their conversational AI solutions (Aptitude Research). Conversational AI is intuitive and straightforward when compared to many other areas of talent acquisition technology.

3. The Conversational AI market is growing. Conversational AI is quickly becoming a crowded market; many providers seem to have a chatbot, which creates confusion and misperceptions about how to evaluate and select a partner. While several of the ERP and ATS providers have chatbots or are looking to build chatbots, conversational AI solutions are few and far between. Companies that want to transform talent acquisition through better engagement and an improved experience are looking at stand-alone providers. According to Aptitude Research, nearly 60% of companies are looking at stand-alone providers over their ATS providers.

4. The investment remains steady during this global pandemic. While other areas of talent acquisition technology have been slowing down during today’s global pandemic, the investment in conversational AI remains strong, with over 30% of companies still investing or planning to invest in these solutions in the next year. As companies face new realities with remote recruiting, candidate communication, and the future of work, conversational AI solutions can support companies through this uncertainty.

5. Companies should look beyond candidates. When considering conversational AI, most companies think about the apply process or the screening process. Yet, many companies are expanding their use of these solutions into areas such as interviewing, onboarding, and the employee experience. The benefits of consistent communication, real-time feedback, and 24/7 access should benefit more than candidates. It should reach employees and HR teams as well. Companies are exploring the use of conversational AI to support the full employee experience. McDonald’s just announced plans to hire 260,000 people this summer and conversational AI is a big part of its’ story.

6. Companies across many industries are leveraging these solutions. Conversational AI is disrupting many industries. The belief is that these solutions are only suited for retail and restaurants. Aptitude Research found that the most significant growth was also in financial services, healthcare, and aerospace.

This report is available today and includes the business impact of conversational AI, use cases beyond talent acquisition, and a McDonald’s case study.

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Blog Uncategorized

HR Technology Conference 2019: A More Sophisticated Buyer

The HR Technology Conference gives me the opportunity to reflect on the past year and look ahead to the future. In preparing for this year’s event, I decided to dig up old notes and presentations from the past 14 years. This landscape has changed dramatically. Integrated talent management has been replaced with employee experience. Big data is nowhere to be found. And talent acquisition and AI are at the center of it all.

When thinking about trends, the pendulum always seems to swing back and forth between start-ups driving innovation and traditional players enhancing products. As I tried to figure out where I would land, I began to realize that this year’s event wasn’t really about the technology. It was about the people.

HR professionals were driving innovation and change at this year’s event. They were asking the tough questions, aligning with business objectives, showing value in their investments, and evaluating providers that can stand-up as partners. Executives from P&G, Walmart and Spectrum openly shared their experience with AI and deep learning in talent acquisition. Fedex and Verizon questioned the CRM providers’ ability to support legal concerns. Oh, and McDonald’s announced that candidates can now apply for a job using Alexa or Google Home. The HR buyer at this year’s event was more sophisticated than ever before.  

Solution providers need to keep up with these expectations. They need to work  to establish partnerships across every layer of the organization from leadership to product teams to customer support. Below are a few of the providers making partnerships a priority.

Talent Acquisition

Beamery:  Beamery, a company founded in the UK, has had tremendous success expanding into the US market with significant brand awareness and customer acquisitions. It is a product company that continuously innovates while somehow mastering the art of customer success. It is helping companies clarify this market through its Talent Operating System model which helps companies at any stage of recruitment marketing. 

Cornerstone OnDemand: Cornerstone is making a commitment to talent acquisition this year. It has focused on improving the user experience for all stakeholders, improving speed to task and automation, and investing in internal mobility as well as personalization.

Jobvite and Talemetry: All eyes have been on Jobvite this year with K1’s acquisition of Jobvite, Talemetry, Canvas and Rolepoint. Over the past 16 months, Jobvite has continued to maintain its strong commitment to product and client support. Last week, it announced a fully integrated talent acquisition suite that uses smart automation to connect data, processes and interactions across the candidate journey. The big focus is to help clients get data from one place and consolidate all reporting and analytics.

Symphony Talent: Symphony Talent has continued to strengthen its deep functionality in career sites, candidate journey, and candidate communication. It has differentiated itself in a competitive market with an innovative product, global capabilities, and strong services.  

