Drinking our Own Champagne: How micro1 uses AI Interviewer

micro1 has been successfully matching software engineers with startups and established firms for years, but, oh boy, have we seen a storm of changes in our world lately! The applications are coming in in vast amounts after Big Tech lay-offs. The demands of tech roles are getting more and more complex due to new technologies disrupting ways of working like never before. And everything accelerates like crazy.

We lacked technology to help us navigate the changes.

The Old Ways: Mountains Of Resumes and Guesswork

Here’s what we knew:

• We needed a more nuanced approach to candidate assessment.
  Gone were the days when we'd scan resumes and nod at degrees. Now, it's all about skills that can't be summed up in bullet points!
• We needed a more sophisticated, data-enriched, fast, and customizable vetting tool.
  With a tech scene exploding with talent worldwide and a work-from-home revolution, we needed something more than just good instincts and a stack of CVs.
• We haven’t found a tool to match our requirements.
  We were finding tools that either intimidated candidates with lengthy processes or failed to provide in-depth insights because they were limited to a predefined template that could not take into account the challenges of tomorrow.
• We needed to shake things up.
  The tech scene's buzzing with talent, and we wanted to tap into that - it was time to ditch the guesswork and bring in something that could keep up with the pace. Something that could look beyond the ink on the resume and see the real person behind it.

The Aha Moment: Creation of AI Interviewer

We didn't find a tool; we built one.

AI Interviewer was our answer to a world where AI-driven tools were cutting through hiring clutter like a hot knife through butter​​. This wasn't just about efficiency; it was about transforming how we connected with candidates.

After we’ve started using AI Interviewer our technical interview success rate has grown by 37% for candidates that had high scores compared to those who had lower scores.

micro1’s Method

Candidate’s experience is a thing

Candidates' experience is a critical factor, especially if you deal with the highly skilled and demanding engineers like we do.

Unlike typical assessment tools that often feel like endless interrogations, we’ve built AI Interviewer to offer a concise, engaging interaction, focusing on skills and personality traits rather than just ticking boxes on a resume. We wanted it to be an experience that feels more like a conversation and less like a test, putting candidates at ease and providing a more authentic assessment of their abilities and fit for the role.

We wanted it to be an experience they wanted to share with their professional network.

Skills Over Degrees

With a landscape shifting towards skill-based hiring, we needed to see beyond titles and degrees. We know humans are limited - we can't be experts in every technological field we need to hire people for. By leveraging AI, we ensure that a candidate's skill mix is evaluated not just accurately, but also in context with the latest industry standards.

Recruiters powered by AI, not the other way around

At the same time, we did not want a machine to determine a candidate’s fate. Therefore, there is no concept of “passing” or “failing” in AI Interviewer.

The objective is to provide employers with a comprehensive view by offering more data supplementing the candidate’s resume, LinkedIn profile, portfolio, and other relevant data points. Each run generates an AI-powered report diving deep into the applicants' technical know-how, beautifully complemented by an audio snippet that adds a personal dimension to the review process.

This allows for numerous ways to customize the hiring process ensuring high-level personalization.

Crafting Personalized Journeys

It wasn't enough for us to just assess skills. Personalization for candidates and employers became our mantra.

We are now able to test candidates on a unique combination of skills, which otherwise would require multiple tests and interviews with various experts from the hiring company, significantly inflating the cost and time of the hiring process. AI Interviewer streamlines this by generating unique questions for each candidate accurately assessing a wide range of truly diverse skills in a single, efficient session reducing hiring costs and providing comprehensive evaluation of each candidate's capabilities.

More Data At The Right Time

At micro1, our process means balance between efficiency and a personalized approach:

• For the most seasoned roles, a quick 15-minute chat comes first as a preliminary handshake. We get a sense of the person behind the resume before they demonstrate their technical prowess through AI Interviewer.
• For other roles, applicants start their journey with us via AI Interviewer, making their first impression with code and answers rather than handshakes. They're then followed up with a recruitment screening that digs a little deeper.
• Some of our customers incorporate the assessment link directly into their LinkedIn job postings.
• Others opt to extend an invite after a promising interaction.

The opportunities are endless and it’s you who decide where you need that additional data to come in.

A Revolution in Recruitment

With AI Interviewer, our world turned upside down – in the best way. We can now tap into a global talent pool, making geographical limits a thing of the past​​. Our interviews became more about discovering potential than ticking boxes.

We've become wizards riding the wave of change, ready for whatever the future of recruitment holds.