AI transforms the nature of work, but doesnt change the jobs to be done.

From voice-activated smart speakers like Google Home to the spam filter on our work emails, AI has infiltrated our daily lives. Depending on who you talk to, AI will either enable us to do our jobs better or make them completely redundant. The reality is that AI transforms the nature of work, but doesnt change the jobs to be done. The aspects that make us inherently human critical reasoning, communication and empathy will still be vital attributes in the future of work.

If you give a computer a problem, it learns from its interactions with the problem to identify a solution faster than humans can. But, if you ask a computer to look at two paintings and say which is more interesting, it cannot. Unlike people, artificial intelligence is not able to think abstractly and emotionally.

By supplementing human intelligence and creativity with technology that reduces menial processes, there is a great opportunity to enable recruiters not replace them. McKinsey research shows that over two thirds of businesses (69%) believe AI brings value to their Human Resources function.

Here are three ways AI improves recruitment practices:

1. Reducing unconscious bias

People have an unintentional tendency to make decisions based on their underlying beliefs, experiences and feelings its how we make sense of the world around us. And recruiting is no different. In fact, theres bias in something as straightforward as the words we choose.

Research shows that job descriptions that use descriptive words like support and understanding are biased towards female applicants, whereas competitive and lead are biased towards males. When we use these loaded words, were limiting the pool of candidates who will apply for an open role, making the recruiting process biased and affecting hiring outcomes. AI-enabled tools such as Textio can support recruiters to identify the use of bias in role description wording. Removing these words and making descriptions neutral and inclusive can lead to 42% more applications.

Unconscious bias can extend beyond our choice of words to the decisions we make about candidates. Unintentionally, recruiters and hiring managers can decide to interview someone based on the university they attended or even where they are from, or view them as a cultural fit based on answers. But decisions based on these familiarities disregard important factors like a candidates previous work experience and skills. When AI is used to select the shortlist for interviews, it can circumvent bias that was introduced by manually scanning resumes.

While AI can reduce bias, this is only true if the programs themselves are designed carefully. Machine learning algorithms are subject to the potentially biased programming choice of the people who build them and the data set theyre given. While development of this technology is still being fine tuned, we need to focus on finding the balance between artificial intelligence and human intelligence. We shouldnt rely solely on one or the other, but instead use them to complement each other.

2. Improving recruitment for hiring managers, recruiters and candidates

It goes without saying that recruitment is a people-first function. Candidates want to speak to a recruiter or hiring manager and form an authentic connection, which they wont be able to get from interacting with a machine.

Using AI, recruiters can remove tedious and time-consuming processes, so recruiters have more time to focus on engaging candidates as part of the assessment process.

XOR is a good example of this. The platform enables pre-screening of applications, qualifications and automatic interview scheduling. By taking out these tedious administrative tasks from a recruiters day, they can optimise their time to focus on finding the best fit for the role.

AI also helps create an engaging and personalised candidate experience. AI can be leveraged to nurture talent pools by serving relevant content to candidates based on their previous applications. At different stages of the process, AI can ask candidates qualifying questions, learn what types of roles they would be interested in, and serve them content that assists in their application.

But AI does have a different impact on the candidate experience depending on what stage it is implemented in the recruitment process. Some candidates prefer interacting with a chatbot at the start of the application process, as they feel more comfortable to ask general questions such as salary and job location. For delivery firm Yodel, implementing chatbots at the initial stage of the application process resulted in a decrease in applicant drop-off rates. Now only 8% of applicants choose not to proceed with their application, compared to a previous drop-off rate of 50-60%.

When it comes to more meaningful discussions such as how the role aligns with a candidate's career goals and how they can progress within the company human interaction is highly valued. Considering when and how you use AI to enhance the recruitment experience is key to getting the best results.

3. Identifying the best candidate for a role

At its core, recruitment is about finding the best person for a role. During the screening process, recruiters can use AI to identify key candidates by mapping the traits and characteristics of previous high-performing employees in the same role to find a match. This means recruiters are able to fill open roles more quickly and ensure that new hires are prepared to contribute to their new workplace.

PredictiveHire is one of these tools. It uses AI to run initial screening of job applications, making the process faster and more objective by pulling data and trends from a companys previous high-performing employees and scanning against candidate applications. With 88% accuracy, PredictiveHire identifies the traits inherent to a companys high performers so recruiters can progress them to the interview stage.

Undoubtedly, we will continue to see more exciting applications of AI in the next few years. The talent search process can certainly be streamlined and improved by incorporating AI. For recruiters, it is about finding the right balance in marrying AI application and human intelligence to make the hiring process what it should be seamless and engaging.

Read more:

3 ways AI is changing the game for recruiters and talent managers - Forbes