L’Oréal has rolled out its first conversational platform with AI start-up Mya Systems within its recruitment process, with the chatbots helping recruiters filter through applications for roles such as internships and beauty advisors.

The system is being used to help L’Oréal sift through over one million job applications a year, with many applicants – of whom 17 percent are also said to be customers, according to Tech Target – stating they never received a reply from the company.

Niilesh Bhoite, Chief Digital Officer for HR at L’Oréal stated, ”The results of the first 10,000 recruiting conversations show that Mya engages with 92% of our candidates in an efficient way and achieves a near 100% satisfaction rate. We’ve received great feedback from our applicants. Many commented on how easy and personal the experience felt.”

The Mya chatbot allows L’Oréal to receive the specific criteria for each candidate, and ‘intelligently streams’ for new talent. Once the applicant has gone through the chatbot questions, it will then be put in touch with recruiters. It is said to create a more ‘people-centric’ experience.

Jean-Claude Le Grand, Executive Vice-President Human Relations at L’Oréal, said, “As part of its overall HR transformation and digitization efforts, the Group takes an important step forward with this partnership. This new very performing technology reinforces HR people’s counsellor role and enables them to really focus on the qualitative and human dimension of the recruitment process.”