The challenge of finding the right talent remains, just as much as it did two decades ago. The task of identifying and building the right workforce remains largely on the shoulders of recruiting professionals, who rely on their experience and manual intervention to find the diamond in the rough!
All of us who have been through job interviews know how anxious we can get during this entire process. Multiple rounds of interviews, technical assessments, and back-and-forth HR rounds. This could be because of the fact that information can sometimes get lost in the manual processes, further leading to inefficient outputs. This is where AI is making a big impact.
In that context, Artificial Intelligence is taking the recruitment world by storm. Although the very basic form of AI was founded in 1950, its applications in Human Resource Management have only picked up in the past decade. Today, more and more companies are seeking out AI-based solutions to transform a rather ‘hit or miss’ process of recruitment to that which is more efficient and effortless. Empowering HR decision-makers with quality data enables organizations to attract and retain top talent efficiently.
At a very rudimentary level, AI can help in automating low-value, repetitive tasks like administrative workload, and thus provide decision-makers the bandwidth to focus on strategic decisions, and reduce operational cost in the long run.
Let’s delve deeper into ways Artificial Intelligence is impacting HR decisions across the globe.
The most prominent use of AI in HR is Talent Acquisition. From sourcing and screening to better engagement with candidates, it reduces the time and effort spent on tasks.
• Sourcing the right candidates:
Up until very recently boolean search (combining keywords with modifiers like ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘not’ to broaden or limit the search, eg: ‘Java developer’ and ‘Pune’) was considered to be the most efficient way to source from a large pool of candidates. However, AI sourcing allows recruiters to analyze millions of data points and quickly identify talented candidates. Additionally, while boolean searches can only be applied to databases individually, AI solutions can scour through all available unstructured data to source the right match, saving recruiters manual labor. Fitment and multi-source outreach algorithms are helping put the best possible candidates (active and passive) within the reach. One of the most lucrative opportunities for recruiters is the ability to effectively and efficiently identify passive candidates. Taking this a step further, automated sourcing mechanisms can also help recruiters engage automatically with interested candidates by sending personalized messages.
• Effective screening process:
Many recruiters would agree that screening of applicants is the toughest part of recruitment. But thanks to AI, based on parameters like location, previous experience, salary expectations, and active-passive status, screening algorithms can assist in filtering the best candidates. Artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool for building impartial mechanisms and processes that influence human cognition and decision making. HR managers are using algorithms embedded in machine learning tools to select candidates and interview panels. The selection is fair and devoid of human biases. As a result, companies with a diverse workforce are time and again proven to perform better financially than their less diverse counterparts.
• Candidate engagement & management:
Lack of contact with a worthy candidate can prove to be a disaster for companies. Recruiters can creatively achieve the tough task of keeping top-level candidates warm, engaged and excited to join with systems that can engage in verbal dialogue. These systems can be trained to identify keywords from communication with candidates and keep track of their status. With AI, companies are now in a position to analyze millions of data points that provide insight on a candidate’s persona and construct content that engages them much more efficiently.
Once the candidate has joined, onboarding and the employee journey plays a vital role in employee Retention rates.
• Performance Management:
In a traditional scenario of rating and reviewing, an HR manager would measure a resource's productivity based on their manager’s feedback alone. With the help of AI, productivity and efficiency of resources and teams can be assessed & managed by simply allowing people to list tasks completed accurately, the time taken to complete them, their achievements, etc. Companies can assess candidates against a customized baseline score and rank them in the order of weightage and priority.
• Enabling learning:
Companies can leverage AI-based systematic learning plans to identify the gap in an individual’s skills and the company’s requirements. In an ever-changing market scenario, with innovative ideas conceived every day, it becomes imperative for employers to train resources with skills relevant to their domains. Smart algorithms can assess the employees’ skills, performance levels over the years, and recommend learning material to help them learn new skills and up-skill existing ones. Some companies also use AI to conduct 360-degree feedback for leadership by assessing remarks shared by team members and further using insights to arrive at a coaching module that helps leaders hone their management skills.
Candidates gravitate towards companies that have embraced compelling mission statements. Remuneration and pay packages are not the only reasons to join any company. Thus, employee experience needs to be improved and highlighted throughout the journey in their job. Human resources departments across the industry can step up their game with AI-based solutions and deliver positive outcomes to the people.