There’s been an enormous amount of hype around AI in the workplace in the past few years. Scores of people are worried that AI will take their jobs, disrupt their organization’s entire industry, or even spell the beginning of the end for humanity.
With all of the overblown claims flying around in the media, how can you tell if AI as a tool is actually useful? You might be one of the forward-thinking managers who have considered it to automate certain tasks for your employees, or perhaps you’re already using it for things like creating presentations or data collection.
But have you thought of utilizing the power of AI to improve your HR processes? There are a host of AI tools for recruitment that simplify the hiring and vetting process, and the trend is toward greater use of AI in the workplace. However, using AI tools to your team’s advantage requires some practical steps.
Understanding the Role of AI Tools for Recruitment
AI tools have made dramatic inroads into the hiring process in recent years, being used for everything from resume scanning to interview scheduling and even onboarding. According to an AI in hiring and work survey conducted by Workable, 44% of respondents noted an acceleration of the hiring process from using AI tools. Not to mention, according to the same survey, nearly two-thirds said they had used AI in some form for hiring last year.
There is clearly an increasing trend of using AI to find and take on top talent more quickly. What’s more, according to BusinessWire, 80% of recruiters and hiring managers who reported using AI tools to schedule interviews saved 36% more time when rescheduling than those who did not use AI tools. As HR managers, we’re intimately aware of the amount of work that goes into scheduling and rescheduling interviews to hit hiring targets. Therefore, anything that saves time helps free us up for more important tasks.
Benefits of Using HR Automation Software
HR automation software can reduce time-to-hire by sorting through resumes, finding the right candidates to speak to, and scheduling interviews. It’s great at managing all of this data by automatically linking up to calendars and storing candidate information in centralized locations.
This reduces the need for human input, which also reduces the problem of human error.
Additionally, onboarding is typically a drawn-out process in any organization, and the longer it takes new hires to get up to speed, the longer the business is losing productivity. AI tools can help you manage the onboarding process with automated orientation. They can ensure paperwork is completed quickly and even handle initial training tasks for particular roles.
Key Features of HR Automation Software
HR automation software includes suites of tools for almost every HR use case. There are AI tools for recruitment management that can scan resumes and even automatically post job openings. These tools can also manage interview scheduling, which saves the manager’s time from having to register these times in their calendar manually. These tools speed up the time-to-hire but can also speed up the time-to-work by automating onboarding, as mentioned above.
What’s more, one of the most interesting HR automation software use cases is for HR decision-making. These tools can use predictive analytics to alert HR managers to things like turnover risk, predict future hiring needs, and even analyze the skills of your team to look for gaps that could slow down projects. With this knowledge at their fingertips, managers can then determine the best path forward for confronting these issues and offer further training to fill skills gaps.
How AI Tools for Recruitment Enhance Hiring Efficiency
In today’s modern workforce, efficiency is the name of the game and using AI tools for recruitment grants a huge boost to the hiring process. In a world where it has become easier than ever before to hit the apply button for jobs, AI tools are necessary to scan resumes and pull key skills and qualifications so that only candidates that most closely match the job description will get through to human managers.
Furthermore, they can search through massive online databases and professional networks such as LinkedIn to identify candidates who may be a great fit for a role but haven’t seen the job opening.
Using HR automation software can enhance your data-driven hiring decisions in a number of ways. It can monitor the effectiveness of job postings, evaluate candidates objectively based on skills assessments, and even use predictive analytics to weed out those who may look good on paper but might not be the best fit for the role.
Predictive Analytics HR: How Data Improves Hiring Decisions
Predictive analytics in HR assists managers by looking at historical or real-time data and making predictions about future workplace management outcomes. For instance, it may analyze hiring trends or performance data to forecast whether a candidate would be successful in a given role. It may look at a candidate’s past job roles and analyze metrics like career progression and how long they typically stay in a role to anticipate their fit with your organization.
Predictive analytics in HR is especially useful for matching candidates to the right roles in your organization and improving employee retention. You can use it to crunch numbers related to a candidate’s job history, industry hiring trends, and even their likely commute time to determine whether they’re likely to stay in the role or move on quickly.
Implementing Automated Onboarding Systems in HR
Another incredibly useful aspect of AI is in the onboarding part of the hiring process. Automated systems make getting new hires accustomed to their new role and work culture a breeze.
A lot of the onboarding process involved repetitive tasks that AI can take over. Setting up work email accounts, ensuring consistency in training, and scheduling meetings are just a few areas where it can help. New hires often feel a tinge of nervousness and a bit overwhelmed their first few days on the job, so an automated onboarding system that can handle the more mundane tasks makes it much easier for them to settle in.
One key benefit I’ve personally seen is that automated onboarding systems keep important documents and information all in one place. I can recall countless times when new hires didn’t know where to look to find a document they needed to fill out, or that explained a critical company policy they needed to be aware of. This always led to searching around, asking colleagues, and losing productivity.
Best Practices for Implementing an Automated Onboarding System
Your company and your team are unique, and you have your methods for thriving in the business world. So, when selecting the right automated onboarding system software for your company, there are a few things you should keep in mind.
First, you should be aware of the specific challenges in your onboarding process. As I mentioned earlier, is finding documents and organization an issue? Is account setup holding back your new hire’s progress? Whatever the problem, look for software that has the functionality you’re looking for.
You’ll also want to choose software that has an easily navigable user interface that’s intuitive for both new hires and your team. Keep in mind that you’ll have to train your HR teams on the new system, so any opportunity to reduce time-to-productivity—even within your own team—is worth considering.
The Future of AI Tools in Recruitment and HR Automation
As we look to the future of HR automation software and consider the impact of AI on HR departments, it seems clear that predictive analytics will continue to be used in vetting candidates, onboarding is set to become more personalized, and methods of optimizing remote teams are likely to emerge.
All of these changes will affect HR departments in a variety of ways. Data will inform more decisions, and efficiency will increase, but there will also be new ethical considerations for managers as they grapple with decisions initially made by algorithms.
However, it’s certain that HR AI tools are here to stay. As HR managers, we can prepare ourselves by remaining focused on the employee experience rather than getting lost in the data.
Final thoughts
AI tools in HR are a huge benefit when it comes to automating repetitive tasks, sifting through thousands of resumes, and ensuring that new hires settle into their roles quickly. To make the most of it, you’ll need to ensure you have clear goals around what you want to accomplish and continuously monitor how the tools are performing to optimize them for your company’s needs.
Getting AI tools up and running is just the beginning of your journey to increased team efficiency. If you’d like to learn more about how your organization can implement employee engagement strategies and other HR tools to build and retain the high-performing team that you want, sign up for our monthly newsletter. It’s full of actionable advice from my own first-hand experience with top organizations. Signing up will also have you notified of the release of my upcoming book, “The Retention-Productivity Link”, which is an in-depth look at what works and what doesn’t amongst high-performing teams backed by real-world case studies.
