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AI Case Study

BuzzFeed attracts more suitable job candidates through recruitment response automation using uses IBM Watson and Uncubed

BuzzFeed is working with recruitment platform vendor Uncubed to provide video answers to questions candidates have regarding the company and roles during the application process, automating the responses via chatbot and allowing candidates to be better self-selecting.

Industry

Consumer Goods And Services

Media And Publishing

Project Overview

"To achieve its goals, BuzzFeed is working with its strategic partner Uncubed to pilot an innovative solution based on IBM Watson Candidate Assistant... the solution engages candidates in personalized career discussions and recommends positions that fit them best. Working together with BuzzFeed and IBM, Uncubed trained IBM Watson Candidate Assistant to interact with questions from its community. Today, prospective applicants can type questions about working at BuzzFeed into the chatbot, and receive real-time answers in the form of text, videos and links to open positions on the Uncubed site.

Rather than deliver a basic chatbot interaction in which people type questions in text and receive text back in response, we were keen to deliver an experience that was more compelling and dynamic. If a customer asks a question about a topic we’ve already covered in one of our videos with BuzzFeed, IBM Watson Candidate Assistant serves that content up directly into the chat session. And if the solution identifies a candidate who’s likely to be a good fit for an open position, it proactively encourages them to apply right away.

Knowing the kinds of questions that people are asking IBM Watson Candidate Assistant is also valuable to our team, as it highlights areas where we might need to provide more information to candidates. If we see that there are frequent questions around topics such as: ‘What’s BuzzFeed’s parental leave policy?’ or ‘What’s the office culture like at BuzzFeed?’, we can build out the relevant pages on our site to better address them.”

Reported Results

Results undisclosed: "Uncubed has the ability to surface information that helps prospective applicants decide whether one of our roles is the right fit for their skills and experience. We believe that enabling applicants to evaluate if a role is truly right for them at this early stage will help our talent managers spend less time screening out candidates and more time reviewing top-performers whose skills are closely aligned to the position. The more time we spend on value-added assessment activities, the lower the risk of mis-hires and attrition, so we’re very excited about the solution’s potential."

Technology

Function

Human Resources

Recruitment

Background

"With application volumes increasing year on year, BuzzFeed saw an opportunity to boost the efficiency of its recruitment processes. 'Some of our most sought-after roles attract hundreds of applications per day for several days after we post them—and with such large talent pipelines, pinpointing the top performers is often a tough challenge for our hiring managers. To empower our talent managers to spend less time on screening and more time on higher-value activities, we want to encourage people with the right skills, experience and passion to apply for each role—and more effectively redirect candidates who don’t meet those specific criteria early in the recruitment process.' "

Benefits

Data

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