Meet the ‘AI Team’ seeking to impact the entire employee lifecycle

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The American Dream

In 2016, Garg and Kacholia set out on a mission — and perhaps it had been coming. Both of their stories began in India, where Garg and Kacholia grew up and graduated in 1997 and 2004 respectively. After graduating, Garg went to Illinois to complete his PhD, while Kacholia moved to California to finish his Master’s degree at Berkeley. 

The two met during a spell at Google, where Garg worked as a research scientist, specialising in search and personalisation, and Kacholia worked as its chief technology officer, leading the ranking team at Google and YouTube search. With roughly 80 patents and more than 6,000 citations, the two are widely viewed as two of the smartest individuals to work within the field of search and AI. 

‘Employment is the backbone of society’

As a matter of fact, Garg and Kacholia could have taken their extensive knowledge and experience about building AI programs to any place in the world — but instead, they opted for talent acquisition. The two saw a real opportunity to make a difference in a sector they saw failing. “Employment is the backbone of society and it is a hard problem to connect the employer with the right employee”, Garg told Techcrunch. 

“AI has seen the patterns of millions of careers, […] it can accurately determine who is and isn’t a great match for an open job.”

“People pitch recruiting as a transaction.” And according to Garg, that is a real problem. So the two set out to build a holistic platform wherein they could eliminate biases out of recruiting hiring, professional development and advancement. “AI has seen the patterns of millions of careers, learning how people move from school to work to new work at such scale that it can accurately determine who is and isn’t a great match for an open job”, Garg told YourStory in May. 

An ideal business

Eightfold would take all of the information available to them, and create an image of a supposed ‘ideal business’. That image would then be directly overlaid on a company’s reality, after which you should be able to pinpoint what, or better said who a business would need to come close(r) to its ideal. At the same it uses those calculations to rank available positions for candidates — and shows why a position is a match for the qualifications. 

It is the first platform of its kind to actively play a role throughout the entire employee lifecycle.

But rather than matching individuals with opportunities based on their past success, it focuses on their potential to succeed. And it doesn’t just stick to the recruitment phase, it is the first platform of its kind to actively play a role throughout the entire employee lifecycle. “The AI helps recognise employees who might feel stale in their current positions, provide them with job openings that match their skills and ambitions”, Garg said.

Eliminate bias 

When reading Eightfold’s mission statement, it’s easy to see the passion coming through to get people working better, more suitable jobs. At the same time, Garg and Kacholia are also keen to tackle another element: bias. “Many of the biases people have in recruiting stem from the limited data people have seen”, Garg said. “With data intelligence we provide recruiters and hiring managers powerful insights around person-job fit that allows teams to go beyond the few skills they might know of.”

“We’re shifting the focus away from vague lists of requirements and toward content that candidates care most about.”

After attracting high-profile clients such as Hulu and Tata Communications, raising $28m in 2019, the AI Team is steadily plucking away at the $200 billion recruiting market. “We’re shifting the focus away from vague lists of requirements and toward content that candidates care most about — the work they will do, the people they will get to work with, and their likelihood of getting the job”, Garg told Venture Beat. 

BREAKING NEWS: Google for Jobs officially launched in the Netherlands

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It’s been a long wait for the Dutch. After seeing Google for Jobs launched in eight other European countries, it was seemingly a matter of time before the search engine would turn to recruitment-savvy The Netherlands. Though it has been around for a little longer in North and South America and Africa — Europe had been left behind a little bit in terms of an en masse adoption of Google for Jobs. 

“With everything going on in the Dutch economy right now, it seems like the ideal time to launch.”

“We really wanted to be sure that it worked”, Google country manager Martijn Bertisen says. “And we really we wanted to make sure we had the right partners. With everything going on in the Dutch economy right now, it seems like the ideal time to launch. We’re able to provide hundreds of thousands of job ads. We feel like it’s time and it is ready.”

An interesting partner: the government

Most job ads visible through the Dutch version of GfJ will come by way of Randstad, monster.com (known as Monsterboard in the Dutch market) and DPG Recruitment. Though in its announcement, one partner emerged as most noteworthy, a non-generic job board: the Dutch government. All job ads placed on their own governmental platform will be subject of increased visibility through Google. 

One partner emerged as most noteworthy, a non-generic job board: the Dutch government.

No Indeed or LinkedIn

In total, through Google for Jobs, the five largest job orientation sites have combined forces in the Netherlands. Noticeable absentees are Indeed and LinkedIn. We wrote about the standoff between Google and Indeed in May — and apparently the two remain at a standstill. As the standoff continues, there’s reason to believe they may have missed the boat. Though Bertisen says it will be ‘an open ecosystem, where everyone can join’… as long as they add the right structured data to their job ads.

“This will be somewhat of a scare for Indeed and LinkedIn.

“This will be somewhat of a scare for Indeed and LinkedIn”, Geert-Jan Waasdorp, Dutch labour market expert and owner of Intelligence Group, says. “Those two would now be considered market leaders in the Netherlands, but when their competitors now become allies through Google, it may have certain consequences as far as their position goes. Monster has struggled in recent years, so this could be seen as somewhat of a strategic move by them.” 

‘How long will my commute be?’

Google users and job seekers in the Netherlands will now be able to search for jobs on the basis of location and branche. Or whether they would want a full-time, part-time or even freelance job. Moreover, it will be automatically linked to Google Maps’ functionalities, allowing applicants to see how long and far their commute to the company’s offices will be. 

