Artificial Intelligence in the Recruitment Process
By Lissette Maduro
The fundamentals of AI technology – computer systems that mimic human intelligence activities – were designed back in the 1930’s. Applying this technology to talent recruitment however, has only been initiated in the past few years and as a result of its introduction, AI is rapidly becoming an indispensable ‘bestie’ for companies trying to find the right talent.
AI Boom in Talent Recruitment
AI technology is either weak (created and trained for specific tasks) or strong (broad-based human cognitive abilities capable of finding solutions without human involvement). The technology has led to a boom of HR innovation in talent recruitment.
Typically, the technology simplifies or automates segments of the recruitment process involving recurrent, high-volume functions. For instance, AI is considerably more efficient at using accessible data to sort candidates based on criteria stipulated by employers, making it an advanced effective as well as ‘cheap labor’ option.
How AI Is Helping Companies
AI is currently being enlisted by companies world-wide to assist with transforming their recruitment process. Linked In noted in their Global Recruiting Trend 2018 report that 76% of recruiters and hiring managers anticipate AI’s impact on recruiting “will be at least somewhat significant.”
AI is already exerting its influence in a number of ways:
- AI streamlines online applications by using keywords and other sortable data to track applicants. Based on this information recruiters can rank resumes and select candidates faster.
- AI assists in selecting the best-fit candidate for a position by evaluating data from the candidate’s online activity and devising a profile of their professional goals, ethics and ambitions. AI helps with the preselection of the most appropriate candidates creating a shortlist for recruiters.
- The need for flexibility or unavailability of local candidates make it necessary for companies in today’s job market to have remote workers in their workforce. AI offers a wide array of tools to help recruiters locate and hire remote workers. It can also assist with assessing the character and trustworthiness of a remote candidate to vet their ability to appropriately represent the organization.
- AI has redesigned the interview process by managing basic questions and allowing recruiters to focus on the more in depth questions.
- AI promotes a more data-driven recruitment process which in turn enhances the quality of hires and allows access to a wider talent pool. In addition, employing AI optimizes the use of recruitment funds.
Companies continue to look for ways to harness AI’s ‘predictive analytics’ especially in hot-button recruitment areas like diversity hiring, and in key recruitment trends like employee referrals.
Diversity, inclusion and belonging are emerging recruitment trends with respectively 51%, 52% and 57% of companies reportedly very or extremely focused on these areas. Consequently, varying providers have surfaced offering AI-driven solutions like blind hiring and writing inclusive job postings, to assist with diverse talent recruitment.
AI technology is also raising the bar on employee referrals. It can be proactive in recognizing ‘the best passive talent’ for a position from the company’s staff network and then automatically engage the indicated employee to make the referral. This lends to companies having greater access to high-quality hires.
AI-based innovation in HR continues to grow and more solutions are materializing for various sticking points in the talent recruitment industry. As such, companies can be assured that additional help is on the way.
For more information, contact:
YouAccel Public Relations
media@youaccel.com
