What is clear is that AI is here to stay and it will only become more prevalent in our lives as the technology develops. The rate at which it is accelerating across all industries is astounding – and recruitment is no exception. What many are now wondering is to what extent AI will change recruitment and whether we should fear it or embrace it. It’s something I’ve delved into in some detail recently in an effort to understand how AI will change the recruitment process for both recruiters and candidates in the near and distant future.
The phenomenal rise of AI
Although it’s been getting a huge amount of publicity over the past 12 months, AI isn’t completely new to the recruitment industry. AI-powered tools such as those that search for keywords in CVs and filter video interviews have been around for a few years but there wasn’t really anything on the candidate side. AI has now been catapulted into the mainstream in ways that are accessible to everybody with a device and an internet connection.
Generative AI in particular has captured the interest of millions and has rapidly grown from a ‘dumb’ neural network to a sophisticated generative AI. It is being incorporated into the everyday personal and work lives of people from around the world and across a multitude of industries. Sulabh Soral, Chief AI Officer at Deloitte Consulting, dubs it “the Industrial Revolution for human intellect.” The pace at which generative AI has developed is astounding and that pace will not only continue but gain momentum, with some experts believing that human-level AI (whereby AI can learn to do anything that humans can do) could be plausible in the next few decades.
Will AI help to remove or promote bias?
Humans are fallible. We make mistakes and we get tired. We are also prone to bias, whether conscious or unconscious, and this can negatively affect the recruitment process. AI-powered tools can remove personal information, including name and education, from CVs to enable recruiters to make more objective decisions based solely on a candidate’s skills and experience. It’s during the interviews that affinity bias (selecting people who look, talk or act like us) can creep in but AI-conducted interviews could remove some of that bias.
What is vital is that the algorithms are trained on diverse data so that human bias isn’t perpetuated through the AI. After all, AI uses existing data, created by humans, so there is a concern that AI could reflect the human biases inherent in the datasets they learn from. Case in point is an example from Amazon, who reportedly discontinued an AI-based recruitment programme because it was biased against women. It was programmed to analyse CVs submitted to Amazon over a ten year period to find patterns but the vast majority of those applying for jobs at the company were men so the AI deduced that male candidates were preferred over women.
I recently saw an incredibly thought-provoking video, created by the LIS: The London Interdisciplinary School, which took a now-deleted article published by Buzzfeed on what AI thinks Barbies would look like from different countries around the world and exposed the extreme forms of representational bias that the AI had. The unique images were created using an AI image generator that works using simple word prompts. Most of the Barbies were lazy stereotypes (bad enough) but some actively perpetuated harmful discriminations – the Barbies from Latin America were all light skinned, the Barbie from Germany was dressed in an outfit reminiscent of an SS Nazi uniform, and the Barbie from South Sudan was depicted holding a rifle.
What has this got to do with recruitment? It illustrates the danger of relying on potentially biased generative AI which, in recruitment, could mean a biased hiring process. It hammers home the point that there needs to be safeguards in place as the technology develops. AI Computer Scientist and digital activist Joy Buolamwini words it succinctly: “whether AI will help us reach our aspirations or reinforce unjust inequalities is ultimately up to us.”
AI for positive change – tools that help make recruitment easier
Despite the concerns regarding the development of AI, there is no doubt that it offers a raft of benefits with the potential to make recruitment more efficient, provide a better candidate experience, and help recruiters focus on the relationship building side of recruitment.
There are already a number of really useful AI tools that help to automate processes, kickstart and/or enhance communication, and generally deal with a lot of the daily admin tasks that take time out of a busy recruiter’s day. These span the entire recruitment process, from job ad writing to interview.
- Job advert creation – Creating a first-class job ad is one of the greatest challenges in the recruitment industry. Recruiters are extremely busy, job ads take time to write well, and yet the importance of a good job ad to a quick and successful placement cannot be underestimated. AI such as Wave’s AI Job Advert Assistant can write job adverts for recruiters with the input of a brief amount of information – recruiters simply enter the job role essentials and any extra information provided to them in the brief and the AI quickly crafts an error-free job advert that works with the job board algorithms. These kind of AI-powered tools offer a kick-start to the job ad writing process – the advert can be edited to add that human, personal touch but the grunt work is done by AI.
- CV and cover letter analysis – AI can screen large volumes of CVs quickly, matching skills and experience requirements to candidate skills, experience and qualifications. This can be particularly helpful when conducting a CV search.
- Interview technology – Video interviews have become increasingly common since the pandemic, especially in the early stages of the process. Some use AI to conduct the initial interview, setting standard questions for candidates, recording those interviews and analysing the responses. AI software can analyse facial expressions, body language and tone of voice.
- Predictive analytics – AI can help to predict how successful a candidate will be in a role by analysing CV data such as skills and experience.
AI won’t just help recruiters – tools for candidates will necessitate process change
Imagine a world where each CV, application and covering letter you received was written by AI… Actually, there’s no need to imagine it because there is the potential for that to happen right now. Generative AI, freely accessible to everyone, can quickly and easily write everything needed at the early stages of the recruitment process. How do you know if what you’re reading is the result of a candidate’s hard work and skills or that of AI? And if it is AI, what’s the point in these early stages at all? Or does it matter? Does a candidate’s grasp of generative AI demonstrate tech awareness?
It is entirely possible – perhaps even likely – that the process will have to change as AI develops. Will we see the end of CVs in written format, moving to video CVs? There are so many questions that AI throws up regarding change and development in the industry – most of which currently remain unanswered.
Automating the admin, focusing on the humanity and retaining human autonomy
AI can be a brilliant time-saver, automating those jobs that are repetitive and time-consuming, and freeing up the time of busy recruiters to focus on the elements of the process that need human empathy and judgement. What is absolutely crucial if we are to harness the huge potential of AI to be positively transformative in recruitment is that we retain human control at every stage.
That means ensuring that measures to eliminate bias are a fundamental part of the technology and that the final decision remains with the recruiter and the employer and not the AI. Such measures will help to ensure that AI is used responsibly and fairly, enabling consultants to recruit diversely and inclusively, without bias. Used well, AI has the power to transform recruitment for the better.
Right now, AI is in relative infancy. Generative AI such as Chat GPT, for example, will create a CV or a detailed application for a candidate but they will lack real substance and humanity. The same can be true for AI-generated tech that isn’t edited to add the personal touch. Many experienced recruiters will be able to spot an AI-generated application but the technology is developing at breakneck speed so this may not be the case in the near future.
There is no doubt that recruitment will have to change and recruiters with it. But the potential for AI to help create a world where talent is never missed, to help to ensure diverse and inclusive recruitment, to make the entire recruitment process easier, more efficient and a better experience for all, is enormous. And that’s where the focus needs to lie.
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