Over the past few years, we’ve heard about all kinds of magical features that AI and automation offer. Social media was buzzing with ways to get rich without breaking a sweat using AI.
But, while many of those discussions were overblown to attract more people to the topic, AI indeed brings various benefits to the table. Human resources is one of the many industries with which automation and AI go like peanut butter and jelly.
But what do human resources teams need robots for?
To your surprise, there are a lot of situations in which this intersection is compelling. Many companies have already jumped on this bandwagon, with as much as 81% of HR leaders implementing AI solutions in one way or another.
Throughout this article, we’ll share all the advantages that artificial intelligence and automation can bring to the candidate experience and your workflow as an HR professional.
6 Advantages that AI and Automation Bring to HR
There are many different aspects of the hiring process that AI improves tenfold. Of course, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution that can make everything effortless. But, there are AI solutions that can make certain aspects more streamlined.
Note: The aim of AI tools isn’t to remove humans from the hiring process. It’s quite the opposite. Rather, automation can help people in HR and talent acquisition roles focus on more critical or complex aspects of their jobs.
1. Fast and Effective Job Posting with AI and Automation
One of the most tiring and repetitive tasks in the daily routine of any human resources department is writing and maintaining accurate job postings.
Why? Creating job descriptions is a multidisciplinary activity. It requires people to have strong copywriting skills and some insight into social media marketing (think LinkedIn) and search engine optimization (think keywords).
Plus, posting open jobs on multiple platforms isn’t a walk in the park. In fact, it’s a full-time job in and of itself. Many companies are hiring on numerous websites and must repost or refresh the job descriptions as new hires join the staff.
With the help of AI, you can avoid several challenges in this process. Firstly, HR tools powered by AI can generate attractive and detailed job descriptions without too much time or effort.
Once generated, your HR team can customize and personalize them to their liking. Try out Ongig if you’re interested in checking out these features for yourself.
Better yet, you can save these job descriptions for future hiring endeavors. Some automation tools also allow you to create libraries of job descriptions. That way, HRs can quickly choose the proper job descriptions and post them without writing them from scratch.
Thanks to AI, you can rest easy knowing that a lack of writing skills won’t impact this part of the hiring process. Finally, there’s a simple solution for preventing candidates from misunderstanding your job descriptions.
2. Free up Time for More Important Tasks with AI and Automation
All HR jobs consist of different tasks or activities that vary in importance and complexity.
Many of those tasks may require little thinking, but they still take time and energy.
Meanwhile, your human resources can make or break a candidate’s experience. They have to communicate with individuals, and their impressions are important. When your HR department is bogged down with mundane tasks, it can diminish their enthusiasm for face-to-face interactions.
Thankfully, you can automate tasks such as:
- Scheduling phone or in-person interviews
- Evaluating numerous resumes
- Writing job descriptions
By preserving energy through automation, your team can focus on the interview process and prioritize a positive candidate experience.
Chris Masanto, the CEO and co-founder of PetLab, says:
“In tackling the challenge of streamlining PetLab’s hiring process, we turned to automation for a solution. Our primary hurdle was the time-consuming task of sifting through hundreds of applications for each vacancy.
By automating the initial review phase, focusing on precise matches between candidates’ skills and our job criteria, we expedited our recruitment.
This approach not only sped up the selection process but also allowed our HR team to dedicate their efforts to deeper, more meaningful interactions with top candidates.
The result was a more efficient, targeted hiring process that enhanced our team’s productivity and allowed us to focus on fostering a stronger, more engaged workforce.”
3. AI and Automation Improves Candidate Evaluation
Every HR professional can relate to the headache that comes along with a hundred fresh applications.
Many of those applicants likely didn’t follow your specific instructions. Others might not qualify for your stated requirements.
For example, if you are looking to hire for a travel nursing job, you might require at least an Associate’s Degree in Nursing (ADN) and two years of experience in a traveling role.
When posting the job description and requirements online, you can undoubtedly expect applicants to apply blindly without bothering to read the requirements.
That’s where AI helps save the day. It can analyze applications and check that the candidate meets all requirements. Once the candidates’ CVs align with the role they applied for, you can proceed with the next step.
At this point, you can start with the interview process or do an initial screening using surveys. Many platforms have advanced surveys for roles outside of nursing and can range from SEO experts to software developers, allowing you to check the knowledge levels of the candidates.
