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Companies are constantly searching for ways to improve efficiency, cut costs, and reduce menial tasks for their employees. AI has proved to be key, playing a role in almost all areas of business — including recruitment.
A particularly invaluable form of AI for recruitment is machine learning. Tools that use machine learning improve over time by utilizing the data they process. This has a wide range of possibilities in recruitment, where machine learning can speed up processes and provide insights into how to improve strategies.
How to Use Machine Learning in Recruitment
Companies use machine learning to automate processes that their recruitment teams are currently carrying out manually — from searching for talent to onboarding — as well as to assess data to provide information on how to improve.
Drafting Job Posts
One of the most time-consuming aspects of the hiring process tends to be crafting job posts. If writing doesn’t come naturally to a recruiter, using AI may be helpful.
- AI-Assisted Job Post Creation – AI tools can draft job posts, including responsibilities, requirements, and desired skills, making the process faster for recruiters who struggle with writing.
- Enhanced Job Post Optimization – Machine learning analyzes which terms and phrases attract qualified candidates and improve applicant diversity.
- Performance Insights – Machine learning tools provide feedback on why certain job posts underperform and suggest improvements for better engagement.
Listing Jobs
By using the information you provide it, a machine learning tool will list your job posts in appropriate places, including on job boards and social media. It will use past performance to determine how to best boost job posts while staying within your budget.
Talent Sourcing
- Seek Out Talent Efficiently – Instead of manually searching for candidates, AI can streamline the process.
- Machine Learning for Talent Evaluation – Analyzes job seeker profiles, social media, and online presence to identify potential fits.
- Automated Recruiter Outreach – Some tools allow recruiters to reach out directly to identified talent.
- Chatbots for Engagement – Chatbots help gauge interest, assess suitability, and gather personal information early in the process.
Applicant Screenings
If a position receives a large amount of interest, it becomes impossible for recruiters to assess every application, even if there are several recruiters on your team. Attempting to manually carry out this work will mean rejecting applications based on criteria that may not even matter, just to reduce the number of applicants to something manageable. This could mean you dismiss a perfect match from the start.
AI is able to screen resumes to find out which contain keywords and patterns that indicate an applicant has the necessary expertise. Advanced tools use natural language processing to go beyond simply finding words in resumes to also understand the context. Machine learning improves the process as the tool discovers more about what qualities are valuable to the employer and how applicants are expressing their skills on their resumes.
Scheduling Interviews
A task that is particularly monotonous for recruiters is reaching out to each applicant they’re interested in and scheduling an interview. This is something extra easy for AI to handle, even when there is some back and forth regarding an appropriate date or time. Plus, the tool can send out reminders to ensure both the candidates and interviewers remember the appointment.
Staying in Touch with Candidates
You’re particularly likely to fall out of contact with candidates if you’re trying to handle numerous applications. This is an important issue because it leads job seekers to lose interest in your company. If they fail to hear back from the company, almost two-thirds of candidates say they lose interest two weeks following the initial interview and more than three-quarter do so after three weeks.
A chatbot can message candidates after interviews to keep them in the loop. As well as providing status updates (such as to ensure candidates know that you’re considering them), the chatbot can answer queries or offer feedback to unsuccessful candidates — the majority of candidates say they appreciate receiving an explanation. Furthermore, machine learning can determine what kind of feedback candidates find helpful to maintain a good impression of the company.
Generate Job Offers
Once you’ve found a candidate you’d like to work for your company, you need to craft a job offer. A machine learning tool can draft an offer for you to review, including by suggesting a salary and other benefits that are appropriate for the position. The AI software can analyze the market to find out what similar roles offer and take your budget into account.
Support with Onboarding
The onboarding process tends to involve many of the same activities, regardless of the role. For example, new hires need to fill out the same paperwork and complete the same basic training modules. A chatbot can walk new hires through the process, providing them with support if they face any difficulties.
Machine learning will help your onboarding process go even more smoothly. If similar issues keep cropping up, the program will find ways to make the process more intuitive. In addition, the chatbot can use information about new hires to determine their current knowledge and experience. It can use this to personalize onboarding to include just the tasks and training an individual employee needs.
The Benefits of Using Machine Learning in Recruitment
The fact that machine learning can support all the above activities leads to numerous benefits for employers.
