Something Has to Change
The hiring process has been following the same predictable workflow for…forever. No matter the industry or the organization, or whether hiring is internal or outsourced to a staffing agency, the process is labor-intensive, monotonous, and anything but innovative. Things are changing, however. AI recruiting uses hiring algorithms to automatically conduct the mundane tasks of a recruiter or hiring manager while making the entire process more efficient and effective.
The struggle for those in staffing is real. The average job opening can generate an average of 250 resume submissions and most organizations have multiple open positions at any given time. The manual labor required to sift through those resumes is staggering. In fact, 52% of talent acquisition leaders say the hardest part of recruitment is identifying the right candidates from a large applicant pool.
The pressure on those who lead hiring efforts goes beyond the screening process. Finding the right person for the job has a monetary value, with some estimates putting that dollar figure at as much as $240K to hire and onboard the average employee. If the candidate delivers value, they are worth the investment. But what if they end up being the wrong person for the job? That’s a costly mistake that can quickly eat into the bottom line and impact company culture. Talent acquisition leaders have to up their game, leveraging any tool they can to increase the odds that they are recruiting and hiring the right people for each job.
As Forbes puts it, “The big prize for enterprises comes with improved effectiveness. To tackle this, companies need better data and intelligence that allows them to find the right people for the job and focus on the right indicators when screening.”
Related: Will AI Replace Recruiters
AI has (finally) made its way into recruiting and hiring. AI recruiting is considered a game-changer, diffusing many of the hiring pain points through with the use of big data analysis, automation, and machine learning. AI not only makes the recruiting process more efficient and effective, but it also maintains historical data for future reference so recruiters can work smarter.
What Hiring Algorithms Can Do that Recruiters Can’t
Targeting the right candidates at the right time with the right words on the right platform
AI is changing how organizations market their job openings. By understanding what resonates with job seekers based on their online searches, past jobs, and current interests, the technology can help organizations craft better and differentiating job descriptions that attract the right candidates and deter the wrong ones. It also collects data on candidates from various sources to reveal the optimal time to post jobs and target ads/messaging.
Resume and candidate screening
Recruiting algorithms are making the process of whittling down candidates much simpler, too. They are great at disqualifying ill-fitted candidates while automatically ranking and matching qualifying candidates to specific jobs and organizations. The technology can even generate coding challenges for technical candidates to further shrink the pool. By automating the resume screening, companies can effectively remove the inevitable human bias and increase the odds that the remaining candidates are, in fact, the ones best suited for the open job position.
Communicating
Then there’s the candidate engagement aspect of hiring. Without any human intervention, chatbots can help candidates complete questionnaires and applications, assist with scheduling appointments, and automatically send reminders and follow up with candidates. This type of AI recruiting benefits both the candidate and the hiring organization: candidates have 24/7 access to company information and engagement details, while companies have a way to efficiently track all interactions to build a candidate profile. Applicants who have a positive review process are more likely to stay engaged and excited about the job opportunity, and that starts with communication.
Related: Candidate Communication Is Key: How to Do It Right
Predicting behaviors
AI is really good at doing two things: the mundane tasks that recruiters don’t want to do or don’t have time to do, and the complicated tasks that recruiters can’t do. One example of this is the use of predictive analytics. By collecting all past hiring behaviors and data, machine learning algorithms can:
- Learn to predict future trends
- Identify the most lucrative sources to find candidates
- Rather accurately predict a candidate’s offer sweet spot, the likelihood of them accepting the offer, their future performance, and the probability of them to leave their job after a certain time
What Recruiters Can Do that Hiring Algorithms Can’t
For all AI can do, it still lacks the human element that may always play a role in finding the right candidates. For instance, AI is incapable of establishing a relationship with the candidate and the hiring manager. Yes, relationships still matter. Even with all of the technology at our fingertips, human interaction makes a difference, giving us insight into a person that no AI has yet to replicate. Only by talking with someone and meeting them face to face can we really learn who someone is – how they interact, their emotion, their passions, their motivations, and much more. This interaction is also key in determining if the candidate is a good culture fit for the organization.
This level of knowledge can be effective during offer negotiations, often a sensitive stage of the hiring process. AI may be able to determine what a candidate says is important to them and use historical data to justify it, but a human recruiter who gets to know the candidate will learn much more about their motivations and values. They are better able to understand personalities, beyond what’s on paper or in social media, for a better culture fit.
The best IT and digital staffers will also take the time to stay in touch with their corporate clients and their pool of candidates. There’s a difference between receiving an automated follow-up email and a personal phone call from a human who genuinely cares about how your current job is going or what future IT skills might be needed in the near future. Even better, an IT recruiter may make it a habit to regularly take clients to lunch or for a round of golf to truly stay connected on a personal level. No AI can do that, yet the human element may just be one of the most prized offerings a staffing agency can offer in this digital, often disconnected world.
AI recruiting isn’t a threat to recruiters, talent acquisition leaders, or hiring managers but a boon to help them do their jobs more efficiently and effectively given the amount of work involved in the hiring process. By leveraging hiring algorithms, these professionals will be better equipped to make the right hire with fewer costs. It’s time to embrace the power of AI to advance the hiring process from the dark ages.
