Thoughts on Chatbots

At Njoyn, we want to enable recruiters and job applicants to work the way they want to. That’s why we investigate emerging technologies like chatbots that make interactions easier. Here’s a sneak peek at something we’re developing that could change how human resources professionals and job candidates interact.

The voice behind the curtain

Visit an e-commerce website today and you’ll probably be prompted to ask questions using an online chat tool. The same thing happens on many customer support websites.
What you might not realize is that the first few questions you ask might be answered by a chatbot, a computer program designed to conduct conversation with a person using speech or text. Depending on your answers, chatbots can:

• perform routine tasks, like scheduling appointments.
• direct you to the right people in an organization for further assistance.

The business case for chatbots

Expert consensus claims the business case appears solid. Chatbots Magazine claims businesses can reduce customer service costs by up to 30 per cent by implementing conversational solutions like virtual agents and chatbots. Juniper Research figures chatbots will cut four minutes, on average, from customer enquiries when compared with traditional call centres.
In a recent survey by Allegis:

• about 57 per cent of candidates were comfortable interacting with AI and recruitment chatbots in the early stages of the application process.
• 66 per cent were comfortable with AI and chatbots arranging interview scheduling and preparation.

Chatbots are always on and they can handle more requests than people do. In other words, they are a cost-effective way to improve responsiveness to people who use online systems.

How chatbots can help Njoyn customers

Based on what you read above, you won’t be surprised to hear that we’re testing chatbots. (We call them enterprise intelligent virtual assistants, or EIVAs.)
Like sales or support websites, chatbots are a perfect fit for Njoyn’s recruitment management solution:

• Njoyn already helps our customers “sell” their company to candidates. Chatbots raise the bar even higher. They respond fast, are always available, can route customers to people in the right departments and can set expectations for responses. Show job applicants that kind of quick, efficient, automated up-front service and you create a positive first impression that’s not common enough among employers.
• Njoyn also supports candidates through the application process. Chatbots can direct candidates through this and other recruiting processes more efficiently than a standard web interface.

The Njoyn chatbot prototype

That’s right. Njoyn is developing its own chatbot prototype. What can – and could – it do? The short answer: just about anything people already use Njoyn to do.
Here’s a short list of possibilities:

• It can ask for a person’s email address.
• It can request and confirm upload of resumes.
• It can offer locations for an open position.
• It can handle increasing numbers of both open positions and applications to those positons.
• It can offer interview times to candidates.

Njoyn clients may soon front-load questions in a chatbot to quickly capture candidate data. Candidates, for their part, can text their answers or treat the chatbot like the voice assistant on their phones.
The chatbot may also serve recruiters. For instance, a hiring manager may ask the chatbot for a report of all positions opened over the last six weeks.

Why develop a chatbot in-house?

We could licence a generic chatbot, but we’re leaning towards using the one we’re working on. When we thought it through, we realized we want to:

• build machine learning into our chatbot.
• customize performance for recruiting and omit other fields (for the weather and sports scores, applicants will need to ask their phones)
• make it work seamlessly with Njoyn – no extra configuration when a new client integrates Njoyn in its operations
• safeguard customer data, especially for customers who need to comply with Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Conclusions

Work on our chatbot is ongoing. It isn’t yet ready for prime time, but we’re excited by what our developers have shown us so far. We’re excited not just because the technology is cool and makes sense. The chatbot supports our clients’ goals: to make it easier to find the talent they need.
Chat is already widespread technology. It’s here to stay. Job applicants are comfortable working with chatbots. They help our clients welcome candidates to their organizations.

Want to know more? We’d be happy to “chat” with you. Drop us a line.