Talk of AI seems to be everywhere at the moment. Whilst it’s still considered an emerging technology by many, advancements in AI are already enabling early adopters to revolutionise the way the hiring process is carried out. Below, we’ll look at how AI can improve your hiring processes, the advantages of using it and how it is, and will continue to, impact HR / Talent teams:
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How AI can improve your hiring processes
AI can significantly improve your hiring process in several key areas:
Sourcing
AI can scour vast databases such as job boards and social media platforms at a much faster and more accurate rate than humans can. Use tools like Fetcher to identify potential candidates and expand your talent pool based on strict technical requirements, for example. Fetcher is an AI-based recruitment automation software that uses a simple but effective 3-step methodology of ‘source, engage, and track’ to ensure that you have a continuous stream of qualified candidates and meet your hiring needs.
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Screening
Similarly to sourcing, AI screening tools bring you faster and more accurate results, which are particularly powerful during the screening stage; this can often be a high-volume, time intensive task. By using natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to analyse candidate CVs, AI-powered tools put the most qualified candidates in front of you, faster. For example, Findem allows you to find candidates using technical and intangible attributes in ways that traditional keyword matching does not.
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Process management
AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can engage with candidates on your behalf to take care of the sort of time-intensive, low value administrative tasks you could probably do without. Whilst it’s important to retain a human-led experience between your interviewer(s) and the candidate, AI tools can help you answer questions, schedule interviews and provide updates on candidate progress, ensuring a smooth candidate experience and preservation of precious time along the way for you. Paradox, for example, use their flagship product Olivia, an AI assistant that interacts with job candidates via text.
The advantages of using AI
So, now that we know some ways to use AI when hiring, what are the advantages of doing so?
Efficiency gains ⚡️
AI-powered tools automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks throughout the hiring process, freeing up valuable time for your HR / Talent teams to focus on more strategic tasks.
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Better (unbiased) candidate selection ⚖️
AI algorithms analyse vast amounts of data almost instantaneously and use it to identify the most suitable candidates based on skills, experience, and cultural fit. This doesn’t just increase the chances of finding the right fit for your team and reduce turnover down the line, but in the short term also helps eliminate unconscious bias, promoting diversity and inclusivity in hiring decisions.
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Savings (cost and time!) ➕
AI streamlines the hiring process, reducing time-to-hire (empty chair time) and minimising the cost-per-hire. This not only helps improve ROI on your hiring activity (see our recent blog on this topic, here), but also allows HR teams to be more productive and create stronger buy-in from senior stakeholders.
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Data-based decision making 📊
AI can provide valuable insights by analysing hiring metrics for every stage of your hiring process and help you make data-driven decisions for future hiring campaigns and strategies.
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The impact of AI on HR and Talent teams
AI tools are already having a profound impact on HR / Talent teams. More companies are looking to leverage AI as part of their hiring processes and unlock a number of opportunities for their teams:
Shifting roles
With AI handling repetitive tasks, HR teams are able to turn their focus to strategic activities such as building relationships with candidates and augmenting talent pools, delivering campaigns to strengthen your employer brand and developing talent strategies for future hiring campaigns.
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Improved candidate experience
AI-powered tools provide prompt and personalised communication to candidates throughout their journey, removing the points of failure of consistency associated with human error, time off work or simply being too busy! A consistent, personalised experience is the bedrock upon which a positive candidate experience is built.
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Data, data, data
AI-powered tools analyse vast amounts of data and use it to identify patterns and trends that a human can then interpret and utilise for the benefit of the business. Enabling HR / Talent teams to access real-time, accurate data at every stage of the hiring process creates numerous opportunities to gain and share valuable insights into talent acquisition performance, ROI, retention, and succession planning, to name a few.
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Summary
Whilst it feels like it’s the talk of the town right now with tools like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard taking centre stage, AI has been quietly chipping away at everyday tasks in the background for years. It’s with good reason that AI has now come to the forefront within recruitment; the rapid evolution of it’s capabilities has created so many opportunities to improve, streamline and augment hiring processes for little-to-no-cost (in terms of time or money).
However, in order to effectively leverage AI tools and technologies and unlock the opportunities they bring to the hiring process, HR / Talent teams need to acquire AI-related skills and understand they can play, such as learning the most effective ChatGPT prompts or how to create new Zaps on Zapier. Not only will these skills create opportunities for professional growth, but over time can create tangible improvements to the hiring processes of companies everywhere.
Author
Brad Coombes
Leadership
