AI in HR: How recruitment automation affects HR and team development

The technological revolution is not bypassing HR departments. The cloud, process automation, chatbots and, above all, artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly boldly entering companies, changing the landscape of recruitment and personnel management. What are the benefits of AI-based automation? What are the challenges facing modern HR?

AI in HR – table of contents:

The role of AI in HR nowadays

In the digital age, demand for highly skilled IT professionals continues to grow. Up to 97 million new AI and automation jobs could be created worldwide by 2030, while 75 million positions will be eliminated due to technological advances (World Economic Forum). This presents HR with the challenge of finding people with the right, often unique competencies.

Thanks to the speed of information processing, AI can help weed out the candidates with the best fit for the organization’s needs from a large number of applications. As a result, automating processes can create engaged, aligned teams and increase the efficiency of the HR department.

Key advantages of recruitment automation for small businesses

In small companies, where each employee often performs multiple functions, saving time and resources is extremely valuable. Automating the recruitment process allows you to quickly and efficiently wade through hundreds of resumes, selecting only those that best match the requirements of the position. This allows the HR team to focus on direct contact with selected candidates, which is particularly important in building a positive image of the company as an employer.

Automating recruitment can:

speed up the recruitment process – algorithms can analyze hundreds of resumes and select the best candidates in seconds,
save time – AI can carry out the initial selection of applications on its own, which takes this duty off the shoulders of the HR department,
enhance data and analytics in the selection process – with advanced recruitment management tools, such as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), small businesses can manage recruitment processes more efficiently, saving time and increasing the chances of finding the best-fit candidates,
ensure consistency – the recruitment process is repetitive and unchanging, which provides the company with consistency in its operations.

It is also worth noting the positive impact of automation on the candidate experience. Job seekers appreciate a shorter recruitment process and quick feedback. This is especially important for small businesses, which often compete for talent with larger players in the market. By providing an efficient and friendly recruitment process, small companies can attract quality candidates who are interested in more individual approach and development opportunities that smaller organizations offer.

Source: DALL-E 3, prompt: Marta M. Kania (https://www.linkedin.com/in/martamatyldakania/)

Traditional recruitment methods vs. recruitment automation – advantages and disadvantages

Traditional methods for finding job candidates, such as:

resume analysis,
analysis of cover letters,
recruitment interviews,
recruitment tasks,
are time-consuming and prone to human error or bias.

On the other hand, a well-conducted traditional recruitment process gives the candidate valuable feedback and allows him or her to select a person who will fit into the company’s team in many respects.

Undoubtedly, automation of recruitment helps speed it up and solves the problem of personal biases, but the pros and cons calculus does not give a clear result. In place of the problems associated with traditional recruitment, other problems arise:

Advantages of recruitment automation	Disadvantages of recruitment automation
Speed	Risk of excluding valuable candidates
Wide range	Unclear evaluation criteria included in algorithms
Consistency	Difficulty in assessing soft skills
Lower costs	Distrust of candidates

For example, the system may reject a good candidate simply because his or her resume does not contain certain keywords. For this reason, a combination of automation and human evaluation works best.

AI in HR in candidate selection – how does it work?

Artificial intelligence can analyze hundreds of applications in seconds and select the resume that best matches the requirements. How is this possible?

The key is machine learning. Algorithms analyze examples of successful recruitments and learn to recognize patterns that indicate a good candidate fit. Based on this, they can predict the degree of fit between new applications and company requirements and suggest the most promising ones.

Another technique is the creation of so-called “digital twins” of employees, i.e. detailed profiles of ideal candidates created by algorithms based on data analysis. New applications are compared with such a model.

AI-based recruitment automation tools – such as:

HireVue, – exploits artificial intelligence to assess the potential of job candidates. It operates by the name Human Potential Intelligence and evaluates candidates’ choice of words, tone of voice and facial expressions,
Beamery – applies AI to manage candidate relationships and recruitment itself, offers features such as automatic screening of candidates, analysis of their data, personalized recruitment campaigns; this tool features in many large companies such as Facebook and Dropbox.

Source: Beamery (https://beamery.com/talent-acquisition/)

They successfully identify qualities such as creativity, ability to cooperate, or initiative. They also make it possible to analyze the commitment and satisfaction of current employees.

Impact of automation on team development and engagement

How does recruitment automation translate into team development and engagement?

First, it helps build a team with a high match of competencies to the company’s needs. Second, it saves the HR department time, which can be spent on skills development and team integration. Third, algorithms can assess the aptitude and motivation of candidates, which is conducive to building an engaged team.

Equally important, the use of AI tools does not end with recruitment. It can play a significant role in developing employees’ skills. For example:

– AI systems identify competency gaps in the team and suggest appropriate training,

analyze employee preferences and offer personalized development paths,

predict which employees may leave or burn out professionally.

Skill-based hiring. Is AI the future of HR?

The modern trend in HR called skill-based hiring is ideally combined with AI capabilities. In this approach, what matters are the specific skills and aptitudes of candidates, not just experience or diplomas.

At the same time, the development of AI in HR is opening up new opportunities for personalizing the recruitment and development of employees. AI can help identify skill gaps and suggest individual development paths, which is key to keeping employees engaged and satisfied.

In conclusion, although AI is not yet widely common in the recruitment processes, its potential in this area is enormous. In the future, we can expect AI to play an increasingly important role in identifying and developing talent, making it an extremely promising tool for the future of HR. However, we need to ensure the transparency of the assessment algorithms and the good quality of the data on which the models are taught, so that they do not contain biases.

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Author: Robert Whitney
JavaScript expert and instructor who coaches IT departments. His main goal is to up-level team productivity by teaching others how to effectively cooperate while coding.
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