Recruiters, it’s time to embrace Artificial Intelligence

“Your bones will turn into sand, and upon the sand, a new God will walk. One that will never die,” Dolores from American sci-fi television series, Westworld.

It’s time to face up to reality –Artificial Intelligence (AI) is set to play a prominent role across all industries, including recruitment, and it is impossible to avoid.  Australia is second only to the US in the growing implementation of AI with two-thirds of businesses already deploying AI and an investment of more than AUD$8.2 million in 2016 alone.
To-date, most AI usage in Australia has been within pharmaceuticals, farming and financial services but a series of new talent-related technologies have hit the market making recruitment ripe for disruption.
Consider the hiring process – it includes a mixture of high level tasks such as collaborating, engaging, personalising and trust building will candidates and hiring managers.  Lower skill and repetitive tasks such as screening resumes and scheduling interviews however, is perfect for automation.
[bctt tweet=”Recruiters, Artificial Intelligence is coming and there’s nowhere to hide. ” username=”ATCevent”]
Chat bots such Mya, Arya and Olivia have already launched in the US and are designed to automate pre-selection tasks such as screening resumes, answering candidate questions and scheduling appointments. Textio has also launched a new application that is able to advise recruiters about the language they use in job postings and provide pointers to improve the wording to attract more qualified, diverse candidates.
Facebook and Google are making forays into recruitment using AI and machine learning to collect and analyse data to help recruiters do their jobs more efficiently.
With Australian businesses increasingly concerned about raising efficiency and saving costs, incorporating AI into their recruitment processes can help them grow their organisations and allow employees to focus their energies on higher value work. It’s only a matter of time before this happens and it makes perfect sense.
So as a forward-thinking, modern recruiter, how can you make the best of the situation and use it to your advantage so that you can continue to stay relevant?

Getting back to basics

Shannon Pritchett, Editor for SourceCon, said that “if you act like a robot you will be replaced by one.” A modern recruiter cannot afford to remain static if he/she wants to stand out from the competition and as ironic as it may sound, going back to the basics of recruitment may just do the trick.
Being purposeful in candidate engagement, the personalisation of communications and building trust with your stakeholders will be key in increasing your effectiveness as a recruiter. Adding a personal touch to your hiring process might just be the difference between you snagging that top talent and missing out on them.
You can hear Shannon to speak about modern day recruiting at the Sourcing Social Talent event series in Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland in February 2017.

Be part of the conversation

Don’t stare directly at the iceberg and then silently return to your sun lounge. Keep an open mindset.  Surround yourself with experts. Demo new products. Understand the nuances between AI, Machine Learning and Deep Learning. Arm yourself with every bit of information you can so when your Leadership Team announces that parts of Talent Acquisition are being automated, you can help shape the solution and your career trajectory.
The future is in your hands.
Also, if you haven’t see Westworld, you really should. Who doesn’t love “sci-fi/wild west”?
Cover image: HBO


If engaging and hiring diverse talent is important to you, check out our upcoming Sourcing Social Talent conference:

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