The Role of AI in Employee Recruitment

Recruiting the perfect candidate for a job has always been a challenge. With the internet making it easier than ever for hundreds of candidates to find and apply to job postings, recruitment is both easier and more difficult than ever. While it can be great to have a wider applicant pool, it can’t be denied that human resources departments are often overwhelmed. That is where artificial intelligence (AI) plays a role. AI can help companies, large and small, sort through job applicants to find the perfect candidate for a role. However, like any tool, the use of AI in recruitment has its drawbacks as well. How is AI changing the way we apply and hire for jobs?

How is AI Used in Recruiting?

Technology and the widespread adoption of the internet changed the way that most companies hire, and the introduction of AI into the hiring process is another extension of that. In the 1990s, as more companies began to have a significant online presence and recruit from websites, is used in all parts of the candidate hiring process, from sourcing and screening to candidate development. A 2018 LinkedIn report highlighted AI as one of the biggest disruptors reshaping the hiring process.

This makes sense if we look at how AI has been integrated into each stage of the hiring process. AI tools scrape job websites where candidates post resumes to identify good potential candidates and, in some cases, invite them directly to apply. Chatbots are often used to connect with candidates whose profiles seem to match what a company is looking for. AI is also used in the candidate screening process to automate resume selection, identifying keywords in resumes and helping hiring managers sort through candidates in seconds. AI can be used to deliver and grade skill assessments as well for jobs that require more technical knowledge. Finally, AI is even used to evaluate video interviews. Facial recognition and expression analysis allow AI to rank candidates and assess their personality traits. The use of AI throughout all three stages of the hiring process reportedly saves hiring managers and companies a great deal of time and money by automating these aspects of candidate recruitment.

AI can Help Recruiters but can Perpetuate Bias

Proponents of AI in the hiring process cite a number of benefits. They argue that AI can help hiring managers deal with high volumes of resumes and applications. Since anyone can submit a job application with a few clicks of the mouse, many hiring managers find themselves overwhelmed with thousands of resumes from unqualified candidates. AI uses keywords and other advanced parsing methods to figure out who is qualified and who is not, or removes unqualified candidates from later stages using the tools discussed above.

Those in favor of AI also argue that it is capable of removing human bias from the hiring process, increasing diversity in the candidate pool. However, many argue that this is untrue. Algorithms are only as good as the data and people that created them. As a result, some AI hiring algorithms have actually been found to increase or at least perpetuate bias in the hiring process. One example is an AI recruiting tool that Amazon tested, which was biased to favor male candidates. The AI was trained on resumes that had been submitted to the company during the last decade, most of which were from men. Other hiring tools have been suspected or confirmed of having similar problems. Video interview analysis tools, which rely on expression analytics, have been accused of perpetuating bias against people with certain types of disabilities. Finally, the limitations of AI often mean that people who don’t use the right keywords or format their resumes in a specific way are overlooked and discarded by AI screening systems.

AI in Recruitment Helps Attract Candidates too

The role of AI in the hiring process isn’t just limited to assessing candidates. AI is increasingly used both to attract candidates and help candidates format their applications and resumes. Augmented writing tools, which are AI tools that perform a variety of helpful functions including grammar and spell checking, are assisting both recruiters and applicants. On the recruiter side, tools like Textio help write job advertisements and company advertising materials that are appealing to candidates from diverse backgrounds. Research shows that job ads which rely heavily on jargon can take longer to fill than ads that don’t. Trinka also specifically identifies gender biased language and suggests better wording to ensure that writing is appealing to all candidates.

How can I Make AI Tools Work for me?

If you are applying for a job, there are a couple of tools that you can use to make sure your resume is clear, concise, and error-free. The first is a simple browser tool like Trinka to make sure your writing is the best it can be. Trinka will check your grammar in real time and is perfect if you are using academic or technical language, as it can easily parse and correct those terms. Other tools like Rezi aim to format and build your resume to appeal to Applicant Tracker Systems. Rezi uses keyword targeting to try to ensure your CV appeals to AI. Skillroads is a similar service that draws upon natural language processing to create a resume for you after you fill in a questionnaire.

As AI becomes more and more integrated into the recruiter side, job candidates can only benefit from taking advantage of the same tools to hunt for jobs.  There are an increasing number of tools and resources to help job candidates navigate the new world of AI hiring. By using tools like the ones mentioned above and taking advantage of the tips suggested by hiring managers themselves, you can make yourself stand out in an ocean of candidates to find a great new job. Similarly, recruiters can take advantage of the increasing range of tools to sort through and find the perfect candidate for their jobs.  While AI in recruitment certainly has its flaws and continues to suffer from many of the same biases that human recruiters do, it seems that it is here to stay— for now at least.