The Good the Bad and the AI: Will We Let the Algorithm Choose for Us | Maria Dimitrova | TEDxPlovdiv

Quick Overview

The speaker argues that relying solely on AI for recruitment, like the CV sorting done by Jobs.bg, is risky because the AI lacks human intuition and might mistakenly reject potentially excellent candidates who don't fit the programmed criteria, as demonstrated by the fact that 80% of qualified candidates interviewed were not the perfect match for the initial job description.

Key Points: The speaker introduced "Geri," a highly enthusiastic recruitment team member who joined the company three years prior, bringing excellent knowledge of HR and human relations. The company received 73 job postings, resulting in 28,311 CVs, 18,303 tests, 933 hours of work, 2,044 hours of analysis, 133 working days, and 292 working days for processing in 2024. Over two years, 81.6% of approved CVs in Q3 2025 passed the initial screening, but only 26.7% of those who applied for an interview were considered qualified based on the initial criteria. The speaker shares an anecdote about a candidate whose CV was poorly written (male, warehouse worker role) but possessed the necessary intuition, highlighting the risk of relying only on algorithms. The AI system, which the company uses to filter candidates, is programmed with specific criteria that may overlook candidates whose inner qualities or intuition do not align with the initial, narrow job description. If candidates are filtered based only on the initial job description, companies risk losing potentially excellent hires who might only be revealed after a short interview or through human assessment. The presentation emphasizes that while AI is useful, it should not entirely replace human judgment, as the best candidates might not fit the algorithm's rigid profile.

Context: Maria Dimitrova speaks at TEDxPlovdiv about the challenges and risks associated with over-reliance on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the recruitment process, using concrete data from her company's experience since integrating an AI filtering system from Jobs.bg. She contrasts the quantitative results of AI screening with the qualitative, human aspects of candidate evaluation, emphasizing the importance of intuition and nuanced assessment over strict algorithmic matching.