Today, our lives are being governed by technology, which is why it’s no surprise that technology is also taking over HR operations, such as recruitment.
Right from professional networking sites such as LinkedIn to applicant tracking systems, technology has begun to completely revolutionize recruitment and is bringing significant changes to the way recruiters find the right candidates.
For instance, an applicant tracking system, along with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) can help the HR department keep track of, and manage the numerous resumes they receive every single day— a big improvement to the recruitment system that was in place about 20 years ago. At that time, managing printed or faxed copies of resumes and manually calling applicants for interviews was a time-consuming and complex task.
Smartphones have allowed job seekers to look for jobs while they’re on the go.
However, thanks to technology, the rules of the game have completely changed, which is why recruiters can now find some peace. Furthermore, technology has also been responsible for improving efficiency, productivity, and employee morale in an organization.
Here’s more on how technology has changed the face of recruitment:
Increased engagement with candidates
Today, job seekers aren’t going through newspapers to look for vacancies— they’re resorting to the Internet, instead. Searching for a job vacancy on a mobile is now the new trend thanks to advancing technology. This is because smartphones have allowed job seekers to look for jobs while they’re on the go.
In addition to this, social media has proved to be extremely important to the process of recruiting. Recruiters and hiring managers can simply post attention-grabbing job postings on their social media pages and attract a large number of candidates.
Simplified management of the recruitment system
Sorting through, and scanning piles and piles of CVs is quite a tedious task. Thankfully, recruiters do not have to go through this anymore. With applicant tracking systems, recruiters and hiring managers can post vacancies, collect candidate information, view CVs, and track the candidate’s application process. This centralized system allows recruiters to easily carry out the recruitment campaign, and spend less time on administration.
Reduced unconscious bias due to AI and machine learning
It’s a known fact that unconscious bias in the hiring process isn’t beneficial to any organization. Besides equality in the workplace, diversity in the workforce is also of utmost importance— it has been seen as a massive economic opportunity that can generate approximately US $570 billion. Well, artificial intelligence can help when it comes to removing unconscious bias. Things such as gender, race, language, and other similar aspects can be completely eliminated from the recruitment process.
By using one single integrated recruitment and talent management system, processes such as the flow of information, updating the payroll, and more, will become much easier
The CV evaluation process can be completely automated with AI, and hundreds—maybe even thousands— of CVs can be analyzed in only a few seconds. In addition to this, artificial intelligence can help categorize candidates according to the job specification, so that recruiters are able to find only those candidates who are suited to the job and meet the qualifications requirements.
In addition to analyzing candidates’ CVs, AI can also help organizations determine whether the job descriptions they post include any sort of biases.—things like “gendered wording” that indicate some of the bias are brought to the attention of the recruiters so that they can be removed.
In a similar manner, chatbots that make use of NLP (Natural Language Processing) are also starting to be used. A popular example is Mya, a recruiting assistant that helps automate about three-quarters of the recruitment process. It communicates with candidates in two major ways— through its native environment, or through messaging apps like Facebook Messenger.
Besides eliminating unconscious bias, AI and machine learning can help bring in a certain amount of bias if necessary, and for the right reasons. For instance, if an organization takes a look at their workforce and realizes that it consists of mainly male employees, they can then use technology to hire female employees to achieve balance.
After all, no matter how unbiased recruiters try to be, there may still be some levels of bias at an unconscious level. AI-based systems can completely get rid of this, as long as no biases exist in the algorithm.
Only the fittest survive
It has already been established that with technology, recruiters are able to cast their net wider. This allows them to bring in candidates who are more qualified and suit the job spec better.
Technology has made it much easier to find the right candidates no matter where in the world they’re from
However, when organizations have thousands of clients reaching them every month or so, it can be quite impossible to manually rank them. With an applicant tracking system, recruiters can narrow down the candidates based on things such as demographics. In addition to this, recruiters and hiring managers can further delve into the specifics with keyword searches and automated assessments. This makes other recruitment processes such as phone interviews and skills assessments an easier task.
Moreover, application tracking systems allow hiring managers and recruiters to shortlist the most qualified candidates in a timely, and cost-effective manner.
Recruitment becomes an integrated process
For the recruitment process, organizations avail of the services of a number of partners in order to manage everything, right from verifying references to other tasks such as randomized drug testing. This is precisely why organizations need to make sure that any system they’re going to consider using is able to integrate with all the services the recruitment process currently avails of. Moreover, it is vital to make sure the system will allow for the addition of new services in the future.
By using one single integrated recruitment and talent management system, processes such as the flow of information, updating the payroll, and more, will become much easier.
The integration of hiring efforts like job specifications, applicant tracking, backgrounds checks, etc., will help recruiters make sure that the talent they’re acquiring is as good as possible. In addition to this, an integrated system will help reduce the risk of clerical errors.
The elimination of geographical boundaries
Finding a job is not the only thing technology has made simper— it has also made it much easier to find the right candidates no matter where in the world they’re from. In short, the limits of geography are now nonexistent when it comes to recruitment and finding the candidate who’s right for the job.
Recruiters can easily go through job boards or search networking sites such as LinkedIn— they no longer have to scan through tons of paperwork to find suitable candidates. This not only reduces the work of recruiters, but also allows them to tap a way larger, and more diverse talent pool. This in turn helps the organization expand their abilities, and keep on innovating.
So, is the regular old recruitment process completely obsolete?
Well, it’s safe to say that it is. However, this isn’t so bad. Yesteryear’s recruitment process was a longer, and more tedious task, and left so much to be desired. The recruiters of yesterday had to spend a great amount of time finding the perfect candidate, but technology has now simplified the process in a number of ways.
As time passes, the process of recruitment will become smarter than it is today— especially with the growth in the adoption of artificial intelligence. Of course, the human operator will not be replaced by technology, but technology will make talent acquisition much easier in the days to come.
