Experts believe that the so-called "Fourth Industrial Revolution" will cause the loss of 7 million jobs in Mexico that will be replaced by software over the next 15 years. Recruitment startup Apli wants to get them back, covering millions of work days that are currently wasted by not finding staff quickly.
Apli achieves skilled workers in less than 24 hours, 300 times faster than a traditional process that takes an average of 54 days. At Apli, an artificial intelligence model searches for the best candidates on a 30,000-person basis with 500 data per candidate. Candidates are contacted by a chat robot on their cell phone, managing to cover most requests in 4 hours. The potential market in Mexico for this line of business is 1,000 million working days lost per year due to turnover and absenteeism, equivalent to 3.5 million people working full time.
In the first year since its launch, Apli has landed 5,000 jobs for 1,000 people and 300 paying clients. The average income of the candidates in Apli is 400 pesos per shift, 5 times higher than the minimum wage. 35% of users are students, who benefit from earning money at times compatible with their studies. 15% are unemployed over 40 who need to earn income while finding a new job, which can take up to a year. Additionally, Apli has trained 1,000 people with free trainings to work in the service and sales sectors.
In May, Apli launched a permanent recruiting service that allows candidates to be tested in their actual job for one to two weeks. Apli estimates that the combination of artificial intelligence with worker observation in their work environment is twice as accurate as traditional recruitment. The new product has been used by companies in the service, Internet, administration and logistics sectors and already represents 30% of Apli's income. The target market is the 4 million operational jobs that are opened annually in Mexico.
José María Pertusa, co-founder of Apli, stated “traditional recruitment is slow, expensive and imprecise. Combining machine learning for the first filters with tests in the real work environment, it is possible to better profile the candidates and cut the selection time to one week. ”
