Hiring paradox AI both hurts and helps
Empower your mind, elevate your skills
Widespread use of AI-driven tools by candidates is creating problems for recruiters. But there are some plus points too. Until a couple of years ago, the biggest hurdle for a job seeker was to get past the application tracking system (ATS), a bot that is used for filtering applications, to get shortlisted for a desired position. This meant getting the error free resume with right keywords and formatting.With the advent of generative artificial intelligence and proliferation of new age online tools, all of this can be done in a matter of minutes. This is great news for candidates, but not so much for recruiters, who are now dealing with a deluge of resumes for roles. While some companies are deploying AI tools, and stringent assessments for filtering candidates, smaller firms are looking at increasing the in-person interaction to hire the right people.Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital said that close to 25-30% of the resumes are now made using AI, compared to 8% last year, and the numbers are growing.Kamal Karanth, cofounder, Xpheno, shared that as much as 50% of CVs are written by ChatGPT, matching with the job descriptions. He pointed out that as a result the firm is seeing 25% increase in the number of CVs they receive for any job openings.Vishalli Dongrie, Partner and Leader-Workforce Transformation, PwC India, said, 'ATS systems have been using technology to filter candidates even before the advent of widespread AI tools. With AI-enabled resume crafting, the fitment matching has become more accurate. This has led to an increase in the number of applicants immediately following a job posting.'An executive with a Bengaluru-based consulting firm told ET on the condition of anonymity that this has increased the time taken to hire people as shortlisted candidates after the initial filtering process has increased, requiring more human intervention, he said.Experts also pointed out the need for predictive analytics and sophisticated tools based on historical data to hire candidates as well.Sunil Chemmankotil, Country Manager, Adecco India, said that apart from crafting polished resumes, candidates are also simulating interview responses making it challenging for recruiters to assess their capabilities, making traditional screening methods insufficient.'Recruiters now require deeper subject-matter expertise and more sophisticated tools to evaluate candidates effectively. To address this, many organisations have adopted AI-powered platforms capable of analyzing behavioral cues during virtual interviews, such as detecting lip-syncing or external prompting, to ensure the integrity of the hiring process. PWC's Dongrie said that for organisations with limited and smaller hiring volumes, the dependency for filtering candidates primarily is at in-person interview stage.'However, for organisations with high-volume hiring such as retail banking, insurance, pharma-sales, the focus has shifted towards implementing stringent assessments for filtering candidates prior to interviews. Focus is now more on technical assessments along with existing psychometric and behavioural profiling exercises,' he said.Xpheno's Karanth said that they are using AI to filter the top 50 out of 200 resumes received, and screen further depending on their pool till they reach 5-10 candidates. 'As of now, only guarding is through human intervention. You cannot depend on AI as of now in this regard because that might not lead to a fruitful outcome. For more senior roles, around 70-75% of the applications are through references,' he said.Divya Bajaj, Fractal-Hiring, Lead Manager, said that they have evolved their hiring process to include technical assessments, case studies, and Proctored LIVE interviewing, which use AI to detect eye /hand movements.But the challenges of using AI in hiring still remain.Teamlease's Sharma said that AI hallucination and bias are still concerns. 'The biggest challenge this poses is making sure that it doesn't have the same bias that a human recruiter would have,' she said.While AI can cover the blind spots, it is getting harder to differentiate between an AI-generated video and a real video of a candidate. 'We need to make sure that our recruiters are skilled enough to identify this difference; otherwise, we would fall flat in the market. The only solution to this is the upgradation of data sets, proper and regular monitoring, and governance,' she said.Chemmankotil said that while AI helps with productivity and improve recruitment processes, its inherent flaws makes it harder to rely on them completely. This includes concerns around bias and fairness and the need for platforms that can be integrated into current systems to make it efficient.
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Indian Express
28 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Hindustan Zinc: Fundamentals intact, but is the stock worth the risk?
