AI Hiring: How Artificial Intelligence is Reshaping Recruitment

Modern recruitment has its faults. Not because it doesn’t work, but because it is heavily hinged on mostly outdated processes and tools and not around people. A typical hiring process can take several weeks, with the global average time to hire being 44 days and costing over $4,000 per hire. 

This long duration can be difficult, causing candidates to lose faith in the process and even withdraw their applications. On the other hand, recruiters, who are judged based on hard metrics like ‘fill rate,’ ‘cost per hire,’ etc., become super focused on just filling the role as quickly as possible instead of actually finding the perfect candidate. 

With the emergence of AI, there is much curiosity about how the technology will impact recruitment processes. Studies already show that 85% of recruiters believe AI can replace certain stages of the hiring process, and companies like Promap AI are leading the charge of revolutionizing recruitment using AI. 

But what exactly is AI hiring, and how is it reshaping recruitment? Let’s find out in this post. 

What is AI Hiring?

AI hiring involves using artificial intelligence to streamline the recruitment and hiring process using technologies like natural language processing, machine learning, and data analytics. 

Recruiters spend almost 30 hours weekly on administrative tasks like resume screening, interview scheduling, etc., which significantly increases the time to hire. AI can automate these processes and move the needle much faster. 

How Does it Work?

Imagine a tech company trying to hire a software engineer with experience in Python and Machine Learning. 

• The recruiter puts out the job ad and receives 500 applications. 
• The AI hiring software scans each candidate based on metrics like skills, experience, and job fit and filters the top 50 applicants from a pool of 500 in minutes. 
• Next, an AI chatbot screens these candidates, asking the right questions and analyzing their answers. With the information provided, the tool narrows the candidates to 20. 
• The next stage is AI-assisted interviews, where the candidates are analyzed based on facial expressions, communication skills, etc., and the number is further narrowed to 10 candidates. 
• Finally, the hiring manager can interview the final 10 applicants and select the best fit. 

In this scenario, AI has handled most of the administrative heavy lifting in a typical hiring process, cutting the time to hire by several weeks. 

The great thing about AI in hiring is that it can search through extremely large talent pools and identify top applicants to find the best fit. The software can also be enriched to focus on the brand’s unique needs and preferences when assessing candidates and only prioritize applicants who tick the necessary boxes. 

AI hiring tools can also be heavily customized with the right tweaks to maintain candidate and employer privacy and compliance throughout the process. 

They can adapt to different languages and scenarios and can understand technical jargon, regardless of the industry. With these capabilities, using AI in hiring process can mean automating entire recruitment workflows with barely any human input. 

How is AI Being Used in the Hiring Process?

As stated earlier, AI is being used to automate most of the mundane aspects of recruitment such as talent sourcing, resume screening, reviewing applications, streamlining candidates, and interviewing at scale without the usual human bottlenecks. Here’s more insight into how AI is used in recruitment. 

Sourcing candidates

Finding the right candidates is very time-consuming, especially when the job is posted on different platforms. You have to review LinkedIn applications, website inquiries, referrals, etc. An AI hiring tool scans different job boards, LinkedIn, and other platforms to identify potential candidates. It can even reach out to former, passive candidates who may not be actively job-hunting. 

Resume screening

Manually screening resumes is the most time-consuming stage in the hiring process. Recruiters have to spend several hours matching resumes to job descriptions, and even though technology can send rejection emails, recruiters still need to decide whether a candidate is qualified for an interview. Instead of manually reviewing hundreds of resumes, AI hiring software filters applications based on already-set criteria like skills, qualifications, and specific keywords and moves the qualified candidates to the next step.

Interviewing

Scheduling and interviewing multiple candidates is also very time-consuming. Recruiters have set up video meetings or phone calls for multiple people and job descriptions, ask the right questions, and take notes for each interview. This is a massive time suck, and AI tools automate this by conducting pre-screening interviews where candidates are asked relevant questions about their experience, availability, and salary expectations. Also, during video interviews, AI assistants can analyze facial expressions, communication skills, etc., and provide recruiters with more insight into each candidate’s capabilities. This way, the process moves along a lot faster. 

