Are you still using old-school hiring practices? If your HR team is overburdened with a constant slew of resumes, you could be missing out on finding the right talent.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to break the cycle and help you find the perfect candidates.
In order to use AI to your advantage, you may need to change your perspective: AI is not replacing in-house recruiters or making personal networks obsolete. Rather, it’s a way to streamline hiring processes and help recruiters become better problem-solvers in their roles.
It’s also important to know that many AI recruiting technologies come with issues — relying on the wrong tools or using them incorrectly can actually make things worse.
Let’s go over a few of the ways that AI is transforming the recruiting world, and what you need to know before you incorporate it into your hiring process.
Recruiters already use AI
AI can be useful at every step in the recruitment and hiring process — and more uses will likely emerge as the technology evolves. Here are just a few of the ways recruiters are already utilizing AI:
Screening
AI can scan for keywords or phrases in resumes and cover letters to identify high-potential candidates. Instead of spending hours flipping through lackluster resumes on the off-chance that the right candidate is in the stack somewhere, you can immediately narrow the applicant pool.
However, it’s important to note that this technology isn’t perfect.
Some candidates are well aware of keyword algorithms, and write their resumes and cover letters with them in mind. These candidates have an advantage over those who are unaware of the algorithms, and will often be placed at the top of the list based on their use of particular keywords.
This is one way that traditional forms of AI recruiting can fall short — strong applicants may be missed by an AI screening tool, particularly if it’s not very complex.
There’s also potential for human error. Choosing the wrong keywords can mean losing out on good candidates altogether.
Engagement
AI tools like chatbots can help improve the candidate experience by answering candidate FAQs ahead of time, so you can focus on the details during the interview process. But they can also mean a candidate’s first encounter with your company is perceptably cold and inhuman.
Processing
Some AI assesses candidate performance during interviews by analyzing speech patterns, tone of voice, facial expressions, and body language.
But serious questions have been raised about the fairness and accuracy of this method — voice recognition AI, for example, often compounds gender and race biases.
AI recruiting tools to consider:
Applicant tracking systems
One of the most common recruiting tools, an applicant tracking system (ATS) collects and sorts resumes and applications. The vast majority of large companies already use an ATS to save time and keep hiring managers organized.
Some ATSs have add-ons available that perform the screening actions we covered earlier. While an ATS is one way to organize candidate information, you still have to face the fact that searching resumes for keywords is an antiquated (and often inaccurate) way to find good candidates.
Machine-learning platforms
Gut-feelings aren’t always right, and it’s easy to miss a key detail on a resume. Machine learning, a specific type of AI that focuses on statistical analysis and algorithms, can help mitigate bias and improve quality of hire by identifying important qualities and traits that might otherwise be missed.
While ATS add-ons simply locate keywords, machine-learning platforms like GoodJob use scientifically validated assessments to identify high-potential candidates based on real data, and they get smarter over time.
Based on 30 years of data science and behavioral studies, the GoodJob PATH Assessment® tells us what motivates each candidate, plus how they think, act, and interact with others.
That way, you won’t miss out on a great candidate just because they didn’t use a particular keyword in their application, and you won’t have to waste time reviewing candidates who wouldn’t be a good fit.
With a more streamlined, automated process, you can focus on improving the overall candidate experience and picking the right candidate from a concentrated group of high-potential applicants.
Chatbots
A chatbot’s main role is to reduce repetitive work for hiring managers. It’s time-consuming to schedule multiple interviews or answer ten emails from candidates who are all asking the same question, and chatbots can do that work for you.
Chatbots should not, however, be used to conduct interviews. Forcing a candidate to interview with a chatbot is a sure way to ruin their experience, and it can make your company come across as cold and unfriendly.
A good rule of thumb for using chatbots (or any form of AI, for that matter) is to only use them for tasks where human interaction would be inefficient and unnecessary.
Can I start using AI tomorrow?
Yes and no.
AI is here to stay, so you do need to embrace the technology and plan for how best to utilize it. But trying to shift your entire recruitment process to automation overnight won’t work.
It’s also important to keep in mind that AI has its limits and can’t replace every action — a human aspect to hiring is still very much necessary. To build an effective AI-based hiring process, carefully consider your company’s needs and goals, and select tools that tick all the right boxes and complement the expertise and experience of your HR team.
We found a better way.
The less complex forms of AI that companies already use for hiring have their place, but we wanted to take AI recruiting a step further. With GoodJob, you can ditch resumes for good and find better candidates.
