Mercedes Boyero, CEO of ONKLUB Talent Agency: "The support of CDTI Innovation allows us to develop artificial intelligence that helps Human Resources devote more time to people"

Although digitalization has transformed many areas of Human Resources, many organizations continue to spend days or even weeks reviewing resumes and managing manual processes. The OnMatch platform, developed by ONKLUB Talent Agency, seeks to reduce that time and allow teams to devote more effort to talent assessment and less to repetitive tasks.

From its first projects accompanying organizations in the search for talent, this agency, based in Valencia, found that the real problem was not the shortage of candidates, but the difficulty in identifying those who could really contribute to the growth of the organization.

While companies invested weeks to fill a vacancy, many professionals were left out of the process because a resume wasn’t enough to reflect their full potential. That experience led the team to rethink the way companies and candidates found themselves. “We realised that the problem was not the lack of talent, but the way companies and candidates met,” explains Mercedes Boyero, CEO of ONKLUB Talent Agency.

A new way to connect companies and professionals

As a result of this reflection, the company developed OnMatch, a technological platform that reverses the normal operation of the selection processes. Instead of starting by reviewing hundreds of applications, the company describes in its own words what kind of professional it needs. Based on this information, artificial intelligence interprets the context, understands the needs of the position and locates the profiles that best fit and are available at that time.

Employment hackaton organized by ONKLUB

The key is that the system doesn’t just look for matches between keywords. It analyzes the information much more broadly to identify candidates compatible with each organization.

However, the final decision remains in the hands of the people. As Mercedes Boyero points out, "artificial intelligence does not make the decision for people. What it does is eliminate much of the repetitive work so that HR professionals can spend more time on what’s really important: getting to know people and making better decisions.”

Learn from each selection process

One of the differentiating elements of OnMatch is its ability to improve with the experience through continuous learning. Each contract provides new information on the profiles that work best, the most valued competencies or the evolution of the needs of companies. “All that knowledge allows the platform to progressively improve the quality of its recommendations,” he says.

The platform also incorporates natural language processing technologies that make it easier for companies to use. Professionals do not need to fill out complex forms or use technical criteria to define the profile they are looking for.

The goal, the CEO insists, has never been to replace the work of the selection specialists: “We want them to spend less time reviewing hundreds of resumes and more time assessing what no artificial intelligence can fully measure: people.”

Select better to discover talent

Sectors such as hospitality, commerce or logistics need to fill vacancies quickly to maintain their activity. But this urgency to incorporate staff does not always favor a quality selection.

ONKLUB argues that technology can help respond to that need without losing sight of the human component. Automating the most repetitive tasks allows you to accelerate recruitment and, at the same time, expand opportunities for profiles that in a conventional process could go unnoticed.

Mercedes Boyero summarizes that vision with a clear idea: “Technology shouldn’t just be about making things faster. It should also help us make more objective decisions and discover talent that was previously unnoticed."

The impulse of NEOTEC Women Entrepreneurs

Developing a proprietary solution based on artificial intelligence requires significant investments and highly specialized profiles, a particularly relevant challenge for a newly created company.

In this context, the support of the NEOTEC Women Entrepreneurs program of the CDTI Innovation has been “a turning point” for ONKLUB, since it has allowed to accelerate the technological development of OnMatch, reinforce the team and incorporate research talent into the project.

Mercedes Boyero and Mar Boluda founded the company in 2022

For Mercedes Boyero, the value of the program transcends economic support. “The really difficult thing is often not to have a good idea, but to have the necessary resources to turn that idea into a real technology that can compete in the market.”

In addition, it considers that initiatives such as NEOTEC play an essential role to promote entrepreneurial talent in Spain. “They help innovation not to remain in a laboratory or in a presentation, but to reach companies, generate employment and improve the competitiveness of our country.”

As an entrepreneur, she also highlights the role of this program to promote female leadership in the technological field. “More and more women are leading technological projects, and having initiatives that promote that talent sends a very positive message to the new generations: innovation and entrepreneurship is also a possible path for them.”

AI at the service of talent

Artificial intelligence is called to transform talent management over the next few years. But for the Valencian company, that transformation does not mean replacing Human Resources professionals, but providing them with better tools to carry out their work.

The great challenge will be to integrate these technologies in a responsible, transparent and unbiased way, always maintaining the human criterion as a central element of the selection. "Companies don't hire resumes. They hire people. And I think the future won’t be choosing between artificial intelligence or people. The future will be to get them both to work together to make better decisions," concludes Mercedes Boyero.

CDTI Innovation

The Center for Technological Development and Innovation, CDTI E.P.E. It is the innovation agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, whose objective is the promotion of technological innovation in the business environment. The mission of the CDTI is to ensure that the Spanish business fabric generates and transforms scientific and technical knowledge into globally competitive, sustainable and inclusive growth.

 
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