Faced with incomplete data sets, each of us tends to fill in the gaps through cognitive biases and unconsciously resorting to prejudices, reconstructing a distorted view of reality.
This phenomenon has a major impact on the recruiting processes of most companies, which find themselves immersed in a present in which technology and automation have the upper hand. Companies in the last 50 years have changed everything...Or almost.
The selection methodologies, in fact, have almost remained unchanged and are considered by most to be obsolete for today's hectic business landscape.
It is in this evocative setting that a young Irish startup based in Dublin is flourishing. Let's talk about Swyg and its hybrid recruiting process that combines AI and a fascinating 1:1 live chat mechanism between different candidates.
Founded in 2018 by Vincent Lonij, Swyg was created to provide a solution to two macro-problems that plague today's selection processes. On the one hand, companies too often let excellent and highly qualified candidates get away because of the excessive automation of their recruiting process strongly oriented towards the search for specific keywords. On the other hand, the lack of automation in the process leaves the field open to cognitive biases, prejudices and human errors, especially when the recruiter is faced with significant but incomplete data such as CVs, to which an average of less than 2 minutes are devoted. As a result, over 20% of company turnover can be traced back to bad decisions in the selection phase. We must also take into account the point of view of candidates, who in 94% of cases request feedback on their interviews, but only 41% are satisfied. This lack of feedback does not allow for complete self-critical analysis that is useful for the growth of each individual.
How can such a "delicate" process be recast from the ground up? Swyg's answer is certainly unique. Through several 1:1 live chats, candidates interview each other using predetermined questions. By increasing the number of chats, in fact, according to Lonij, the influence of selection bias is greatly reduced. All this is accompanied by an AI designed to calibrate in real time the different interviews with processes of identification, removal or correction of bias and human errors. This AI, going to study the profiles of each candidate, is able to identify and eliminate any incorrect behavior or misleading evaluations by the various candidates. Moreover, at the end of each selection process, the latter will receive impartial and detailed feedback regarding their technical and interpersonal skills.
In September 2020, the startup, announced that it had raised €1 million in equity funding in a round led by Frontline Ventures and some business angels such as Charles Bibby (Co-Founder, Pointy) and Martin Henk (Co-Founder, Piperdrive).
All current competitors active in the search for a solution to recruitment problems use fully automated processes unlike Swyg which appears to be less convinced of the ability of AI alone to be able to judge every aspect of a human being. Only time will give us a clear answer, but of one thing you can be sure; the young Irish startup knows what it wants:
“Swyg is not just about helping companies hire – it’s about fixing a broken system”.
Article written by Jacopo Carlo Canale, del VGen Hub MI-Bocconi
