The artificial intelligence (A.I.) revolution is upon us! Before we know it, robots will soon replace humans in every job, rendering people completely obsolete. 

We’re kidding, of course. 

But A.I. is poised to bring huge changes to the technology we use to run our businesses. While the technology is still in its early stages, new tech startups are launching every day to get in on the A.I. gold rush. 

The problem is that many business leaders are having a hard time determining which A.I. technologies can provide real results for their businesses and which technologies are simply capitalizing on all of the marketing “buzz” around A.I., but not delivering meaningful business outcomes. 

The challenge becomes even trickier when it comes to hiring and recruiting – an area that A.I. software can either help or harm in significant ways. So how do you make sense of it all?

In this guide, we’ll break down the basics of A.I. technology in hiring and recruiting. 

What is artificial intelligence (A.I.) software?

Artificial intelligence software is a kind of computer program that can be taught to mimic advanced human abilities like reasoning and problem solving. It’s more complicated than that, but in layman’s terms: computer scientists feed a program large amounts of information in order to get it to “learn” how to think like a human and carry out tasks as instructed by a human. 

How is A.I. software being used today?

You can already see examples of A.I. technology in use today. You’ve probably heard of ChatGPT, one of the most popular A.I. tools. ChatGPT is an advanced A.I. chatbot designed to respond to user’s questions using conversational dialogue. 

ChatGPT is a sophisticated tool that uses machine learning to answer its users’ questions and perform tasks for them. For the average person, the major use case for ChatGPT has been assisting with writing and communication. 

When it comes to hiring, you can use A.I. programs like ChatGPT to do things like:

• Write effective job postings
• Come up with interview questions specific to certain roles
• Write emails to candidates 

Finding new ways to use A.I. in your hiring process can also pose a challenge, however – most hiring managers are very busy people, and adding an additional piece of software to the hiring process doesn’t do much in the way of saving them time. 

That’s why we predict you’ll begin to see hiring software companies integrating this kind of A.I. functionality directly into their programs in the near future. After all, if your hiring software has A.I. tools already built into it, there’s no need for you to use them separately and add more complexity to your operations.

For example, CareerPlug is currently developing an A.I. job posting tool in our applicant tracking system in which users can simply hit a button to generate a job description. The tool is powered by OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT. Look for that feature to be available in CareerPlug soon. 

What are the benefits of using A.I. in hiring?

A.I. can save you tons of time when it comes to content and communication! Trying to communicate effectively and quickly is something that many people dread, so having an A.I. assistant handle all your communication, from job postings to emails, can be a dream come true. 

Plus, you’ll be able to contact applicants faster, which means you have a better chance of engaging your highest-quality candidates before someone else does. 

What are the drawbacks of using A.I. in hiring?

If used improperly, A.I. in recruiting can create a poor candidate experience and damage your employer brand. The main culprit: chatbots.

We’ve seen a rise in hiring tech startups that sell users on “A.I. assistants” and “virtual recruiters” promising businesses that their A.I. chatbots can have complex conversations with candidates on their behalf. 

But a closer look often reveals that the A.I. in question is nothing more than simple “rule-based chatbots” that use keywords to trigger a limited number of pre-written responses – but it’s important to note that these rule-based chatbots are NOT built on advanced conversational A.I. technology like ChatGPT. This means that hiring and recruiting companies marketing these chatbots as “A.I. recruiters” can sometimes be misleading.

Simple, rule-based chatbots are nothing new. You probably recognize these chatbots in online customer service settings. They’re limited in how you can interact with them, and if you don’t get the answer you need, the experience can be incredibly frustrating because you don’t have the option to speak to a human. Now imagine putting your candidates through that experience.

We tested one new A.I. recruiting platform that promises a chatbot that can have “conversational interactions” with candidates. Sounds great, right? In reality, the chatbot was frustrating to interact with from the applicant’s perspective. It had limited responses to offer and was full of technical glitches, including one bizarre bug: whenever we tried to answer the chatbot’s questions with the word “Yes,” it changed it to the word “Forks”! Clearly, the technology has a long way to go before it delivers on its promises of being a true conversational A.I.   

Technical glitches aside, this results in a terrible candidate experience. Put yourself in the applicant’s shoes: answering a chatbot’s questions to apply to a role actually creates more work for the applicant, not less. And who do you reach out to when you don’t get what you need from the chatbot? 

We already know that 60% of job seekers will quit in the middle of filling out applications if they’re too long or complex. By requiring the candidate to interact with a chatbot to apply, you’ve added more time and complexity to their candidate experience – which could potentially backfire for your employer brand.

If a candidate is interested enough that they want to ask you questions about the role or your company, don’t leave that to a chatbot.

Our advice: Be sure to do your due diligence and try out these A.I. hiring software solutions that promise too much before you commit to using one. Try it out from the candidate’s perspective. You might find that it’s hurting more than it’s helping.

Are there legal concerns about using A.I. in hiring?

Since the technology is still so new, lawmakers are just beginning to pave the way for legislation to regulate the use of A.I. in hiring. 

According to the American Bar Association, while there are currently no federal laws that specifically regulate the use of A.I. in hiring, there is potential for A.I. algorithms to make discriminatory decisions that violate existing employment laws when evaluating candidates and their resumes. 

Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) published their own guidance for U.S. employers and best practices for complying with federal employment law when using A.I. in the workplace.

At a state-level, there are currently 16 states that have introduced bills relating to the use of A.I. in hiring. Six of those states will have laws on their books by the end of 2023 to prevent businesses from using AI to discriminate or deceive consumers and job applicants: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, and Virginia. 

Legal experts anticipate that employers may also be held responsible for the actions of A.I. software vendors if the employer has given them authority to act on the employer’s behalf – making it all the more important for employers to be discerning about the software they use in their hiring practices.

What is the difference between A.I. and automation?

It’s hard to envision a future in which the entire hiring process will be completed by A.I. from start to finish. Considering that the people you hire on your staff are the lifeblood of your business, it’s not exactly an appealing proposition to remove real-life human decision-making from the process entirely. 

That’s why we advise business owners to be cautious of any hiring software that claims to use A.I. for most (or all) of the hiring process and instead invest in a solution that’s more strategic about which parts of the hiring process should be automated by technology and which ones shouldn’t. 

Automations are software tools that don’t try to “think” like a human, but simply automatically perform all of the tedious administrative tasks that come with hiring. Hiring automations save you time without cutting you out of the decision-making process or creating a poor candidate experience. 

One example of a task that should be automated is interview scheduling. 

Typically, once you’ve selected the applicants you’d like to interview, you usually have to spend time emailing back and forth or playing phone tag and waiting on them to return your call. Plus, it can take multiple touchpoints to coordinate an interview time that works for everyone, slowing down your hiring efforts. 

Now that’s a process that shouldn’t require a hiring manager’s valuable time and attention. Let the robots handle that one. You can use an automated interview scheduling tool like Autopilot, which comes built into CareerPlug Premium. 

Learn more about how automated interview scheduling works in the video below. 

Conclusion

We’ve only begun scratching the surface of what artificial intelligence can do for a hiring process, but it’s important for businesses to be smart about how they choose to implement this new technology. It’s a good idea to automate only the tedious parts of hiring, but don’t automate the parts that matter most – getting to know your candidates, evaluating them using a proven hiring process that results in the right hires, and creating a great candidate experience that protects your employer brand.