‘The talent gap is widening – especially for tech firms’. ‘AI is going to steal your job’. ‘Competition for top talent is fierce’.
These are all headlines we’ve read many times. These sentiments have dominated the recruitment sphere for many years as, like many industries, it navigated the impacts of the pandemic and the resulting increased inflation and turbulent jobs market.
However, a recent report found that emotional intelligence, empathy or active listening, and interpersonal skills were the least replaceable human attributes. So artificial intelligence (AI) might not be about to steal your job opportunities, but it could enhance the job-seeking process both for applicants and recruiters.
AI enhances the recruitment process
Machine learning capabilities have long been used to enhance features of recruitment, whether that’s matching potential employees with job adverts through targeted advertising or redacting information from CVs that could influence hiring outcomes with unconscious bias. This year we’ve experienced great leaps in AI technology that’s made it much more accessible to both consumers and businesses, so it’s only natural that recruitment professionals would explore how to use it to enhance the processes of hiring.
In fact, some of the biggest recruitment services have been applying AI for a while now. LinkedIn, the social media site owned by Microsoft – which has itself launched many AI products this year, has used AI to successfully match those ‘open to work’ with opportunities.
Now it’s not just LinkedIn using AI to enhance its offering, the market is bustling with various options, whether that’s via Hired, Beamery, Fountain or others. And given the average recruiter spends about 30 hours a week on admin, it’s no wonder we’re seeing this industry shift given the benefits AI brings.
The role of AI in the future of recruitment
HR managers cite efficiency (65%), finding the best candidates (47%), improved matching (44%), reducing bias (43%) and automating repetitive tasks (42%) as the top reasons for using AI tools. It’s clear AI has now filtered into almost every step of the recruitment process, from initial recruiter promotion activity, through to CV optimisations from the potential candidate, into the interview.
In fact, a recruiter that used AI to assess and write job adverts to ensure the language used attracts people from diverse backgrounds reported that it helped boost diversity in their workforce, with a 23% increase in female applicants. Given AI can draft a job advert in seconds, recruiters are not only saving time but also using the enhanced targeting features – which can be trained into an AI using past recruiting data – to get their job postings in front of the right demographics before bringing in the human element of reviewing.
Meanwhile, job seekers are benefiting from tools like ChatGPT that can optimise and refine their CVs – especially useful given keyword recognition is now the basics of how a CV will be sorted, with analysis of career paths, skills and other data points that link to the job description now the norm. Luckily, AI chatbots are making businesses more accessible to potential employees to support this process meaning questions throughout the application can be responded to 24/7, while also sparking data collection for the recruiter.
Once at the interview stage, hiring managers are now using AI to schedule interviews across multiple diaries. This means time is preserved for the actual interactions between recruiter and potential recruit. As part of the interview process, skills presentations, personality tests, and psychometric assessments have all been used to enhance the amount of data provided during the process. However, traditional tests did give some clear advantages whilst others were disadvantaged due to bias – AI is beginning to change this.
How these businesses can build trust
Bias, however, is a key concern when utilising the power of AI in recruitment. It’s a challenge the industry is working to overcome, so introducing technology that could reverse that and potentially reinforce bias isn’t an option. It may also leave businesses open to legal challenges, as a result of unintentional discrimination, and queries around the management of sensitive, personal data – especially if the AI is based on an open platform.
Building trust in AI is key for any tech or software-led recruitment businesses looking to work with today’s leading brands. A comprehensive and integrated comms strategy can help educate the market on how AI models are trained and maintained, plus what’s being done to address historical biases and protect potential recruits’ data. A strong public profile will give pioneering organisations a platform to promote the many positives that AI brings to the industry – from streamlining processes to improving productivity.
Ultimately, a strategic comms plan should be focused on helping your business build trust with both potential recruiters and applicants who might interact with AI during the job-seeking process. This means developing a brand awareness campaign that demonstrates your business and its leader’s in-depth understanding of the challenges surrounding AI use, whilst also navigating potential risks, and championing the benefits and exciting emerging use cases for AI in recruitment.
Get in touch to discuss how we could help your AI or recruitment business.