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The stock underperformed the Nifty Metal Index, rising 132% in 5 years as against the 347% rally in the Index. 5-Year Stock Price Momentum of Hindustan Zinc and Nifty Metal Index Hindustan Zinc is among the top five silver producers in the world, and the only company that produces silver from primary sources. But its stock reported tepid growth even when silver prices reached a new lifetime high of over Rs 1.15 lakh per kg on July 14. What is preventing the stock from rallying? At the heart of investors' concerns is Hindustan Zinc's ownership structure. UK-based Vedanta Resources (VRL) holds a 56.38% stake in Vedanta Ltd (VDL). VDL holds a 63.42% stake in Hindustan Zinc. VRL has been deleveraging its balance sheet, which accumulated debt over the years from several failed acquisitions. Hindustan Zinc became the crown jewel of VDL as it was debt-free and had strong cash reserves. In May 2024, VDL's subsidiary Vedanta Semiconductors raised Rs 1,804 crore in secured debt from private creditors by pledging Hindustan Zinc shares. Vedanta Semiconductors gave a two-year unsecured inter-corporate loan to VDL, which the latter used to repay debt and pay brand fees to its holding company, VRL. Multiple such transactions shifted VRL's loan to VDL. In FY23, metal stocks had a fantastic year with a cyclical rally and robust profits. As the largest shareholder, VDL has the power to decide the dividend amount of Hindustan Zinc. VDL decided to use the money locked in Hindustan Zinc's reserves by issuing dividends. Hindustan Zinc's Dividends, Reserves, and Borrowings (FY 21-FY25) In FY23, Hindustan Zinc paid Rs 31,901 crore in dividends alone, which reduced its reserves by 64% to Rs 12,097 crore. These reserves are used to fund growth projects and give long-term returns to shareholders. VDL, as a shareholder, had the right to claim the reserves. But this reduced the company's capacity to self-fund expansion. Hindustan Zinc had to borrow money to meet its capital expenditure requirements. FY23 dividend converted the net cash company into a net debt company. While its debt-to-equity ratio remains below 1.0, the loss of reserves has weakened its balance sheet. Significant debt is a concern for metals and mining companies. They sell their output on the commodity prices, which are determined by market forces. They can only control the cost of production (CoP). Keeping debt low helps the company sustain a period of low prices and stay profitable. So far, Hindustan Zinc's debt is sustainable as the high price of zinc and silver and low CoP have increased the company's profits and operating cash flow. However, Hindustan Zinc's share price has declined, at least partly, due to a decrease in equity reserves over the last three years. Hindustan Zinc's Book Value Per Share From August 2020 to April 2025 Hindustan Zinc's promoters have been offloading stake after halving the reserve. Amidst this, Hindustan Zinc CEO Arun Misra's proposal to demerge the zinc and silver business was rejected by the Ministry of Mines. Misra, however, believes that demerging the precious metals segment will be value accretive, as Hindustan Zinc is India's only listed silver producer. This restructuring and reduction of reserves have limited the stock's upside potential. Hindustan Zinc is the second-largest integrated zinc manufacturer in the world. It has one of the lowest CoP at $1,055 per tonne (in FY25). As commodities are bought and sold in dollars, a strengthening of the dollar increases rupee cash flow. 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The company is also implementing innovative technology at one smelter, which, if successful, could recover an additional 27 mtpa of silver and 6,000 mtpa of lead from the smelter waste without burning. The increasing mix of precious metals could help the company boost profits. These long-term growth drivers are being offset by short-term uncertainty around dividend policies and the parent company's demerger and deleveraging. Analysts have mixed ratings on Hindustan Zinc. JM Financial is bullish on Hindustan Zinc for its low CoP, high-grade, long-life captive mines, and its ability to scale. Even Motilal Oswal is optimistic about the zinc producer's expansion plans, but believes that the market has already priced in the positives. Analyst Ratings on Hindustan Zinc Source: Brokerage Reports Nuvama has a 'Reduce' call on Hindustan Zinc. It stated that expansion will facilitate long-term growth, but commodity prices could affect near-term earnings, making the stock's valuation expensive till then. The miner's valuation is determined by enterprise value to EBITDA (EV/EBITDA). While the capacity expansion and cost efficiencies are growing its EBITDA, high dividend payouts, which result in lower cash, and therefore higher debt, are potentially impacting overall valuations. The company's current EV/EBITDA is 10.7x, higher than its 5-year median of 9.0x, and double that of Vedanta's 5.65x. Adding to the volatility, US-based Viceroy Research took a short position against VRL's debt, alleging that the Vedanta Group is on the 'brink of insolvency.' Vedanta Group has denied the claims, calling them a 'malicious combination of selective misinformation and baseless allegations to discredit the group'. This controversy could keep Hindustan Zinc's share price volatile in the short term. However, Hindustan Zinc's strategic capital discipline, strong fundamentals, leaner cost base, and leadership in the fourth most widely used metal (zinc) make it a resilient stock that could continue paying dividends. Note: We have relied on data from throughout this article. Only in cases where the data was not available, have we used an alternate, but widely used and accepted source of information. Puja Tayal is a financial writer with over 17 years of experience in the field of fundamental research. Disclosure: The writer and his dependents do not hold the stocks discussed in this article. The website managers, its employee(s), and contributors/writers/authors of articles have or may have an outstanding buy or sell position or holding in the securities, options on securities or other related investments of issuers and/or companies discussed therein. The content of the articles and the interpretation of data are solely the personal views of the contributors/ writers/authors. 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Time of India
an hour ago
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an hour ago
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Scoring with AI not enough to crack US enterprise code
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