Written by Anne Schulze
WorkHQ’s AiRecruiter has introduced a new approach to an industry traditionally reliant on manual processes and human judgment. This AI-driven platform aims to improve recruitment efficiency and accuracy, addressing the needs of a competitive job market and the increasing use of data in hiring decisions.
Boris Lapouga, Vice President of Engineering at WorkHQ, leads the development of AiRecruiter. With experience in technological advancements in human resources, he has been instrumental in the platform’s creation. “Our goal is to enhance the recruitment process,” Lapouga states. “AiRecruiter is designed to complement human recruiters, offering continuous operation, extensive data analysis, and adaptive learning capabilities.”
How AiRecruiter Came to Be
The HR technology sector is expanding rapidly. According to MarketsandMarkets, the core HR software market is projected to grow from $10.7 billion in 2023 to $15.1 billion by 2028. AI-driven solutions are expected to play a significant role in this growth.
While developing the manual, human-driven WorkHQ platform, Lapouga tells that during his research on improving search capabilities, he discovered a way to automate search and make it as easy as a prompt, very much like ChatGPT prompts, since users would usually have a hard time tuning dozens of search filters to get the right results.
Lapouga’s role in AiRecruiter goes beyond conventional leadership boundaries. As the sole architect, he personally designed every feature of the platform, from its sophisticated AI algorithms to its user interface. “I like building proof of concept myself before we commit our engineering efforts into further development,” Lapouga explains, demonstrating his hands-on strategy to advancement in AI recruitment technology.
Lapouga spent a couple of months developing AI-based search on top of WorkHQ database that would manifest from a simple user prompt, such as a job description. It utilizes a plethora of open-source ML solutions, in-house built algorithms and smart data labeling and structuring. His comprehensive involvement spans the entire development lifecycle. While managing a team of engineers for implementation, Lapouga orchestrates all aspects of the platform’s evolution, from conceptual design to technical architecture.
During a recent visit to Kelaca’s offices in Raleigh, NC, Lapouga personally validated the platform’s effectiveness through direct interaction with end users. Recruiters provided firsthand feedback about AiRecruiter’s impact on their workflow, confirming the success of his vision for automated recruitment processes. “The platform handles the time-consuming initial search, filtering, and meeting scheduling processes, delivering candidates who are already informed and interested,” they reported to Lapouga.
How AiRecruiter Enhances Talent Acquisition
AiRecruiter represents a significant advancement in AI-powered recruitment, with Lapouga serving as the architectural mastermind behind its development. As the technical and product leader, he designed every feature of the platform, orchestrating its sophisticated ecosystem of AI-driven recruitment tools.
The platform’s architecture manages the entire recruitment lifecycle autonomously. “AiRecruiter has a goal – get a candidate to the interview with a human being,” he explains. “It surpasses keyword matching and a ton of manual labor, by having the entire candidate sourcing process automated with AI making the decisions of a next step behind the scenes.”
Under Lapouga’s leadership, AiRecruiter utilizes WorkHQ’s extensive database of over 250 million profiles, implementing advanced machine learning algorithms including Vector Databases, Name Entity Recognition, and Fine-Tuned LLMs. His innovative approach extends to the platform’s automated capabilities: configuring email inboxes, matching candidates to job descriptions, and managing multi-channel communications through email, SMS, and LinkedIn.
A distinctive feature of AiRecruiter is its sophisticated AI personalization system. The platform creates unique AI personas based on each client company’s historical communications, studying real examples of previous recruiter exchanges to develop authentic communication styles. For high-potential candidates, the system strategically employs LinkedIn or SMS channels to accelerate engagement, ensuring more natural and personalized interactions that mirror human communication patterns.
The impact on recruiting teams has been substantial. Recruiters report significant time savings in initial search and filtering processes, with the AI handling routine tasks while delivering candidates who are already informed about the position and interested in proceeding. The system’s feedback loop allows human recruiters to review and provide input on candidate selections, which the AI incorporates to continuously refine its search criteria. This scalability enables recruiters to reach a broader candidate pool than traditional methods would allow, while maintaining personalized engagement.
This comprehensive automation of the recruitment process, designed and orchestrated by Lapouga, represents a significant advancement in the AI recruitment sector, which is projected to grow from $661.5 million in early 2024 to $1.1 billion by 2030. His contributions have helped position AiRecruiter at the forefront of this evolving industry, where only 8% of companies currently utilize AI-first recruiting solutions for their initial recruitment process.
AiRecruiter’s Impact on Recruitment Metrics
Recent deployment data from AiRecruiter demonstrates remarkable efficiency gains in talent acquisition. In the implementation at Kelaca, the platform achieved significant results within just one month: processing 6 open roles, engaging 1,518 unique candidates, and generating 4,192 personalized communications across email and LinkedIn. The system successfully converted 81 candidates to active engagement with recruiters, maintaining an impressive average of 4 meetings scheduled autonomously per day.
The platform’s sophisticated architecture, powered by proprietary match-ranking algorithms and fine-tuned generative AI models, revolutionizes candidate screening and engagement. The system employs advanced sentiment analysis to evaluate candidate responses, making intelligent decisions about next steps. When candidates have questions, AiRecruiter can either provide immediate answers based on its knowledge base or escalate inquiries to human recruiters when necessary. “The platform handles the time-consuming initial search, filtering, and meeting scheduling processes, delivering candidates who are already informed and interested,” notes Lapouga.
The platform’s success is particularly noteworthy as it creates unique communication styles based on each client company’s previous recruiter interactions, strategically selecting communication channels like LinkedIn or SMS for high-potential candidates. Human recruiters can review and provide feedback on candidate selections, which the AI incorporates to continuously refine its search criteria, creating a powerful human-AI collaboration that sets new standards for efficiency in talent acquisition.
Balancing AI and the Human Element
Lapouga highlights that AiRecruiter complements rather than replaces human recruiters. “AiRecruiter enhances human capabilities rather than replacing them,” he remarked. “Final decisions, hard skill interviews and cultural fit assessments still require human evaluation.”
The team at WorkHQ continues to refine AiRecruiter’s algorithms to ensure fairness and transparency. “We’re working to ensure that our AI remains unbiased and transparent,” Lapouga added.
The Future with AiRecruiter
Lapouga and his team explore ways to expand AiRecruiter’s functions beyond recruitment. “We’re looking into how AiRecruiter could assist with onboarding, professional development, and career pathing,” he said.
These advancements significantly affect how companies manage and develop talent. As AI continues to impact recruitment, the industry anticipates substantial changes in the future of work.