It’s that time of year, again. The time of year everyone starts talking about what’s next.
What’s next in HR technology, candidate experience, performance management, etc. What’s next for recruiting? 2016 talked a lot about artificial intelligence so does that mean it’s time to move on to something else? Not quite. AI has barely hit its prime when it comes to the benefits it can bring to recruiting and the talent acquisition world. Continue reading for the top 3 benefits of embracing AI in your recruitment strategy.
1. Turning quantity into quality
On average, every corporate job opening attracts 250 resumes, but only 4 to 6 of these applicants will receive an interview and only one will be extended an offer for the job. Let’s say a recruiter’s goal is to make 8-12 hires a month, this means they would have to review about 2,000 resumes, which is on the low end, to find the right applicant.
The average amount of time a recruiter spends reviewing a resume is 6 seconds, some may argue that is not nearly enough time to make a keep-or-toss decision but how are recruiters supposed to sort through all those applications and make a hire in a timely manner?
Using AI technology to initially assess resumes for keywords and concepts hidden in the text would give recruiters the ability to turn those piles of resumes into a short-list of qualified candidates. This type of candidate rank and score function is already being used by different software companies.
By using this type of technology, recruiting specialists can then spend more time on the resumes that warrant more attention and not deal with the ones who were not qualified to begin with. This kind of technology throughout the recruiting process would save time for recruiters in an organization and allow them to make better hires faster.
2. Better candidate experience
It’s a frustration many job seekers run into: the ATS black hole. Sending in their applications and resumes and then never to be contacted again; wondering day-in and day-out if someone received their information or even cared. 82% of employers think a negative candidate experience affects the company little, if at all, but much to their dismay, 58% of candidates who don’t hear back from an employer are less likely to buy products from that company.
Not to mention, people talk and word of mouth can be one of the biggest influences on a business as 34% of candidates who have suffered a bad candidate experience will share their experience on social media. But with more than 2,000 resumes coming in for the average corporate recruiter a month, how can they stay in contact with each candidate?
This is where Artificial Intelligence in the form of a recruitment chatbot comes to the rescue. By using a chatbot to help candidates throughout the application process, recruiters would be able to improve candidate experience since 93% of job seekers cite unclear application instructions as the primary cause of a bad candidate experience.
In addition to helping job seekers throughout the process, the chatbot would also be able to keep them informed on where they are in the process and send a notification once the position has been filled. Implementing a chatbot in the recruiting process gives candidates the communication they need for a better experience and helps recruiters save time. More advanced chatbots can also take those conversations with candidates and learn more about them to aid the decision of who is most qualified for which position.
3. Reduce bias
On top of saving time and improving the candidate experience, using Artifical Intelligence in recruitment also has the ability to reduce bias in the hiring process. In a recent Gallup study, researchers found gender-diverse business units in the retail sector have 14% higher average comparable revenue than less-diverse business units. There is also a 15 fold increase in sales revenue of companies with a high rate of racial diversity. So why wouldn’t hiring teams want to take initiatives to help diversify teams?
Recruitment firm Hays asked more than 1000 hiring managers about a candidate’s attributes and suitability based on a single resume. Half the hiring managers received a copy of the resume with the name Simon at the top while the other half received one with the name Susan. In large companies (over 500 employees), 62% of hiring managers said it was extremely probable they would interview Simon and only 56% said the same about Susan. Implementing AI in the hiring process can help achieve the goal of diverse teams as it will rank and score candidates based on qualification and leave bias out of the decision of whom to add to the short-list of top candidates.
The talk of improvement is never enough, it’s time to act. Adding the wonders of AI to your recruitment process is the best thing you can do for your company for 2017.
About the author: Noel Webb is co-founder and CEO of Karen.ai (Your Cognitive Recruiting Assistant), the latest project from his role as Director of Product Innovation at Innosphere. A veteran of business development and out-of-the-box thinking, Noel has been a leader in his roles over the years for several companies, including Bam Digital, SpeakFeel and Agnition.
