This AI-based talent acquisition platform helping businesses hire right candidates

Hiring new talent is an inevitable part of any business, and it is more of a complicated process than merely reviewing resumes and conducting interviews. The founder and CEO of TurboHire Technologies Pvt Ltd, Deepak Agarwal, during his tenure as one of the Directors of the Career Advancement Services (placement) team at the Indian School of Business, realised the need for a blend of value and technology in the hiring process.

Founded officially on March 20, 2019, TurboHire headquartered in Hyderabad, deploys Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to contextualize resume information and expedite shortlisting for jobs. In conversation with Bizz Buzz, Agarwal says, “The idea of streamlining the hiring and matching the right talent with the proper role germinated upon many conversations with recruiters and student candidates, who often cited the lack of accuracy as a major problem in the hiring process.”

Throw some light on TurboHire’s present status and its growth…

Our revenue growth has been $0 in 2019, $10K in 2020, $100K in 2021 and $1 million in 2022. Recently, we received a funding of $2 million, which we will deploy to develop our proprietary recruiter bot and achieve our vision of automating 95 per cent of the recruitment process. Additionally, we will be working hard on expanding our global presence, through which we aim to receive 25 per cent of the total revenue in the latter half of the year. Our efforts are poised towards a consistent 20 per cent month-on-month growth rate and building a clientele of businesses with more than 500 employees. We have raised $3 million till date. Our target is to achieve $8 million revenue in 2025. We are looking at closing 2023 at $2 million with an eye on $4 million revenue in 2024.

What is TurboHire’s business model?

TurboHire is a B2B SaaS startup that is currently serving over 150 clients distributed across eight countries. TurboHire, offers four subscription-based pricing tiers: Free, Enterprise, Pro, and Premium ATS. Our targeted consumers are North America, APAC, the Middle East, and the ANZ region, where we currently have a presence. The goal is to prioritise enterprise-level clients with more than 1,000 people as we expand while keeping growth at 20 per cent each month.

What differentiates TurboHire from its competitors?

Two major characteristics that sets TurboHire apart from its competitors are firstly, AI technology that relies on hard-hitting data, but curates human-like insights to fulfill the role with the perfect talent. This meta-data-driven approach yields 15 per cent better results and helps to prevent bias. Secondly, 85 per cent automation in the recruitment process, with AI playing an essential role in the screening process. TurboHire is the only platform with such credentials and, as a result, offers organisations precision while recruiting talent. The team is working hard to achieve 95 per cent automation by the end of 2023, which will help recruiters leverage the ‘TurboMode’ feature. This feature uses a recruiter bot for all operational tasks and empowers recruiters to focus on their more telling tasks.

MNCs vs startups, who are more into investing in the automation of HR?

MNCs have large systems in place and feel the need to add automation to it. We have many clients asking for integration of TurboHire to their existing ERP or cloud solutions like SAP, Oracle and other HRMS platforms. Startups are born in the era of automation. For them adopting technology that can automate the majority of their manual work is a necessity more than an option. If we have to compare, both MNCs and startups are looking to invest heavily in HR automation.

Any new offering in the pipeline?

We are looking at some of the new technologies that could reboot hiring and here are some of them that we will be focusing on in 2023; firstly creating an auto recruiter which will act as an assistant to the recruiter and help fulfill all the day-to-day tasks such as sourcing, interviewing, and going through resumes. Secondly, we are making it both a technology and a business priority to make a process that can be done through phones, where entire information about the candidates can be extracted through WhatsApp. So, WhatsApp communication and consequent engagement will be our focus. Lastly, creating an automated interview process wherein the interview can be automatically scheduled based on the recruiter and candidate’s availability for the interview. Then there is also the creation of an auto job description assistant. There will also be certain predictors added to the platform which will help to predict whether the candidate undergoing the interview will be joining the organisation in the future or not.

What is the size of the HR-Tech industry, and at what rate is its demand growing?

In India the HR-Tech market is currently estimated to be worth around $500 million and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 22 per cent from 2021 to 2026. The market growth is primarily driven by increasing adoption of digital solutions by HR departments to streamline their operations and improve employee engagement and productivity. Globally, the HR-Tech market is estimated to be worth around $22.6 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 11 per cent from 2021 to 2028. The growth is primarily driven by the increasing adoption of cloud-based solutions, automation of HR processes, and the need for data-driven insights to improve employee engagement and productivity.

What is the current trend of hiring in Hyderabad?

Hyderabad (Telangana) and Bengaluru (Karnataka) are the two major IT hubs in the country.

There is a strong presence of other sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, but given the huge presence of the IT industry there is a demand for skilled labour. With all the digitization, the current trend of hiring is on the automation of HR. Many companies have started adopting digital tools and platform to streamline their hiring processes. In terms of hiring trends, Covid-19 had impacted a lot of industries, but IT did not face this issue. The newest financial situation in the US and the latest layoffs has impacted hiring in India. Most of the companies are putting constraints on their expenditures.

The recent placement trend with layoffs taking place…

In the recent years there has been both hiring booms and layoffs being experienced by a lot of organisations. Especially during Covid-19 a lot of organisations were forced to make significant changes in their workforce not just due to decreased demand but also due to economic uncertainty. Change in business strategies, technological advancements, shift in consumer demand and fluctuation in the economy are impacting placements. There have also been layoffs due to mergers, restructuring, acquisitions or changes in leaderships. Despite all of the previous layoffs, the tech companies are now offering competitive salaries and benefits to employees along with a number of opportunities. It is hence seen that hiring in 2023 will only be taking off further on a higher note.

How can employers check on moonlighting and false information provided by a candidate?

Some of the technologies and tools that can track the employees before you hire them are background checks, social media screening and Applicant Tracking Software can be used to automate the hiring process and screen candidates based on their qualifications, skills, and experience. Some ATS platforms also include features for checking references and conducting background checks.

Your take on AI bias in the hiring process…

There have been several cases being reported globally related to AI bias in the hiring process. In India, there have also been concerns raised about the potential for AI bias. With the increasing use of AI-based recruitment platforms, there is a risk that unconscious biases could be embedded in the algorithms or data sets used to train these systems. To avoid these, steps that need to be included are ensuring that the data used to train AI-based recruitment tools is diverse and representative of the population. To ensure that decisions are made fairly, regular auditing and testing of AI-based recruitment tools is need. Providing training to recruiters and hiring managers on how to identify and avoid unconscious bias, using a combination of AI-based recruitment tools and human oversight and finally establishing clear guidelines and policies around the use of AI-based recruitment tools can go a long way in ensuring fair hiring decisions.

In a candidate’s effort to convince an AI bot, does a HR miss out on a candidate that could have otherwise been an asset…

It is completely possible. AI-based tools are designed in such a way that they can evaluate candidates based on a set of predefined criteria. However, there are multiple factors which may influence a candidate’s potential for success in a role which may include their communication skills, creativity, problem solving ability and personality which may not be actively captured by AI bot. In addition, candidates may not present themselves in the most effective way when interacting with an AI bot. Companies need to balance the use of technology with human oversight and expertise to ensure that they are hiring the best possible candidate for their organisation.