Best Of The Lot

Everyone knows of the tiresome process that is job-hunting. Can you imagine combing through hundreds of applications to find the ideal fit? To make this arduous task easier, Hyderabad-based start-up Param.ai has launched an AI platform to help recruiters discover, sort and engage potential candidates.

Started in January 2017, it launched the beta version of its product in July 2017. Simply put, it finds a hiring pattern based on the historical data. For example the hiring of a senior manager would be dependent on parameters such as educational qualification, experience and personality. The solution analyses and develops a model out of this. Each CV is then sorted and ranked as best fit, good fit and poor fit.

"Today, recruiters look at Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media avenues for talent," notes Hari Krishna, co-founder of Param. Yet, the question remains would the candidate be interested in the position? To address this gap, Param has also developed an outbound solution: a chrome extension. The recruiter will have to sign up, create a job description or drag and drop from the available descriptions, choose LinkedIn, Facebook, Quora and so on, and the extension will take care of the rest in a matter of seconds. It will go through the selected channels and throw up a list people who suit the position.

The inbound solution can be integrated with the Application Tracking System (ATS). Smaller companies, that do not have an ATS yet, can start with the outbound solution that offers certain ATS features such as storing the resume and collecting data. Once it has enough data to form a pattern, the companies can switch to the inbound solution. Param, which doesn't have its own ATS, has partnered with ATS companies such as Recruiterbox and Taleo and recommends the same to it clients based on the budget.

The company started with an initial investment of Rs.75 lakh and got a seed funding of Rs.1.75 crore from a clutch of angel investors in December 2017. The company currently has five customers, out of which one is paid and four of whose free trial period ends in February, but have committed to switching to paid versions. The inbound solution is priced between Rs.3.5 lakh to Rs.12.5 lakh annually, depending on the size of their database. Meanwhile, the chrome extension comes with three plans: a free plan with limited usage; $65-70 plan for smaller companies and $100-125 plan for bigger enterprises with more features. This extension will be launched in February. Param saw a revenue of Rs.3.5 lakh till date. 

The 15-member team plans to hire 10 more people this year. The start-up is also working on an app that can talk to the candidate on behalf on the recruiter. It is expecting around 20 customers by the end of this year for its inbound solution. "Since anyone can download the chrome extension in a click, we are expecting about 10,000 downloads this year," he says. If the hiring season is making you dread, know that your ideal candidate is only a few clicks away.