Automation has overtaken the world in recent years. And the staffing industry has also become a part of it, just like everything else. With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the professional industry to transition to all things digital, automation has found more reasons to thrive. But that is mainly good news for the recruitment industry.
Recruiting can be time consuming and exhausting, dragging down even the most hardened recruiters. However, automated recruiting tools can save time and a lot of effort. According to a LinkedIn survey, 35% of talent professionals see automation as the biggest trend impacting the way they hire. CRMs and ATS are becoming more and more common and every company, large or small, uses them to find the best candidates as quickly as possible.
According to most recruiters, efficiency and hire quality are the two most important metrics for hiring. To meet these goals as smoothly as possible, recruiters are now incorporating technology into their hiring process. In this article, we take a look at how automated recruiting is a game-changer. Keep reading.
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How will automation change recruitment?
Technology has permeated every possible industry and it’s no surprise that the recruiting industry has taken over as well. And so far it has experienced several benefits. Recruiting is difficult and often takes too much time, which can unknowingly harm companies. It involves tons of repetitive manual work, and the only way you can reduce it is by using assistive devices that can take the strain off your back.
Here are some ways automation has helped the recruiting industry.
1. Search candidates
Sourcing is perhaps one of the most difficult parts of the entire hiring process. Hiring poorly will cost your company time and money. In addition, in this candidate-led job market, it is becoming increasingly challenging to find top talent, which large companies usually hunt. However, automated sourcing has greatly helped recruiters find top professionals without time-consuming heavy lifting.
Sourcing tools are a great way to nurture talent pools, giving you a database of candidates that you can reach out to when a job opening arises. With tools like a LinkedIn email finderyou can easily track down the contact details of your potential candidates and store this information in your database.
However, sourcing is not just about maintaining a database. A big part of the job is tracking candidates and reaching them, which takes a huge amount of time. Fortunately, automated sourcing can save you a lot of time, thanks to social media tools, sourcing chatbots, automated candidate screening, and candidate rediscovery software.
2. Assessment of Candidates
If finding candidates seems difficult, assess candidates is a different ball game altogether. It can take days and even months to sift through hundreds and thousands of resumes and CVs to select the best one. With automated review, recruiters don’t have to manually go through so many resumes, which is often required for highly skilled positions. Moreover, with such tools, there is no room for human error, which is very common for the recruiter when going through many such resumes.
Previously, an aptitude test always meant a pen and paper, and the recruiter had to hand out such tests to each candidate to make sure they were ready for the job. Fast forward to today, automation has completely streamlined the process and skill testing has become much easier. Recruiters can objectively evaluate and understand candidate performance and more accurately assess their skills.
With online assessments, recruiters don’t have to sit down and hunt for the best candidates because they can create a pre-set questionnaire and the AI will evaluate everything from there. This leads to unbiased and accurate results and saves resources and time. Such tools can prepare results automatically and once you get them, you will have some of the best candidates in your hands.
3. Automate interview scheduling
What do you do after sourcing candidates? Schedule job interviews! You could think of it as a simple process: you just have to make a few phone calls and get it done. Think of it this way though: you’ve narrowed your list down to five candidates and now you want to interview them. But it’s hard to get hold of them because you have to call over and over again to schedule a time for everyone and fit that into your own schedule. Can you imagine how much time you waste?
Fortunately, with automated interview scheduling, you don’t have to worry about that as the tool takes care of everything for you. Confirmations and follow-ups are automated and you don’t have to go back and forth deciding when to interview. Most importantly, this is a two-way street, as both the recruiter and the candidate largely benefit from saving time.
Such tools can help you schedule interviews, synchronize your candidates’ calendars, and send reminders. Performing all these tasks manually takes up 50% of the recruiter’s time. And with job openings increasing and talent pools shrinking, recruiters are looking to improve efficiency in every way they can. Automated interview scheduling is a big step in that direction.
4. Overcome unconscious biases
Inclusion and diversity are two important factors that are relevant today no matter what industry you are in. An inclusive and diverse team encourages ideas from a wide range of people, and such varied ideas can help a company innovate its processes. However, unconscious human biases are common, especially when hiring people for your company. That bias can relate to a variety of factors, including ethnicity, age, gender, sexuality, or religion.
Such biases greatly hamper the recruitment process and affect its quality. Not only that, but creativity and innovation are restricted in the workplace, leading to a more polarized group of people who may have very similar ideas. This is where AI can step in and help companies make objective decisions. This promotes a fair hiring process and leads to a diverse workforce that will greatly benefit the company in the long run.
5. Improving the candidate experience
Recruitment is not just about making it easier for the recruiter, but also about making it run more smoothly for the candidate. This makes the candidate more eager to work at the company. Keeping candidates engaged is imperative, and AI can do that. 85% of recruiters believe that communication problems with the candidate are one of the biggest problems in the recruitment process.
With AI you can steer personalized automatic messages periodically and easily create communication channels with your candidates. In addition, AI also helps recruiters decode messages and compose personalized messages with recommendations and tips. In addition, AI tools can also analyze texts and understand candidates’ moods and morale.
The applicants should experience an organized and smooth process as this speaks well for the company. AI solutions can help with that, while recruiters can build meaningful relationships with the candidates and find out their strengths, weaknesses and skills for the job.
6. Improves productivity
Last but not least, automation can be huge help recruiters to increase productivity. Recruiting is a huge factor for any business, small or large, as it helps them create a talented team of professionals who will drive the business forward. Delays and unprecedented problems in the hiring process are hampering the company’s overall balance sheet. Fortunately, AI solutions that solve problems and get tasks done faster than ever.
The market is becoming increasingly competitive and companies are scrambling to find candidates and fill positions faster. Companies realize that a talented team means a better company culture and image. This is where AI greatly helps recruiters save their precious time and refocus it on relationship building, which helps companies nurture that team and retain the professionals.
Final thoughts
The benefits of technology have been realized time and time again. Technology is also becoming an integral part of the recruitment process, which is new Trends in HR technology dominate the labor market. Recruiters can save so much time by using AI solutions and help the company focus that time and resources on other factors.
These are some of the ways automation has transformed the recruiting industry, and it’s just the beginning. Technology will soon be the future of the recruitment industry as the benefits are undeniable.