Hiring decision

Even after interviews, recruiters and companies may still have difficulties choosing the right candidate for a role. AI hiring tools can evaluate past hiring data to predict which candidates are most likely to succeed in a role. 

This way, companies can use the data to make smart hiring decisions. AI also removes any bias in hiring decisions, allowing recruiters and companies to hire candidates based on their skills and qualifications. 

Benefits of AI for Hiring Managers and Recruiters

AI can go from managing a simple task like data collection or sourcing candidates to owning the entire recruitment administrative process. Here are some key benefits of AI for hiring managers and recruiters. 

Saves time and money

The longer the hiring process, the more expensive it is. A recruiter may spend over 20 hours reviewing different resumes for one job. Imagine doing this for multiple jobs, especially knowing that 75% to 88% of resumes submitted for a job are unqualified. 

Automating this task using AI makes the process a lot faster, reduces errors, and frees up recruiters’ time so they can focus on other human-centric tasks. 

The longer it takes to fill a position, the more team members are overworked, and productivity decreases. AI reduces the time to hire by assessing large amounts of data in record time so recruiters can move applicants to the next stage quickly. This is important as 60% of applicants will abandon a job if the application process is too long. 

Better hires

A great way to use AI in hiring is to enable it to screen for specific keywords to help determine whether a candidate is a good fit for the job. AI can also target top talent based on their online activity and ensure they see the job posting. This way, you attract the best candidates for the opportunity, resulting in better hires. 

Improved communication

The hiring process is stressful for all parties involved. Candidates often complain about being ghosted in the middle of the process, which leads to a bad recruitment experience. AI can help recruiters and hiring managers respond to applicants faster and schedule them for possible interviews or the corresponding step in the process.

 69% of candidates believe hiring managers can improve the response time for hiring decisions. They want this even more than other improvements to the online application process. It is important to keep candidates in the loop at all times, especially if you don’t want them leaving negative reviews online. 

Bias-free hiring

Bias has always been an issue in the recruitment process, and it usually pops up when candidates are immediately dismissed based on certain information on their resumes.

AI leaves no room for unconscious human biases in the recruitment process by focusing purely on qualifications, skills, and experience rather than gender, race, or age. Hiring managers can focus on the best and most qualified candidates instead of what looks good on paper. It also leads to more diverse and inclusive hiring. 

What Are the Challenges of AI Hiring?

Like every new innovation, using AI for hiring has certain challenges. Here are the most common ones. 

Need for data

AI needs copious amounts of data to simulate human recruiters and hiring managers. This means feeding the algorithm several hundred to thousands of resumes for a specific position. The data must include different samples to ensure the AI can learn patterns, differentiate between strong and weak candidates, and make fair assessments. Collecting this amount of data can be difficult. Also, if the data is outdated or incomplete, the AI won’t be able to make accurate hiring decisions. 

Accuracy issues

Despite its popularity, AI is still in its early stages, and this is especially evident in accuracy standards. In hiring processes, the AI may fail to recommend a candidate who is qualified for a role if the candidate uses words in their resume that are different from what the AI is trained to spot. Also, candidates are now learning how AI systems operate in hiring and are deliberately using specific keywords to try to game the system. This can make the AI recommend unqualified candidates for specific roles. 

Lack of human touch

Candidate experience is the top priority in hiring, with 64% of candidates saying a poor experience would stop them from purchasing goods or services from an employer. While AI hiring is fast and seamless and makes the recruiter’s job much easier, it can also lead to an impersonal candidate experience. Candidates have a negative view of AI, especially in hiring, with 70% opposing companies from using AI in final hiring decisions. Also, 41% of candidates from the same study don’t want AI used at all in the hiring process. 

