Cutting Costs and Saving Time – The Impact of AI Interviews on Global Hiring

The globalization of the business environment has enhanced the trend of seeking talent from anywhere in the world. Overall, more SMBs are establishing international teams. The survey by Gusto revealed that 75% of SMBs had intentions of expanding their international employee headcount, and 54% of the SMBs stated that they have plans to add both international and U. S. employee headcount in the next 1 to 3 years.
Talent acquisition in the global market is vital for the execution of SMBs’ plans and can reduce costs as it covers a shortage of talent. According to the data as of July 2023, there were 4 jobs available for every unemployed person in the U. S. With talent scarcity continuing and many employers resorting to increasing wages, SMBs are looking at international employees for the assistance they require – 86 percent stated that they are hiring international talent in order to keep expenses down. In the same survey, 58% of the respondents argued that they are sourcing employees internationally due to a scarcity of candidates in the United States.
Slightly more than half of the SMBs interviewed claimed that they are in search of international employees because it would enable them to address new markets more effectively with the help of insider employees.
It was revealed that more SMBs are hiring independent contractors from overseas, and many of them are keen on converting them into permanent staff. Slightly more than half, or 49%, of SMBs indicated that they hope to hire international contractors as full-time workers.
However, recruitment of global talent poses various challenges including conducting interviews at different times, in different languages, and even ensuring that the evaluators assess candidates in a uniform way and that the process is efficient.
The emergence of AI interviews has provided a relatively new solution to these issues. This is where conversational AI comes into play as it helps companies conduct lightning-quick and cost-effective global recruitment to a high standard.

The Rise of AI Interviews in International Hiring

Integration of conversational Artificial Intelligence in recruitment has been quite a revolution. AI interview tools like PreScreen AI use sophisticated algorithms and machine learning to have tailored conversations with the candidates in chat or voice and evaluate their technical and interpersonal skills as well as their fit for the position.
The use of AI interviews has been observed to be on the rise due to the push for effective recruitment that is also scalable. As per a industry statistics, about 60% of organizations are likely to implement AI in the process of recruitment by 2025, and roughly half of them will prioritize the use of AI for interviews. The popularity of AI interviews in international hiring is growing because they help in assessing candidates in a fair and standardized approach across various geographies and without regard to the candidate’s background.
The firms employing AI for recruitment practices have been able to experience a 20% enhancement in hiring (Gartner, 2022). Moreover, studies conducted by Harvard Business Review in 2023 revealed that AI decreases hiring bias by 45% and a study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research in 2022 estimates that the AI interviews enhance diversity by 30%.

Benefits of Using AI Interviews in International Hiring

There are several major benefits of using AI interviews in international hiring.
First of all, AI candidate intreviewing provides firms with such unique advantages as the opportunity to assess a massive number of applicants at once and this could be done regardless of their location. Such a system minimizes the chances of talents going unnoticed and, at the same time, maximizes the chances of reaching the right talents within the shortest time possible.
Also, AI interviews are useful to collect useful and relevant data and improve the recruitment process. By analyzing the text of candidates’ answers, facial expressions, and other nonverbal signals, AI systems can recognize patterns and tendencies, helping recruiters to improve the criteria for their assessment and make decisions in staffing.
McKinsey report (2023) on artificial intelligence and its use in recruitment reveals that in organizations that use AI in their recruitment processes, the time spent on screening a candidate was reduced by 60% and the costs reduced by 50%. Also, another study by Deloitte (2022) revealed that AI solutions in recruitment lead to a 40% increase in candidate experience.

How AI Interviews Streamline the Recruitment Process

The integration of AI interviews in international hiring streamlines various stages of the recruitment cycle, resulting in more efficient and cost-effective global recruitment processes. Here’s how AI candidate interviewing adds value:

Automated Initial Screening

AI algorithms can easily go through the answers of the candidates and filter out the best candidates and those who possess the required technical skills and organizational culture. This first sift is often done mechanically, which proves to be very useful for the recruiters and spares them a lot of work.

Scheduling and Coordination

AI interviews are held seamlessly across multiple time zones, minimizing logistical challenges and reducing the administrative burden on recruiters. Automated interview scheduling saves recruiters an average of 10 hours per week (HackerRank, 2022).

Consistent Evaluation Criteria

AI works with a clear set of rules for candidate assessment which cannot be influenced by any bias, thus making the assessment process free from any prejudices. A study by the International Journal of Selection and Assessment (2023) established that AI-based assessments are 25% more reliable than traditional human assessments.

