The launch of ChatGPT has brought generative AI to all of our consciousness and indeed our fingertips! Remarkably, ChatGPT reached 1 million users in just five days, far outpacing the growth of Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. By April 2024, ChatGPT had nearly 2 billion visits.
We are all starting to think about AI, reflect on AI and consider what the implications of AI are for our life, our future and our businesses. It is an evolving picture with all the hopes, fears and uncertainties that any new industrial revolution brings. Generative AI’s impact is profound and ongoing, with promising applications in medicine for drug development and diagnosis, and in education for personalised learning.
However, when it comes to recruiting and retaining exceptional people to remain innovative and competitive as a business – what role can generative AI play in ensuring we maintain long term profitable and sustainable businesses. A recent survey by the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce revealed that over two-thirds of businesses in Northern Ireland face recruitment challenges, and in some sectors, particularly within the manufacturing and services industry, these figures are even higher.
As the pressures and challenges of recruiting high performing talent will inevitably continue to persist for many businesses, generative AI has the ability to present potential solutions. For the purpose of this article, we will explore AI’s capabilities across two key stages of the recruitment process — 1) Attraction & Sourcing, and 2) Assessment & Selection. Attraction & Sourcing
Many recruitment processes falter at the outset due to a lack of market understanding regarding necessary skills and experiences. It’s crucial for hiring companies to ask: What skills are essential for this role? Do these skills exist locally? Where is the ideal candidate currently employed? Overlooking these questions leads to subpar results. For instance, seeking a non-existent skillset or advertising in ineffective channels inevitably hampers recruitment success.
Generative AI can swiftly provide accurate market analysis, informing hiring managers about skills trends and competitor insights. This knowledge aligns vacancies with market conditions, enhancing recruitment effectiveness. Engaging with all types of candidates—active, inactive, and passive—in their preferred manner is vital. Poor communication often disengages candidates from the recruitment process. Generative AI can augment existing processes by offering personalised chatbots that provide immediate, accurate responses to candidate queries. Some organisations employ automated communication sequences to update candidates on their status, freeing HR teams from repetitive tasks.
Assessment & Selection
The Assessment and Selection stage is where generative AI can truly shine. AI can revolutionise this stage in several ways:
- Automated CV Screening: for high-volume recruitment processes, AI-powered systems can quickly scan and evaluate large volumes of CVs, identifying the best matches based on specific criteria, which drastically reduces the time and effort needed for initial candidate screening.
- Virtual Assessments: AI can facilitate virtual assessments, using natural language processing (NLP) to analyse candidates’ written or spoken responses, measuring not just technical skills but also soft skills like communication and problem-solving.
- Interview Scheduling: AI can automate the scheduling of interviews, coordinating between candidates and interviewers to find suitable times, thus eliminating the frustrating back-and-forth often associated with this process.
- Interview Questions: AI can generate tailored interview questions based on the job description and key requirements, ensuring a thorough and robust assessment of each candidate.
- Bias Mitigation: AI can be programmed to focus on skills and qualifications rather than demographic factors, potentially reducing unconscious bias in the hiring process. This helps in promoting diversity and inclusion within the workforce. By leveraging AI in these ways, companies can significantly enhance the recruitment process, making it more efficient, candidate-friendly, and fair. This not only expedites talent acquisition but also enhances the candidate experience, crucial for attracting top-tier candidates in a competitive market.
Considerations
Despite its advantages, adopting generative AI within the recruitment process involves several considerations. Arguably the most persistent concern raised is related to AI bias. However, this concern is premised on the assumption that a completely unbiased recruitment process is possible. But is that truly realistic? A more pertinent question might be whether a recruitment process incorporating generative AI will be more or less biased than traditional methods.
As with any essential component of business operations, a clearly defined, robust, and auditable AI strategy is necessary to ensure the technology’s effectiveness and ethical application. This strategy should encompass data privacy measures, bias detection and mitigation protocols, and continuous monitoring to adapt to evolving challenges and opportunities.
Summary
Generative AI, while new to many, is essentially an advanced automation tool, offering immense efficiencies, primarily in repetitive, administratively heavy tasks. Just as modern computers have transformed the current workforce, generative AI looks set to reshape our work processes. By effectively adopting AI within the recruitment process, hiring companies can enhance human interaction.
The irony lies in how generative AI, by automating repetitive tasks, empowers HR and hiring teams to concentrate on the most critical aspects of recruitment that requires high-touch human engagement. This can allow for deeper, more meaningful engagement with candidates, ultimately fostering better human connectivity and interaction, ensuring that the human touch remains at the heart of the process.
At G1 Search, we have carefully integrated generative AI into our business operations to enhance the candidate experience, reduce client costs, and deliver superior results. By leveraging advanced AI technologies, we streamline the search process and lower the cost per hire for our clients. Our commitment to utilising cutting-edge AI solutions enables us to provide unparalleled service and achieve better outcomes.