Earlier this year, a survey found that nearly half of the 5,000 respondents used generative AI to “build, update, or improve” their resumes. And according to another survey, 57% of applicants used the OpenAI chatbot in their job applications. While AI tools can empower job seekers and help to eliminate some of the friction in the job-seeking process, the result can be overwhelming to the recruiters reviewing those applications, with quality applicants getting lost in the sheer volume.
In a Harris Poll survey of 300 hiring managers commissioned by Indeed, 65% reported cuts to their recruiting teams. As more companies pause hiring momentarily in response to the turbulent market, they’re trimming down the talent acquisition teams that review applications, respond to talent, and manage postings. These smaller HR and recruiting teams mean limited time stretched across more tasks, translating to longer hiring timelines.
According to a recent consumer survey of 1,000+ adults, “quick response time from hiring managers” was ranked most important to adults when applying for jobs, over an easy application process, knowing someone inside the organizations and transparency around the hiring process. This long hiring process could detriment organizations trying to optimize the search for top talent amid a labor shortage.
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Thankfully, there are a myriad of tools and strategies recruiters, HR teams, and other personnel can implement to deal with the inflated number of applications flooding their desks.
AI’s Double-Edged Sword
When striking the right balance between technology and a human touch, AI can and should be used by recruiters as well. According to a LinkedIn survey, 62% of talent acquisition professionals say they are optimistic about AI’s impact on recruitment. Yet, only 27% say that they’re using or experimenting with generative AI.
There is incredible potential for AI, and specifically generative AI, to create efficiencies and take some of the admin burdens off HR’s plate. Writing accurate job descriptions, scheduling communications, and automating necessary but time-consuming administrative activities are all areas that can be streamlined with AI. While fighting AI with AI can be helpful in sifting through the thousands of fake or incomplete applications, looking for keywords and skills in resumes to help narrow down the search, or automating initial communications, it’s not a complete solution for determining the right candidate that meets not only skills requirements, but also fits in with a company’s culture.
To really understand what makes a candidate the perfect fit, it is necessary not to rely solely on technology but to infuse valuable human knowledge and experience into the process.
Setting Clear Expectations
Getting thousands of applications on one job posting can be overwhelming, and it is especially frustrating when many of them are not right for the role. To help prevent these irrelevant candidates from applying, it is important to set very clearly defined job parameters and descriptions.
Done right, job descriptions are an essential guidepost for not only candidates, but for many people management recruitment functions as well. High-quality job descriptions help attract candidates aligned with a company’s mission, values, and culture, as well as help teams focus on the skills needed to be successful, not on arbitrary qualifications like education that are not the most accurate success indicators.
While many organizations have streamlined job descriptions across their companies to uniformity, not every job description is one-size-fits-all. To achieve a valuable job description and set the right parameters, recruiters should talk with the team and hiring managers on what would be the more effective candidate, consider the larger company’s mission, vision, and culture, and drill down into necessary experience and competencies.
Once all of the necessary information is gathered, the team can craft a compelling and precise job title, a valuable summary of the role, core responsibilities, critical skills and qualifications, and an accurate representation of the culture and work environment. By ensuring these elements are clear and correct, the job description can become an excellent filter for the right candidates to find.
Alternate Methods
While the traditional job posting and application process is standard for a reason, there are alternative approaches that may make more sense for an HR team. For example, adults are looking to their network and social connections to find jobs amid the challenges of today’s market. Half (50%) of adults say a referral from a friend would make them most likely to apply for a job, compared to a message from a recruiter (19%) and a job posting on a job board to LinkedIn (31%).
If looking for a new job, nearly a third (32%) of adults would reach out to their network as a first step. Instead of posting a job blindly out into the world for all to see, HR and recruitment teams strapped for time and resources could first look to their (and their employees) network. Not only does this strategy eliminate a bit of the necessary vetting, but it also removes the barrage of emails and applications you may receive during the general job posting.
Taking this a step further, organizations could consider creating a branded talent community through an experienced partner, which can tap into an available pool of candidates already familiar and engaged with a brand. This proactive approach reduces time-to-fill for open positions and enhances candidate quality, as community members are more informed and aligned with the company’s mission Additionally, a branded talent community can help to nurture passive talent and effectively keep candidates engaged. This always-on tool can incorporate social media – which almost half (49%) of adults say they have already used to find a job (and that number jumps to 67% for Gen Z) – human and AI vetting to get the best fits for your culture, values, and ways of working, and actionable data on what’s working and what’s not with targeted talent groups.
With the overwhelming number of applications and job candidates, recruiters and HR professionals are having difficulty deciphering who is legitimate and the best fit for the roles they are looking to fill. And with the recent labor shortage, this will increasingly be an issue teams will look to solve. Looking to nontraditional, new avenues for talent could eliminate some of the time-consuming heartache that resource-strapped recruiting and HR teams are dealing with daily.
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