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The Hindu
3 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
AI in hiring: Speeding up recruitment, risking blind spots — why the human touch still wins
AI has made its way into nearly every stage of the hiring process, from resume parsing to scheduling interviews. Done right, it makes hiring faster. Done wrong, it makes hiring blinder. For Talent Acquisition leaders, the real challenge today isn't whether to adopt AI. It's how to balance automation with human judgment. The problem with how AI is used in hiring today According to Mercer Mettl (2024), 72% of recruiters say that while AI has increased hiring speed, it has actually lowered the quality of profiles reaching the interview stage. Many things are going wrong. For instance, there is an over-reliance on keyword matching. Resume gaps are getting penalised without context. Biases are being baked into algorithms, especially around age, career breaks, or non-linear journeys. AI isn't neutral by default — it reflects the data it's fed. If more women list parenting breaks, then AI filtering on continuous employment will disproportionately screen them out, even when they are equally or more qualified. What AI is actually good at I asked Vivek Pandey, Vice-President, Human Resources, Dream11 who shared – 'While hiring, AI saves the initial screening and shortlisting time for junior level positions. However for mid and senior levels, it has to be clearly the ability of the talent acquisition teams to make an assessment. AI cannot replace the human element which is being sensitive to areas like work culture fitment, and traits like leadership, collaborative working and teamwork'. Let's not throw the baby out with the algorithm. AI is highly effective when used for: parsing structured data from thousands of resumes; creating job descriptions quickly and at scale; scheduling interviews and automating logistics; and flagging missing skills or formatting issues. What AI should and should not be used for What it should not be used for: final shortlisting; cultural-fit decisions; rejection decisions based on timelines alone; screening out returnees or career shifters. AI can scan, but it can't sense. AI can't see potential in a messy story or pick up on emotional intelligence. It can't understand career transitions or sabbaticals or ask clarifying questions in a grey area. Good hiring is about contextual judgment. A resume doesn't tell the full story. A conversation often does. Great TA teams know when to use data and when to trust their instinct. How talent aquisition teams can stay relevant Here are steps to modernise your hiring without compromising the human lens: Train recruiters in AI literacy; know how the filters work, what's being excluded, and how to write better prompts. Audit your AI stack quarterly. What's being filtered? What's being missed? Fix the blind spots. Create a Human+AI hybrid SOP, where AI assists the screening and recruiters make the decisions. Candidates should know what's automated and what's human. Transparency creates trust and trust creates better candidate experiences. Conclusion AI can power your hiring engine, but humans still need to drive it. The future of recruitment doesn't lie in choosing between technology or people. It lies in knowing when to let machines support and when to let people lead. Because in the end, great hiring has always been about one thing: understanding people.
Indian Express
31-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
With AI tools, students in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities can now tell their own stories
Written by Sourav Roy Each year, millions of Indian students earn their degrees, stepping into the world with not only subject mastery, but also determination, optimism and the quiet strength that comes from years of focused effort. Today, our universities are nurturing a generation of thinkers, builders and learners ready to meet the challenges of an evolving professional landscape. With nearly 50 lakh graduates entering the workforce annually, India commands one of the world's most dynamic young talent pools. This is not simply a demographic dividend; it is a human force of imagination and ambition, ready to engage with opportunity, if adequately prepared for it. Yet, the rules of engagement have changed. According to the India Graduate Skill Index 2025 by Mercer Mettl, only 42 per cent of graduates are considered job-ready. The data signals a shift not in ability, but in alignment. Employers increasingly seek individuals who can think critically, communicate clearly and integrate seamlessly into fast-moving work and tech environments. Fortunately, we are witnessing a pivotal moment in education and employment readiness. Graduating students now have unprecedented access to tools, mentors and information that can shape their futures beyond the limitations of geography, background or traditional metrics. A privilege that neither me or my dad had. In my work with students, I notice that the key differentiators today are character, storytelling and fluency with modern tools, especially Artificial Intelligence career tools. When these attributes come together, they create a blend of preparation and presence. Take, for instance, Nanak (name changed), one of our Computer Science and AI students from a Tier 3 town in Punjab. His father works at a local money exchange counter, and his mother runs the household. With a sharp mathematical insight guided by AI career mapping tools, Nanak set his sights on a Master's programme in engineering in Germany. He taught himself German through open-access platforms, practised thesis writing using ChatGPT, Grok and Gemini, and prepared interview answers with He designed his Applicant Tracking System-enabled résumé using Rezi, optimised it with Jobscan, and ran multiple interview simulations on Interview Warmup. His research into universities was sharpened using Perplexity AI, and he used LinkedIn and to gain just the right insights into institutional culture and faculty expertise. When his application reached the scholarship committee, it stood out, not only for its completeness but for its clarity. It reflected thought, preparation and an intelligent sense of narrative. He wasn't just presenting grades; he was offering a compelling account of perseverance and self-driven learning, perfected by all the AI tools he used. Not surprisingly, Nanak was awarded a full scholarship by the German university. This is emblematic of what recruiters and academic panels now look for. The ability to synthesise information, technology, articulate vision and present with confidence is as valuable as academic excellence. Employers no longer hire by checklists. They hire for growth potential and the capacity to engage with both people and technology thoughtfully. Soft skills, once referred to as add-ons, have become central. And when supported by intelligent use of cutting-edge AI tools, students are now able to prepare faster and better, and craft and narrate their stories more effectively. Interestingly, this transformation is occurring not just in major cities, but, in my opinion, more in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, where AI tools are levelling the field. Students who once lacked access to premium training environments are now leveraging technology to master interview techniques, build portfolios, track market trends, decode job descriptions and personalise outreach. What we are seeing is a new, democratised model of readiness. A student from Solapur or Siliguri can now compete with someone from South Delhi or South Bombay, not through privilege, but through preparation. As hiring becomes more global, digital and contextual, the résumé itself is evolving. It is no longer just a catalogue of grades, but a living story of one's values, progress, and promise that checks all the right boxes of the recruitment shortlisting algorithm. In our classrooms and career labs, this shift is visible. Students are increasingly reflective, more research-driven, and willing to speak about their challenges as learning moments rather than liabilities. The best interviews I've witnessed are not the most rehearsed, but the most honest. And the best-prepared students are not those who memorise answers, but those who ask better questions and leverage AI tools to practice their face-off with a recruiter. None of this diminishes the value of the good, old degree. On the contrary, the degree remains an absolute foundational milestone. But its full power is realised when students intelligently add to it their ability to connect, communicate, adapt and articulate, skills that are further augmented by AI tools. These are remarkable times for India's youth. They are not only competing in a faster market, they are entering it with smarter strategies. The future, once seen as uncertain, now invites participation. With the right tools, communication skills, mindset and mentorship, students are not only becoming more employable, they are leading from the front. More importantly, they now have their own stories and their own way of telling them. The writer is professor of practice and director, Chitkara University
