AI is not meant to replace recruiters, but enable them to accelerate the recruitment process by automating certain repetitive jobs

Like all other areas in businesses, the HR recruitment process is also being disrupted by the obvious impact of AI. In fact, the growing usage of AI in recruitment is seen more as a threat by the recruiter’s community fearing that AI will eat their jobs and make them redundant. But this is a myth, so far. AI is not meant to replace recruiters, but enable them to accelerate the recruitment process by automating certain repetitive jobs so that the recruiters can invest their valuable time in more ‘in-person’ relationship building with candidates and problem-solving. 

Benefits

• Saving time
• Automating high-volume tasks
• Improving quality

Challenges

• Learn human biases
• Requires a lot of data
• Overcome skepticism of new technology

Innovations

• Standardized job matching
• Automate resume screening,
• Recruiter chatbots
• Digitized interviews

AI has provided a lending hand to solve the problems of human capital management. It can mine data and throw up the best results but the recruiter can evaluate the candidate, convince deserving candidate or negotiate with the employer and candidate to bring them on the same page. AI enabled chatbots which can ask questions but recruiters build relationships with candidates. Mid-level and Senior-level recruitment will still involve a greater human intervention because the conversation is different and complex.

Recruiters have a sourcing strategy based on the profile of the candidate; they deal with different candidates differently based on the response received from the other end which involves a great level of engagement. If the candidates turn down the offer, the AI application would have to introspect on what went wrong and how it could have been handled better thereby preparing themselves to succeed with the next prospective candidate.

The level of personalized one to one conversation that is involved at various stages of recruitment is yet to be honed by the mighty AI. AI in recruitment is still limited to set patterns, design, and style. And this is the reason why AI will not be able to replace recruiters in the near future. 

Recent research predicts that 85% of jobs in 2030 haven’t yet been invented. And given the way technology is percolating all the corners of businesses, it will soon take over our current jobs, and there is a strong possibility that we may be driven towards different kinds of employment, altogether. 

Imagine the scenario where all repetitive or tedious tasks are being done by machines, humans would be left with enough disposable time that can be used to learn and educate themselves to prepare for more challenging, innovative, or exciting work. 

While this really sounds like an ideal world of an AI-driven recruitment arena, it’s quite likely that technology will replace people in certain tasks in the next few years. For example, scheduling interviews or screening resumes. And that will pave the way for the human recruiters to focus more at what humans truly own: relationship building which includes employer branding, recruitment marketing, and candidate experience.

So while AI will be occupied exchanging routine information with candidates, predict the performance of the shortlisted applicant or analyze facial expressions, recruiters will be free to attend a popular tech conference or job fair speaking to highly-qualified candidates or consulting freshers. 

Therefore, in the future, recruiters may even consider focusing on networking with people and channelizing their decisions. Machines can process information faster and more accurately than humans, but the skill of connecting with humans, plan their career roadmaps strategically, will always remain human. 

As stated in an article published in Harvard Business Review, the future might not see people competing with machines for jobs, but rather, humans will be freer to unleash their imagination, creativity, and strategic abilities. We should be optimistic about the advent of AI in recruitment and at the same time aware of the changes that are coming and hone our skills in areas that artificial intelligence can’t easily take over.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article above are those of the authors' and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of this publishing house