AI in recruiting is here, so what are the pros and cons?

The automation of industries such as recruitment is something many are excited about. But what does it actually mean for your organisation? We take a look. 

Speeding up the process 

Manually going through resumes is a time-consuming task for recruiters, so automating this process by using technology such as search intelligence can really speed up that process by identifying candidates with relevant skills and experience straight away. 

According to Natalie Rogers, from Six Degrees Executive, automation will be particularly helpful for agencies relying solely on job boards to source candidates. 

“They will find it a time saver, as many of the applications you receive for a role are not aligned to the key selection criteria you are working to, so it may work well within volume recruitment agencies for office support style or blue collar roles,” Natalie says. 

Chatbots are your friend 

While you don’t want to take away the human experience completely, recruiters can use chatbots to respond to basic queries, and to schedule interviews with shortlisted candidates. This could also mean shorter wait times for candidates, because they aren’t stuck waiting for a human to respond.  

And according to recruitment agency Talent Adore, talking to a bot doesn’t have to feel like talking to a bot. Natural language processing technology can help give personalised feedback to each candidate in a natural, human-like way.   

But there are challenges 

Natalie says that for most of the clients that she works with, SEO isn’t a major consideration when writing up their CV, which means that agencies relying heavily on AI might miss out on great talent. 

“Organisations who are solely relying on AI to shortlist may be missing out on top talent based on this,” Natalie says. 

There’s also the issue of limiting diversity in an organisation.  

“What looks right on paper is not always the best person for the role,” she explains.  

“It may limit diversity within the business when people are wanting people to tick boxes in terms of what they have done in the past vs what they can potentially deliver for a business and their future potential.”