In today’s technology-driven world, we’re constantly on the lookout for new ways to be more efficient and effective and with the millions of data points that are being collected by companies worldwide, AI has been making leaps in different industries in this perspective. Artificial Intelligence has been the answer for HR when it comes to shortening processes or making them more productive and competitive in the market. Studies have also shown that companies that have adopted AI tools in their HR or recruitment processes have experienced a significant increase in their productivity. As a candidate you might not always be aware of the tools companies are using to sift through those CV’s, so let’s have a look at how AI is implemented in the recruitment process!
AI tools can be implemented in various parts of the recruitment process, from the initial shortlisting phase to the first interviews. One way AI has been used is to create a profile of the candidate once they apply for a position and then sift through social media profiles that match the candidate’s data to be able to assess whether the candidate has skills associated with the role they have applied for. In a study carried out in 2019 by Mercer, 44% of the participants had adopted AI tools to identify suitable candidates based on skills aggregated from social media profiles. From a candidate’s point of view, having an understanding of how processes work will inevitably put you in a position to prepare and put yourself at an advantage to be “selected” by the tool as a suitable candidate for the role. With the advent of AI tools being used in this space, candidates are not only being assessed on their CV or covering letter but also being assessed on their social media profiles. As a result, having your professional social media platform updated with the relevant information, skill set and keywords would prove to be a significant advantage in being picked up by these AI tools.
Having said that, AI tools are also being used in the shortlisting process. In 2019, Booth noted that companies like Unilever, are saving thousands of hours and millions of pounds using AI technology to carry out and analyse video interviews for facial expressions, body language and word choice which are then compared to traits that have been valued as being good predictors of workplace success. It is also worth mentioning that even though Unilever is automating a good part of the recruitment process, they still offer candidates the possibility to speak with a company representative or recruiter. So as one can see, AI is also being trusted to carry out interviews, either via video or chat, with predetermined interview questions that gauge various skills of the candidates.
In the last decade or so, society had become increasingly data-driven with companies focusing a lot on collating and analysing data to drive decisions. Job opportunities have been created around the manipulation and understanding of this data, and recruitment is very much a data-centric and data-driven function as well. With the advent of AI technology, recruitment moved away from being a process that was based on intuitive processes and moved into a more scientific process. Nowadays, talent acquisition professionals base a lot of their decisions on data, therefore improvement has not only been seen in the quality of hires but also in areas such as fund allocation, marketing efforts and can also be used to build hiring pipelines with significant conversions. However, to be able to focus on such areas and be able to have the time to analyse the data and make informed decisions, recruiters need to move away from the grunt work and the administration side of the role and focus on more high-level recruitment tasks.
AI tools have brought an element of uniformity amongst interviews which would, in turn, lead to a better evaluation or comparison amongst candidate skills. It can also be argued that AI would help in reducing recruiter bias which is a known issue in the recruitment process, however, one has to keep in mind that certain biases might still filter through, after all, the software is originally written by humans!
