AUTOMATION: A FRIEND, NOT YOUR ENEMY
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Automation is a very polarizing term. Just the word alone is enough to make a considerable portion of the world’s workforce quiver a little. There is no doubt that we exist in the presence of a digital revolution, probably one that will have even more impact than the industrial revolution. From the invention of smart technologies that control our home via our voice to self-driving cars, all the way down to the workforce, we can only expect its abilities to grow each day. The collective knowledge and concern is that according to the McKinsey Report “as many as 800 million full-time employees could have their jobs displaced due to automation” (2017) While this could very well be the case for certain industries, there is one industry where automation is not replacing the human aspect, it is actually aiding it. That industry is Recruitment.
Working at Leadline, we are no stranger to A.I. as it is our greatest ally and we use our data-driven methodology to present recruiters with only the most qualified candidates that match the knowledge, skills, abilities, and values of their organization's best-performing candidates. Allowing a recruiter to acquire half their day while we take care of the sourcing is a system we pride ourselves greatly in. But not everyone feels the same way.
Artificial Intelligence is a machines ability to possess human-like knowledge. We can program computers to learn a specific task, and as we continuously feed the computer data, the repetition allows it to accomplish the job faster and efficiently. These very abilities are slowly changing the way the talent industry sifts through applications and source qualified candidates. Let’s break this down, if you are a recruiter and post a job for employment which ends up being successful hiring campaign, you may very well end up receiving over 200 resumes from applicants and a barrage of emails. In the days before the inclusion of A.I. one could easily assume that the arduous effort of perusing resumes and responding to emails would be a constant uphill battle to get caught up. But if we include automation in the madness, we may no longer have to scale the mountain. The rise in chatbots responding to a multitude of candidates in an instant can save recruiters copious amounts of hours. The analyzing and sorting of your daily recruitment tasks will be done at such a rapid and smart pace you may even wonder why artificial intelligence wasn’t on your radar earlier.
A.I. has many other benefits than just simply saving time. Not only does it reduce your cost to source by up to “30%” as per LinkedIn’s global recruiting trends, but it also removes the human aspect of bias, and most importantly delivers you only the most qualified candidates. Now if you paid attention to the tasks listed above, you would notice that “interviewing” or “engaging” candidates on a personal level were nowhere to be found. In the wonderful world of HR and recruitment, the human touch is something no automation can take away.
After a recruiter has received nearly half their day back due to the partnership of automation, they are now able to accomplish what makes them a great recruiter. With a handful of pre-qualified resumes, a recruiter can now look beyond the resume skills that A.I. has already done, and instead determines if the candidate is a cultural fit for the company and possesses the same values. But the human aspect of recruiting doesn’t just stop there; it continues. I don’t know about you, but I find it be increasingly difficult for a computer to conduct an in-person interview, or even a phone interview so it may best to leave that to the actual recruiter, especially when it also comes time to make an offer.
As we begin to realize what we can receive from A.I., we start to learn not just how automation can replace, but instead how it can actually empower us. Companies still need people to persuade, connect, and follow up and it is up to the recruiter to remain relevant in a digital world. Get the advantage on your competition and source quality!
Written By: Austin Bartley
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