AI has stirred up quite a bit of conversation when it comes to its impact on the recruitment process. It raises both genuine concern and the promise of huge benefits for recruiters – if properly reined in.
The Varied AI Landscape: AI is not a one-size-fits-all. There are different types of AI that companies can deploy. These systems often use multiple AI techniques and technologies to achieve their goals. This means that different types of AI often come together in one package, just like the ingredients in a good recipe.
Most recruitment AI probably uses a mix of generative AI, machine learning, and natural language processing. Together they form a ‘recommendation machine’, which helps organizations collect data, accelerate skill matching, and interpret candidate communication to generate human-like responses.
Think of AI as a kind of co-pilot, carrying the heavy load and navigating you safely to your destination.
Programming Prejudices: The Biggest Concern: Let’s think about the impact of AI coding made by teams as diverse as a flock of sheep. What is the effect on underrepresented groups?
Learning models also have their own pitfalls. If biased actions are the examples used as a reference during machine learning, these become automated responses in the future. Imagine someone rejecting resumes based on foreign names, or the absence of a degree when a degree is “desired”, these situations will be repeated if they are included in the data used to train the system.
Thus, the programming of prejudices can begin during the initial development and continue throughout the entire process. After all, AI learns from mistakes, but can also learn to make mistakes.
How and When is AI Useful in the Recruitment Process? First and foremost, AI can automate routine tasks that do not require subjective decisions. Think of tasks such as negotiating and scheduling. With the help of conversational AI, for example, you can provide an engaging experience while automating the process of calendar management. Automating these tasks can also reduce the number of people in your team, which can be a relief in itself.
Secondly, AI can be extremely useful by delivering the information that candidates are most interested in. AI can help understand desired content and deliver it quickly. This can range from the jobs that candidates are most interested in, to more complex matters such as information about their decision factors (benefits details or company culture). This can fill your candidate pipeline and lower the costs of talent acquisition.
Finally, AI can also be a great source for gathering information. AI can capture contact information and interests when people visit your career site but are not yet ready to apply, thereby creating potential candidate pools.
There is also a role for AI in pre-selection when it comes to clearly objective data, such as willingness to work at specific locations, days/hours, or required licenses.
All in all: With a good AI tool, you can reject unqualified candidates, put qualified but not top-tier candidates on hold, and automatically schedule top-tier candidates for a more in-depth screening. And in the meantime, it can help position your organization as a top employer by delivering the information a candidate is interested in.