GM's automated recruiting goal: From 60 days to 60 minutes
General Motors is using an AI-enabled chatbot to handle tedious work in vetting candidates for recruiters. A big assist comes from automated scheduling.
ORLANDO, Fla. -- General Motors is using automation and AI to streamline its recruiting process. The company has benefited from recruiting automation tools that schedule interviews with job candidates, drastically reducing scheduling times. However, its most significant shift is automating the hiring process for roles that don't require interviews.
GM is planning to reduce its hiring time for these hourly workers from 60 days to as little as 60 minutes. The roles are transactional, allowing the system to automatically process qualified candidates for hiring without interviews. While automation handles many routine tasks, recruiters remain involved in the final steps, such as approving offers and coordinating background checks.
The company uses Paradox's AI tools, including for the development of a virtual assistant, to improve the candidate experience. GM's chatbot is named EV-e (pronounced "Evie") and reflects its shift toward electric vehicle production.
Kovalsky said scheduling interviews used to take five to seven days. But by automating the process, it now takes about 16 minutes. This change allowed GM to reduce its contractor workforce that handles scheduling tasks by about 80%, with the remaining 20% needed to manage exceptions.
The EV-e chatbot, which serves as the virtual assistant on GM's career site, answers candidate questions as well as handles the pre-screening and scheduling processes, allowing candidates to schedule interviews almost immediately.
"We're completing the interviews in less time than it used to take them to schedule, which is pretty incredible," Kovalsky said. GM is also using video interviews in some countries, reducing the hiring time.
Initially, recruiters were skeptical about the automation, Kovalsky said. But after seeing the time saved on the repetitive task of coordinating interviews, recruiters were pleased, she added.
We're completing the interviews in less time than it used to take them to schedule.
Eileen KovalskyGlobal head of candidate experience, General Motors
GM's next step is recruiting automation for hourly jobs that don't require interviews.
Hiring hourly workers has been time-consuming, taking as long as 60 days, Kovalsky said. GM receives thousands of applications for hourly roles, with each application requiring a manual review by recruiters. However, with its planned recruiting automation rollout, EV-e will conduct the pre-screening of candidates. After that, a recruiter will step in to review and approve the final stages, which includes issuing the offer letter after a background check.
GM is not eliminating its recruiters. Kovalsky emphasized that automation will free recruiters to focus on strategic tasks and give them more time to work with managers across the business.
It's still uncertain how much human work recruiting automation can take on. Helen Poitevin, a Gartner analyst, believes the type of automation that could replace recruiters is still five to 10 years away.
However, Poitevin warned of potential challenges, such as a possible backlash if "people don't trust the bots at all," she said. "Maybe we're overly optimistic," she added.
Patrick Thibodeau is an editor at large for TechTarget Editorial who covers HCM and ERP technologies. He's worked for more than two decades as an enterprise IT reporter.
