Reference: https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-news-technology/how-ai-changing-recruitment-game-2019-6155642/

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around in recruitment for a while now. AI is not a trend in recruitment, popular now, gone tomorrow, but a must-have technology here to stay. In a field where the numbers are overwhelming and time is of great essence, AI is becoming indispensable. 

So how is this technology effecting HR departments in 2019?

According to 2019 Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends, the market for technologies such as robotic process automation (RPA)—software to automate manual tasks—is growing at 20 per cent annually and with the likelihood to reach US$5 billion by 2024.1.

41 per cent of the Deloitte’s survey respondents said they are using automation extensively or across multiple functions. 

“AI offers significant benefits while applied in the recruiting process, and hence is bound to become a significant part of every organization’s recruiting strategy sooner or later,” says Sanjoe Jose, CEO of Talview.

Talview specializes in speeding up the recruitment process, to which end, it is hosting an event Instahiring 2020 in India in February to discuss about how time and speed are of importance in hiring.

Today’s AI Tools

AI and ML are being leveraged by recruiters across the world all the way from the top of the hiring funnel right through to the moment of hire. From the start of the process, these technologies are used to screen resumes, derive additional insights from interviews, and expertly match candidates to their ideal roles. 

Some recruitment firms even use computer vision to authenticate the identity of the candidates and administer multiple variety of skill-based assessments, as they go through each step from the location of their choice.

During the interview process, the technology assists hiring managers in conducting an objective interview — by building a behavioral profile of the candidate that leverages speech recognition and natural language processing, and giving suggestions as to areas hiring managers should probe from a non-technical skills standpoint. 

The key AI tools getting deployed today are:

AI driven job distribution to optimise RoI for job advertisements

Automated resume match

AI interviewing

AI based interview scheduling

Cognitive remote proctoring, which leverages computer vision to securely administer online assessments

Predictive hiring that leverages post hire performance to make hiring recommendations

“AI enables recruitment teams to become true strategists and candidate experience champions, and ensure the best candidates join their organizations. It would be wiser for teams to leverage the benefits of AI and become super-recruiters than to get left behind,” says Jose.

Hiring Time

Hiring time is of importance in recruitment. One of the top problems that AI solves is ‘hiring lag’, which is the time lag involved in offering the suited/shortlisted candidate a position in the company.

According to research, the best candidates stay in the market only for 10 days, and 60 percent of job seekers lose interest if the hiring process is too long, which in turn costs the company.

AI can reduce hiring lag in an organization through remote communication, automation, and re-use of past data. Automating helps by taking care of the routine repetitive tasks, so that the recruiter can focus on building a relationship.

“AI can be leveraged to automate a lot of mundane tasks recruiters today perform — like matching a resume to the job description and scheduling of an interview,” says Jose.

Overwhelming Numbers

Considering the fact that demand is ever high for hiring while recruiter headcount is still low, AI and automation tools will continue to be a top recruiting software category in 2019. 

Tools like Ideal use AI to screen and shortlist applicants by scrutinizing information like resumes, assessments, conversations and performance data. It also works within your existing Applicant Tracking System, so there is no need to learn a completely new software.

Zoom.ai is another platform that has an automated assistant software to schedule meetings, transcribe calls, and create departmental knowledge bases.

Talview helps recruit and screen candidates with a modern suite of tools that include a recruiting bot, AI video interviews, and assessments.

What About AI Bias?

Lately, AI has been criticized for stereotyping candidates. Human bias in training data is the primary reason for bias in AI. However, Jose says AI can help expose the truth inside messy data sets.

“It is possible for algorithms to help us better understand bias we have not already isolated, and spot ethically questionable ripples in human data so we can check ourselves,” he says.

Exposing human data to algorithms exposes bias, and if we are considering the outputs rationally, we can use machine learning’s aptitude for spotting anomalies. There are ways to avoid bias, Jose says,

“The key ways to avoid bias are to identify the best model for a given situation that limits bias causing, ensuring that training data is diverse and includes different groups and monitoring performance for equality of opportunity.”

Textio, another AI driven recruiting software, tackles this problem. The software can spot biased language, after which, it suggests alternative words to use.

With globalization of business, data in recruitment will only increase. AI can free a recruiting department from being caught up in filing and following up to focus on the ‘human’ resource part. With companies struggling to assess soft skills accurately, AI can help companies hone in on communication, interpersonal, and leadership skills.