Recruiting has always been a fundamentally human process, whether it involves one person reviewing an applicant’s resume or a candidate participating in a full day of final round interviews. However, that might be changing with the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) human resource software, which can help with everything from scheduling interviews to conducting reference checks.
With an unemployment rate of only 5.2% in August, recruiters need all the help they can get in today’s hyper competitive job market. While it was a recruiter’s market this time last year, now that the economy is recovering job candidates have more opportunities than ever, and that gives them the freedom to be picky. “There are 300,000 recruiter job openings listed, with millions of job postings. Who is going to help do the high volume hire processing?” says Bennett Sung, the head of marketing at Humanly.io.
That high volume recruiting is where Humanly, and other recruiting AI software, is designed to fill the gap. With 24/7 availability, interview transcription, and other features, artificial intelligence can help free up the human recruiter’s time for more important tasks and make companies more appealing in a crowded job market. Here’s how AI software is seeking to improve the recruiting process for both employers and candidates:
Around the Clock Availability
One of the most significant drawbacks of human recruiters is that they work a limited number of hours in the day. This can present issues when candidates work in different time zones or are mostly available outside of regular business hours. Furthermore, scheduling interviews and other mundane tasks often falls to the bottom of a recruiter’s to-do list, leaving candidates in limbo for days or weeks.
In these situations, moving faster than other companies can result in getting the hire, while lagging behind can mean losing out on the candidates.”There is one success signal with high volume hiring — it is speed to engage,” Sung said. “[That’s why] Humanly hangs out where the candidates are on the web, on the smartphone texting or checking email, or simply walking around town.”
Sung recalled one client, a Sacramento-based restaurant, who had a candidate walk by at 7:30 am, long before the restaurant opened. “The candidate pointed his camera at the hiring QR code and was booked into an in-person interview in the afternoon, got hired, and started his shift that same night,” he said.
Sourcing and Selecting Candidates
Besides availability, recruiters also face another challenge: sourcing candidates and moving them through the initial screening is extremely time consuming. It requires many man hours to find potentially qualified candidates and vet them in an initial interview. Some companies outsource this to outside recruiting firms, but this practice can quickly become expensive, and it still takes time.
AI recruiting software claims to speed up this part of the process by largely automating it. “Humanly is laser-focused on the candidate screening & selection step of the hiring funnel,” Sung explained. Humanly uses AI-powered chat to screen candidates and confirm they are a good fit for a role. The conversations are added into the HR system for the human recruiters to review later and make a decision about whether or not to move the candidate forward.
Also Read: Recruiting Challenges Will Be Heightened by Hybrid Work
Assistance During Interviews
Once candidates move into the later stages of the interviewing process, recruiters must keep track of what happens during the interview while simultaneously trying to judge if the candidate will be a good fit for the organization. AI recruiting software can help with that by automatically creating transcripts and gathering data in the background, so the interviewers can focus on the conversation instead of trying to multitask.
“The AI assistant [can] sit in on your interviews to take notes and measure interview communication behavior like talk speed, talk-listen, candidate sentiment. Plus, Humanly also captured insights into how frequent company-specific markers are raised by the candidate,” Sung explained. “Along with making the interviewer more aware, employers are able to run continuous candidate research studies and garner valuable marketing insights on what motivates quality candidates.”
The Future of AI Recruiting
With no signs of the job market becoming less competitive, and AI proficiency improving by the year, candidates can expect to interface with more and more of these systems during the application process. More employers will also start feeling the pressure to implement these systems, especially in highly competitive fields or industries that demand high volume hiring.
“Employers need to partner with recruitment automation technology and create a new vision for hiring: a vision that sets you apart, gets to your candidates faster, and generates actionable insights to continuously improve the process and experience,” Sung said.
For those who are skeptical of using artificial intelligence in the recruiting process, Sung recommends that recruiters talk to candidates about the hiring process and go through the steps of applying for a job at their organization to see what the process is like. “How fast does it take you? How many questions are asked? Could you do the entire application on your phone? How fast does it take the hiring team to get back to you with feedback?” he said. “Follow up this exercise by mapping out the conversation you would have to screen the candidate and schedule an interview.” You might be surprised by what you learn.
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