Artificial intelligence can enhance your recruitment process

Over the last couple of years, everyone involved in recruitment seems to have become a technology magpie; they hear about the latest shiny technology and they all want it without necessarily knowing what it is or what it does. With so many digital platforms promising to transform the world of recruitment it’s difficult to know which ones present real opportunities for your recruitment processes and which ones do not. 

AI – Expectations vs reality

Artificial intelligence (AI) is well and truly taking off and it’s been predicted that by 2035 AI technologies could increase productivity by 40% or more (Forbes). With so much talk of AI in the media, this developing technology is at the top of many businesses’ wish lists to help improve their recruitment processes. Through automation, AI promises to transform high volume, repetitive tasks such as screening, sourcing and assessing candidates; saving time, effort and money.

Putting it to the test 

As a provider of outsourced recruitment solutions, Gattaca is always looking for the most effective way of finding the best candidates. To stay ahead of the ever-expanding universe of digital platforms we trial the most promising new products as they come on to the market allowing us to identify which technology is most likely to enhance the recruitment process for ourselves and our clients. 

There are many AI based systems available and, as you can probably guess, testing these systems has produced mixed results. Many of the most promising tools provide enhancements to the search facilities available within our own database, or help to make searching online databases quicker and more productive.

The effectiveness of some products is compromised by how easy it is to set up a search in the first place. Others have poor reporting facilities that compromise their user friendliness and some just don’t seem to learn as effectively as other platforms. 

One of the major benefits of our testing regime has been to identify which products can help us to quickly build and develop effective talent pools for our clients. Historically, building talent pools in new geographical areas, or where a particular expertise is required, has taken a fair amount of time.  By using tried and tested AI technology, we have been able to substantially cut down on the lead-time necessary to develop the talent pools our clients desperately need.  

We are experiencing the first steps towards integrating AI as a recruitment tool and I’m sure that the technology will quickly evolve and become even more effective in a very short timeframe.  

Luckily, with the dearth of candidates out there in the marketplace, I don’t think AI (or robots for that matter) will replace the recruitment consultant for a little while yet. It is one thing to source the raw data but it is just as great a challenge to match the right candidate to the right company and the right job.

Enhancing not eradicating

As it stands, AI as a standalone recruitment tool is still in its early stages of development. It can be used to deliver process efficiencies but overall it’s important that these platforms are not seen as a replacement for traditional recruitment skills, and instead as a supporting tool; complementing not competing with human efforts.

AI platforms are just one of a number of recruitment technologies that could be implemented to address hiring pain points. Recruitment solutions providers like Gattaca can help identify and deploy the systems that have the most potential and be most impactful to your hiring process. The right solution for your business will enable you to solve your resource challenges, allowing you to remain competitive in the market, attracting and retaining the best talent in the most efficient, effective way.