Retaining the personal touch in AI-enabled recruitment
How AI + Human can help you find the right talent
In a highly competitive market for hard-to-find-skills, a good candidate experience matters. A careful blend of AI-enabled automation and human expertise can make all the difference.
With 33% of skills in short supply in Australia – particularly for health, engineering, teaching and science roles – competition for top talent remains intense. And finding and retaining the right talent, with the right skills and attributes, has never been more important to successfully execute strategies in a tough market.
In this environment, you need access to people outside your usual networks – the candidates you might not be able to source on your own. And you also need to be able to position your employee value proposition (the full package of what it means to work with you) in a compelling way that sets your offer apart.
These two requirements depend on strong, trusted relationships based on mutual respect and care – between you, your recruitment specialist, and a wide network of prospective candidates.
And increasingly, it also depends on the use of AI and automation technology.
Because without tech tools, it’s impossible to deliver the high touch experience candidates expect and deserve – especially at scale.
Protect your brand reputation
AI’s vertical adoption curve has transformed every industry, including recruitment. Generative AI and automation tools are already at work setting up meetings and interviews, personalising standard responses, tracking applicants, and evaluating candidates.
But they still need to be combined with the very human relationship-building fundamentals of recruitment. There’s nothing more human than the rollercoaster of emotions associated with a job search: for the candidate, their future career development (and perhaps their livelihood) is at stake.
Yet so many rarely get any form of acknowledgement after submitting their application. A recent UK survey found 45% of candidates were ghosted by recruiters. In Australia, we often see caveats on job ads stating only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
I believe anyone who has gone to the effort of expressing their interest in your company deserves a response. Especially when today’s candidate could be tomorrow’s customer: why risk your brand reputation, when communication is easier than ever?
A survey of 250 Australian job seekers found 64% feel positive about employers using AI for recruiting purposes. Perhaps they are more optimistic a bot will get back to them – or even provide personalised feedback if they don’t progress to the next stage.
By automating many of the repetitive tasks in recruitment, we have more time to strengthen that personal connection with top candidates.
Our team works hard to identify the unspoken requirements your business might have and understand the individuals behind the CVs. In multiple phone calls and meetings, we observe how people engage and respond. Do they bring energy and enthusiasm? Do their values align with your company’s?
These are the human instincts a bot can’t match.
Expand your talent pool
The skills shortage epidemic does not seem to be easing. Many business leaders are thinking outside the box about who might fit the criteria for their role – from adjacent industries or experience areas to interstate or regional candidates if the role is flexible.
Once you open the door to deeper and broader base of candidates, you need processes to acknowledge, assess, and qualify every single application. However, investing in technology does not automatically solve this problem – and unchecked, it could exacerbate your talent challenges.
AI tools can certainly assess thousands of applicants objectively, fast. They can even reduce the risk of human bias in decision-making. Recent research from Monash University found AI helped to remove gender bias when assessing candidates for a web designer role. Interestingly, when candidates were informed that AI would be involved in the process, women were significantly more likely to complete their applications. Men were less likely to apply.
But this technology is only as good as the black and white parameters we feed it. A chatbot pre-screening tool or automated psych test filter could inadvertently screen out great talent if it’s asking the wrong questions. A human recruitment specialist still needs to apply a more nuanced lens.
Here’s an example. Let’s say you need a new marketing manager, and your recruitment platform uses AI to screen applications for keywords. It might scan a resume looking for multiple references to marketing, but miss the deep experience one candidate has in an adjacent field. Experience that shows this candidate’s ability to learn and ideate is off the charts – making them ideal for a marketing role.
A specialist recruitment consultant can look beyond skills and qualifications to understand potential cultural fit, drivers, and innate attributes. They can evaluate the multiple and complex dimensions of people in a way technology cannot today.
AI can also support real-time checks and balances. At Becks Wiggins Stokes, we use an AI-enabled tool to streamline reference checks and validations – including police checks and Working With Children Checks.
This is increasingly important given the speed at which you may be moving to fill a role. You cannot afford to compromise on risk, even if that person needs to start on Monday.
Getting the basics right
We are at a step change in how this technology is embedded in every aspect of the recruitment experience – and we can supercharge our impact when we combine strong human intervention with AI collaboration.
I was fortunate to meet Fay Stokes, one of the founders of Becks Wiggins Stokes, recently. I asked her what she’s seen change in recruitment over the last four decades, and she told me the fundamentals remain the same. If you treat people with respect and consideration, if you respond to them in a timely way, and if you show you care, you’ll exceed expectations and build lasting professional relationships.
That’s been the philosophy of Becks Wiggins Stokes for over 30 years. We still believe success is built on trust, respect and empathy – the very human ingredients of enduring business relationships.
And while I am certainly an avid adopter of AI and automation, that’s not going to change. It’s only going to get better.
For a more personal, human approach to recruitment enhanced by AI, please get in touch with the team at BWS Recruitment.