How AI Will Change Recruiting in the Next 6 Months
It seems I can’t go a day without hearing about how AI is transforming recruiting, and keeping pace with these changes can feel overwhelming. I regularly talk to recruiters — and job seekers — who feel like they’re always trying to play catch-up.
As a recruiting leader at Zapier, where we help businesses integrate automation and AI into their work, AI transformation is a topic I think about all the time. Based on my experience and conversations with my peers in talent acquisition, here are my predictions for how AI will transform the recruiting industry in the next six months:
1. Companies will communicate a clearer stance on the use of AI in their application process
I would expect more formal statements around what employers do and don’t allow and more requests from employers that candidates verify their use of AI. Some employers may draw a hard line here that they are hiring candidates for their human skills and need to focus on what they can do. Others may be OK with it, but have high expectations for candidate outputs.
But either way, I do expect more companies to get explicit here.
2. There will be more “tests” to “catch” AI
We’ve probably all seen the video of the interviewer asking a candidate who’s using an AI filter to put their hand in front of their face. Or maybe we’ve read about companies embedding secret commands into their job descriptions to try to “catch” AI. Industry leader Glen Cathey, for example, wrote about one company’s efforts to combat AI-generated applications here on the Talent Blog.
I would expect more companies are going to do things like this to suss out bad actors. And many will just require onsite interviews.
3. There will be added rigor in the interview processes
I suspect we’re going to see more companies requesting that candidates upload a video, complete a skills assessment, or answer open-ended questions earlier in the process. With the higher application volume, companies are going to look for ways to limit the applicant pool and deter less qualified or less motivated people from entering the applicant pool.
4. Companies themselves will use more AI
Some companies are already using more robust AI tools at the top of the funnel to identify high potential or to conduct initial screening. As companies look for ways to do more with less, there will be more of this.
And I suspect that the companies that do this first are also going to be those with some of the best opportunities (because it’s well-known brands and remote companies that are most affected by high applicant volume).
5. Companies will assess AI skills
They’ll ask questions around how candidates use AI.
They’ll ask candidates to build solutions with AI as part of a skills assessment.
This technology has been around long enough that companies who are using AI heavily themselves want to find people who can thrive in that environment and they will look for these skills in their hiring processes across all roles (not just technical ones).
Final thoughts: Rejoinders to three common responses to the rise of AI in recruiting
I’m predicting that my predictions will prompt three frequent responses that need to be addressed:
First, “Companies are going to miss out on great people with all these hoops.”
My response: Most companies are doing these things because they have so many applicants; if they are able to make a hire they are excited about, they aren’t missing out.
Second, “Video promotes bias.”
My response: It might, but the same person is reviewing the video who would conduct the interview. So, if that person plans to be biased, that will show up whether a candidate is interviewed online or onsite.
Third, “AI is biased.”
My response: Yep, but not as much as humans. And AI can be programmed to combat its biases in a way that is much harder with humans.
This post was originally published on LinkedIn.
Bonnie Dilber has spent over a decade in talent acquisition in the education, non-profit, and tech industries. She currently leads the GTM and Ops recruiting team at Zapier, and also creates content around job search, recruiting, and workplace trends.