Antitrust concerns

On a Chad and Cheese podcast appearance, Jobiak’s Venkat Janapareddy speculated that an antitrust case may be part of the reason why it has taken Google a little bit longer than in other parts of the world. “The European Commission sent a letter to Google, asking them: ‘Why do you show up first?’. For years, companies have worked under their guidelines, following SEO, investing millions – they should be able to come first. I think that’s one of the reasons why Google has slowed down a little bit.”

“I think the antitrust case is one of the reasons why Google has slowed down a little bit.”

With the antitrust matters seemingly still ongoing, Waasdorp was surprised by the government’s involvement. “I personally don’t get why they did that, that’s going to raise questions on a political level. I think there’s a good chance the NCA (Netherlands Competition Authority) as well as the European Commission will have something to say about it.”

According to Bertisen, there’s no reason for Google to be concerned, citing a close working relationship with the European Commission. “The carousel we’ve created within the Netherlands, with direct links to those providing the job ads, we’ve built based on their direct feedback.” With the tech giants seemingly sure of their case, it will remain a matter of time to see whether any issues arise. Until then, Dutch job seekers and recruiters will finally be able to use Google for Jobs.

Careerjet bolts to number one in new ranking of German job boards

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With a grand total of 10,620,526, Careerjet has a staggering amount of vacancies listed on its job board. Within just one year, it has bolted all the way from ninth place to first in Intelligence Group’s comparative rankings of German job boards. It is a remarkable rise for the job search engine which was launched at the beginning of this century. With over 90 localised websites, in 28 major languages, Careerjet is its worldwide brand, while Opcionempleo is the Spanish version, and Optioncarriere the French one. 

Source: Intelligence Group

Double the size

By analysing the data in Textkernel’s Jobfeed, the Rotterdam-based data outfit is able to pin-point the most popular job boards among both employers and employees. With its data, Intelligence Group has divided the numbers into a few categories. Beyond the total number of vacancies, it also looks at the number of vacancies sans intermediary job ads. When excluding those from the total number, Careerjet still sits top off the table, albeit with a smaller lead. 

Last year, Careerjet came in 10th in this category, now it is firmly placed at #1.

Whereas it was responsible for double the size in the total number (10.6 million compared to Regiobizz’s 4.2), its lead goes down to 700.000 in the non-intermediary standings. Last year’s leader Stepstone, is second in this category, with roughly 3 million vacancies. Though again, its rise compared to 2018’s statistics, is remarkable. Last year, Careerjet came in 10th in this category, now it is firmly placed at #1. 

What about the job seekers?

Though Careerjet’s success is largely undeniable in terms of its usage among employers and intermediaries, it has not seen similar success among job seekers. Toward the end of 2019, Intelligence Group published a list of the most popular job boards, used by active job seekers. In that top 10, Careerjet is nowhere to be found. Indeed leads the way, with Stepstone, and Monster completing the top three. Though those statistics don’t belong to the same period in time, Intelligence Group says it will accumulate and publish a new top 10 at the beginning of Q4 in 2020. 

Though Careerjet’s success is largely undeniable, it has not seen similar success among job seekers

And the highly-educated?

The rankings are also made with an educational attainment level. In ‘low and intermediate’ jobs, Careerjet is still first in line. Meanwhile, for jobs with a ‘high’ level, Stepstone leads the way, with Careerjet coming in second. With its target audience seemingly being two-fold, in both categories, it’s clear that Careerjet has bolted up the rankings. Whether the same holds true for the usage on the applicant’s side, remains to be seen.

How to cope with all the changes in the world? Hack your values!

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We are living in a world where the percentage of tasks done by AI increasing rapidly. The knowledge that is required for Engineers is getting more sophisticated and advanced.

An ordinary IT Engineer today needs to put more effort, creativity and cognitive ability in order to successfully manage the day to day work.

The challenges will increase

It is more likely to believe that these challenges will increase even more, especially when complex areas of our life get digitalized.

Therefore, it is important for Engineers to be a step ahead of those challenges in this new era of knowledge. They need to work for organizations that share the same values and a sense of purpose.

“Hack Your Values“

The recommendation for talents would be to “Hack Your Values”. This means to let you choose a workplace that is in line with your values, and create an allowing and safe environment, where one can fail or take risks, this will consequently make your creativity flourish.

To stay relevant in your field you need to learn faster than the world is changing.

To stay relevant in your field you need to create a growth mindset and learn faster than the world is changing. It would not be possible if you work at a company that does not share your values. But when values align, it’s easier and more fun to learn new things and be innovative.

The orange color of the growth mindset brains reflects the greater activity in the brain, with more intensity. (Growth mindset by Carol Dweck)

In order for organizations to keep innovate, expand and meet the global competition that is increasing exponentially, they need to think of how to distribute their values to talents and how they are contributing to sustainability goals. If not, it won’t take long for talents to find a workplace that does. In the 21st century, your greatest competitive advantage will be your people to stay engaged, innovate and have good mental health.

“In the 21st century, your greatest competitive advantage will be your people to have good mental health.”

Social and environmental commitments

According to Deloitte study 76% of Millennials consider a company’s social and environmental commitments when deciding where to work. It’s a generation that was exposed to thousands of topics at a young age.

Millennials are exposed to thousands of topics at a young age.

More information about the organization’s values will allow the talents to decide if they resonate with the company’s values and mission. Are they able to place themselves in that environment? Will they contribute meaningfully to the team? Do they have a role to play in that organization’s story? With values in mind, you will break new grounds in your area and become hard to compete with.

About the author

Carwan Rasoal is founder of future recruitment platform Airjobb