How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Recruitment Landscape

For decades, companies have posted job openings and screened applicants while flipping through piles of papers searching for the perfect talent. What hasn’t changed is the desire for knowledgeable and experienced workers. What has changed, however, is how companies go about finding these people.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has completely changed the recruitment process over the last few years. As people start to get more comfortable with talking robots built into their phone and voice-activated smart home systems, they’ve realized that AI can make life easier in multiple aspects. A recent study by Deloitte says that 41 percent of HR leaders have fully implemented or made progress with AI technology, and the AI market is expected to grow to $47 billion by 2020.

These AI systems collect and search through data within milliseconds to find a suitable candidate, and hiring teams can take advantage of that speed. Even a recent analysis shows that algorithms can outperform experts by sorting through this information in a quicker and more efficient manner than any human. If you’re interested in how AI processes all of this data, we’ve created a more comprehensive explanation.

The Use of ATS Software

In simplest terms, Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software help make recruiting easier. These systems use algorithms to process applicants and find the best fit. Not only does it save time, but it’s also paperless and applicant information is less likely to get lost in a pile.

Selecting the right ATS software is key. Choosing the wrong software can make the process more confusing and will take more time to sort through applications than it would for the actual hiring team. You’ll want to make sure your team has prioritized the company’s needs and you’ve spent time researching the pros and cons of multiple software.

Fast and Easy Candidate Sourcing

Our lives are on the internet. With just a simple Google search, your work history, portfolio, and social media accounts will surface, which is why AI has taken over traditional candidate scanning. The ATS takes the keywords chosen by the hiring team (keywords are usually in the job title and description) and searches for the same words in applications and résumés.

Once the applicants’ résumés come flowing in, it takes time for the hiring team to read and sort through them all. The ATS software screens the applications and résumés, it scores and ranks the applicants, and makes candidate recommendations, streamlining the selection process by floating the best candidates to the top of the pile.

More Personal Candidate Matching

AI can also go beyond searching for basic technical skills. Some software gets to know candidates by analyzing how they interact with a website. These programs can track visitor trends and give recruitment teams insight into the qualifications of possible candidates.

The software may also have live chat options when people are viewing a web page, which can spark a conversation while collecting data for a customer relationship management (CRM) tool (find recommendations for CRMs here) such as how long the person viewed the page or which links they clicked on. By sharing candidate information between the CRM and the recruiting software, companies can get a more accurate view of the ideal candidate based on the interaction types they track.

Changing the Job of the Recruiter

With AI taking over the hiring manager position, it’s also threatening jobs. This means candidates are forced to restructure their résumés so that they are computer-friendly, which means they’re rich in keywords. AI can’t however, build personal relationships with candidates, which is why the job of the recruiter is still important. Constant robot interaction can feel extremely impersonal, and even 72 percent of candidates say digital recruiting can sometimes feel “spammy.”

It’s clear that AI has had a huge impact on the recruitment landscape over the last few years and companies have seen various effects. As for the benefits, AI takes days off the search and screening process and allows the hiring team to focus on other areas. It also tracks people while on a web page, which can help recruiters improve their site so that it draws in more candidates. The downside is that it does pose a significant threat on jobs, but that should only make recruiters more focused on building relationships and gaining applicants’ trust -- something AI has not yet figured out how to do.