In an ever-evolving talent landscape, accelerated by the confluence of Artificial Intelligence, how are organisations using technology to shift from transactional hiring to dynamic talent ecosystems? Can businesses leverage the big shift and tip the scales in their favor by crafting seamless, personalised candidate journeys that influence business growth? The bigger question—How?
“The key to harnessing unstoppable talent depends on engineering an AI-powered talent engine,” said Ankit Aggarwal, Founder & CEO, Unstop, in his recent keynote at the Talent Acquisition Conference hosted by People Matters in Bengaluru this August.
He spoke about a bold shift (that is already underway) in the world of talent—a transformation that, if you are not part of, you are already losing out. Ankit highlighted that talent acquisition is being redefined by three core pillars:
- Talent communities
- Talent velocity
- Talent experience.
“Talent community, talent experience, and talent velocity are going to be crucial to move from reactive hiring to strategic hiring practices,” Ankit pointed out.
For talent leaders, this means that the future of hiring isn’t just about being faster, but also smarter and more human, all at the same time, to ultimately become unstoppable.
FROM WEEKS TO MINUTES: THE ACCELERATION OF TALENT ACQUISITION
Ankit posed a vision, and a bold one at that. We are accustomed to our groceries being delivered within a couple of minutes, so why can’t the same be true for talent acquisition?
“There are certain systemic changes that talent acquisition functions should go through. My vision for that change is this: 30-30-30. A reality where, within 30 minutes, you have 30 relevant candidates within a 30-kilometer radius.”
He believes that this proposition is a near reality with AI and the growing presence of Gen Z in the workforce demographics. And he didn’t stop at posing the idea; he shared a blueprint for the future he envisioned—Unstop.
“If you can do this on any of the platforms, you have already won the race. Imagine the business comes to you. In this world of Blinkit and Swiggy, why can’t I release an offer in 30 minutes?”
This may sound visionary, but isn’t that the beginning to aim for? As per Ankit, if implemented effectively, the resources to progress in this direction already exist at our disposal.
- It all begins with one critical element: the inclusion of Gen Z, a generation that values speed and minimalism in their day-to-day lives.
- The 30-30-30 rule resonates with this demographic, effectively epitomizing everything they hold dear.
“I think with this generation, anything is possible, especially the 30-30-30 vision. Imagine if they receive a push notification for an opening that the company wants to close ASAP, they are highly likely to push out and go for that interview within 10 minutes. Isn’t that the world that we are living in?”
HOW TALENT ACQUISITION IS BEING REWIRED: THE THREE PILLARS
Pillar #1: Talent Community
The Talent Community is the inactive talent pipeline that companies have in their database. There needs to be a shift in the way you nurture this community and engage with them.
One of the most promising ways to do this right is by making use of modern engagement tools, like hackathons, case competitions, hiring challenges, business competency simulation games, and so on. The possibilities are endless!
“If your company has 100,000 candidates engaging your brand by XYZ mediums right now, you need to switch to better mediums like events, hackathons, or courses,” says Ankit.
For instance, there may be a need for immediate upskilling in topics such as FinTech, e-commerce, and supply chain management. These skills can be easily taught through online courses, knowledge sessions with mentors, and masterclasses with industry experts.
Now imagine if your aspirational candidates could access all of this on a single platform. A platform where they get access to everything with a seamless and smooth experience.
- Think booking mentor sessions or masterclass slots with industry leaders is as easy as booking an Uber?
- Or have access to gamified resources like case study competitions, business simulations, ideathons, for everything from jobs and internships to articles and videos?
- See their ranks on leaderboards and push them to strive for the best. All this can have a huge impact on the talent acquisition process.
This is how we need to engage with the community. So that when your company has an opening, the first go-to audience is those who have already engaged with the brand through a multitude of engagement activities—not just static infomercials.
Having this database of knowledge for companies and a pool of possible talent hires that they have impacted through their offerings—connecting the organisation and talent in one platform is a revolutionary move that Ankit wants to realize. Add in the mix, AI-backed automation to all these, and you have a magical recipe for successful hiring, every time.
Pillar #2: Talent Experience
Ankit next refers to what he calls Talent Experience: a seamless and kink-free mechanism that eliminates bad experiences with the aim of improving positive outlook and brand impression.
He highlights three aspects of building the optimum talent experience:
1. Candidates: How many companies can say that their potential hires have access to company offerings, application details, assessments, and communities in one place?
- For those who do, they are already ahead of the curve in the talent acquisition landscape.
- For organisations that don’t, they must create transparent, always-on touchpoints. For example, by building custom company pages & profiles, hosting hackathons, business simulations, quizzes, and more.
- Why? Because companies that don’t ghost candidates are the least likely to be ghosted in return.
- But, how to get this done? By building an AI-powered hiring automation system that not only automates each part of your hiring process, but also takes care of minute details like predicting engagement likelihoods and helps identify candidates aligned with organisational values.
2. Employees: Internal mobility often gets overlooked when thinking of talent acquisition. And that is something that must be corrected. What organisations need is a systemised platform that can translate assessments into learning paths and enable both internal and external hiring to be done seamlessly.
“The parameters or the skills that we judge at an interview die on the interview table itself. That doesn’t even reach the manager,” said Ankit.
3. Recruiters: How can the job of recruiters become easy while maintaining focus and relevance? By utilising a platform that makes the talent acquisition process systematic, keeps all stakeholders informed, and ensures data-driven, technology-enabled efficiency with minimal room for error. This will make the job of hiring managers not only easier but also rewarding.
“I believe that if you can have a platform where the experience takes the front seat and all three aspects are connected, you can completely change the game and come out stronger,” Ankit Aggarwal emphasised.
Pillar #3: Talent Velocity
Finally, community and experience come together to actually build the final piece of the puzzle by creating what Ankit refers to as Talent Velocity.
“In my opinion, if you’re doing the first two, you are automatically building talent velocity. It refers to how soon you can discover and mobilise talent. Logically, the third (talent velocity) is an indirect outcome of working on the first two pillars—of creating the talent community and ensuring that the talent experience is top-notch,” Ankit pointed out.
Talent velocity is defined by how talent is treated and the experience they receive. An organisation’s desirability is shaped not just by internal culture but also by how it engages externally. There are multiple aspects that build on and add to brand identity—How are companies connecting with talent, and what steps are they taking towards creating that community?
“Each one of them is very critical: competition, mentorship, leadership connects, one thing won’t change anything overnight,” says Ankit.
Either way, this connection can only work for organisations if it is sustainable. And at the core of all this, playing the most important role is technology.
ENGINEERING THE FUTURE: TECHNOLOGY IS THE ENABLER
This is what Ankit is working on with Unstop—a new-age AI Hiring Automation Engine. One that uses AI every step of the way. For example, AI screening for identity verification, wherein out of the 10,000 people that apply for an open position, recruiters only see the top 500 mapped by AI on comprehensive skill identification and not merely ATS keywords.
The use of AI and new-age tech has enabled them to bridge a major gap in talent acquisition and build India’s largest communities for early talent via a platform that handles the complete end-to-end hiring journey—from engagement and employer branding to sourcing, screening, and assessing.
“We have already outdone LinkedIn as well as Naukri.com when it comes to early talent, with a community of 26 million, and counting,” says Ankit.
Engineering AI-powered systems in the talent space is not just the future—it is reshaping the present. As Ankit pointed out, organisations can leverage technology at the critical junction of talent acquisition to not only hire the right people but also scale branding, culture, and strategy.
This is how organisations can become unstoppable—by placing themselves at the intersection of human strategy and AI automation.