Is AI Helping or Hurting the Recruitment Process?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a buzzword you hear in both personal and work-related conversations more frequently each day. With technological advances occurring rapidly, it has never been more crucial to stay ahead of the curve and educate yourself on current best practices.  

For a business owner, artificial intelligence in recruitment offers a chance to streamline human resources (HR) tasks, making the process of hiring new candidates more efficient than ever before. But what does this technology mean for recruiting? Are you really getting the cream of the crop when you use AI to assist with screening applicants?  

Let’s look at whether AI is helping or hurting the recruitment process for your potential new hires.  

Pro: AI reduces human bias  

Most of us like to believe that we operate our business without bias. The truth is, we are all human, which means we are bound to have preconceptions about candidates based on the information presented in their resumes.  

While there are certain subtleties that may indicate an applicant is not the right fit for the job, there are times when our unconscious human bias might override logic and lead us to make unfounded decisions about applicants. For example, a candidate who has minor typos on a resume may be disregarded as incompetent or lacks attention to detail.  

In contrast, AI can screen resumes based on the data and facts alone, eliminating the effect of recruiter bias entirely. This makes for a fairer screening process for the most qualified candidates. It can also help alleviate worry for business owners who want to ensure their hiring managers are making decisions based on objective information.  

Con: AI reduces human input  

The flip side of eliminating recruiter bias is the loss of human touch that can be a useful tool for discerning the right talent. For example, even if job applicants have gaps in their resume or a limited work history, they may still have potential – but you won’t really know that with AI recruitment tools screening out applicants with work gaps unless you read their cover letter. 

Just like each of us, job seekers who apply for open positions are human, and sometimes things are not black and white. It is important to be able to offer empathy and understanding when needed and give candidates a fair chance, even if they do not possess the most AI-optimized resume.  

Pro: AI quickly drafts job descriptions and offer letters 

AI is a valuable resource for recruiters, particularly due to its ability to quickly generate verbiage for job descriptions and offer letters. By using machine learning that analyzes language, AI can give you a starting point at lightning speed that is optimized to the voice of your brand. 

However, I emphasize “starting point” because you will still need to edit the write-ups to make them more humanized, grammatically correct, contextual, and to ensure they fit the branding voice you want. You may also need to omit extra words to shorten sentences and get to the point more quickly. 

Con: AI could create security concerns 

Protecting personal data is a real concern for AI. If your managers were to enter a candidate’s personal information when using AI, the data could be collected and saved, potentially leading to the exposure of their sensitive information. 

Pro: AI improves the candidate experience  

Gone are the days that potential candidates are left waiting weeks for a response from recruiters during the hiring process. Thanks to AI, applicants can now be screened almost immediately, and be swiftly updated by AI powered tools on the status of their applications.  

This can drastically improve the overall candidate experience, allowing jobseekers much more time to devote to their search. Ultimately, this provides more efficient and streamlined hiring and onboarding processes once they land a job, which gives a newly hired employee a positive impression of your company.  

With nearly two-thirds (65%) of surveyed consumers saying they would trust a company that uses AI, it is clear that the current public perception is a positive one. This offers business owners the opportunity to further utilize AI moving forward.  

Con: AI terms may be wrong  

AI can be used as a resume screening tool like an applicant tracking system (ATS). The technology collects and collates resumes submitted by applicants and aligns with the position's qualifications. It then organizes resumes based on the essential qualifications of the position to identify suitable candidates. 

But what happens to great candidates when the following occurs?  

• Keywords filter out applicants who use more creative terms than those used in AI’s algorithms  
• Any work experience requirements exclude great candidates by being too rigid  
• Job titles and levels are different from what candidates used at their former employers, leaving them screened out from the initial selection process  
• College degrees are required for the position, but relevant work experience of a non-master’s degree applicant exceeds that of an MBA candidate  
• Work gaps are excluded from consideration, but an applicant took time off for an experience that could benefit your company  

In addition, applicants can google tips on how to talk to AI during the application process, despite lacking necessary skills or experience. This may result in your company having second-round candidates that bypassed the initial screening process when they truly are not qualified applicants. 

A need to innovate  

While more and more businesses plan to use AI in the future, it will never fully replace the need to interview top candidates to ensure culture fit; nor should it. Having said that, AI is a significant boon to the recruitment process for employers and candidates of all industries, particularly due to its streamlined experience and speed for producing recruiting documents.  

Our recommendation is for you to edit everything produced from AI and to consult with your certified HR expert to ensure the technology is working for you, not against you.  

Stratus HR can help with your hiring process 

At Stratus HR, we provide clients with an applicant tracking system (ATS), that gives small and medium-sized businesses the same recruitment advantages as those working for large enterprises, with an added level of security that AI tools cannot promise. This, along with our other secure HR tech tools, is available to our clients at no additional cost. 

We also match each client with one of our certified HR experts to consult about job descriptions and offer letters, as well as provide real life advice for tricky HR situations that cannot be solved by a quick AI or google search.  

For more information, please book a free consultation and our team will contact you shortly.