With this process automated, candidates won’t have to wait until the end of the hiring process to learn that they didn’t get the role. They’ll receive their status as soon as it’s updated.
An upfront notification about securing an interview or whether they didn’t make the cut helps improve the overall candidate experience.
4. AI and Automation Attracts More Candidates
As we mentioned, writing job descriptions combines multiple skills. Good copy can have a big impact on whether it’s going to attract new candidates.
Job descriptions can also appear on search engines. Because of this, it’s also essential to consider SEO best practices while writing them. Many AI tools already incorporate these practices when generating job descriptions.
An elegant and detailed job description is enough to attract the candidates and to make them feel comfortable applying. Simply removing male and female-coded words can boost your candidate applications by 29%.
The right HR tools also allow you to schedule your job offerings, maximizing the number of people they reach.
5. AI and Automation Creates Better Communication with Applicants
When hiring candidates online, you can stumble upon people from all over the world. Their time zones might be the opposite of yours, which can lead to miscommunication. Plus, people can ask questions about the job outside their working hours.
Not responding to messages outside your timezone is understandable (and something your organization should encourage. But that doesn’t stop many candidates who want answers quickly.
With the use of automated chatbots, HR teams can quickly answer questions outside of their working hours.
You can arm these chatbots with the necessary information to answer frequently asked questions or notify the candidate that the recruiter isn’t currently available.
In other stages of the hiring process, such as interviewing, you can automate the scheduling process to further free up more time for your team. Plus, your candidate feels satisfied that they’ve been interviewed for their desired role.
6. AI and Automation Allows Faster Onboarding
Onboarding is one of the final stages of the hiring process. Here, the candidate unlocks access to the various tools they’ll use and can start to integrate into your company’s culture. This stage can often take a toll on your current resources (both HR employees and team members).
The right AI-powered tools in the onboarding process can help individuals learn the necessary information before they start working. Creating a library of documents that contain essential information about the role can go a long way in streamlining the onboarding process.
However, some individuals like learning through videos. To make training content more accessible, you can use advanced AI voice generators that’ll allow you to transform your textual content into a more interactive and user-friendly form.
While many websites allow you to store your training videos and resources, many companies host their own onboarding training platforms. In this situation, security is essential for protecting your employees and candidates. Protocols such as OAuth ensure a secure authentication process.
Challenges of AI in Recruitment
AI isn’t the perfect tool to clear up all the bottlenecks in the recruiting process. It’ll bring many benefits, but this is still a developing field, and many challenges still exist.
Some general problems occur in data transmission between the databases and your teams. While concepts such as reverse ETL can streamline this process, many resources are still required for this to function correctly.
In generating different job descriptions, some details might not make the first iteration compared to manually written ones. Overall, you shouldn’t automate the entire task. Ideally, a set of human eyes will review the text and make the necessary edits before publishing.
It’s also important to note that you might miss out on an element of personalization in the hiring process if you solely rely on AI independently. That’s why using it only to enhance the process rather than relying entirely on it is essential.
While this can also be a problem with humans, AI can have an unfair bias toward specific candidates. This depends on the data type used to train the model. Although it can be essential in analyzing vast amounts of candidates, it can incorrectly rate them.
When choosing where to invest your budget for AI tools, check the core features and see if it prioritizes reducing gender or racial bias in job descriptions. Not sure where to look? Ongig is a great example.
You can reap many of the advantages of automation without too much effort. But, your HR team should know additional soft skills besides being tech-savvy and trained on the latest software. This can lead to skill gaps and additional expenses required to train your staff.
AI and Automation Is the Future of HR
If you’re a company ready to enhance the recruiting process, AI can help you achieve top-quality standards. While AI can’t compensate for poor operations or inadequate staff, it turns a good hiring process into an excellent one.
The role of AI in the candidate experience will continue to evolve. One thing’s for certain: AI is a helpful tool that you don’t want to miss out on.
Why I wrote this:
Using AI and automation in recruiting is really helpful for making candidates’ experiences better. It helps by making tasks easier, improving communication, and finding the right candidates faster. So, this makes hiring smoother and more effective. Ongig Text Analyzer can help you do even better. Request a demo to see how AI can improve your hiring and make candidates happier.
About the author:
Luca Ramassa
Outreach Specialist at LeadsBridge, passionate about Marketing and Technology. My goal is to help companies improve their online presence and communication strategy.
