What does AI mean for human recruiting?

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used in the recruitment process but Hunter Selection, Managing Director says it can’t do everything that humans can.

In an employment landscape where recruitment has never been more challenging it is inevitable that many companies will try and utilise Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate and if possible, improve their HR driven recruitment processes.  Where does this leave professional recruiters and the human interaction which has underpinned recruitment for 50 years?

As businesses look for ways to streamline their recruitment processes and reduce costs, AI has emerged as a powerful tool that can assist with CV screening, candidate skills and qualification matching, and scheduling candidate interviews. However, can AI replace the more human and highly skilled elements of recruitment?

It can tell you what skills an applicant claims to have, but not whether they are any good at applying those skills. It can tell how far they live from the place of work, but not the ease of the route or their preferred transport. It can tell you what they have done, but not what they want to do next.

Interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence and cultural fit are all outside of the capability of AI and as seasoned recruiters know, this is where the real skill in matching applicants to employers lies. These are the areas in which good recruiters will always outperform AI. Whilst AI may have a cost-saving and streamlining role to play in the early stages of the recruitment process whilst reducing unintentional bias (assuming this doesn’t exist in the algorithm too) at some stage the relationship building skills, problem-solving capabilities and personalised feedback of a trusted recruiter are going to be needed in the most competitive of recruitment environments.