The use of generative AI technology has multiple emerging applications for human resources (HR) and recruiting professionals at a time where work from home and distributed workforce trends are changing the way companies search for talent.
Among those developing the technology is Arc with its HireAI platform, which uses a conversational UI, like ChatGPT, to shortlist the best candidates from Arc’s network of 250,000 developers based on a given job description. Employers can share their requirements, and HireAI will identify and suggest and match developers, filtering prospects and assigning them a score to speed the selection process.
Weiting Liu, founder and CEO of Arc, says by leveraging the capabilities of AI-powered tools like HireAI, hiring managers can streamline and automate time-consuming tasks, including job description composition, requirement-based filtering, resume screening and candidate outreach.
“This automation liberates their time, enabling them to concentrate on more human aspects of the hiring process, while eliminating the need to wait for applicants or rely solely on recruiters,” he says.
Moreover, employing AI tools can result in time and effort savings for both employees and candidates, as it ensures that only valuable and genuinely interested individuals are engaged in the hiring process.
He adds the current limitations of Gen AI in hiring lie in its ability to fully understand nuanced skills, context and cultural fit.
“While it is a powerful tool for initial screening, human judgment is still vital for final assessments,” Liu says.
To evolve, Gen AI must continue advancing in natural language processing, contextual understanding and reducing biases to provide more accurate and reliable candidate recommendations.
“Ongoing human oversight and continuous improvement of AI algorithms will be key to further enhancing its capabilities,” he explains.Â
Chris Lu, co-founder of Copy.ai, says he sees AI as a tool to help workers, especially with manual tasks.
“Generative AI can be utilized in the hiring process to search for candidates, analyze their resumes for relevant experiences, and conduct initial outreach to schedule introductory meetings,” he explains.
He points out the recruiting team is responsible for using and creating a roadmap for integrating Generative AI into the hiring process.
“It’s essential to ensure that the product is designed to be user-friendly, allowing non-technical users within the recruiting team to effectively deploy and utilize the AI tool,” he says.
Lu notes there are some regulatory issues that need to be addressed, which include ensuring compliance with data protection and privacy laws and mitigating biases to ensure fairness and non-discrimination.
Others include striving for explainability and transparency in AI decision-making and complying with employment laws and regulations.
“The goal of incorporating Gen AI into the hiring process is to assist and augment the hiring team, rather than replacing them entirely,” Lu says.
By automating certain manual tasks, AI technology frees up time for recruiters to focus on building meaningful human connections which matter more and more.
“This ensures that the human element of the hiring process, which involves empathy, intuition and relationship-building, is not phased out but enhanced by AI,” he notes.
David Woodward, chief product and technology officer for Zellis, calls Generative AI a “powerful tool” that can help with tasks like initial CV and application analysis, particularly where large volumes of candidates need to be filtered.
“As chatbots rapidly become more intelligent and nuanced, there may also be a place for them to conduct initial competency or knowledge-based screening interviews, freeing up more time for in-depth human interviews with shortlisted candidates,” he says.
Once a hiring decision has been made, generative AI can take on many of the necessary routine admin tasks. These can include collecting and processing details necessary for smooth and effective onboarding of candidates.
“Another use case would be streamlining and strengthening the background checking process, an essential part of recruitment,” Woodward adds. “However, it’s vital to understand and address the potential pitfalls with robust human oversight.”
He suggests AI models and their output should be regularly reviewed to ensure reliability and guard against bias in the system.
“Reassure candidates by being transparent about the way you are using AI in the recruitment process, and how you’re guaranteeing data privacy,” he suggests.
Woodward explains ultimately, responsibility for any AI-enabled hiring rollout should be shared across departments.
That means HR and people teams must work in collaboration with IT and data experts to identify the best ways to integrate automation, while maintaining a human-centered, personal recruitment process.
“Legal and compliance teams should be closely involved to provide ethical and regulatory sign-off,” he adds.
Overall, artificial intelligence promises to improve the hiring process but it still very much requires human engagement.
