Artificial intelligence is revolutionising recruitment processes, extending its reach beyond simple screening of job applications to now interviewing short-listed candidates and even making final decisions on who to hire.<\/p>\n
Experts say that so long as there is still some element of human involvement, the use of AI in recruitment is nothing to fear.<\/p>\n
But job seekers are not convinced, worried that AI could see them unfairly rejected for roles.<\/p>\n
Copywriter Erin Arnett, 34, recently missed out on a $90,000 position with a leading Australian brand \u2013 told she was unsuccessful just days after being interviewed for the job by a chatbot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was one particular interview question where I was asked why do I want to work at this company rather than where I was right now and I think I messed that up because I didn\u2019t have a job so I sort of threw out (said) that I just wanted to work rather than be unemployed,\u2019\u2019 Ms Arnett said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I would have given the same initial response (if the interview was conducted by a human), I perhaps would have been able to expand on that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut with AI, you don\u2019t get the opportunity to clarify.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Ms Arnett, who has been interviewed twice by AI, for different job applications, found the process \u201cjarring\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt (AI) talks to you like a human would but it doesn\u2019t respond like a human would \u2013 it can be hard to read the room because it\u2019s not a real person,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t say I didn\u2019t get the jobs because of AI but \u2026 AI might have limited my chances (of success).\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
AI screening of job applications in the initial hiring stages had also proved problematic, she said.<\/p>\n
Having received an automated rejection to another advertised position, Ms Arnett contacted that company to request feedback and was surprised by their response.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hiring manager emailed me back saying that my application was actually good \u2013 it was clearly the first time she\u2019d actually read it \u2013 (and) invited me to an interview,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis exchange taught me that it never hurts to query the process, especially if it looks machine driven.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
EQUAL PLAYING FIELD?<\/p>\n
AIBuild chief executive officer Yifei Wang said the use of AI had significantly reduced the time required by companies to sort through job applications and interview candidates \u2013 cutting hiring times from 41 days to just 11.<\/p>\n
Big business was not the only user of AI for recruitment, he said, with smaller companies without HR staff also opting to automate the majority of their hiring process.<\/p>\n
While it was possible for companies to delegate the final decision on who to hire to AI, Mr Wang said most companies still preferred some human involvement, especially in the final interview round.<\/p>\n
Despite job seeker concerns, there were some distinct advantages to using AI, including the removal of any unconscious bias, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you are using AI well, it can remove a lot of the inconsistencies that occur in recruitment,\u2019\u2019 Mr Wang said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single candidate can be assessed against the same criteria.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere won\u2019t be any bad days or any tired recruiters on a Friday afternoon just trying to get through (interviewing) everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell-trained AI doesn\u2019t have any kind of bias for gender or age so it\u2019s going to be very fair for every candidate.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
However, some disagree, with a recent study, set to be presented to a Montreal conference next week, finding significant racial bias in AI tools used to screen millions of job seekers.<\/p>\n
TIPS FOR SUCCESS<\/p>\n
Mr Wang, who is also an AI lecturer at Melbourne University, said job seekers who incorporated keywords during their AI interview, rather than using generic language, may gain a competitive advantage.<\/p>\n
But in general, he suggested AI interviews should be treated in much the same way as a job interview with a human recruiter.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy overall message is that job seekers should not panic about AI recruitment,\u2019\u2019 Mr Wang said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fundamentals still matter \u2013 understand the role, communicate clearly, show evidence of your skills and make it easy for both AI systems and human recruiters to understand your fit.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
CULTURE CHECK<\/p>\n
Byron McCaughey, a psychologist for entrepreneurs and founder of Sublime Studio, said it was crucial recruitment retained some human involvement to ensure a good cultural fit between the person hired for a job and the company.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as a company interviews the candidate to see if the candidate is the right fit for the role, the candidate is also checking out the business (during the interview) to see whether they are the right fit for them,\u2019\u2019 Mr McCaughey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that\u2019s challenging for the candidate when they\u2019re being interviewed by AI.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you are doing these interviews, there\u2019s no body language or personality (from a chatbot) that allows candidates to pick up those cues about (a company\u2019s) culture.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Candidates who had progressed through various AI hiring processes but remained unclear about the values or ethos of the business should request a face-to-face meeting with the company\u2019s leadership, he said.<\/p>\n
HOW TO TACKLE AI RECRUITMENT<\/p>\n
Treat AI interviews like human interviews. Don\u2019t get distracted by the technology. Speak clearly, answer the questions directly and give structured examples just as you would with a human interviewer.<\/p>\n
Use the right key words \u2013 but don\u2019t force them. AI looks for alignment between the role description and your answers so it helps to naturally mention relevant skills, tools, industry experience and responsibilities from the job ad.<\/p>\n
Be specific about outcomes. Instead of saying, \u201cI\u2019m good at teamwork\u201d or \u201cI have AI experience\u201d, give concrete examples of what you did, what tools you used, what problem you solved and what result you achieved.<\/p>\n
Keep your resume simple and machine-readable. Avoid overly designed templates, unusual formatting and images that may confuse automated screening systems. <\/p>\n
Clear headings, relevant keywords and measurable achievements are more effective.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t try to game the system. AI systems are getting better at detecting inconsistency so don\u2019t fill your resume or interview answers with random keywords. The best strategy is still to be clear, relevant and authentic.<\/p>\n
Source: Yifei Wang, of AIBuild<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artificial intelligence is revolutionising recruitment processes, extending its reach beyond simple screening of job applications to now interviewing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":749032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[256,254,255,64,63,105],"class_list":["post-749031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=749031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/749032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}