ManpowerGroup, one of the world’s largest recruiting firms, will roll out an AI automation tool called Hubert across its global operations.

Hubert is developed by a small Swedish startup of the same name. The software is designed to reduce the amount of work involved in high-volume recruiting initiatives. A retailer, for example, could use Hubert to build out a seasonal store workforce ahead of the holiday season.

ManpowerGroup has been quietly piloting Hubert across several markets. Going forward, the firm will deploy the software globally to make its recruiters more productive.

Hiring initiatives in which companies quickly onboard a large number of employees often use standardized interview questions. The reason is that a single questionnaire is less time-consuming than multiple, candidate-specific interview workflows. Hubert’s AI tool shares a firm’s standardized interview questions with candidates through a chat interface. According to the startup, its platform can also display a so-called case exercise. That’s a simulation of a real-world situation candidates can expect to encounter in the workplace. Hubert’s AI models generate a summary of each job seeker’s responses to speed up the review process for recruiters. Additionally, the software ranks candidates based on the quality of their answers.  

AI models of the kind that power Hubert occasionally make mistakes. We reached out to ManpowerGroup to find out how it’s addressing that challenge.

“Our approach to AI errors and missed candidates is straightforward. Hubert advises, our recruiters decide,” ManpowerGroup global public relations manager John Julitz told Boardroom Insight. “No candidate is advanced or rejected without human review. That’s not a safeguard added after the fact, it’s how the system was designed. Recruiting depends on context and judgment that AI can’t replicate.”

ManpowerGroup says that the Hubert rollout will provide two main benefits to clients. The first is faster recruiting: the Swedish startup’s website states that it can speed up the hiring workflow by 80%. The technology’s other core benefit is that it allows companies to reach a broader pool of candidates. Hubert’s chatbot can be reached outside office hours, which makes it accessible for professionals who might not have time for an in-person interview.

“Hubert is part of a wider AI ecosystem across ManpowerGroup, supporting the candidate experience, talent matching, and recruiter efficiency; all built on the consistent principle that AI augments human expertise, it doesn’t replace it,” Julitz said. “That commitment is grounded in ManpowerGroup’s Ethical AI Guidelines, a framework developed collaboratively across legal, technology, data privacy, HR, and business operations. The guidelines emphasize accountability, fairness by design, transparency with candidates, and a people-first approach.”

ManpowerGroup does most of its business through a trio of brands called Manpower, Talent Solutions and Experis. All three provide recruiting services along with certain other offerings. Experis, for example, can help companies build AI applications. ManpowerGroup generated a total of $18 billion in revenue across its businesses last year. 

Photo courtesy of Harrison Keely/Wikimedia