How is Artificial Intelligence Transforming the Hiring Process?
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The 21st century is all about coming up with techniques that make life simpler. Artificial Intelligence ticks all the boxes when it comes to that requirement. The global AI market is expected to reach a value of approximately $1.8 billion by 2030.
It should then be of no surprise that AI in the hiring process is already gaining traction in the market. It gives recruiters the opportunity to work on efficiency, personalization, and data-driven decision-making.
This blog explores how the use of Artificial Intelligence is monumental to the evolution of the recruitment process.
How Companies Around the World Are Using AI
The tech giants of the world are in a cut-throat race to master the use of AI and become leaders in the domain. A deep study reveals the following impact areas of the recent boom in Artificial Intelligence usage.
1. Workload Automation – Machine Learning (ML) algorithms are utilized to analyze data from smart sensors and categorize the work. This is supplemented with automation in the production line to speed up mundane and labor-intensive tasks.
2. Logistics Optimization – Optimal action-based cognitive decisions and recommendations are being leveraged to enhance the overall supply chain performance.
3. Customer Service Improvement – Virtual assistant programs and chatbots have successfully built seamless and better customer experiences for several platforms.
4. Data Analysis and Management – From data processing and cleansing to predictive analytics and intelligent automation, companies have been using AI to their advantage to streamline their data systems.
5. Performance and Behaviour Prediction – Companies are increasingly using AI to predict customer behaviour, forecast sales, and predict employee performance. This helps them in risk management and fraud detection.
What is AI for Recruiting?
The recruiting process is often rife with time-consuming and repetitive tasks. Artificial Intelligence (AI) allows recruiters to automate certain process aspects.
You can use a combination of pre-defined templates and Machine Learning algorithms to instruct an AI-powered language model to reduce the manual effort required.
Imagine all the time saved in developing role-specific interview questions, creating candidate outreach messaging, evaluating applicants fit for the job, and other tasks.
A Brief History of AI in Hiring Process
The use of AI in recruitment is a relatively recent phenomenon. However, it has quickly gained traction and is now one of the major trends in the hiring industry.
One of the earliest examples of recruitment automation can be seen back in the 1990s with the use of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). The recruitment process underwent a major shift.
Before the introduction of ATS, candidate applications would most likely be found stacked in filing cabinets or piled up on the recruiter’s desk. HRTech has evolved a lot since then.
The beginning of the 21st century saw the internet boom and the explosive popularity of social media platforms. This paved the way for online applicants.
The last few years have witnessed an increased emphasis on the candidate experience. Features like resume parsing and automatic matching of candidate applications against job requirements exemplify how far AI has dug its roots in recruitment.
Ways in which AI is Transforming the Recruitment Process
1. Sourcing
The use of AI in the hiring process has made candidate sourcing easier. Potential candidates can now be identified through the analysis of internal and external data sources. These sources can include social media profiles, professional networking sites, and online portfolios, among others.
Outreach has been automated through targeted email campaigns, social media messaging, and other communication channels. This ensures a larger talent pool is covered in less time.
2. Assessing Talent
AI-powered pre-hiring assessments are rapidly replacing the traditional resume-based screening process. It helps recruiters do away with redundant steps that not only prolong hiring but also lead to poor candidate experience.
Armed with an in-depth report on the candidate’s performance across sub-skills, these assessments are a near-perfect indicator of their on-job performance. Investing in Artificial Intelligence hiring saves the organization’s time and resources.
Zapilio is a human and AI-powered assessment platform that makes hiring top talent easy and achievable through HireZap. Companies such as Altimetrik, CISCO, McAfee, and Bosch have used our industry expert-validated assessments for hiring.
3. Interviewing
AI-enabled interview platforms have changed the game. It has done away with the time and effort-intensive traditional interview processes. The no-contact policy during the pandemic that gripped the world also had a part to play in popularizing this application of the field.
This stage of the recruitment pipeline is crucial as it provides a chance to perform a direct assessment of the candidate’s abilities and personality. AI leverages the power of data and analytics in streamlining the process.
The candidate’s tone, demeanor, as well as emotional state, can be gauged by softwares providing insights into the personality of the candidate and their fit for the role.
4. Onboarding
Employer branding and candidate experience top the list of recruitment priorities once a company has finalized a candidate. Recruitment automation software now comes with features that enable recruiters to create an engaging and personalized experience for the new joinees.
ML and AI have made it possible to gain insights into each candidate’s unique needs and come up with a tailored onboarding experience taking into account the volume of hires. AI helps in prioritizing employee engagement and creating a positive first impression.
Benefits of Using AI in Hiring Process
Mentioned below are some of the key benefits of using AI in the hiring process.
1. Faster Recruitment and Higher Efficiency
While you spend countless days trying to find the right candidate, all your applicants are waiting to hear back from you. They don’t like to be kept waiting.
By automating these administrative tasks, HR teams can free up a significant amount of time to focus on quickly assessing the right talent and making the final offer.
Automated interviews and pre-hiring assessments will boost your candidate screening efficiency. A single candidate job posting receives 250 responses on average. Imagine the number of hours you can save up by utilizing AI to its fullest potential.
2. Reduced Bias
Unconscious bias is a huge concern when it comes to hiring. It often creeps into the decision-making process and influences the decision-maker in a way that is out of their control. The use of AI in hiring process is slowly but surely changing this.
AI-powered strategies such as blind resume screening can be used to not let race, gender, or any other parameter influence the hiring decision. Predictive analytics can work on past hiring patterns to identify biases and come up with plans to eliminate them.
Natural Language Processing (NLP) can be used to check the job description to identify and replace gender-biased languages. This helps in targeting a wider pool of candidates.
3. Enhanced Candidate Experience
Besides speeding up the process and saving candidates time, the increasing popularity of Artificial Intelligence hiring processes has also brought in gamification. This takes away the tediousness of recruitment and makes it more interactive and enjoyable for the candidate.
AI can also automate feedback, thus keeping the candidate in the loop throughout the stages of hiring. This makes the candidates feel involved and helps them understand where they stand and what they need to improve.
4. Improved Quality of Hire
Following a skill-based hiring approach by focusing on validating the skills of the candidate rather than the resume will have a significantly positive effect on the quality of hires.
AI assessment software such as HireZap provides a bias-free and objective candidate evaluation, ensuring the most suited candidates are selected for the job based on their potential and skills.
You can use the predictive analysis and simulation-based questions feature to understand which candidates are most likely to succeed in your work environment.
The Future of AI in the Recruitment Industry
Social platforms are often abuzz with discussions on how AI will take over jobs leading to unemployment in certain sectors. The fear is real. After all, we have seen it happen with driverless vehicles, invigilator-less examinations, digital payment booths replacing cashiers, etc.
With AI skills assessment software and AI hiring software catching up, the fear is also finding its way into the recruitment industry. However, there is no need to chalk up a dystopian future.
You cannot take out the human from human resources. Sure you can supplement it with a machine but human intelligence and interaction are here to stay. So, while interview scheduling and resume screening is automated, you can focus more on relationship building, brand marketing, and candidate engagement. There will merely be a shift in priorities and skills.Key Takeaway
The only way forward for organizations is to plan ahead and come up with policies that take advantage of this technology while factoring in human involvement and monitoring.
Understanding data that Artificial Intelligence hiring processes churn out and using it to your advantage will be a new skill that recruiters need to have. There will be a considerable shift in focus from candidate sourcing and resume screening to networking and other people skills.
