So far we’ve heard a lot about AI penetrating many different aspects of the recruitment industry and the ways in which it’s been redefining it. However, for anyone who is not a data scientist, it is still oftentimes a mystery what AI technology really is and what it simply isn’t. While technology is inevitably reshaping the way we conduct business, it is the combined effort of recruiters and advanced software that results in hiring long-lasting and competent candidates.
In the following paragraphs, we are going to demystify all the useful aspects of AI technology in recruitment while also explaining its gaps and limitations.
Previous research has shown that most companies claim to not yet implement AI in their recruitment while at the same time sourcing candidates through predictive tools embedded in platforms such as LinkedIn to actively search talents from virtual sources. This shows that many recruiters out there are using technology that they don’t entirely understand yet, which causes confusion, discomfort, and missed opportunities.
On the other hand, the ones who showed an understanding for and willingness to work alongside AI reported improved candidate experience and decreased employee turnover. They are conducting efficient and improved hiring while maintaining the quality of the hiring process.
By implementing AI technology as a part of the recruitment process, you will benefit from its three major features. When put simply, some of AI’s jobs are:
matching CVs with job requirements
which leads to sourcing relevant candidates
and recommending new job opportunities to the rediscovered candidates.
By complementing each other, these features make the process less time-consuming, more accurate, and ultimately cheaper.
Simplifying the initial step in the recruitment process allows recruiters to focus on strategic aspects of hiring and creating stronger relationships with the candidates. Despite the valuable achievements of AI, creating the best candidate experience remains one of the most important tasks for the hiring manager.
Manually screening all candidates resumes is one of the most tiresome and time-consuming parts of every recruiter's job. According to a study conducted by Ideal, 52% of talent acquisition leaders say the hardest part of recruitment is identifying the right candidates from a large applicant pool.
Wouldn’t it then be nice to read only the resumes of relevant candidates? Fortunately, AI can dramatically speed up the process of CV screening by automatically extracting a candidate's previous experience, education level and relevant skills. It goes without saying that if you don't like a summary of a CV, you probably won't like the whole CV.
More specifically, a job description parser is an important tool for sourcing and matching candidates (both initial ranking and candidate rediscovery). It extracts the duties and responsibilities on one hand and the minimum and preferred requirements of the candidates on the other. Afterward, the algorithm assigns matching scores to all candidates based on previously set attributes. Now that the relevance score between CV and job description is calculated, candidates can be sorted by semantic relevance for a certain job requirement.
For recruiters, this is where the job starts. By logging into their ATS, they are now able to scroll through a ranked and sorted list of candidates matched with certain jobs, making their task of choosing and shortlisting drastically faster. Thanks to software’s so-called ‘blind screening’, all potential biases and human error from the initial steps of recruiting are eliminated which leads to a more accurate representation of all candidates.
Another feature that makes sourcing candidates easier is the one that recommends relevant job openings at your company to the candidates with matching profiles. Meaning, imagine you posted a new job that is similar to a previous job opening for which you received multiple great applications. Logically, only one of the candidates gets hired. But what happens to the “silver medalists”?
Thanks to AI, you will receive recommendations for suitable candidates that could be rediscovered for new positions. Additionally, the same candidates will receive related job ads from your company. Similarly, in the case of multiple openings at the same time candidates will receive recommendations for similar jobs in case the original ad isn’t the best fit for them. This way candidates will be able to explore more options within your company.
The talks about Artificial Intelligence have never been as prevalent as they are today. Even though it’s essential to understand the technology that you are using on daily bases for the benefit of your performance, its features aren’t omnipotent nor will they ever be. Just like a human will never be able to screen all CVs with the same level of focus and entirely bias free, losing that battle to AI - human touch, interaction and relationships will never be replaced by a software.
Ultimately, it’s important to remember that everyone's goal is the same. Sourcing the best talent, hiring the best fit for a position and doing all that while providing the best possible candidate experience. The task is not easy, why not have some help on the way? ;)
AI Month: Stay tuned for more AI related topics in the upcoming weeks!
