// Recruitment Technology
The Truth About The Use of AI in Recruitment: Debunking 6 Myths
21/03/2024
7 MIN
Ever wondered whether AI will replace human recruiters? And do you think the use of AI in recruitment is limited to just automated resume screening? Some argue that AI could make the hiring process impersonal and biassed. Others believe that integrating recruitment platforms is a luxury reserved for big recruiting firms.
In this blog post, we are going to clarify six common myths about the use of AI in recruitment so that you can separate reality from the hype and embrace the role of an ‘AI-empowered recruiter’ with confidence.
The Use of AI in Recruitment: Clarifying 6 Myths and the New Reality
Myth 1 ”AI will replace human recruiters”
👁️🗨️ The New Reality: Contrary to popular belief, AI is not here to steal jobs. Instead, it empowers recruiters by automating repetitive tasks, allowing you to focus on high-value activities like building relationships and strategic decision-making.
While AI can automate repetitive tasks traditionally performed by recruiters, like candidate sourcing and screening, it also creates new opportunities and roles. You can focus on strategic aspects of recruitment, such as developing talent pipelines and conducting high-touch candidate engagement. AI augments your capabilities, leading to more efficient and effective hiring processes.
For example, AI may overlook a candidate’s potential due to a lack of keywords in their resume, whereas you can recognize transferable skills and potential during an interview. Moreover, as human recruiters your expertise lies in cultivating relationships, understanding company culture, and assessing soft skills—attributes that can prove challenging for AI to replicate.
Myth 2 AI-driven recruitment is only about automated resume screening
👁️🗨️ The New Reality: AI-driven recruitment goes beyond just scanning resumes automatically, it also handles other aspects of the hiring process, like finding the right candidates and keeping them engaged.
Automated resume screening: How it works and helps you:
AI tools not only screen resumes based on keywords but also analyse candidate profiles and online activity to identify top talent.
Instead of manually sifting through hundreds of resumes, AI algorithms can do the heavy lifting for you. They scan through resumes, extracting relevant information such as skills, experience, education, and certifications (PeopleGPT). It then matches this information against the job requirements set by the hiring managers, ranking candidates based on their suitability for the role.
This automated process significantly reduces the time and effort required for manual resume screening, allowing you to focus on more strategic tasks.
Candidate sourcing: How the use of AI in recruitment is not only about automated resume screening
An AI recruitment platform can actively source candidates from various online platforms, including job boards, professional networking sites, and social media channels.
Using natural language processing (NLP) and data scraping techniques, the platform can identify potential candidates who match the desired criteria for open positions. It can search for candidates based on specific keywords, job titles, location, or any other relevant parameters provided by you.
This proactive approach helps you expand your talent pool and ensures that you do not miss out on qualified candidates who may not have applied directly.
Myth 3 AI makes the recruitment process impersonal
👁️🗨️ The New Reality: AI excels in personalization, tailoring candidate experiences and communication based on individual preferences and behaviours. Through data analysis and machine learning algorithms, AI delivers targeted and relevant interactions, enhancing engagement and satisfaction.
Candidate engagement: How AI recruiting can be personalised
AI-powered chatbots can converse with candidates in real-time, handle questions, set up interviews, and even give feedback at every step of the hiring process
They can send personalised emails or messages to candidates, introducing them to the company and the available job opportunities. These messages can be tailored based on the candidate’s background, interests, and career aspirations, increasing the likelihood of a positive response.
Furthermore, AI recruitment platforms can schedule and coordinate interviews, send reminders, and provide relevant information to keep candidates engaged throughout the hiring process.
This proactive communication approach not only enhances the candidate experience but also helps to build a positive brand image.
Myth 4 AI can increase bias in the hiring process
👁️🗨️ The New Reality: AI is not inherently biassed due to its data-driven nature. AI algorithms rely on large datasets to make predictions or decisions, and biases may arise only if the data used for training is incomplete or inaccurate.
Modern AI systems are designed with built-in safeguards to mitigate bias. Through the utilisation of diverse datasets and ongoing monitoring to maintain data quality, AI has the potential to foster fairness and equality in the recruitment process.
Responsible AI implementation can help mitigate bias by standardising evaluations, anonymizing resumes, and highlighting overlooked candidates based solely on qualifications. By maintaining comprehensive, diverse, and regularly audited training data, AI systems can ensure transparency and accountability in detecting and addressing biases in recruitment.
Myth 5 It is best to ‘wait and watch’ before adopting GenAI in recruitment
👁️🗨️ The New Reality: The current lineup of AI tools has already reached a level of sophistication where they can significantly streamline your daily tasks, saving you valuable time. Generative AI is not a looming trend, it has already arrived and is positively impacting business bottom-lines.
Adopting a “wait and watch” approach to implementing AI recruitment solutions may not be the most strategic move. Holding back to gauge their maturity and value before diving in could mean missing out on significant benefits.
Research from Bain & Company indicates that companies could potentially accelerate 20% of their workforce’s tasks without compromising quality by providing access to large language models and AI tools. Isn’t this a compelling argument for integrating AI technologies into your workflow and recruitment process?
According to Gartner’s Emerging Tech Impact Radar for 2024, GenAI and GenAI-enabled virtual assistants (VAs) have the greatest potential to be disruptive.
Generative AI is categorised under the “Productivity Revolution” theme, which highlights the potential of technologies that can enhance productivity significantly. It is this potential that is a driving force behind the widespread adoption of GenAI across various companies and industry sectors.
Myth 6 AI recruitment platforms are complex and too expensive
👁️🗨️ The New Reality: AI-powered software and recruitment platforms are far from complex and while some AI solutions may have a higher initial cost, the long-term benefits far outweigh the investment. From reducing time-to-hire and improving candidate quality to optimising resource allocation, AI ultimately delivers significant cost savings and ROI.
Moreover, these platforms are designed with user-friendly interfaces, ensuring ease of use even for those without extensive technical knowledge
Imagine that you are trying to optimise your recruitment process and make it more efficient within a limited budget. Instead of investing in costly traditional recruitment methods or outsourcing hiring tasks, you can use cost-effective AI recruitment tools that can do the job as effectively.
AI recruitment platforms offer easy-to-use features such as sourcing candidates, posting job listings, screening applicants, scheduling interviews, and generating interview notes. Moreover, these AI tools often offer flexible pricing models, such as subscription-based plans or pay-per-use options, allowing you to scale your usage according to your needs and budget constraints.
Separate Reality from Hype: Embrace the Era of ‘AI-Empowered Recruiting‘
We are living in the era of the ‘AI-empowered recruiter,’ and whether you’re ready for it or not, AI integration is on the horizon for everyone. The widespread use of AI sets a new standard for all involved, and the message for recruiters, whether internal or external, is crystal clear: adapt or risk falling behind.
Whether you are using AI platforms to scan resumes or engage with candidates through AI-powered bots, there is massive potential in leveraging AI to level the playing field and thrive in today’s competitive recruitment market.
As AI continues to reshape how we recruit, it is important to distinguish between what is real and what’s just hype. By dispelling these six myths, we aim to empower recruiters to embrace AI confidently, unlocking its full potential to drive success in talent acquisition.
While you’re waiting to see if AI is truly needed to improve your recruitment process, your competition could be experimenting and gaining a serious edge with AI recruitment tech.
Time’s ticking! Take a tour now.