Author: Paul Sawers / Source: VentureBeat
The workforce crisis is looming, a situation that could hit the global economy to the tune of $10 trillion, according to some studies. The crux of the problem relates to a mismatch between supply and demand, with some economies facing a workforce shortage and others a surplus.
“An equilibrium in supply and demand is rapidly becoming the exception, not the norm,” a report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) noted. “Between 2020 and 2030, we project significant worldwide labor-force imbalances — shortfalls, in particular. One significant implication is the potential aggregate value of GDP squandered, because either these nations cannot fill the jobs available or they cannot create enough jobs for the workers they have.”
On the other side of the fence, artificial intelligence (AI) is also increasingly encroaching on the workforce, with up to 800 million people potentially displaced by automation by 2030, according to a recent McKinsey report.
Put simply, a lot of change is afoot in the world of employment.
AI upstart
Against that backdrop, a number of startups have emerged from the shadows to try to fix the impending workforce headache. Venture capitalists (VCs) have taken note, plowing millions of dollars into myriad recruitment-focused startups.
One such startup is Fetcher, which relaunched this week with a brand new name after rolling out last year under the name Scout.
The underlying problem that Fetcher is looking to fix is this: Highly skilled, in-demand employees are less inclined to be on the hunt for new jobs, which is a problem for companies seeking top talent.
Headhunting is an age-old tactic, of course, but it can be very time-consuming and resource-intensive, which is why Fetcher is using artificial intelligence (AI) to automate the process of sourcing potential candidates, with humans on hand to help with the process. The company claims that its automation offers its clients a 10-fold cost advantage over using an in-house sourcer, or a 20-fold advantage compared to a recruitment agency.Fetcher searches for qualified personnel through all the usual professional networks, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, GitHub, and so on, establishing the best way of contacting them. This information is actually put into its own database which, it told VentureBeat, currently holds 100 million candidates that grows and refreshes over time.
Fetcher also integrates with Slack so companies can collaborate and discuss prospective candidates as part of their daily workflow.
The platform correlates keywords and skills to determine likely skill sets that might not be listed specifically on candidates’ online profile. One example Fetcher provided VentureBeat: A software engineer who is knowledgeable in CSS is more than likely to be proficient in HTML and front-end development, too, even if they don’t specifically mention that.
Fetcher also searches for hiring patterns at other companies to establish insights that may be difficult for a human recruiter to identify. The platform analyzes the backgrounds of its clients’ existing employees to find patterns around education, professional backgrounds, skills, and so on, so it can find people of a similar ilk elsewhere.
Fetcher then composes “personalized” emails for these candidates automatically, using data that it said is “proven to convert well in a recruiting email.” This includes describing the recruiting company, giving reasons why it has reached out to that person, and what impact that person will have on their own career and on the recruiting company. Here is one example that Fetcher used recently with one of its own internal hires:
However, recruiters can tweak and fine-tune the text, too.
While AI plays a large part in sourcing the candidates, humans are very much involved too — they check over the identified candidates to make sure everything looks OK, removing any unsuitable individuals that may have crept in. Fetcher then shares the best candidate profiles in small batches at a time, using feedback from the client to improve the AI…
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