Leading companies in Korea use AI to recruit employees and netizens to find ways to cope

In a country that is obsessed with cramming like South Korea, there are countless preparation classes for everything you can think of, from applying to K-pop groups, to how to sign new real estate contract bargain. And as top companies in the country are starting to deploy artificial intelligence in recruitment, the Korean online community also wants to learn how to bypass those emotionless bots.

From a proficient office in Gangnam, career consultant Park Seong-jung runs a company that is currently very hot: providing training courses on case management in job interviews. made by computers, not humans. According to Park, the key here is that interviews use facial recognition technology to analyze personality.

" Don't make a forced smile through your mouth," he told students looking for work during a study session. " Smile with your eyes".

Park said it was just one of the many sessions he held, involving hundreds of people.

Classes to deal with AI in recruiting, which are being implemented at big corporations in Korea such as SK Innovation and Hyundai Engineering & Construction, account for only a very small part of the billion-dollar training industry. USD of this country. But these classes are becoming more and more popular - as judged by institutional companies, such as Park's People & People consulting firm - for up to $ 86.26 for a 3-hour session. .

Of course, they have reason to think so. For every 10 Korean students, 8 are thought to have taken cram classes, and unemployment is rampant among the country's young labor force - an estimated 1 in 4 Children do not participate in any work environment - creating a great motivation that even countries with extremely popular exam preparation schools like Japan do not exist.

" AI won't naturally ask personal questions," said Yoo Wan-jae, a 26-year-old employee who is looking for a job in the hospitality industry. " That makes it a bit uncomfortable . I probably need to sign up for AI interview preparation classes," Yoo said while searching for a school in Seoul's Noryangjin district, known for its name. called "Exam preparation village" because there are countless exam preparation schools and examination rooms.

Kim Seok-wu, a student of management, is rehearsing an interview with AI

Fear, joy, and "game play"

Businesses around the world are experimenting with advanced AI techniques to help pick elite candidates from the job list.

But Lee Soo-young, director of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the Institute of Artificial Intelligence, said the new technology is being implemented even more widely in Korea, where the Big hiring has a very profound influence in the job market which is increasingly tight.

According to the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), nearly a quarter of the country's top 131 corporations currently use or plan to use AI in recruitment.

An AI video system will ask candidates to introduce themselves, in the process of "scrutinizing" and counting the number of facial expressions, including "fear" and "delight", and analysis. how to choose words. It will then ask questions that may be difficult, such as: " You are traveling with your boss and find out he used a company credit card to buy his own gifts. What would you say?"

Recruitment AI also uses a "game-play" tactic to assess a candidate's personality and adaptability through putting them on a series of consecutive tests.

" Through game play, employers can test 37 different possibilities of a recruiting participant, and how that person will fit into a position" - Chris Jung, Director of Public Management software company Midas IT in Pangyu, a technology center like the Silicon Valley of Korea.

Preparing for such tests does not necessarily just include questions that require memory. " Some games do not even have the right answer." Some games do not care about the correct answer, because they are aimed at identifying the problem solving attitude of the applicant "- Jung to speak.

Hopeless

At People & People, consultant Park said he trained AI interviews for more than 700 undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty, in 2019.

" Students are having a hard time because of the appearance of AI interviews. My goal is to help them be fully prepared for what they are about to face," Park said.

In an online chat room supervised by Park, with more than 600 participants, there were many messages of thanks for the classes and news reports that were successful in AI interviews.

But in many places, people who have never been to classes like this, give up soon.

Kim Seok-wu, a 22-year-old student at a prestigious university, recently failed to surpass AI in an interview to apply for a management position at a retail company, and made a decision that he would go to master's degree instead of looking for a job.

" I think I would feel hopeless if every company uses AI in recruitment," Kim said. " Interview with AI is still new, so candidates don't know what to prepare and everything seems meaningless because AI will read our faces if we pretend."

Reference: Reuters