Artificial intelligence, or AI, is cropping up in some unexpected places these days. Have you thought about the ways it may be impacting your job search?
We’re sure you’re familiar with the idea of AI when it comes to things like automated resume scanning software, but the degree to which it may be impacting other aspects of your hunt may surprise you. Beyond giving your credentials the once over, the emerging technology that powers today’s HR systems are increasingly using AI to streamline the hiring process and decrease time to hire.
It’s important to remember that AI is a tool. It’s an incredibly powerful one, yes, but it is still a tool. At the most basic level, AI is a set of algorithms created by people to enable computers to take over some of the more rote and repetitive tasks that often take up entirely too many hours of the workday, letting them get back to the intuitive, human-centered aspects of their jobs.
How a particular HR department chooses to use this tool is just as much up to them as it is how an individual recruiter operates within the constraints of company culture, rules, regulations, etc. That is to say, if your job search isn’t going as well as you’d like, don’t rush to blame the technology. By understanding all the ways AI may be coming into play, you can learn how to work WITH the tech to increase the odds of landing your ideal position.
AI-Powered Resume Scanners
It’s been years since the first round of resume reading was handled by a live person. Early versions of resume scanning software simply parsed the resume and compared the words to a pre-programmed list of keywords. If you used enough, the resume would be passed to the next step, when a person took over.
More recently iterations, however, can be much more powerful. These new scanners are using machine learning to not only parse the words used in your resume and cover letter, but to actually predict how a person who uses such language will fit into the company culture. Degrees of machine learning dictate just how “smart” a scanner is, starting with being able to understand that “AI” and “artificial intelligence” are the same thing without having to be programmed with both variations.
Scanning software like this is also critical in reducing inherent bias in the hiring process. Software can be taught to ignore dates, ages, and even names. People, on the other hand, cannot. Once we see these things, our brains apply whatever rubrics they have and inherent bias often results.
Chatbots Are Getting the AI Treatment as Well
Relying heavily on the deep learning specialty within machine learning, chatbots are growing increasingly able to take over many of the base functions of a customer service department or call center. When you visited that company’s career portal, did you use the chat interface that popped up in the bottom right? If so, chances are you were conversing with a chatbot.
And if that chatbot was able to retrieve a status update on your application, or responded to your question in the same tone and using similar language as you, then chances are it was an AI-backed bot. In some cases we’ve seen, chatbots are being integrated into a company’s social media presence, responding to tweets and status updates in brand voice so seamlessly it’s hard to believe it’s a bot.
Recruitment Marketing Automation Is Coming into its Own
Recruitment marketing automation, or RMA, is an expanding field of HR software solutions. With the success of inbound marketing in the business and commerce sectors, HR took notice and brought in the best tactics and modified them to work in recruiting. The result is recruiters who are working to build talent pools of awesome potential candidates, before they’re actively looking for a new role.
And the software that’s powering their automation projects is using AI to do things like vet candidate identities, transfer applicant information between systems, and even determine which contacts should be receiving which email newsletters. The next time you get an email from a company you forget even applying at, chances are it was sent via an RMA tool, and that AI made the decision to send it your way.
AI: the Power Behind the Curtains of Gamified Recruitment Platforms
A relative newcomer to the AI-powered HR revolution, the gamified recruitment platform takes the best aspects of a job board and a training platform and combines them with a video game mentality. In one place you can read job descriptions, take small challenges designed to test your job skills, and get in touch directly with recruiters from the companies you’re eyeing.
Add to that academies posted by the same companies, and you can rest assured that you’re getting training in the skills they want. And top it all off with badges and points that not only elevate you in the eyes of those recruiters, but also add up to swag, and you can see why these platforms are quickly eclipsing their competition.
AI Recruitment – Automated Candidate Screening Combines Several Technologies
Next time you get a call-back email asking you to set up an appointment for a video screen, don’t be surprised when there’s no human on the other end of the discussion. Increasingly AI is being put to use in conducting these initial screenings by not only asking the questions and recording the answers, but then by running these responses through the same advanced analytics that your resume was already entered into. Now, the algorithms can go to work combining your skills on paper with how you present yourself during an interview scenario and output a complete package that the human recruiters then take to hiring managers for further assessment.
AI excels in areas dictated by data processing and pattern recognition. That means that recruiting solutions that rely on these skills are ripe for take over by AI-powered software. What that also means is that there will always be a place for the human touch. Intuitive judgement and creativity, these things cannot be taught to computers and therefore will continue to be handled by their human recruiter counterparts for the foreseeable future.
AI Recruitment also means that the more you know about how AI is being used on the recruiting end of your job search, the better prepared you can be to work with that technology to ensure you make the best possible impression. Not only on the recruiters you work with, but also on the AI making some of these initial decisions.
