Modern recruitment and staffing leaders often find themselves in a conundrum. They have plenty of applicants for open positions, but the quality of the applications received can cause a real headache. It’s like looking for a diamond in a rough – only, the ‘rough’ is a trove of standardized resumes that regurgitate the same set of skills and competencies, while the ‘diamond’ is that candidate who truly fits the requirements of the job. Now, what if there was a way to polish these rough gemstones to reveal their authentic luster? This is where AI, or Artificial Intelligence, comes into the picture to revolutionize recruiting.
Recent studies have noted an interesting paradox. A high percentage of job applicants possessing the desirable skills and qualifications are often overlooked, simply because their resumes do not tick all the boxes outlined in the job advertisement. It’s astonishing to see how many golden opportunities are missed due to the inconsistency between standardized resume formats and the granularities of job requirements.
Understanding the Candidate Beyond the Resume
Firstly, let’s consider the job applicant. Their resume is standardized and serves as a boilerplate for all job applications. It is essentially a snapshot showcasing some skills they have acquired throughout their career, however, it does not necessarily reflect the work they did, their potential to grow, or how they can leverage their skills to add value to a specific role.
Meanwhile, in recent years, the job requirements dictated by hiring managers have drastically evolved. They go way beyond the bullet points in the job description. There might be unpublicized prerequisites, ideal soft skills, a preferred cultural fit, or other subjective inclinations that are impossible to decipher from a resume alone.
From this standpoint, it is clear that to truly understand a candidate’s suitability for a role, one needs more than just a resume glance. It’s essentially a need for actual conversation where the comprehensive background, aspirations, and potentials of the candidate can be unveiled. This depth of understanding can enable recruiters to identify the underdogs – candidates whose resumes were underrated, but are indeed a perfect fit for the role.
Power of AI to Revolutionize Talent Acquisition
Here is where AI can step in and be game-changer. By harnessing chat technology and machine learning, AI can engage in meaningful dialogues with candidates and ask those critical questions that enable a comprehensive understanding of the candidate.
Such a two-way interaction is priceless. It allows recruiters to gauge the applicant’s genuine understanding of the role, their ability to fulfil the responsibilities and also lets them articulate how they can add unique value to the position.
It is a realization that’s evident in numerous scenarios where, upon interaction, the recruiters discovered that a large number of job applicants actually met or even exceeded the job requirements. These were the very same candidates who might have been glossed over due to their resume not fitting the traditional mould.
Change is on the Horizon
This evolution in recruitment is indicative of a major shift in the HR industry – the movement from manual labor to automation. With AI, HR tasks such as recruiting, onboarding, and employee management can be made more efficient and effective.
Technology is undeniably paving a pathway for the future of work. Conversational AI, automation, and machine learning are not just buzzwords anymore. They are steadily becoming a staple in HR departments across the world, turning them into talent powerhouses that harness critical human capital and elevate organizational success.
Innovative recruitment automation solutions are the ultimate enabler, effectively organizing and streamlining administrative tasks and giving recruitment professionals the space to improve the essence of their job – judging a candidate beyond their resume, embracing diversity and inclusion, and unlocking the true value of every applicant.
To sum it up, the use of AI in recruitment is not just an alternative, but rather, a necessity. Not only can thoughtful implementation of AI in your recruiting strategy increase the quality of applicants for a job but can also unlock significant business opportunities by identifying the right talent at the right time. It’s where the future of talent acquisition is headed.