The Unpause Campaign: AI’s Role in Empowering Women Seeking Career Comebacks

To celebrate Women’s Day 2023, a small finance bank launched a new diversity initiative to support women returning to the workforce after career breaks. Their campaign went viral on social media, attracting a vast number of applicants.

AI Collaboration Enhances Recruitment

The bank was inundated with applications from women eager to reignite their careers, resulting in a massive resumé database that their Talent Assessment (TA) team found difficult to process. In collaboration with the bank’s TA team, Babblebots.ai designed a customised AI-Recruiter exploratory interview specifically for this initiative.

Key Insights And Benefits To The Bank

The automated screening process began on 25th Oct 2023. The results were immediate and impactful. Within 5 days, 100+ candidates ranging from fresh graduates to seasoned professionals completed their interviews with Babblebots.ai’s AI-Recruiter Tina.

After analysing the data uncovered through the interview, the bank’s TA team was able to discover important details about the applicants like-

• The initiative mainly attracted mid-career professionals, which aligns with its goal to help women who may have put their careers on hold for parenthood.
• Candidates interviewed had diverse career backgrounds, with the majority of the applicants being from the BFSI domain. The most desired roles were in Banking and Financial Services, followed by Operations and Administration. This was a significant advantage for the bank because before the interviews they were unable to assess the calibre of applicants who had responded.
• ~40% of the candidates reported career breaks. This was particularly true for those who took maternity leave before the advent of COVID, as the pandemic exacerbated job losses. The bank was also able to uncover that candidates took breaks to pursue higher studies or look after ailing family members.
• ~70% expected salaries up to 10 lakhs, which substantially increased the bank’s qualified candidate funnel for entry and mid-career roles.
• Surprisingly, ~85% of the applicants were open to work-related travel. This data suggests that the bank has access to a diverse and flexible talent pool willing to embrace new opportunities.

Connecting To A Potential Workforce

The main outcomes of the initiative included:

• Tina enabled the bank to access an untapped workforce at the top of the hiring funnel.
• The AI was able to uncover the ambitions and motivations of each of the applicants.
• Tina, in a matter of few days, connected with hundreds of candidates autonomously and assessed their skills and preferences.
• The velocity of the campaign is readily apparent. Tasks that could have taken months to complete manually were accomplished in just a few days, demonstrating the effectiveness of using Babblebots.ai for the bank’s recruitment needs.

In conclusion, this small finance bank’s Women’s Day 2023 diversity initiative has demonstrated how AI can help customers unlock new pools of diverse talent in a cost-effective and swift manner. Many of these women who were interviewed, would not have had a chance otherwise to speak to anyone at the bank due to scheduling and bandwidth issues. The campaign not only highlighted the importance of inclusivity in the workplace but also showcased the transformative power of AI in modern recruitment. By embracing both diversity and technology, the bank has paved the way for a more inclusive and dynamic future in the workplace.