Improve Strategies
By learning what tactics are bringing the best results, machine learning models can help companies continuously improve. Employers can also make better decisions to ensure new hires are successful and remain at the company for longer.
Increase Productivity
Eliminating monotonous tasks frees up recruiters for activities that require their skills. Plus, AI tools are often able to carry out these basic tasks much faster than humans. These two factors combined mean the hiring process is streamlined, leading the company to find qualified applicants sooner and bring them onto the team faster.
Reduce Bias
You may be missing out on great talent due to unconscious bias. Plus, failing to create diverse teams may reduce innovation. With the right model, machine learning will assess applicants objectively and help your company become more inclusive in its hiring practices.
Create Inclusive Job Posts
A machine learning tool will also pick up if certain words or phrases in job posts appear to be preventing particular types of people from applying. This may be the case if a job post comes across as targeting a specific gender or culture.
An AI tool can provide you with recommendations about how to use more neutral language when it is drafting or helping you to edit a job post.
Enhance the Candidate Experience
Staying in touch with applicants throughout the hiring process leads to better candidate experiences. Improving these experiences makes candidates more excited about working for your company, which increases the chance they’ll accept an offer.
Plus, candidates who are unsuccessful for the original role they apply to may be more willing to apply for another position in the future, which keeps your pipeline full.
Retain More Employees
One of the biggest ways companies can save money is to reduce employee turnover.
- Refined Hiring Process – Machine learning improves candidate selection, increasing the likelihood of long-term employee retention.
- Attrition Analysis – Analyzes data from departing employees to identify causes of turnover and suggest solutions.
- Enhanced Candidate Experience – A smoother hiring process leads to better employee experiences, supporting retention efforts.
Stay Organized
A common form of AI for recruitment purposes is an applicant tracking system. In addition to automating tasks, it stores applicant information. Recording details about applicants in a centralized location will prevent you from losing important information, improve communication with candidates, and allow recruiters to compare how long the hiring process takes for different roles.
Predictive Capabilities
In addition to supporting your current hiring efforts, machine learning tools can help you prepare for the future through their predictive capabilities. For instance, you could use a tool to determine when you’re likely to face a talent shortage, enabling you to ramp up your hiring in advance.
The Risks of Using Machine Learning for Recruitment Processes
Before you decide to use machine learning for recruitment for your business, it’s important to be aware of the possible risks as well as the shortcomings of this technology.
Errors in Computer Models
The computer model will need plenty of training data to ensure it gives you accurate results. Training on insufficient or inaccurate data will lead to lower-quality outputs. Initially, you may need to rely on AI less and use more human input until you see the outputs are reliable.
Exacerbate Current Biases
Although machine learning does have the potential to reduce recruiter bias, there’s also the risk that it will exacerbate current biases. This may occur if AI is trained on biased data, which is what happened with Amazon.
In the case of Amazon, a computer model replicated previous patterns it observed in resumes. Since men had submitted more applications in the past, the model penalized resumes that contained the word “women’s.”
Data Privacy Concerns
A major concern of using AI is data privacy. It’s crucial to assess tools how securely tools handle data to avoid breaches. Although this is always important when choosing AI software, it is essential for recruitment tools because they are handling sensitive data about job seekers.
Training Recruiters
Although AI tools automate processes, you still need to provide your recruitment team with training on how to use tools to their advantage. Adding machine learning may mean you need to overhaul some current processes, which could require quite an adjustment.
Loss of Human Interactions
It’s important not to replace all human communication in the recruitment process with AI. Even interacting with humanized chatbots is a far reach from talking with an actual person. Automate as much as make sense, but ensure applicants are having conversations with recruiters throughout the hiring process, especially in the later stages. This will ensure they have a good impression of the company.
Machine Learning Isn’t Always the Solution
There are still significant limitations to machine learning — which is why companies will not be replacing their human teams with AI at any time in the foreseeable future. For instance, you need humans to ensure you stay compliant with labor law, for interviewing candidates, and when coming to a final decision about hires. Furthermore, machine learning won’t contribute much to your growth strategy if you’re looking to recruit abroad. For that, you need to use a global hiring solution.
Remote People can partner with your company to help you recruit in more than 150 countries.
We’ll take care of the entire recruitment process for you, bringing you a handpicked shortlist of talent in just five days from the vetted candidates in our database. Plus, we’ll take care of the legal requirements by acting as your employer of record.
Talk to one of our HR experts to get started.
