'Smile with your eyes': How to beat South Korea's AI hiring bots and land a job

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co

13/01/2020 24:30

* Artificial intelligence rolled out in recruitment by Korea
Inc
    * Facial recognition video tech used to assess some
applicants
    * New challenge for jobseekers amid high youth unemployment
    * Cram schools offering classes in how to handle AI hiring
systems
    * Growing niche for Korea's intensely developed cram school
sector

    By Sangmi Cha
    SEOUL, Jan 13 (Reuters) - In cram school-obsessed South
Korea, students fork out for classes in everything from K-pop
auditions to real estate deals. Now, top Korean firms are
rolling out artificial intelligence in hiring - and jobseekers
want to learn how to beat the bots.
    From his basement office in downtown Gangnam, careers
consultant Park Seong-jung is among those in a growing business
of offering lessons in handling recruitment screening by
computers, not people. Video interviews using facial recognition
technology to analyse character are key, according to Park.  
    "Don't force a smile with your lips," he told students
looking for work in a recent session, one of many he said he has
conducted for hundreds of people. "Smile with your eyes." 
    Classes in dealing with AI in hiring, now being used by
major South Korean conglomerates like SK Innovation  096770.KS 
and Hyundai Engineering & Construction  000720.KS , are still a
tiny niche in the country's multi-billion dollar cram school
industry. But classes are growing fast, operators like Park's
People & People consultancy claim, offering a three-hour package
for up to 100,000 won ($86.26).
    There's good reason to see potential. As many as eight out
of every 10 South Korean students are estimated to have used
cram schools, and rampant youth unemployment in the country -
nearly one in four young people are not in the workforce by
certain measures, according to Statistics Korea - offers a
motive not present in other countries where cram schools are
popular, like Japan.
    "The AI won't be naturally asking personal questions," said
Yoo Wan-jae, a 26-year-old looking for work in the hospitality
industry. "That will make it a bit uncomfortable ... I'll need
to sign up for cram schools for the AI interview," said Yoo,
speaking in Seoul's Noryangjin district, known as 'Exam
Village', packed with cram schools and study rooms.
    
    'FEAR, JOY AND GAMIFICATION'
    Businesses around the world are experimenting with
increasingly advanced AI techniques for whittling down applicant
lists. 
    But Lee Soo-young, a director of Korea Advanced Institute of
Science and Technology (KAIST) Institute for Artificial
Intelligence, told Reuters by telephone the new technology is
being more widely embraced in South Korea, where large employers
wield much influence in a tightening job market.
    According to Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI),
nearly a quarter of the top 131 corporations in the country
currently use or plan to use AI in hiring.
    One AI video system reviewed by Reuters asks candidates to
introduce themselves, during which it spots and counts facial
expressions including 'fear' and 'joy' and analyses word
choices. It then asks questions that can be tough: "You are on a
business trip with your boss and you spot him using the company
(credit) card to buy himself a gift. What will you say?"
    AI hiring also uses 'gamification' to gauge a candidate's
personality and adaptability by putting them through a sequence
of tests.
    "Through gamification, employers can check 37 different
capabilities of an applicant and how well the person fits into a
position," said Chris Jung, a chief manager of software firm
Midas IT in Pangyo, a tech hub dubbed South Korea's Silicon
Valley.
    Preparing for such tests doesn't necessarily involve simply
memorising answers. "Some games don't even have a 'right
answer', as they are aimed to spot the problem-solving attitude
of the applicant," Jung said.
    
    'HOPELESS'
    At People & People, consultant Park said he gave AI hiring
talks to over 700 university students, graduates and lecturers
in 2019.
    "Students are struggling from the emergence of AI
interviews. My goal is to help them be fully prepared for what
they will be dealing with," said Park.
    In an online chat room monitored by Park, with more than 600
participants, numerous messages indicate thanks for the classes
and success in AI interview quests. 
    But elsewhere, some who haven't yet taken lessons have
already given up.
    Kim Seok-wu, a 22-year-old senior at a top university,
recently failed to get beyond an AI interview for a management
position at a retail company, and decided to pursue graduate
school instead of trying to find a job. 
    "I think I will feel hopeless if all companies go AI for
hiring," Kim said. "The AI interview is too new, so job
applicants don't know what to prepare for and any preparations
seem meaningless since the AI will read our faces if we make
something up." 

($1 = 1,168.6900 won)

 (Reporting by Sangmi Cha; Editing by Jack Kim, Josh Smith and
Kenneth Maxwell)
 ((Sangmi.Cha@thomsonreuters.com; +82 2 3704 5646; Reuters
Messaging: sangmi.cha.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))