Can be biased

AI is not a stand-alone entity. It is trained to follow trends and analyze past actions and patterns. This means that if there is an already existing bias in your hiring process, the AI will likely repeat it. However, this issue can be avoided if you use an AI hiring tool that is developed to check for any potential bias patterns and avoid reproducing them. 

What Industries Benefit the Most from AI Hiring?

Sectors with high hiring needs will benefit the most from AI-powered hiring because they need to assess hundreds to thousands of applications in a short period. Here are some industries that benefit the most from AI in hiring. 

Technology and IT

The tech industry constantly has a high demand for software experts, from developers to designers and engineers. AI helps these companies screen thousands of resumes, pick qualified candidates, and match applicants with specialized roles. Using AI to create assessments and chatbots to maintain communication also helps speed up the process. 

Example: Amazon uses AI and Machine Learning to match candidates to existing roles and improve the overall hiring experience. The system recommends existing roles to incoming interns and new grads based on their skills and interests. 

Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals

The healthcare and pharmaceutical industry faces labor shortages often and constantly needs highly qualified medical professionals.  AI hiring helps these organizations identify top talent, verify their certifications, and predict how successful a candidate would be in patient-facing roles. Time is crucial in this industry, and AI speeds up hiring for administrative positions, reducing time-to-hire in hospitals, clinics, and research facilities.

Example: Stanford Health Care uses AI chatbots to connect with passive and active candidates in the recruitment process, leading to a 14% increase in overall hires. 

Retail & E-Commerce

Retailers and e-commerce professionals often need to hire a large number of workers, especially during peak sale periods like Black Friday or the holiday season. AI helps sort applications, predict peak hiring needs, and automate interview scheduling.

Example: Global logistics leader Kuehne+Nagel used AI for its internal recruitment strategy, which involved marketing open jobs to employees and enabling recruiters to find talent within their organization. This led to a 20% decrease in time to fill and a 22% increase in internal candidate conversion rate. 

Banking and Finance

Businesses in the financial sector use AI to find and hire top analysts, accountants, and compliance officers while ensuring the candidates meet strict regulatory requirements. AI also helps evaluate soft skills like critical thinking and risk assessment, which are important for roles in investment banking or fintech. 

Example: JP Morgan Chase is using AI to find talent. The tech uses machine learning to identify potential candidates in an existing employee’s professional and personal network and generate a confidence score. This score depicts how close the candidate is to the employee and how easy it may be to recruit the candidate. 

Customer Service 

AI-powered chatbots can handle initial candidate screenings and evaluate communication skills before forwarding applicants to recruiters. This speeds up the hiring process and ensures only the best candidates move forward, reducing time to hire and speeding up the entire process. 

Example: Hilton used AI chatbots for initial candidate assessment. The chatbot asked candidates questions like how many hours they could work and whether they had high-speed internet. By leveraging AI, Hilton reduced the need for human recruiters to handle this stage of the hiring process by 23%. 

The Future of AI in Hiring and Recruitment

Many people believe AI can help recruiters and hiring managers streamline the hiring process, remove administrative and human bottlenecks, and speed things up. Future advancements will see AI improving candidate matching and using predictive analytics to forecast hiring needs. The technology is also likely to improve bias detection to maintain fair hiring. However, some people believe AI could have a somewhat negative effect on the HR industry as it may not detect special capabilities in candidates. Also, ethical concerns like data privacy, transparency, and fairness will remain challenging.

How Promap AI is Revolutionizing Hiring 

Promap AI is a leading AI recruitment software that acts as a 24/7 recruiter and technical interview assistant to help you source the best talent in the industry. This tool speeds up your hiring process in three key steps:

• Finds and invites the best candidates to apply
• Conducts rigorous interviews that assess real skills beyond resumes
• Makes data-driven hiring decisions tailored to your exact needs. 

Promap AI helps you save time and money, grow your employees quickly, and maintain the highest level of data privacy. We connect companies to the best talents in the industry and vice versa. 

Ready to transform your hiring process for the better? Try the FREE DEMO today!

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