Recruiting Automation: Two Truths And A Lie

AI-powered automation makes recruiting process more efficient

Sometimes, tools driven by artificial intelligence (AI) aren’t glamorous or bright. They operate in the background, but at the same time, have an inordinate impact on the processes that help a business perform. 

That’s the case in talent acquisition. In a relatively short time, AI has become foundational to  recruiting, helping employers connect with better-matching candidates and develop relationships with the right people – all more quickly and efficiently than they were able to do in the past.
 

According to SHRM, 88% of companies already use AI in their HR function. And that use is growing. In 2019, the AI-driven recruitment market was worth $580 million, said the research firm IndustryARC. Between 2020 and 2025, the market will grow at an estimated CAGR of 6.76%. The increasing use of analytics and the adoption of solutions, such as chatbots and process automation is among the drivers of this growth, as is the need to screen increasingly large amounts of candidate data.

Whether you’re talking about analysis of the candidate pool or communicating with promising talent, AI-powered automation makes the recruiting process more efficient, more flexible and faster. From where recruiters sit, it takes mundane chores involved with screening, searching, communicating and hiring off the recruiter’s plate, allowing them to spend their time on work that requires a human being to do well – such as developing relationships, explaining offers and answering questions about company programs and policies.
 
“One of the most noteworthy trends for 2021 with automation and artificial intelligence (AI), is their critical role in influencing traditional hiring and recruiting practices,” writes Jessica Delaney, Director of Recruiting Operations at STAND 8 Technology Services.

Because recruiting automation is relatively new, it’s not always well understood. That gives rise to misperceptions about what it does and what its impact will be on recruiters and their work. So, in the interest of tamping down misinformation, let’s look at two truths and one lie you may have heard.

Truth 1: Recruiting Automation Won’t Automate Recruiters out of Their Job

People look at automation and assume it will reduce the number of people undertaking a particular role. They’re used to stories of factories letting people go as they ramp up technical systems on the assembly line or customer service department. The message they get: Automation is all about saving money, and forget the human cost.

In talent acquisition, anyway, the story’s not so simple. Here, executives seek ways to streamline the process, not so they can drop recruiters, but so recruiters can make better use of their time. According to DataQuest magazine, “a growing number of business leaders are interested in how AI-powered capabilities improve the efficiency and outcomes of their hiring operations.”

The reason is simple: Automation helps recruiters work more efficiently and more quickly. When they gain more time, they’re able to pay closer attention to tasks machines can’t complete. Often, those involve one-to-one communications with candidates, which serve to build a closer relationship between an employer and their prospective employee. By automating screening, interview scheduling and email follow-ups, businesses allow their recruiters to focus on creating deeper relationships with more candidates.

At a time when the labor market is tight and employers compete frantically to close candidates, that ability is crucial. Person-to-person communication – through email, chat, phone and social media – plays a central role here, but can’t be leveraged to their potential if employers rely on machines to get it right. It takes a human to describe corporate culture and answer specific, natural questions candidates ask about everything from benefits to paid time off (PTO), remote work to growth opportunities.

Truth 2: By Using Recruiting Automation, Recruiters Get More Precise Candidate Matches and Higher Response Rates

A recent report from Harvard Business School claims that recruiting automation, specifically resume-scanning tools, mistakenly rejects millions of appropriate candidates at a time when employers complain about scarce possibilities for their open roles.

To be sure, some problems exist for less-sophisticated systems. For example, the report said some have rejected candidates for data entry positions because they didn’t have “computer programming” listed on their resume. Others rejected retail candidates because their resumes didn’t include experience “floor buffing.”  

Such situations are becoming rare as true AI solutions are implemented by more employers. They provide more accurate, more personalized results by taking a more sophisticated approach to data – scanning multiple sources and leveraging multiple methods to overcome bias and deliver accurate results. They also look carefully at attributes – things like confidence, empathy, technical knowledge and analytical skills – to generate better matches of candidates to jobs. 

Those are truths. Now, the lie:

Lie: Automated Recruiting Emails Are Easy to Spot

Just because something is automated doesn’t mean it’s robotic. As AI has become more sophisticated, it’s become able to communicate with candidates in a seemingly natural way. 

AI helps systems optimize, personalize and schedule emails to maximize open and response rates. They balance your message with the recipient’s interests, and target candidates by examining demographics and psychographics, as well as interests, actions, past preferences and location.

The increasing sophistication of AI-driven emails makes it more difficult for recipients to recognize the difference between messages that originate with a machine rather than a person, while their tailored wording increases open and click-through rates. 

These systems also allow employers to send emails from different people throughout the organization: the CEO, the hiring manager, the department head, for example. Not only does such a campaign raise response rates, it also supports the recruiter’s efforts to build relationships on the way to making an offer to an ideal candidate.

Understanding the capabilities of AI and automation isn’t always easy. But recruiters don’t need to become programmers to make use of them. Recognize what automation can do, and learn to spot advice that doesn’t apply to you or is just plain wrong. When you deploy technology properly, your talent acquisition efforts will run more smoothly, more quickly and deliver better results.

Hari Kolam is Co-Founder and CEO at Findem. A serial entrepreneur and accomplished technologist, Hari counts nearly two decades of experience building companies and creating trailblazing technology solutions.   Connect Hari Kolam