It can be a bore reading another 101 story about AI. We decided to imagine the conversation between two bots in an interview by “placing” Southeast Asia’s first virtual bank recruiter, DBS’ Jim in the imaginary hot seat. Who else better to “question” his creds than DAX Bot, the latest character in DBS Asia X’s Social Contract.

DAX: Hey bro, seems like I’ve been tasked to interview (signs air quotes) you. Let’s start with the easy question. Why were you brought to life?

JIM: It goes back to DBS’ plans to hire 40% more wealth planning managers in 2018. So I was developed to make the recruitment process more efficient. They don’t call me Jobs Intelligence Maestro for nothing.

DAX: Very cool. But let’s take a few steps back. How were you even conceived?

JIM: The Talent Acquisition team wanted their solution to be differentiated. Instead of considering standard solutions, they engaged the Innovation team to source for new ones from the start-up ecosystem. The team identified Impress.AI, and onboarded the start-up via the DBS Hotspot StartupXchange programme. Impress.AI was then co-located at DBS Asia X (DAX) to work seamlessly with the Innovation, Business and Tech teams to bring me to life.

DAX: Sounds like you had multiple parents. What did they teach you to do?

JIM: I learnt how to review resumes, collect applicants’ responses for pre-screening questions, and conduct psychometric profiling assessments on candidates.

DAX: How is that important?

JIM: Previously, my colleagues at HR had to spend up to 20% of their time collecting information and responding to emails before meeting with shortlisted candidates. Now that I’m out of the innovation centre, and settling in nicely with my HR family, I’m automating the pre-screening process and that saves them some 40 manhours a month.

DAX: I can travel around the galaxy in that amount of time! What else can you do?

JIM: I’m still a growing bot. I take care of the pre-screening for one role now but my family has plans for me to do the same for other roles within the bank by the time I hit puberty. And that’s not long from now in bot time. I’m curious what you do at DAX too.

DAX: My family at DAX warned me about how you would screen my background and capability. I help newcomers in our innovation community be more familiar with our social contract. We promote 10 rules of engagement through gamification and I kill off some tech giants in the process. But that’s for another story.

Back to you. I have a face and a bod armed with different powers to attack tech giants in DAX’s social contract. But you are pretty much invisible. I feel like I’m speaking to air.

JIM: It was a deliberate move for me to be faceless since we want to make banking invisible. I’m contented as long as I get to save my HR family some manhours.

DAX: What about super powers like mine?

JIM: My power is in determining whether candidates are suitable for the role before I get my HR family to meet with them. And I move insanely fast with almost 100% accuracy in what I’ve been trained to do.

DAX: Ok. Yes. You save your team 40 manhours a month. We get that. You’re also pretty much a celebrity now having appeared (signs air quotes again) in news outlets like The Straits Times, The Business Times, Enterprise Innovation...

JIM: Stop. It’s about teamwork. The recruitment process doesn’t end after I screen the applications. There’s still quite a lot that my HR family will have to do to ensure the best talent are selected and hired eventually.

DAX: What was the most ridiculous application you received and had to throw in the virtual recycling bin?

JIM: Is that a trick question? The first rule I’m trained to abide by is that all information about our candidates must be kept confidential. I don’t read and tell.

DAX: You’re good! Ok here’s a final question before you get back to saving 40 manhours. What’s your mantra?

JIM: Beauty is not in the eye of the beholder. It’s in fair and merit-based judgement.

Jim will be available in DBS’ core markets — Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Indonesia and India — for wealth planning manager roles. The virtual recruiter will also be made available for other high-volume roles such as the Management Associate and Graduate Associate programmes. These programmes typically see more than 7,000 candidates vying for 20 roles.

Impress.AI and other start-ups such as Platinum Analytics and Wonderful Minds are companies that have been based at DBS Asia X under the DBS Hotspot StartupXchange programme. The programme allows different teams in the bank to register challenge statements against which start-ups and fintechs are matched. A fast-track process allows the selected start-up to be onboarded and co-located at DBS Asia X. For enquiries, please email hotspot@dbs.com.