Is A.I. a recruiter’s best friend or arch nemesis?

You probably haven’t thought twice about Facebook’s ‘people you may know’ suggestion, but I’m sure you’ve used it. Using the data that already exists in your profile such as your friends, location, job, and even the school you went to, Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is able to offer you friend suggestions that are usually pretty relevant.
This is where Facebook’s role ends. A Facebook “bot” is not having conversations with each of you, trying to entice you to meet for lunch. It’s up to you to make the decision to send the friend request, and whether they accept will be based on whether you’ve interacted and connected with that prospective friend outside of Facebook (usually!), or what message you choose to put into the friend request. Facebook’s friend matches can’t take into account the human elements of a relationship, nor are they trying.
[bctt tweet=”Bots are still bots. They can’t understand human elements of a relationship, nor are they trying.” username=”ATCevent”]
At LiveHire we believe this is precisely the role that A.I. will play in the recruitment process. As a recruiter’s tool, not an end to end solution.
The primary reason is quality and diversity of hire are becoming paramount as forward-thinking organisations realise this is the key to sustained innovation. The average lifespan of a large organisation today is just 15 years, down from 75 years, just 50 years ago. The challenge has been set. Build extraordinarily diverse teams, or be disrupted by one that is.
So whilst sourcing talent is a critical step, and A.I. is making huge strides in this area, attracting and enticing the right, diverse talent to engage with you requires a human touch.
Need proof?
Females have been the early adopters of social platforms, as they bring humans closer together. Harvard proved that females, in general, won’t apply to jobs that they don’t feel they perfectly fit the brief of, without speaking to someone. They didn’t see the hiring process as one where advocacy, relationships, or a creative approach to framing one’s expertise could overcome not having the skills and experiences outlined in the job qualifications. That’s human touch.
It’s all about the best relationships, and A.I. can suggest them, but not close them.
According to a study conducted by Bersin by Deloitte, companies that use A.I.’s predictive data analytics and other technology tools are more successful than those who don’t. Their research indicates that these companies show 18 percent higher revenue ad 30 percent greater profitability than those who don’t use these tools. At LiveHire, we constantly evolve A.I. on the platform, as well as finding and integrating into the best third party A.I. to help recruiters do their job better, and focus on the valuable interactions that matter.
[bctt tweet=”Studies have shown that companies that use A.I. are more successful than those who don’t. ” username=”ATCevent”]
It’s no secret that, in time, all people will have to adapt to this new A.I. economy as skills and roles evolve. But what we don’t seem to take into account is that A.I. simply can’t exist without input from us. Yes, things are changing, but this doesn’t mean the end to roles, it means the evolution of skills. Salesforce.com brought about this change in Marketing teams decades ago, moving them from teams that posted ads on billboards, to ones that nurtured communities of prospective customers in a more engaging way.
Sound familiar?
As evolving recruitment teams, we’ll have to learn how to feed the technology the right data, as, without data, it cannot exist. Facebook can’t suggest friends if you have no information on your profile, a system can’t suggest the best candidate for the job if they don’t have the ability to source candidates, or the feedback loop to perfect it over time. Recruiters will continue to play an irreplaceable role, and in fact, we believe a far more exciting one, evolved and supported through A.I.
Cover image: Shutterstock

This article is contributed by LiveHire.

Talent Acquisition (TA) is on the cusp of a new wave of innovation and the 12th Australasian Talent Conference will be shining the light on it – say hi to Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). Find out more here.