Jobhop Jobhop's blog : Will Artificial Intelligence Make Recruiters Redundant?
Artificial intelligence use in recruitment is a hot topic; for those who are not sure what AI is, then here is a quick explanation.
Artificial intelligence is the ability of computers performing tasks that would typically have required humans. The aim is to have machines that act and react exactly like humans; we're a long way off from that as computers don't understand emotions, empathy, compassion ...yet!
It was Alan Turing in 1950 who asked the question "Can machines think?" That question triggered the quest to find out and also the Turing test, which is a method to determine if a machine is intelligent.
Currently, we have AI systems that are powered by machine learning, deep learning and some are powered by simple rules. Simply put the AI is fed data to help it learn and progress. For example, in 2012, the founder of Google Brain Deep Learning Project, fed a network 10 million Youtube videos and the network recognised a cat, without being told what a cat was!
Back to recruitment, most recruiters recognise that artificial intelligence is changing and will continue to change recruitment. Most recruiters feel that their jobs are safe for the foreseeable future.
Many recruiters will admit that a helping hand to identify suitable candidates from a large number of candidates is always welcome. Most organisations use applicant tracking systems (ATSs) to sift through CVs before they reach a human; these ATS's are searching for keyword matches. Candidates will know to use keywords if they want to go to the top of the pile; there needs to be a better way to qualify candidates.
Some companies will have qualifying tactics on their website, or questions to answer before being able to apply, but AI could help the recruiter even more.
Where most see artificial intelligence working well is during the first steps of recruitment and then during the candidate journey, for example, follow up calls etc.
First step:
Having a careers site that chats, text chat that is, for the time being. How much better for a potential candidate to visit a careers site and be able to ask job-related questions. Artificial intelligence can be a chatbot (robot) on your site answering questions, from car parking and benefits, up to career progression. Bots can give an instant response; they can also help potential candidates learn more about jobs, career opportunities and the company culture. Bots can also encourage candidates to apply for particular jobs.
Second step:
Wouldn't it be better if an application is greeted with an immediate interview! No need to ask for a CV first, you won't see a CV until you know they've got through the first interview. When recruiters ask for CVs first, recruiters, usually end up drowning in them!
The AI conducts the immediate interview, and it's a preset video interview which gets repeated to every applicant. The recruiter presets the questions and the candidates have to answer them in a set time. The AI software then feeds back to the recruiter suitable candidates; the AI will know who's a good fit because it has learned from the inputted data. Only then do you ask for a CV and take it to the next level.
Third step:
The candidate journey; all applicants who never made it through to the next stage get notified by the AI, and the AI invites the one who did make it in for an interview with a human. During the whole journey, it's the AI that contacts the candidates to make sure they are entirely up to date with everything.
4th step:
Now a human can get involved; recruiters can now meet the selected candidates to see if they are a cultural fit. Artificial Intelligence can select candidates on skills and pattern data, but they can't judge empathy, humour, energy, temperament or enthusiasm. Human recruiter skills are required for anything EQ based, as well as determining the candidate is a good culture fit.
Having AI do step 1, 2 and 3, will save the recruiter a lot of work; which means more time for other parts of recruiting.
Most recruiters believe that AI will enhance acquisition, but there are concerns about the training of AI because for AI to work, they need to learn from our data.
An example of where that can go wrong is bias; Amazon had to halt their AI recruiting tool because it was biased. The thing to remember is that AI learns patterns. If a business was always to recruit white, thirty-something, men then AI will deliver more of the same, because it's learned that that's a winning formula. As humans, we have to be responsible for what artificial intelligence learns from us.
Here are four steps, but AI will be able to help in many more ways, such as sourcing, job descriptions, and the tedious jobs of HR.
Whatever part of recruiting you use AI for just remember, you can never take the human away from recruiting because recruiting is about people! Well, for now, anyway!
If you would like to learn more about how artificial intelligence can help you recruit great candidates, please message julie@jobhop.co.uk
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