Entelo: Entelo acquired ConveyiQ this year and is in the process of combining two products to provide companies with better sourcing capabilities, automation and candidate communication.

Scout: Scout is a recruitment marketplace that connects search firms and corporations. Originally founded in 2012 as an agency, Scout is now a platform that uses machine learning to analyze billions of recruiting performance data points to predict recruiter success by specific job type. Scout’s AI then matches specific recruiters to specific jobs to ensure candidate quality while reducing fill times.

Yello: Aptitude has identified campus recruiting as a top area of investment for companies this year and Yello continues to be a leader in this market. Yello is enhancing its campus recruiting capabilities. It is focused on sourcing and the candidate experience. Its Passport product uses one code and a single point of entry for candidates to update their resumes for all jobs that they may want to apply.

Employee Experience Surveys

Willis Towers Watson: Willis Towers Watson’s differentiator is its deep domain expertise across services, data and technology. While many of its traditional competitors have not been able to expand into software, Willis Towers Watson has seen tremendous growth in its Employee Insights solutions including surveys, pulse surveys, and its HR portal. It helps clients ask questions in the right way, use data to drive decisions, and take action on findings.

Ultimate Software: Ultimate Software is a provider that has excelled through strong products, team and a focus on partnering with companies across every area of HR Technology. Its Perception product helps companies track, measure and improve the employee experience through better communication and AI that enables change.

Limeade: Limeade brings together employee well-being, inclusion, communication and engagement in one platform. My briefings with Limeade are always a highlight at HRTech because I get to spend time with its incredible team talking about the topics that matter in the workforce. Limeade has built a framework around care and the impact a culture of care has on the employee experience.

Moovila: If you have ever led a project or leveraged a project management tool, you know that projects are rarely delivered on time or on budget. Moovila is helping companies bring autonomy to work and project management through the use of critical path modeling and diagnostics, real-life capacity management, AI, machine learning, and IoT integration.

Conversational AI

IBM: IBM offers clients several AI solutions including Watson Candidate Assistant (WCA), Watson Recruiter Assistant and Watson Career Coach. WCA includes a wide range of capabilities from chatbots to messaging and is rolled-out to multiple sites and by geography. WRA partners with several of the larger ATS to offer capabilities that improve candidate communication and candidate match. WCC is a post-hire solution that enables career development and internal mobility.

Jobpal: Jobpal was founded in 2016 in Berlin and has some significant global customers including British Airways, DHL, and BSF. It is helping companies communicate with candidates and improve conversion rates and has strong integrations with messaging platforms. We can expect to see Jobpal emerge as a leading player over the next year with new partners, capabilities, and plans to develop internal mobility capabilities.

AllyO: It has been a big year for AllyO. This providers has raised $45 million and expanded capabilities beyond talent acquisition.  AllyO is tackling the employee experience and bringing its conversational AI solutions to help companies better engage and retain employees. AllyO Connect provides a SMS inbox for companies to engage with employees and candidates in one central way.

Mya: Mya is impressive on all fronts from its strong leadership team to its product vision to its customer success model. Mya has established a very strategic partnership with Workday as well as Bullhorn, SmartRecruiters, Avature, and SAP. This conversational AI platform enables customers to improve talent acquisition efforts including  93% screen completion rates, 79% time-to-interview reduction, 2.5x increase in funnel conversion, and 144% recruiter productivity gains. It is helping provide clarity to the role conversational AI plays in talent acquisition and the value it can deliver.

Assessments and Interviewing

Modern Hire: The lines between assessment and interviewing have blended. Earlier this year, Montage and Shaker merged companies to create what is now Modern Hire, a platform that combines science, technology, and predictive analytics to improve hiring and candidate communication. I have worked closely with both companies over the years and have always been impressed with the teams, clients and products. Combined, their clients include nearly half of the Fortune 100 companies.

Outmatch: The acquisition of Wepow last year proves to be a valuable investment for Outmatch as it expands its offering beyond assessments. Outmatch is seamlessly integrating these products to give customers the flexibility to use video and assessments together. Outmatch offers a simple user experience that helps companies identify quality hires through its solutions.

 The future of HR Technology is in the ability to partner,  stay flexible to what customers need, and deliver on what has been promised. Providers that will succeed will be those that understand and work closely with today’s more sophisticated buyer.

 It is a great time to be in HR Tech!

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