Dissecting the next frontier in Recruitment: Artificial Intelligence

Shibani Patel | Vice President | Collabera India
Shibani Patel | Vice President | Collabera India

In the current complicated recruitment landscape, ‘Artificial Intelligence’ is a must have element in every recruiter’s toolbox. Owing to its excellent capability to accelerate the recruitment process by automating certain repetitive jobs, it is today notching a step further by using algorithms to even analyze people’s expressions and voice tonality to check for traits such as “confidence” and “happiness” during video interviews. The demand for AI is here to stay and proliferate as we move on to a job market where increasingly matching the candidate with the right job profile becomes more complex.
Demand of AI in Recruitment 
Firstly, the rising attrition level and employee retention challenges will need recruiters to divert their energies and time towards building a more employee conducive workplace environment, adding initiatives, programs and strategies that cultivate office culture and positivity. This means the HR basics like candidate hunting, screening, matching the right profile, scheduling interviews or screening resumes will need to be taken care of by AI and machines. Secondly, the intensifying newer job profiles, which were non-existent few years back, will need to match candidate traits from a humongous pool of applications in short time span – a solution that AI has. Thirdly, AI can help prevent bias in hiring, since the algorithms are built such that continuous practice can sharpens its talent acquisition functionality from data-driven analytics and digital, cognitive tools to better source and assess candidates and prevent possible misjudgments caused by otherwise bias and false logic, when done manually. (Deloitte Human Capital Trends Report 2019). In addition, decline of job portals, rise of new age recruitment tools, rise of candidate presence in social networking platforms, new line of freelance job offers upping remote worker demand and growing importance of learnability over experience – all are demand drivers for AI in hiring.
Key Benefits of AI usage in Recruitment Sector
Unbiased Quality Hiring:
Since with AI, recruitment decisions are made taking into account data and resume only, hires are only based on candidate’s real potential, slashing any probability of any human biases.  Besides, it also enables HR recruiters, hiring managers, and even stakeholders to evaluate top candidates in real-time and make concerted choices appropriately.
Better integration of analytics:
AI structured interviews being focused only on relevant skills, analysis done from such data results in improved prediction when it comes to matching potential candidate to a position.  Better integration of analytics also helps connect with passive candidates  reducing the hiring cycles. The emergence of specific AI enabled tools that addresses crucial HR challenges like the ones that pre-screens resumes that land on the company’s careers’ page or mines the company’s resume database that interacts with candidates urging them to update details thereby ending up with a fresh database always; is changing the entire recruitment baseline.
Automation saves time:
AI-based software only needs a few seconds to analyze big amounts of data and provide understandable results that can be considered by decision makers. Moreover, while AI solutions are engaged in directing the routine works like exchanging simple information with candidates, predicting the performance of the shortlisted applicant, recruiters can better utilize the time to focus on productive relationship building efforts – employer branding, recruitment marketing, candidate experience – ideally the most important element of the HR community.
AI Applications in Recruitment Sector 
Tackle HR Challenges:
Be it searching passive candidates; identifying perfect profiles for a company’s incubator programme or tackling the HR’s ‘no show’ problem, newly build HR tools are also thinking of stepping ahead and combining past data, candidate psychology and engagement analytics to predict the likelihood of a candidate dropping out. HR challenges being seen through AI lens will cease to be challenges anymore.
Virtual Interviews:
These are very crucial for remote location candidate recruitment processing. This option allows for live or on-demand video interviews and can also use artificial intelligence to provide reports that analyze verbal response, intonation and nonverbal communication, most to arrive at most accurate results; saving time and money for organizations. AI platforms used by larger corporates having large recruitment quotient, now use automated AI video interviewing platforms like ‘Panna’ which automatically record candidates’ answers, create candidate profiles and send them to relevant hiring managers.
Chat bots:
These are trained experts and an HR recruiter’s best friend. There are ones like ‘Mya’ which are designed to manage sourcing, screening and scheduling and uses natural language and machine learning to create candidate profiles, shortlist applicants and pick up on details in Chatbot conversation while others like ‘Olivia’ which can engage with candidates via the web, various mobile platforms and digital channels.
The Future of Recruitment is AI
With the advent of AI, every company is looking to implement the technology in its processes to reap its astounding benefits. In fact, this increasing demand across sectors have nearly doubled its job prospects in the past few years. Recruitment is pivotal and central to all business sectors and any hunch in this area can result in productivity failure. AI is the next frontier in HR and will give a new dimension to the way HR functions. Even though fears of it eating up repetitive jobs in HR field persists among adopters, it is just a myth! Instead, it is here to just recourse the skills requirement within HR jobseekers in areas where AI cannot easily take over like imagination, creativity and strategic ability.
This, Artificial Intelligence is not going to see a decline any time soon. The growth of it continues even in 2019 and the focus would not only be on new technologies and applications in the industry but also how it intersects with the society and heralds in technology for the better. 
About the Author
Shibani Patel, Vice President, Collabera India
Over 12 years of experience in business development in the IT industry catering to Indian and US Clientele in the Telecom, Financial, Insurance, Manufacturing, and Health/Medical Care industries. Subject matter expert in IT staffing with proven track record in servicing fortune 100 clients. Touted for superior comprehension of today’s cutting edge technology and persistency in staying abreast of new developments in the IT industry. A self driven, aggressive Client Partner with the ability to drive a team and create processes to achieve milestones. Result-oriented, revenue-focused leader with proficient managerial dexterity, strong organizational, interpersonal and analytical skills.