Undoubtedly, technology has touched almost every area of our lives, especially the way we communicate with one another. Almost every day, new forms of communication are being developed and are made available to all of us.

For sectors such as human resource, where communication is an important factor and key to success, technology is proving itself to be a game changer. The old ways of communicating in recruitment such as fax and snail mails have been replaced with exciting and instantaneous technology such as artificial intelligence.

The talent acquisition industry is experiencing a disruption. Candidates who are applying for jobs and staffing firms who are posting available job positions are now making way for the modern age of digital transformation.  

The top talents know how to innovate and understand that change is a must if they want to stay ahead of their competition. By having the right attitude towards technological advancements, they have more chances of landing their ideal jobs. For executives of staffing firms, they can take advantage of artificial technology to make their search process more flawless and more efficient.

In this article, we are going to discuss how the emergence of Artificial Intelligence has changed recruitment for active candidates.

But before we start with that, let us first define Artificial Intelligence.

What is Artificial Intelligence?

In the 1950’s, artificial intelligence or most often referred to as AI, has been described by its propagators, Minsky and McCarthy, as any task that is performed by a program or a machine that when the same task is done by a human, the human is going to have to apply intelligence to complete the task.

Admittedly, this definition is a broad one. Many years have passed since the two have given their definition and AI has continuously evolved throughout the years. But in general, AI systems are capable of doing human tasks such as planning, problem solving, knowledge gathering, and representation, perception, manipulation, and learning.

AI has a wide-ranging function. In human resource, AI is already expected to replace 16% of HR jobs within the coming years. For search firms, this means that you can focus on working on your core functions. If you are a candidate, this means that the process of recruiting can now be easier and faster with the immediate processing of data of AI technologies.

But how does AI improve the process of recruitment? For a more general sense, AI can do the mundane tasks in recruitment that no one really wants to do. We’ll get to the specifics later on.

As a recruiter, you get to save your energy expenditure on the tasks necessary to find the right hires and have more time on actually making the right decision on choosing the right candidates. For active candidates, whatever inquiries you have regarding the job, an AI can get to you right away.

One of the recruitment AI technology that serves these functions and is being taken advantage of by offshore RPO firms is the Roborecruiter. It was built for people who are interested in hiring professionally.

Bots are not exactly new. They have been in the recruitment industry for a while now. Among these bots use for recruitment, Roborecruiter stands out as one of the biggest chatbot platforms in the industry, with proven and tested, easy-to-use-and-learn conversational technologies.

Roborecruiter is capable of instantaneous response, which allows the candidate and the firm to stay connected through automation, and functions perfectly well on whatever device you are using.

Roborecruiter is just one of the so many AI that has changed the landscape of recruitment. With its potential to create a hassle-free recruitment process, it is not surprising to know that 38% of companies are now using AI, and 62% of companies are expecting to adapt AI into their HR functions. Furthermore, companies who using AI showed 18 percent higher revenue and 30 percent higher profitability as opposed to those who don’t.

But with all that good stuff said about AI in the recruitment industry, let us not forget that the human touch is still equally important when it comes to the human resource sector.

If you are a staffing firm, the best way to make technology work for you is by cooperating with tech leaders and asking for their opinions on what technology can assist your recruitment process.

You also have to look internally and find a way to properly incorporate AI technology into your recruitment functions. If you are a candidate, nothing beats talking to an actual staff to get your queries answered. Just think of AI as an expeditor and not the be-all and end-all source.

But aside from AI being able to respond fast to your recruitment questions, AI has a lot more to offer that active candidates can benefit from.

How AI Is Helping Active Candidates

Perhaps the biggest contribution of AI to active candidates is that it has created a more leveled playing field. With the use of AI, biases when it comes to choosing talents has been prevented. “The practice sharpens the talent acquisition function by using data-driven analytics and digital, cognitive tools to better source and assess candidates and prevent possible misjudgments caused by bias or false logic,” according to Delloite’s press report.

Improved Candidate Experience

Searching for a job can be tough. To make it less stressful, your first instinct is to rely on online job boards such as LinkedIn, Indeed and Glassdoor. But there are so much online job boards out there that it can get a bit overwhelming. You are already stressed out from finding that ideal job, and now you have to deal with having to make an account and upload your resume on those job boards.

These activities can be time-consuming. And the worst part, sometimes you do not even get to know the status of your application.

Is your application being reviewed? Did you get through the initial sourcing? Have they even read your application? Questions like these can be stressful for you as a candidate. The uncertainty is just frustrating and demoralizing.

But with AI, the uncertainty can be removed. They can automatically check on the status of the application and communicate back to you.

Identify Candidates

AI makes use of bots to scour the internet for thousands of candidates from various social media, job sites, company sites, personal websites, forums, and even chat groups, increasing your chances of getting found. These bots are able to find a good candidate and company matches. They are also capable of making predictive analysis whether the candidate is willing to change jobs.

Aside from assessing your resume, whether you fit the job description or not, these bots can also assess your overall professional online presence. You can be an advocate of welfare causes and the bot can take that into account if you are applying for a social development job.

Inversely, you also get to use the bot to find you the best fitting companies by simply preparing a profile that matches your skills, educational level, work experience, goals and job aspirations.

Reduced Bias

AI has reduced biases when it comes to hiring candidates. It has changed the way resumes are being sourced and screened. Your race, familial connections, or status in life are no longer guarantees. In order for your resume to stand out, your background, experience, education, and expertise are going to be the bases for your matches. Building your career and creating genuine professional networking is more important.

Improved Online Application

Staffing firms want to find candidates quickly. In an effort to do this, they make use of ATS or applicant tracking system, that are programmed to find specific words or phrases. These words are related to the job position they have. By having these targeted searches, the ATS that is built on AI can hunt down the applicants with resumes or professional profiles that best fit the job positions.

AI Interview Process

AI has become so advanced that they are now capable of leading job interviews. Some AI conducts the interview via text messages. They engage the candidate through text and ask simple questions such as the candidate’s expected starting date and the expected salary. If a candidate asks a question that the bot cannot answer, it can simply refer the candidate to a recruiter to answer the queries.

This kind of interview maybe posing a new challenge for active candidates. Not being able to have social cues can be disarming. It’s important that the active candidate has a more holistic preparation to ensure they stand out from their competition.

Vet Candidates

Some candidates are seemingly perfect if the basis for their character is just on their resume. But smart recruiters know that not all is what it seems. By using bots, staffing firms now have easier ways to vet active candidates.

Companies can protect themselves by removing the candidates who can be threats from the list of a qualified pool of talents. Bots can now help determine whether the candidate is ethical and trustworthy.

Final Thoughts

Thanks to the rise of Artifical Intelligence, the recruitment industry has found effective tools that have significantly reduced hiring time and effort for both the candidate and the company.

AI has allowed for streamlining the recruitment process, bridging the candidate and the company faster, finding a better company and candidate matches, and has helped get rid of the long-standing biases in the recruitment sector.

With how AI is disrupting the talent acquisition sector, for candidates, it’s best to be familiar with how AI has affected the hiring process. Finding a job can be a long and exhausting ordeal. One has to be patient and versatile in order to succeed. For clients of staffing firms, the longer you have a job opened, the bigger the loss for your company. Considering how AI can improve your talent acquisition capabilities is one of your best bet in finding the right candidate.

 

 

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