On a special edition episode of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast, we sat down with three leading HR and talent acquisition specialists to discuss emerging trends in the space sector. Joining us were Kelly Tobin, the Senior Talent Acquisition Manager at Intelsat, Bettina Schaaf, the VP of Recruiting at Rivada Space Networks, and Bethan McAulay, the Head of Talent at Astroscale. A highlight of the conversation was a discussion about the use of AI in their recruitment processes. Here’s what they said: 

Bettina Schaaf: “AI is currently the most important topic within our recruitment. We have to integrate it more in our process. The first place where we use AI is when we search for candidates, and we have various different ways of doing that. When it comes to the screening of applications, for example, at Rivada, we receive your 500, 600, even 700 applications each month, so it’s a challenge to screen everybody. AI could really help with that. In the future, AI will be integrated into each step of our recruiting efforts to make the work more efficient so that we can concentrate on our key business. Having said that, the human component will always have priority when it comes to decisions and collaboration.”

Bethan McAulay: “At the moment we don’t have any generative AI built into our process from a talent acquisition perspective. It’s something we’re constantly talking about, and we’re looking at when the right time is for us to adopt it where’s a value-add. Those elements may be slightly controversial, but I think there is a real place for it – not necessarily in applications or in reviewing, but across the HR spectrum. 

Even from a candidate perspective, I’m quite supportive of candidates using generative AI (to an extent). When it comes to making those applications, there is very little high quality career support out there, particularly at the early careers level, but also for people who are in the mergers and acquisitions world. There are a lot of people being forced out of opportunities after working at companies for a long time, which means they may be out of practice when it comes to writing CVs or understanding interview questions. Using generative AI as a tool to prepare a first draft for CVs or covering letters is really powerful, and it takes a lot of pressure off individuals. But, I don’t want anybody to just submit something completely written by generative AI; I would like to see so they’ve been editing it at least.”

Kelly Tobin: “Recruiters have really loved using the AI tool within the LinkedIn recruiter platform. What we’ve found from our metrics is that there is a much higher rate of response from candidates that we cold-called when we used that AI feature. It looks at the potential candidate’s profile and the job description and creates a tailored message, which saves the recruiter from having to go and read both and spend 15 minutes crafting a message. Instead it’s done for you in 30 seconds or less. So we have found that that works great, because a personalised message definitely generates more responses. 

When we were talking about recruiting people from outside of the satellite industry, one thing that I did recently is I partnered with the National Society for Black Engineers. We put on a special reception just for this organisation at the recent satellite show in DC, and we had different employees coming in to explain everything that we are doing within the different verticals of the business. That was a great success. We are trying to continue to think about different ways to open up this market so that it gets broader attention and applicants, especially from a diverse perspective.”

To hear more about the current challenges for people professionals in the satellite industry, tune in to Episode 42 of The Satellite & NewSpace Matters Podcast here. 

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