The coronavirus pandemic has changed the world forever. Going out for meals, going to the office and working, and even meeting friends will never be the same again. The world has undergone a seismic shift in the past few months. So, it is hardly surprising that COVID-19 has also changed the way people hunt for jobs and the way companies look for new employees. More and more people are turning to technology to find the perfect fit for them. 

Recruitment is undergoing a revolution, and this revolution is being led by technology and automation. If you hire at scale, you are bound to run into challenges like talent sourcing and screening. The growing needs of the recruitment industry has fueled the popularity of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). The three are having a huge impact on the hiring process. Here are 5 instances where these advanced technologies are disrupting the recruitment landscape: 

Candidate Sourcing 

Finding top talent starts with sourcing potential candidates. But despite knowing where exactly to find these candidates, manually sourcing them is a task that’s challenging as well as time consuming. In the very first step of hiring, technology has changed the game. AI automates sourcing efforts by pulling in talent from multiple sources and narrowing down the list by identifying the potential fit faster. You no longer have to switch through multiple job boards or advertise online. Hours of labour has been replaced by a few clicks. 

Candidate Screening 

With the hiring volume predicted to increase post COVID-19 while the recruitment teams remain the same size or shrink, interest in automation only goes stronger. AI and ML address this paradigm by allowing you to look through resumes faster than a human ever can and weed out unqualified applicants. Furthermore, an AI-powered chatbot takes the pain out of screening by leading all your shortlisted applicants through a predefined series of questions that pre-screens them for the role.

Candidate Assessment 

In the earlier days, the hiring company had to manually assess each candidate who approached them for a role. It’s no surprise that too are being shaped by AI now. Back in the 1990s when paper-based versions of tests had moved to computers with automated scoring and reporting, that was the first move to AI. Now AI is being used to generate unique test questions for a candidate and even assess their ability to execute job duties. It allows talent teams to conduct more consistent and objective assessments of the candidates and make sure they only hire the best.

Interview Scheduling

Calling a candidate in the middle of their current job is inconvenient and playing the back and forth of “what time works for you” is a miserable waste of time. Through automation, interview scheduling can be done in a jiffy. It has made it easy for recruiters to invite candidates to find a slot and schedule an interview on their calendar. Now, recruiters can focus their energies on the actual interview, rather than the scheduling. 

Candidate Engagement 

We know that somewhere down the line recruiters also feel guilty of not replying to those follow up messages and calls by candidates. Even candidates form strong opinions about employers during the recruiting process. AI not only helps reinforce your employer brand but also offer seamless experience for your candidates. Interactive AI-chatbots keep your candidates engaged with quick responses and updates at all touch points of your recruitment process.  Thus, lowering the administrative time required to interact with potential hires.

For organizations that are hoping to optimise their recruitment process, technology is proving to have a three-fold benefit. Firstly, it is a huge time and labour saver. While the AI sifts through candidates, many more revenue-generating tasks can be completed. Secondly, it is increasing hiring accuracy, meaning that a candidate chosen this way is likely to be a better fit for the job. And thirdly, it is helping reduce bias and error in human judgement in the hiring process. Ultimately, both the employer and the new recruit stand to benefit greatly from automation. 

According to a LinkedIn survey on talent trends, a whopping 35% professionals, hiring managers and human resource personnel feel that AI is the top trend impacting who they recruit. 

In fact, even investors are more keen to bet on companies that are opting for automation. Amid the pandemic, investors are banking on technology to overcome the massive damage that the economy is suffering from. With millions of people being laid off across the globe, there is a slump. But once the wheels start turning and the economy recovers, there’s going to be a boom in hiring and automation will be leading that boom.