Is AI essential to the recruitment process? It's complicated

Between historically high turnover rates and a tight labor market, recruiters don't have an easy job. But is artificial intelligence making it any easier?

For the most part, recruiters would say yes, with 67% feeling that AI has improved the recruitment process, according to a survey by career-seeking tool Zippia. But in light of New York City's new AI law, which requires employers to audit their AI tools for possible biases, the technology may need more supervision and guidelines than recruiters think.

To successfully integrate AI into the hiring process, recruiters will have to strike a balance between their role as decision-makers and AI's role as a tool, underlines Anastasia Pshegodskaya, director of talent acquisition at Remote, global recruitment and talent management company.

Read more: Why employers shouldn't fear NYC's new AI law

"For AI to be most effective in the recruitment landscape, recruiters and hiring managers should aim to make it a trusted ally," says Pshegodskaya. "Those who refuse to embrace the technology will inevitably fall behind, yet those that become over-reliant on it will find that it may hinder the hiring process more than it helps it."

For Pshegodskaya, the benefits of AI — namely its ability to efficiently review large volumes of applications and candidate information — outweigh the drawbacks. AI can potentially lower the average time and cost of the hiring process by recognizing patterns and offering recommendations, explains Pshegodskaya. But AI is not infallible and needs an active user rather than a passive one.

EBN spoke with Pshegodskaya to get a better understanding of how recruiters can take advantage of AI while eliminating bias and maintaining a human touch.

What do recruiters often get wrong about using AI?
The biggest mistake recruiters can make with AI is leaning on it too heavily. While the technology can streamline the hiring process and help to make better hiring decisions overall, an over-reliance on automation is only likely to harm the candidate experience, making it feel sterile and impersonal, and introduce hiring 'blind spots,' causing recruiters to miss great talent due to algorithmic limitations. 

Read more: Why small businesses are craving more AI regulation

Instead, it's essential as a recruiter to combine the efficiency-boosting advantages of artificial intelligence with human judgment. An AI algorithm is incapable of empathy, reason, or lateral thinking and should not be leaned upon to make hiring decisions. It may help you get there faster, but its influence in the final decision-making stage should be minimal, giving way to the kind of reasoning and intuition only a human can call upon. This may be assessing a candidate's potential, evaluating whether they add to the culture, and if there is alignment between these values. The use of AI in recruitment should be focused on the aspects of hiring that can be easily quantified, such as diversifying talent pools, leaving final assessments to be made by the hiring manager.

How can recruiters eliminate bias in their AI tool?
AI screening tools parse data to analyze specific pieces of information it considers relevant to the job profile. To eliminate bias, it's important to remove certain fields from your parsing tool that are not directly relevant but have the potential to introduce bias. For example, there's no need for the tool to screen applicants based on their names, places of birth, or the schools they attended since this information does not impact a candidate's relevance or suitability for the role.

Read more: This tech company is using AI to bring employees together

It's also advised that you carry out an audit of your tech, preferably using an impartial third party, ensuring that it is not only built to your unique specifications but also that it offers accurate information and can reach fair and unprejudiced conclusions that are not based on preconceptions or assumptions. You should also be transparent about your use of AI technology, ensuring that candidates are fully aware that machine learning may be leveraged throughout the hiring process.

How can recruiters best take advantage of what AI has to offer?
It's important to appreciate that AI technology is continually evolving and advancing, meaning that recruiters must always be agile and prepared to pivot where necessary. Analyze your hiring metrics closely — focusing on factors such as time-to-hire, conversion rates, cost-per-hire, and candidate experience surveys — and adjust your strategy to prioritize areas where you need to make improvements. You may find that AI is in fact harming certain processes, while it might not be used to its full potential in others.