Meet Anders Örnhed, who was interviewed by Tengai when he applied to the position Digital Coordinator at the Swedish municipality Upplands-Bro. In October 2019 it was official that Tengai had been a part of a successful recruitment process and Anders was offered the job and accepted.
As a digital coordinator at the Upplands-Bro municipality, the main responsibility is to facilitate the digitalization journey that all parts of the municipality are going through. But how did it feel to be the first person in the world who was hired with the help of a social AI-robot? We sat down with Anders and asked him some questions.
5 q’s with Anders Örnhed, the first person to be hired after a robot-led interview:
1. What intrigued you to apply to the position? What did you think about the robot interview when you applied?
It was the challenge to be a digital coordinator for a whole municipality. I definitely reacted to the fact that an interview robot would be integrated into the process, but I didn’t really think more about it at that stage. It was mainly the position that was interesting to me.
2. How did you prepare before the interview with Tengai?
I tried visualizing how it would act. First, I thought about the movie “I, Robot” with Will Smith. But then I googled Tengai and learned that my movie reference didn’t match reality. After learning some more about the robot, I still felt kind of unsure, but at the same time very excited!
3. How was the actual interview? What’s the difference if you compare to an interview with a human recruiter?
It was very different. It’s a completely new interface, so you have to expect a certain test- and trial period to be completely convinced. But the interface was really easy to use because she (Tengai) worked perfectly, without any technical problems. Everything ran smoothly and as planned, or at least during my interview.
“With Tengai you don’t have to spend unnecessary energy on being social. You don’t have to be nice or act in any special way, and instead, you can focus on the actual interview.”
4. What advice would you give other candidates who will be interviewed by Tengai?
Google and get information about the robot was really helpful to me. If you only hear the word “robot” you might associate it to robots you’ve seen in the movies, but that isn’t accurate. Otherwise, I would give the same advice as if it was a “regular” interview. Which is to prepare and relax!
5. Would you recommend other companies and organizations to use a social interview robot during their recruitment processes?
Well now I might be biased, but I think it should be a no-brainer to include Tengai in recruitment processes. It might not be for all processes, but I think it worked really great during TNG’s recruitment at Upplands-Bro. Both to ensure unbiased and fair recruitment, but also attract more candidates. And through that get better and more competent applicants for the first-selection.