How can you change your full-cycle recruitment with artificial intelligence

As the name suggests, it consists of all the stages during the hiring process, right from identifying the talent gap to on-boarding the talent. Also known as 360-degree recruitment cycle, it consists of six stages – evaluating talent gaps, sourcing, screening, selecting, hiring and onboarding.

Large organisations have large teams that work together to handle this process. There are different recruiters to handle separate aspects of hiring. For instance, one person could be responsible for sourcing while another could be rolling out the offers. In the case of Small and Medium Enterprises, recruiters handle every step of the hiring process. Also known as full-cycle recruiters, they perform a whole lot of tasks in order to hire the best candidates. A full-cycle recruiter engages with a candidate right from the time a job is posted till the time the candidate joins the company. In short, they are solely responsible to engage the candidates and give them the best hiring experience. Full-cycle recruiters can play an important role in making the candidates productive from day one and also in their retention.

Candidates start evaluating an organisation right from the time they view the job posting. The way the job description is drafted to the amount of information it gives to a prospective candidate can make a lot of difference. Similarly, every other step in the hiring process can either leave them with a lasting impression or disengage them.

Full-cycle recruiters, thus, have huge responsibilities on them. They have to prepare attractive job descriptions and post them on relevant job sites. They have to engage passive candidates and convince them to come for an interview. In addition to all this, they have to screen and shortlist other candidates, draft offer letters and ensure smooth onboarding.

Unfortunately, recruiters spend a lot of time on transactional processes like scheduling and screening. They are left with little or no bandwidth for more strategic inputs. They cannot focus on enhancing the candidate experience by having more deeper conversations with them. As per a report from Careerswiki, 68% of hiring managers spend less than 2 minutes looking at a resume. Since recruiters are swamped with operational work, they cannot concentrate on these other aspects.

AI is bringing a sea change in the hiring process by automating a large part of it. Data-driven projections and intuitive algorithms are ensuring future-readiness of the organizations. This has improved the hiring efficiency of organisations in two ways. Firstly, all recruiters are becoming full-cycle recruiters and secondly, they have more time to focus on the strategic aspects of their jobs.

Let’s look at how AI is changing every step of the full-cycle recruitment process.

A. Identifying the talent gap 

As per Mckinsey, one-third of senior leaders consider finding the right talent as a major challenge.

This problem can be solved partly by predicting future needs and pro-actively scouting for talent. Talent gaps occur when existing employees leave your organisation. In other cases, the expansion plans of your company may result in additional requirements.

Then, there are predictive tools that monitor employees’ behaviours to predict their chances of leaving the organisation. These tools can be used to accurately spot the skills and talent gaps that may arise in the future. The idea here is to effectively plan for your future talent needs.

B. Sourcing 

Finding the right talent is a challenging job. For every job opening, the recruiters get a huge number of applications. It is humanly not possible to go through every application and assess them on the required skills. Secondly, there are several passive candidates out there who may be the more fit for the role. It can be quite challenging to engage these candidates who are satisfied with their current jobs. Both these challenges can restrict the talent pool.

AI-enabled sourcing tools allow the recruiters to easily identify the best possible matches in terms of skills and experience. AI makes it simpler to access a wider pool of candidates and recruiters can connect with them on the platforms that they prefer. Besides, AI-powered chatbots can handle candidate queries and result in better engagement rates. impress.ai offers highly-customizable chatbots that can also effectively humanize the conversations.

C. Screening

Having a larger pool of candidates is only half the problem solved. Recruiters need an effective way to skim through the huge number of applications and find the right candidates. AI-powered tools can also help in singling out the right person-organisation matches. Besides, chatbots can give a deeper understanding of the candidates’ motivation to join the company. Recruiters can look at these chatbot conversations to get a deeper understanding of their personalities.

impress.ai chatbots are intelligent and can be customised as per the recruiter’s requirements. The candidate responses captured on these chatbots can be used to know more about them.

D. Selecting

The traditional process of interviews is no longer the most effective way of finding the right candidates. At times, the hiring manager’s biases may hinder the selection process. Also, there are many under-qualified candidates with charming personalities who may come across as the right fit. Besides, interviewer biases can interfere while selecting the right candidate. impress.ai platform can help in eliminating these biases from the hiring process.

Selecting the right candidates requires an objective tool that can find a person with the right skill-set. Today’s times also demand a procedure to test if the candidate is the right organisational fit.It involves evaluating shortlisted candidates post-screening. AI tools aid the selection process through tests, gamified evaluations and personality questionnaires.

E. Hiring

When it comes to hiring the candidates, recruiters need to have a deeper understanding of their motivators. For instance, some candidates may be looking for better compensation while others may want a fast-track career. Personality questionnaires and chatbots can give a better understanding of this aspect.

F. Onboarding

Smooth onboarding can lead to higher productivity of the candidates. They will feel welcome into the organisation and will be more willing to contribute to their roles. They would like to come to a place that is prepared for them. This includes having a dedicated desk and a system. AI-powered tools can engage the candidates even before they join by giving them an e-tour of processes and organizational frameworks. However, the onus would lie with the recruiter and the hiring manager to bring in the human element in welcoming them with open hands.

These are dynamic times and there is no dearth of exciting opportunities for talented candidates. They will be drawn towards organisations that looks more promising in terms of culture and values. They appreciate if an organisation gives more consideration to their interests. With AI-powered tools, recruiters can engage with them on a much better level and offer what they are looking for.