Using artificial intelligence to identify, attract, and convert prospects has long been the purview of the marketing department. Marketing teams segment customers based on their likelihood to buy and their total lifetime value to the company. Marketers want to know what drives customers to choose one brand over another, when they are most interested in engaging with the product, and what kind of messages will induce them to load up their virtual shopping cart.
But over the last few years, human resources and procurement directors have taken a page from marketers’ books. They have learned that automating the recruitment of employees and contingent workers can streamline the hiring process and give their companies an advantage in the battle for talent. If COVID-19 requires us to continue to limit personal contact, the use of AI in the hiring and deploying of workers will be extended. There are downsides to relying too heavily on AI to select candidates – privacy concerns and the removal of human judgment are some of the most common critiques – but these can be overcome. The speed, accuracy, and advanced evaluation tools AI provides mark important advancements in workforce management. AI can aid in hiring staff workers or contingent workers, saving companies time and money throughout the entire process. Metasys has identified several milestones on the road from candidacy to productive worker where AI tools can pave the way:
Needs Assessment
Artificial intelligence can start contributing to your workforce solution even before the next hiring boom. Due to the current pandemic-induced hiring lull, now is the perfect time to determine your organization’s talent needs so you know the types of workers to focus on when things return to normal. Machine learning and other AI variations can parse data about contingent workers as well as full-time employees to determine what makes each kind of worker successful. It can find connections between workers’ education, aptitudes, training, and other traits and their performance in certain kinds of tasks. It can spotlight which combinations of skills should be put to use in each project category.
Targeted Recruitment
Borrowing another trick of the marketing trade, talent acquisition teams can send job announcements only to the demographic and psychographic groups that its AI tools determine will thrive in the position and the company. AI can slot job seekers into segments and choose which cohorts receive which invitations to apply, based on their personalities and the skills they possess. The tools can analyze both first- and third-party data to score candidates based on traits that have translated into worker retention, productivity, compatibility with the office culture, and other hard-to-predict assets.
Candidate Messaging
With potential applicants’ digital touch points mapped, hiring organizations can also tailor emails, texts, and other engagement tools. Mass customization of employer brand messages and the timing of communications to candidates’ demonstrated receptiveness to employment overtures could tip the balance in the battle for top workers. An added benefit is that each contact you make with an applicant generates more data you can use to learn about his or her ambitions, desire to join your organization, etc. That helps your algorithm learn more quickly so it can make more accurate predictions about candidates’ chances for success.
Resume Screening
Reading through resumes may be the most time-consuming part of the hiring process, and hiring during the COVID-19 outbreak presents no exception. As dozens of qualified applicants vie for few jobs, the deciding between qualified applicants could amount to splitting hairs. But artificial intelligence can scan dozens of resumes in the time it takes a human to read through one. Companies can program AI to search for words or phrases the company deems important, flagging those that contain high keyword scores. Even more sophisticated AI systems can “remember” candidates’ experience and education and compare them to each other. They can create a hierarchy of applicants that carries through the rest of the hiring process.
Fact Checking
AI can not only scan for desired keywords, but it can also make sure those words are true. People drop digital and off-line breadcrumbs every day that hiring organizations can use to glean even more information. Companies armed with this data can perform exhaustive background checks and determine if references and work experiences claimed are as glowing as they appear. Automating the collection and analysis of references also removes the subjectivity both recruiters and reference providers may introduce.
Interviewing
Even if the virus wanes and does not return as a second wave next winter, organizations may wish to continue social distancing protocols. AI and other technology support these efforts by making remote job interviews productive and insightful. One-way interviews deliver a set of questions to candidates, who record their answers for viewing by executives and hiring managers. The answers may also be committed to written transcripts, where the same bots that scan resumes can look for pertinent keywords. More advanced AI can “listen” to the responses to pick up clues to candidates’ confidence, vocabulary, and more.
After the Hire
Companies may adapt AI, machine learning, and other digital tech to help new hires become productive more quickly. Onboarding tasks such as procedures and policies training, benefits explanations, and facilities orientation can run more smoothly with technology tools’ contributions. Robots can assemble customized information packets relevant to each worker coming onboard. AI can be used to ensure tax forms get signed, training videos get watched, and time sheets get turned in. Machines, unlike some humans, will remember to send these documents and video links in advance of the candidate’s first day; they can then complete tasks at their leisure.
Used properly, AI and machine learning saves companies time in finding, attracting, hiring, and training employees and contingent workers. They also hold benefits for job seekers by expediting the process of finding and applying for work. Additionally, AI can automate the application process, allow for interviews at a candidate’s convenience, and help them analyze company cultures.
Metasys combines years of experience in attracting and evaluating workplace talent with the latest artificial intelligence tools to provide customized workforce solutions to fit any need. We leverage the best, most comprehensive data in the industry to determine your individual talent needs, forecast supply and market forces, and provide the tools and planning to deliver the best combination of workers and skills to help you accomplish your mission. Combine this with an extensive and diverse talent vendor network and strict compliance assurance, and it is no wonder Metasys is a leader in total workforce solutions. Contact us today and find out why.
