How Can AI Change the Recruiting Process and Decrease Turnover?

Artificial intelligence is taking the world by storm and affecting almost every industry. One area where the changes hit hardest is the recruiting and human resources industry. As AI evolves and develops, recruiters need to stay up to date on the latest trends and create flexible processes that allow for adaptation and innovation.

We know that AI can affect the recruiting process in terms of tedious tasks like screening candidates, providing more affordable and productive reviewing of applicant documents, and matching potential hires to job descriptions. But are there deeper ways that AI can entrench itself into the recruiting process. Do they improve the process or disrupt it? We’ll look at that here.

Company culture and morale are extremely important to talent. Many employees will take a pay cut to work somewhere they are valued. Armed with that information, recruiters can use AI to not only find talent that fits the company’s values, but also make the process of bringing them on more enjoyable to limit turnover.

Remote Interviews and AI

We are currently living in a remote world. More employees than ever work from home, and companies are no longer limited to candidates who are geographically close. The problem this presents is remote interviews that are often impersonal or cold, and candidates that are hard to assess through a screen.

AI can help with this. Some AI interview tools analyze facial expressions, body language, emotional state and voice. The programs take this introductory information and combines it with the candidate’s answers to interview questions to provide a comprehensive understanding of the company culture fit.

During an interview, AI can also assess measures of productivity, such as how long it takes a candidate to answer a question, or how engaged they are during the interview. This highlights again how important it is to combine the power and intelligence of AI with the warmth and the emotion of the human touch.

AI’s Ability to Assess Talent

As applicants mount and it becomes harder to locate the perfect one for the job, AI steps in to help with talent assessment, assessing personality traits and measuring competency. AI uses skill testing, behavioral assessments and gamification to identify strengths and weaknesses. Recruiters and human resource managers create social skills assessments, culture fit evaluations and skill tests to create an algorithm that identifies candidates with the transferable skills needed to seamlessly fit into the company or organization.

Increase Diversity and Inclusion

A big part of recruiting is choosing the employees that are most likely to stay with you long-term and making sure they are happy. In other words, reducing turnover. The best recruiters and HR managers know how to use AI to do just that. Employees value diversity and inclusion, and when used correctly, AI can aid any company in improving in those areas.

With the right information, AI can identify candidates that have the skills you want, rather than just focusing on the education needed. Companies can also use AI to create programs and certifications that allow disadvantaged workers to increase proficiency and move up within the company, ensuring they don’t see their job as a means to an end, but rather a career path.

Using AI to create career pathways and changes within your company lessens the burden on recruiting and HR groups, ensures you keep loyal employees and increases the overall atmosphere of the workplace. Employees and consumers value companies with morals and an acceptance of social responsibility – using AI to increase diversity and inclusion within your company boosts that image.

A Focus on Candidates

Humans have an inherent bias that is impossible to pinpoint. Whether recruiters realize it or not, that bias plays into the candidate selection process. AI blocks that bias by looking strictly at a candidate’s resume or CV for things like keywords, specific certifications or certain educational degrees.

AI can also be used to screen a candidate’s web presence or social media accounts. This gives a more complete picture of the skills and background the candidate possesses that aren’t listed on the resume. From their LinkedIn profile to their Twitter account, AI can pinpoint problematic candidates or troublesome situations that you’d rather avoid.

Because the required data is fed by humans, over time AI can develop its own bias that matches the recruiter’s. It’s a good idea to update data and reset expectations at regular intervals to avoid this.

Is There a Perfect Balance?

AI is not a new concept, but it’s recently exploded into the world with tools like ChatGPT and bots, forcing companies to address it before they are ready. Perhaps the best approach to AI is an open-minded, collaborative one.

While it may seem counterintuitive to work with what is essentially a software program, the truth is that the right combination of human and code can create the perfect environment for recruiting, retaining talent and improving processes within a company. Those who embrace AI with curiosity rather than trepidation may receive a pleasant surprise.

For years, technology has aided in the recruiting process. Candidates rely on resume builders, Zoom interviews and hiring platforms to find the right jobs. Recruiters use applicant screening programs, candidate matching software and online platforms to find talent. Historically, humans and technology have worked together to improve the workplace.

At its core, AI is controlled by humans. It relies on us to input data and create algorithms and can eventually even develop bias over time. AI is a tool that is designed to help humans improve the recruiting process and is not designed to replace them. With a little collaboration, all companies can benefit from turning some tasks over to AI and eliminating burnout on HR departments and recruiters.

Authors

Katie Price

Katie Price lives just outside Salt Lake City, Utah, and has over a decade of experience in content and copywriting. A former high school GED teacher turned freelance writer, she focuses on legal, financial, medical and educational content. She has a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education with a focus on psychology and ELL from Weber State University.