Declining unemployment levels, a growing frequency of “ghosted” applicants, and reports suggesting that millennials are eager to change roles often indicate the rising pressure on recruiters to find talent that stays. Could recruitment chatbots help? In this article, we discuss:
The ubiquity of chatbots and their role in recruitment
Three pain points that can be solved by recruitment chatbots
Our recommendations for companies looking to use chatbots for hiring
In a dynamic job marketplace, HR must optimize recruitment cycles and boost the quality of hire. Without the right intervention of technology, HR faces serious inefficiencies, including long timelines, and poor candidate experience. Reports suggest that a whopping 72% of HR professionals believe that lack of automation has led to slow hiring; 30% attribute the lack of automation to losses to their company.
This contributes to the case for using technologies such as recruitment chatbots. They can automate several tasks at the start of hiring cycles, helping HR in several problem areas:
Processing thousands of applications simultaneously during high-volume hiring
Offering 24/7 access to recruiters and as a result, improving candidate experience
Accurately screening applicant quality to ensure perfect job-to-candidate fitment
Let’s understand exactly how recruitment chatbots can help recruiters and reimagine hiring processes for a new generation of candidates.
The Ubiquity of Chatbots and their Role in Recruitment
Chatbots have rapidly become a tech must-have for several sectors. You can find them on websites to convert casual visitors into leads. Online service apps use chatbots to handle customer complaints. In-house chatbots are regularly used to answer employee queries. According to Gartner, a quarter of customer service interactions will be managed via chatbots by 2020.
It’s no surprise, therefore, that recruiters will also benefit from using chatbots for greater efficiency. Here are a few key figures from the report cited above, which indicate the massive potential of recruitment chatbots:
44% of HR professionals say that the lack of automation has cost them precious hiring opportunities
45% of respondents are “Positive or Very Positive” about the intervention of AI tools like chatbots; only 6% are negative
39% reported that automation has significantly reduced their time-to-hire
“Artificial intelligence has been revolutionizing the HR and recruiting industry for years, and will continue to do so. As the recruiting process becomes more candidate-centered – as it should do in such a tight labor market – organizations will soon begin evaluating the role of chatbots and virtual assistants in supporting recruiters,” tells us Rhiân Davies of Software Advice, in an exclusive with HR Technologist.
Three Reasons Why You Need a Recruitment Chatbot Today
These are exciting times for recruiters. In April of 2019, U.S. unemployment levels fell to an all-time low (since 1969), reaching 3.6%. This means that there is an increasing number of vacancies and not enough candidates to take over these positions.
In addition, 43% of millennials across the globe plan on leaving their jobs in less than two years. This is likely to cause an unprecedented number of vacancies, not to mention new roles that are added as part of a company’s organic growth.
Together, these trends imply a rising pressure on recruiters to shrink hiring cycles and reduce costs, without compromising candidate quality. Recruitment chatbots can successfully automate a large portion of the hiring pipeline, allowing recruiters to do more with less.
In other words, recruitment chatbots can help recruiters:
1. Eliminate efforts at the top of the recruitment funnel
Top-of-the-funnel recruitment activities are probably the most effort-intensive. Reaching out to passive candidates, solving common queries, and sifting through candidate databases to find the right fit can take up a large portion of HR’s efforts. A recruitment chatbot could perform these activities, leaving HR free to turn their attention on more strategic tasks.
“The key thing to remember about recruitment chatbots is that many of them are intended for use during top-of-funnel recruiting processes, such as responding to candidate queries and interview scheduling,” said Davies.
Once this level of interaction is complete, a human recruiter can intervene for further quality checks, assessment tests, and personality reviews.
2. Process a large number of resumes in a short timeline
High-volume recruitment has always been a challenge for recruiters – especially in industries that witness seasonal demand spikes. For example, a recruiter in retail has a giant task ahead of them right before the holiday season. A recruitment chatbot can talk to a candidate on a career portal, accept their resume submission, automatically fill the applicant database with relevant details, and even inform selected/rejected applicants about the decision.
“For recruiters struggling with responding to large volumes of repetitive ‘FAQ-style’ candidate queries, a recruitment chatbot that drastically reduces time spent answering them can be deemed as a success,” said Davies.
Recruiters only need to intervene in the second stage, equipped with necessary candidate details and ready to onboard the new workforce.
3. Revolutionize candidate experiences for an “always online” world
Did you know that 75% of applicants never hear back from the company after applying for a job? Given the fact that HR is under tremendous pressure to fill vacancies at the most optimal timelines, these details often slip between the cracks. However, a poor candidate experience could damage employer branding, putting off top talent from applying in the future.
A recruitment chatbot builds a 24/7 presence for the employer. A gig worker located across the globe can get an immediate response regarding job vacancies, qualifications, and other details about the position. Not only does this eliminate the need to manage candidate portals manually, but it also vastly expands the recruitment reach of the company.
Davies highlighted how advanced recruitment chatbot technology could improve interactions: "More mature recruitment chatbots can complete full conversations with candidates, and in other cases, they can seamlessly schedule candidate interviews without needing human intervention.”
Say Hello to Your Recruitment Chatbot: Options to Consider
Recruitment chatbot technology has been maturing rapidly. Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) let chatbots understand the context of interactions in greater detail, a factor that’s driving chatbot adoption in HR, says Davies. “In fact, a combined 66% of respondents to our chatbot study are planning to adopt chatbot technology over the next couple of years,” she adds.
If you’re on the lookout for a recruitment chatbot, here are our top picks:
Olivia is a robust bot that offers a detailed questionnaire to elicit the most relevant answers for recruiters
AllyO, founded by Google and McKinsey alumni, that offers all its services via an innovative SMS module
Mya (a platform we’ve mentioned before) boasts impressive statistics such as a 93% applicant completion rate
No matter your requirement, there’s definitely a recruitment chatbot for you. Remember, this is a rapidly evolving landscape and cutting-edge advancements in AI and ML technology will soon propel recruitment chatbots to mid-funnel interactions – completely transforming how recruiters work.