'From 60 To Near Zero Days': Emirates Group Cuts Down Hiring Time As AI Helps Streamline Process

Artificial intelligence has helped Emirates Group to cut down the time taken to select a candidate from 60 days to near zero days and saved Dh1.9 million in recruitment costs, according to a senior officer. The technology helped streamline the procedure of hiring, cut down duplication and saved over 1100 days for recruiters.

Manal Al Soori, Senior Vice President of HR Group Recruitment at the company revealed these figures during a session at the Dubai AI Week . She explained that it now takes the firm less time to select candidates because several parts of the recruitment process has been automated, using the software by a company called Hirevue.

Several of the well-performing candidates are moved into a talent pool, who are then recruited when an opening comes up.“For example, I know that starting June, our peak travel season begins and we will need additional check-in agents,” she said.“So, we tap into the talent pool for previously vetted and selected candidates. That is how our selection time has gone down to zero.”

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She also added that last year, the company received 3.2 million job applications, of which roughly 14,000 people were hired.

When a candidate applies to an open post, the system triggers and validates the applicant and a digital assessment is sent to the candidate. Once the assessment is complete, the candidate is put in three tiers: one that will progress, one that will require validation and one that has been rejected.

She explained how the group puts checks and balances in place to ensure that there was no hiring bias.“Recruiters go through the validate and reject tiers to ensure that the clients did not face any hiring or AI bias,” she said.“If they find a suitable candidate who has been rejected, they will move them over to the progress tier.”

The progressed candidates then receive the applicable 'Terms and Conditions' and then share their documents. If they are chosen, they then get an offer letter.

Using the AI process, the company has vetted 333,851 applications so far, from which over 26,000 were shortlisted and 2,500 were given an offer letter. The company has a 65 per cent offer acceptance rate.

Manal illustrated how prior to using technology, the company was losing time and efforts recruiting for similar jobs across the group.“There were four jobs: Emirates airport check in agents, call center agent, Marhaba agents and Dnata customer service agent, all similar to each other with almost identical qualifications,” she said.

She explained that candidates were applying for all four, duplicating the work of recruiters and causing long delays.“We merged all four into one job description to simplify landing for candidates,” she explained.“It immediately improved the quality of the number of applicants we were getting and translated into better candidate as well as recruitment experience.”

This process has helped free up 4 out of 6 recruiters to focus on value-add activities, saving 8849 recruiter hours.

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