
Research by Glassdoor reveals that hiring managers receive an average of 250 resumes on every job advertised.
When it comes to hiring, a lot of recruiters/hiring managers can relate to the time-consuming process of sorting through hundreds of CVs just to find that one right candidate. In a 2016 study by Recruiter & Employer Sentiment Survey MRI Network, 56% of recruiters said they can't make good hires because of lengthy hiring procedures.
With the time it takes to get that done, there's a probability that the right candidate will not get a chance for an interview because the recruiter stops at the first set of CVs that look good to him or her. There are also tons of gaps that come with this time-consuming process. From job applicants not getting feedback after applying or interviewing to them not being able to ask questions about the hiring process. This trend calls for a need to do things differently in the recruitment industry, and embrace technology solutions that will lead to an efficient and faster hiring process.
The Solution: Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Technology advancement has seen the rise and rise of artificial intelligence across industries. But what is it and how does it bring about the efficiency needed in the workplace?
In its simplest form, artificial intelligence is leveraging computers and machines to perform tasks, make decisions and solve problems, that would have otherwise taken hours, days and even months if done by humans.
From the product recommendations that stalk you after scanning through an eCommerce website to the chatbots engaging you when you visit a couple of websites, to the immediate medical results you get when you go to the hospital for a scan or checkup, to your Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant giving you accurate response whenever you need them and even your Uber or Lyft connecting you to riders within seconds; all of these show the powerful capabilities of artificial intelligence.
In recent years, more and more industries have embraced AI to not just build an efficient and productive workplace, but for faster decision-making process. We’ve also seen the launch of technology solutions like self-driving cars, facial recognition, Google maps, and many others, making life easier for us all.
AI helps to save us the stress of manual labour, automates tasks and saves time, so we can focus other things, and in turn, stay productive.
With this knowledge of the many possibilities that come with embracing AI, we can agree that there are so many problems that can be solved if more organizations and HR professionals begin to embrace it for their recruitment needs.
AI & Recruitment
In the recruitment space, one of the most common ways we’ve seen AI at play is the use of Applicant Tracking System (ATS), a solution that helps to manage the hiring process by sorting through CVs to select the best fit, job creation/posting and seamless communication with candidates.
ATS eases the workload of recruiters while helping them make great hiring decisions. According to recruitment statistics, 78% of employers that use an ATS said that recruitment technology makes finding great talent easier than ever.
The benefits of using an ATS are evident, however, it’s mostly seen in use within large corporate organizations, and being used by 90% of Fortune 500 companies, while a lot of small and medium organizations still grapple with the inefficient traditional method of hiring.
On the applicant's side, the experience they get through the recruitment process and how communication is served leaves them with either a negative or positive impression of the company’s work culture. In a study by CareerBuilder, 69% of job seekers say they are less likely to buy from a company they had a bad experience with during the interview process, while 67% per cent are likely to have a favourable view of the company if they get frequent updates after they applied.
Beyond the use of ATS, other innovations in AI that can create a smoother hiring process for both recruiters and applicants include chatbots and digitized interviews.
Chatbots can provide interaction to applicants, giving them real-time updates and feedback as they go through the recruitment stages while digitized interviews use AI to assess the body language, facial expression, choice of words and speech patterns of applicants, to help determine if they are fit for the role of company culture.
The Benefits of AI in Recruitment
From being able to automate repetitive tasks to personalizing the experience of job applicants, embracing AI in our technology-driven world is now of high importance to the recruitment industry.
Here’s a quick highlight of some of the many benefits:
Screening Candidates
With AI, screening candidates no longer takes the form of going through emails of CVs manually. Your AI solution automates this, extracting the data of applicants for you to view and make quick decisions.
Eliminates Bias
Technology knows no bias. By ignoring details such as age, gender, and race, and focusing on skillset, education and qualification during screening, every candidate has a fair chance in the recruitment process.
Matching Candidates
Finding the right candidates is the most important part of the hiring process. For recruiters who want to find candidates quickly, without having to wait for them to apply, AI helps to provide resume recommendations based on keywords in the job description. A lot of solutions provide match technology, connecting recruiters to the best candidates for their jobs in the quickest possible time.
Saves recruiters’ time and speeds up the hiring process
With tasks like finding applicants for a role, screening and communicating with them being automated, the time it would have taken if a recruiter had done it manually is cut by half. Recruiters can focus on other HR tasks within the organization while hiring at the same time.
Better Hiring Quality
AI helps to pull relevant data of applicants, making it easier for recruiters to have a better view of each of them, and the ability to assess their skills/experience more efficiently. This in turn leads to recruiters selecting the right candidates and making smart hiring decisions.
Final Thoughts
Despite these benefits, it’s not uncommon to find some HR professionals tow the old way of doing things due to the fear of losing their jobs to computers and machines that are automating the process and taking the stress off them.
However, this is not the case. Recruiters still have interviews to perform and also have to make the final decision of who to hire for the job. With AI, the job of the recruiter has only been automated and simplified, not eliminated.