Candidate Insights

AI algorithms can analyze candidate responses, body language, and other behavioral cues, providing valuable insights into their personality traits, communication skills, and overall fit for the role. These insights help in predicting candidate success with an accuracy of up to 85% (IBM, 2022).

Candidate Experience

AI interviews in international hiring also provide flexibility to candidates for presenting themselves and their credentials and prove useful in having a positive candidate experience. This may improve the employer brand of an organization and help attract the best talents to the company.

Comparing Cost and Time Efficiency: Human-Led Virtual Interviews vs. AI Interviews

Cost Efficiency

Human-Led Virtual Interviews

Human-led virtual interviews are somewhat cheaper than face-to-face interviews as they do not require traveling and accommodation. However, they are not free from some costs since they require human interviewers, coordination, and scheduling.

Interviewers’ Time

In the case that these interviews are conducted by human interviewers, time has to be factored in and this amounts to a lot of time if follow-up interviews are conducted. The hourly rate for a hiring manager or HR professional can vary between $50-$100.

Scheduling and Coordination

The scheduling of interviews when conducted manually may be a tiresome process especially where the interviewees are in different time zones. This process may require the services of an administrator and additional costs.

Technology and Platform Fees

Still, these interviews may need the use of licensed video conferencing platforms which are normally charged on a monthly basis.
Forbes (2022) in a study concluded that it costs on average $3,000 to hire through human-led virtual interviews.

AI Interviews

AI interviews cut costs drastically since it is a way of partially automating the process of recruitment. AI has a great effect of eliminating the need to hire persons for the sole task of interviewing and administration, which is cost-effective.

• Automation. Thanks to artificial intelligence, it can perform the first filtering, the invitation to interviews, and the assessment of the candidates.
• Scalability. AI can do many interviews at once and without extra charges while human interviewers are restricted by time.
• One-time investment. AI recruitment platforms have initially set up fees and then a recurrent daily cost that is comparatively much lower than the total amount paid to human interviewers daily.

A case study by PwC (2023) showed that companies using AI interviews saw a 67% reduction in hiring costs and a 45% decrease in time-to-hire, highlighting the significant efficiencies gained through AI adoption.

Time Efficiency

Human-Led Virtual Interviews

Compared to an actual face-to-face interview, human-led virtual interviews are more efficient, yet still suffer from human-centred drawbacks.

• Scheduling delays. Scheduling becomes an issue when coordinating between candidates and interviewers and more so when the parties are in different time zones.
• Interview duration. Human interviews are also longer because of the introduction, explanation and general tendency of the human recruiter to evaluate the situation in his/her subjective manner.
• Processing time. One weakness is that there tends to be a time lag when it comes to the feedback or interviews, and then decisions being made. According to Glassdoor (2022), The average time-to-hire for human-led virtual interviews is roughly 45 days.

AI Interviews

AI interviews are extremely helpful in saving time as a number of phases of the hiring process are eliminated.

• Automated scheduling. AI tools can also schedule interviews at the most convenient time and do not involve a lot of to-and-fro correspondences.
• Concurrent interviews. AI does a lot of interviews simultaneously, which increases production speed significantly.
• Immediate analysis. As compared to face-to-face interviews, AI saves time in analyzing the candidate’s responses and behavior which in turn saves time in decision-making.

Using the AI interviews, the average time to hire is about 30 days from a survey carried out by Deloitte in 2022 which shows that it is a third faster than when people conduct virtual interviews.

Final Thoughts

With the globalization process being gradually intensified, the requirements for efficient and cost-effective global recruitment are more important than ever. AI interviews in international hiring are promising to revolutionize the candidate’s assessment and the entire recruiting process.
Using AI interviews in international hiring can help cut down geographical limitations, increase the company’s and employees’ diversity, and maintain neutrality in the selection process in regard to applicants from all over the world. The advantages of using AI candidate interviewing cannot be in doubt, it makes it possible for organizations to save costs and time in the process of staffing while at the same time being able to compete for the scarce talent in the market.
When it comes to the future of AI interviews in international hiring, the possibilities are almost endless. As more companies seek sustainable and cost-effective global recruitment means, the use of artificial intelligence will become the new standard of how organizations attract and acquire talent around the world.
Maximize the potential of your international recruitment strategies through the use of our advanced AI interviewing solution. Get in touch with us to discover how we can help you find the best candidates for your job opening from the global talent pool at reduced costs. Who wouldn’t want to tap into a completely new way of finding and securing the best talent in the global talent market?