By Guest blogger : Michael Deane of Qeedle.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle published a report earlier this year stating that 87% of HR workers have a hard time finding qualified candidates for the positions they were tasked to fill. The issue is not in the lack of talent, but rather in the means used to attract it, i.e. recruiting.
Part of the issue can be traced back to the fact that HR really came into its own as a profession in the context of large corporate enterprises. These giant companies needed robust recruitment protocols, strategies, and techniques in order to handle large volumes of applicants. However as the profession became increasingly common in mid-sized and even small businesses, these methods were proven to be too unwieldy and complex for comfortable use.
But the demand for streamlined recruiting never went away, and, eventually, computer scientists and software engineers came up with a solution in the form of artificial intelligence. The jury is still out on what exactly constitutes AI in the true sense of the word, but various technologies that claim to be powered by AI were developed, including machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and others. These technologies were then used to build commercial HR software.
AI-powered HR software has been a huge boon for HR professionals. The software’s ability to handle recruits in terms of data has influenced the entire profession, leading to an increase in HR productivity across industries. And here is how it was done.
1. Writing Effective Job Adverts
The first point of contact between a company and a candidate is the humble job advert. It is important to make a good first impression with a job advert, but many companies get this step wrong for a variety of reasons, including adherence to obsolete advertisement standards, a lack of a dedicated recruiting strategy, and improperly trained HR staff.
AI can solve this issue thanks to its ability to analyze countless job adverts, and figure out which keywords and phrases have the strongest appeal. It can then make data-based suggestions for wording and style depending on the industry. AI can also help you optimize existing content to extract additional value by refining your keyword use.
2. Automatic Sourcing
Sourcing is the process of using digital channels such as websites, social media, or email to look for potential candidates. Your candidate list will be more proportional to the number of channels you use, albeit with the unwanted side-effect of making sourcing exceptionally complex, error-prone, and time-consuming.
AI can take care of all of these three issues thanks to its data-crunching capabilities. It can tirelessly analyze countless user profiles online, and then sort them into lists according to a variety of criteria. All you have to do then is start your outreach, or leave it to the AI to craft and send personalized messages to the most promising leads.
3. Streamlined Communication With Chatbots
One of the main tasks of HR is maintaining an open line of communication with candidates in order to provide information and receive feedback throughout the recruitment process. But as the number of potential recruits rises, the burden placed on HR tends to grow exponentially.
Chatbots can help sidestep this issue by acting as automatic conversation systems that applicants can access at will to find the information they need. They answer applicant queries, schedule interviews and tests, and verify applications.
Chatbots are also used as onboarding tools. Training is a time-consuming process, and chatbots can share some of the load by providing new employees with information about protocols, company culture, etc.
4. Custom Value Propositions
When a company finally decides which candidate to hire, they have to present them with an offer, or in technical terms an Employee Value Proposition. These proposals are usually generic in nature in order to be reasonably applicable to each employee. They are also not likely to impress candidates that have proven themselves to be potentially valuable assets.
The solution here is to create custom value propositions for each promising candidate. This is where AI comes into play. AI can analyze candidate profiles on an individual level and decide what would be the most appropriate value proposal for each candidate.
Machine-powered HR
AI has the potential to drastically alter the HR landscape as we know it. Through its automation and data-gathering capabilities, AI can perform a variety of tasks in HR, giving professionals more space to work on parts of recruiting that require a human touch.
Michael has been working in marketing for almost a decade and has worked with a huge range of clients, which has made him knowledgeable on many different subjects. He has recently rediscovered a passion for writing and hopes to make it a daily habit. You can read more of Michael’s work at Qeedle.
