Are robots taking over recruitment from people?
It feels like AI is everywhere right now, and in recent months, its use in recruitment has also been increasing. We're seeing companies popping up offering AI-written job descriptions or initial candidate sifting using AI, and on the other side, we're hearing about AI-created applications like the experience of a recruiter who commented on LinkedIn that they'd received several cover letters that all included the same key phrases. Or another who received cover letters using terminology that wasn't relevant to the job or even the New Zealand market but instead was full of American phrases.
There are benefits to using AI as part of the recruitment and jobseeking process
That’s not to say that using AI at all as part of the recruitment and job-seeking process should be forbidden. It can:
make things quicker - especially if you are a busy recruiter trying to sift through hundreds of applications
help you identify key parts of a job description that you might want to talk to in your application
help you prep for an interview both as an interviewer and as an interviewee by providing sample questions
offer a starting point for job descriptions and follow-up communication to applicants or for writing cover letters as an applicant.
There are limitations to using AI or automation for recruitment
But, using AI without some additional checks and balances could lead down a path towards substandard recruitment with issues like:
A move towards bland, homogenous job ads and applications: Increased use of AI, especially with limited or uneducated input from the user, increases the risk that you'll just end up with a lot of stuff that sounds the same. No one wants 50 job ads that all contain the same words and buzzy phrases like "rock star", "strategic thinker with a deep understanding" or "fast-paced environment" and no one wants to read irrelevant cover letters that are full of phrases that don't really mean anything.
Unintentional bias: You might think that using a computer rather than a person would remove bias from recruitment and it can. But, as AI use and research into AI increases, a number of issues have started cropping up with the current options. A study by Bloomberg, for example, found that some versions of ChatGPT ranked CVs differently for jobs depending on the candidate's name. Women were more likely to be shortlisted for female-dominated roles, and black candidates were less likely to be chosen for some higher-level roles. While the study used a basic form of ChatGPT and a recruiter might use a more specific prompt, it's still an interesting example of how using AI naively could perpetuate the very issues you might think it is solving.
Sifting out candidates you might actually want: Your job ad might tell candidates to apply even if they don't tick all the boxes. But, if you are using AI or an automated programme to sift out candidates based solely on keywords or exact skill matches, then those candidates might be filtered out before you even see them. And one of them might just be the one you want.
Let's get back to people hiring people
We're not against tech progress and we acknowledge that these innovations are here to stay.
We've even covered how ChatGPT can speed up recruitment for employers and how job seekers can use ChatGPT during the application process.
But as AI use increases exponentially, we should be cautious about losing the human element of recruitment. When we strip it back, recruitment is about people hiring people. Recruiters aren't robots, and they aren't hiring robots either (at least not yet).
People understand nuances that the robots don't yet get. For example, they can:
tell if someone is going to be a great fit for a role even if they don't tick all the technical boxes
understand that there might be gaps in a career but that there might be good reasons for those
spot the difference between a candidate who genuinely believes in the role and one who has churned out a template cover letter
pick out key parts of the job description and relate it back to their own specific experiences as part of an application
understand how to respond to a job ad with a cover letter that truly conveys passion for the role
At Do Good Jobs, we support people hiring people. We encourage you, as employers, to put your soul into your job ads—inject them with some personality and give jobseekers a reason to want to work for your organisation. And jobseekers - much of the impact sector works on passion. Let yours shine through with personal touches on your CV and cover letter. By all means, use AI as a jumping-off point, but don't let it end there - don't underestimate your own ability to sell your organisation or yourself.
