Talk nerdy to me about your newest recruiting technical gizmo tool – it seems that on the daily, there is a new recruiting software to demo. Whether it’s the newest virtual assistant / chatbot, a technical assessment to help you weed out candidates, a software product that streamlines your recruiting and onboarding processes, or a job description writer, new tech to support your recruiting is out there and ready to be implemented.
But just because it’s advertised as the newest and greatest…is it really?
ARTIFICiAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE APPLICANT TRACKING SYSTEM
Artificial intelligence within an ATS helps to automate the resume screening process, lifting some of the weight off recruiters. But a recent report from the Harvard Business School says that this kind of tool is helping to support a broken hiring system and rejecting qualified talent. The report notes that 75% of organizations within the U.S. use this type of resume-scanning software, with candidates being wrongfully rejected usually due to assessing a candidate’s skills with a rubric that is too basic or incorrect altogether.
Although automation can alleviate monotonous tasks from your schedule and make room for important ones, humans are still a necessary part of the process. AI recruiting outputs should still be treated as recommendations with the recruiter being the final stamp of approval. Additionally, humans + automation ensure that the candidate experience remains genuine, and that accidental bias doesn’t occur when you set parameters.
PREVENTING RECRUITING SOFTWARE FROM REJECTING VIABLE TALENT
AI or automation tools are continuing to be used more broadly throughout the full lifecycle of recruiting and through onboarding as well, because it really DOES save valuable time. To prevent your recruiting software from rejecting viable talent, your recruiting team needs to understand how the tool selects candidates, and just as important, why applicants are rejected. It’s critical to fully understand the minimum requirements, ensure the desired are just that in the AI’s terms, and have a second eye look at your rules to guarantee if a qualified candidate applies, they will move on in the process and not stopped in their job seeking tracks.
Secondly, candidates, or the resume screening tool, should have a menu of options for certain criteria. For example, if the position requires a Top Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartment Information (SCI), be sure that your software won’t categorize someone who lists their clearance as a TS with SSBI on their resume as unqualified.
Qualifying or disqualifying questions are always a good addition to any type of resume screening software. This way, if a candidate is rejected, it’s due to their error and not yours.
