AI-powered tech is to recruitment what banking apps are to customers. Customers either transact on their apps or walk to the bank counter. Even my mee-maw wouldn’t choose the latter, except for complaints. AI has similarly helped recruiters eliminate many redundancies and improved the efficacy of talent acquisition processes. Recruiters now use AI to screen resumes, rank candidates, and conduct video interviews in the early stages of recruitment. It’s safe to say it’s the new normal. I should mention that I won’t romanticize AI recruitment hate to appeal to a mass audience. Sure, it has its shortcomings, but from personal experience and research, AI’s hate is fueled by candidates who have failed to adapt to the rise of AI in hiring. If you’re one of them, there’s still a chance. In this article, I’ll show how company recruiters and hiring managers use AI to improve their processes. Prospective job applicants can also learn some nuggets for smarter job hunting. Let’s get to it. What is an AI-powered Human Resource Technology? AI-powered HR technology is any app or software that’s dedicated to easing an aspect of personnel management and recruitment. It could be anything from writing job descriptions to AI-assisted video interviews. That’s right. Apps like HireVue, Textio, Olivia by Paradox, and Entelo are some powerful HR tech stacks that are revolutionizing recruitment. Recruiting companies and HR software developers who neglect AI in some aspect of their selection procedure may start to miss out. Recruiters and candidates will experience burnout. Selection timelines will drag on too long. Costs will rise beyond reasonable. And talent may slip away (with or without AI, but surely without AI). Let’s see how they make it happen. How To Enhance Your Recruitment With AI Technology Several studies already demonstrate how AI guarantees lower costs and faster results on recruitment procedures than traditional methods. While you aren’t an early bird, joining the bandwagon is never too late. 1. Automate Resume Screening (Save Your Brain Cells!) I can’t imagine a recruiter (or even a recruiting team) who efficiently screens dozens, if not hundreds, of resumes and cover letters for the average job post without some touch of bias. Meanwhile, up to 90% of applicants submit unqualified resumes. Attempting to screen manually can lead to burnout, consequently affecting your productivity. Research by the Department of Labor and Gallup affirms that manual recruitment has an abysmal 16% success rate in locating the ideal applicant for a position. Savvy recruiters use Applicant Tracking Systems, like Workable and JazzHR, to sort piles of resumes and even rank the top candidates. AI-enhanced ATS employs algorithms and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to sort applicants based on your description of the ideal candidate’s skill, experience, education, and more. They can even learn from past hiring decisions to refine candidate ranking over time. As a recruiter, you can save costs from the work hours it would’ve taken to filter through a heap of resumes effectively. If you’re a candidate, adapting to this trend can help you seal more interviews. Update your resume to match the requirements of each job application to keep up in today’s market. Otherwise, you’d lose from the beginning even if you have or surpass the qualifications. 2. Improve Candidate Engagement with AI Chatbots Great, timely, and meaningful engagement is key to converting the best candidates into successful hires. A 2023 study by Deloitte pointed out that personalized recruitment strategies increase acceptance rates and candidate engagement. Basic chatbots can interact with prospective employees at every level of the recruitment process, from the first contact to the post-interview follow-up. It is borderline sad and inhumane if a recruiter can’t send application updates to candidates – this is probably the easiest form of candidate engagement. With a little effort, even cheap HR software can automate feedback based on their results. However, advanced AI recruitment assistants can take your candidate engagement practice a step further. They can provide serious candidates with ample information about the company (even when there’s no job opening) to prepare them for in-person interviews. Deloitte further states that 70 percent of HR professionals desire a positive candidate experience, but only 40% monitor its achievement. In fact, they mention treating candidates like potential customers and using technology (i.e., AI) to your advantage. states AI recruiting assistants, like Olivia, can engage candidates and track and measure their experience. Voila! AI solves the positive image dilemma. 3. Measure Soft Skills and Emotional Intelligence with AI Video Interviewing Is AI-powered HR tech insufficient because it only screens resumes based on texts? AI can analyze soft skills and behavior, such as speech patterns, facial expressions, and word choice, to determine a candidate's compatibility based on predefined criteria. A handful of AI-powered hiring platforms like InterviewBuddy and HireVue offer AI video interviews to analyze and predict candidate suitability. Applicants also have time to prepare and record their best responses. Some tools even analyze soft skills by giving candidates neuroscience-based games. While it’s a stretch of their capabilities, video interview AI platforms can filter racists, sexists, or simply unserious candidates with ease and no bias. Now, there might be shortcomings, but nothing as serious as Amazon’s hiring robot that immediately discriminated against women. 4. Attract Diverse Talent With Better Job Descriptions Companies and recruiters who can’t put an ounce of effort into writing a job description are a joke. An AI app as common as ChatGPT can write a decent job post within seconds. Ignorance and entitlement are the issues with recruiters who aren’t clear with job descriptions, and research has shown that they end up hiring underqualified or uninterested candidates. Today, enterprises and even governments use AI-powered tools like Textio to improve job postings' quality and attract desired candidates. Nevada County, California, used AI to improve its boring job descriptions and achieved three times faster filling times than average government agencies. Remarkably, they were also able to diversify the talent pipeline in a county with 92% white residents. The trajectory of technological advancements promises AI can deliver a much more efficient and personalized approach to job descriptions. Future AI systems can use a candidate’s online behavior to display a personalized job post. Hold your beer for that one, folks! 5. Interview Scheduling Like A Boss With AI Assistants AI can improve almost every aspect of the recruitment process. Interview scheduling is only the icing on the cake of how AI delivers a 50% reduction in time-to-hire and cost savings. 50% reduction in time-to-hire Many AI-powered recruiting apps or a well-built AI agent can handle the entire scheduling process for every stakeholder in the hiring process, from recruiters to CEOs to candidates. These powerful apps can easily sync calendars and even use chatbots to handle rescheduling requests, send reminders, or confirm interviews. AI Recruitment Technology Only Gets Better Artificial intelligence is, without a doubt, the sugar in the coffee of in-demand recruiters. It’s already improving hiring efficiency and reducing the cost of acquiring talent. Intriguingly, AI is yet to reach peak development, so it’s exciting to anticipate how it will further streamline the recruitment process and human resources industry. We might see updates that address the potential for bias in AI video interviews or a revolutionary update release. Remember, most of these tools only help recruiters do the heavy lifting through automation, analytics, and quick response to candidate’s questions. At the end of the selection process, it’s still a recruiter's judgment and responsibility to assess the suitability and credibility of final candidates. What’s your take on the use of AI-powered HR technology??
