Can AI Really Revolutionise Recruitment…

A metadata analysis conducted in 2013 found that AI and its algorithms outperformed humans when hiring employees by at least 25%. Statistics released by Undercover Recruiter show that AI is expected to replace up to 16% of all HR jobs by at least 2028. However, the traditional recruitment consultant will not be replaced by AI but aim to make their jobs easier and improve overall productivity.

AI is already being used worldwide by big corporations in the form of chatbots through the use of apps such as Facebook Messenger, Chip and Duolingo. Additionally, more and more companies are using AI within their recruitment processes like chatbots to help reduce the time taken to hire employees and increase the number of candidates who complete the application process. They feel that using AI will provide benefits such as reducing bias, reducing recruitment timelines and data processing without removing the human recruiter.

Research into the insight of successful business and career coaches found that organisations are expecting AI to revolutionise recruitment through processes such as CV screening and job matching. They believe AI will be able to gain insight into what makes a CV powerful using current employee data to analyse experience, qualifications and skill sets. This in turn will use machine learning to match a specific candidate to their most suited job role. With talent agents such as Live Hire opting for Ai as a means or job board scanning it allows for simplified candidate sourcing through the assessment of an applicant’s online presence made up of a trail of data such as social media profiles, CV’s and applications. This will help to place candidates who are suited for a particular role or position.

In most instances AI can process data at a faster rate than humans, meaning AI can reduce time spent creating candidate profiles, inputting data and shortlisting candidates. So, recruiters can spend less time scrawling through data and more time developing meaningful relationships with candidates allowing them to be placed swiftly and effectively. Textio is an AI powered augmented writing app which uses data and predictive text analytics to find meaningful language patterns in successful applications and resumes. On the basis of machine learning the more documents that are analysed by Textio the better its accuracy of its predictions.

AI assistance can even be implemented as far as the interview stage, it can be used to make initial contact with candidates and conduct preliminary interviews through both written and audio-visual forms. Interview AI assistants such as Haver, use biometric and psychometric analysis to make assessments on candidates during video interviews or for video CV’s. It uses facial and speech recognition alongside body language monitoring to measure attributes such as personality traits, confidence, stress levels and honesty.

Despite predictions that AI applications such as CV screening saving up to 75% of company time. It has been criticised at this stage for being nothing more than a grouping of automatic processes. Additionally, the most powerful recruitment technique is the ability to provide a positive candidate experience, therefore AI should only be seen as a tool to assist and emphasise the human aspect of the recruitment process.

Despite AI being seen as a beneficial tool within recruitment, there are clearly still major pitfalls with the technology as shown by Amazon. The IT giant recently abandoned their AI recruitment tool as it rapidly taught itself that male applicants were preferable and to penalise CV’s that included the word ‘women’. Proving that there’s still a long way to go before AI is considered to be your new recruitment assistant.