Introduction
With 82% of job seekers believing that the “ideal” hiring process combines technology with personal interaction, there’s room for recruitment automation. AI-powered hiring automation platforms give employers the tools and time to improve the candidate experience, ultimately attracting better-quality talent. This is ever more important in the tech hiring market, where a persistent skills shortage exists.
Are you interested in using recruitment automation to hire tech talent? This blog explains the benefits for your company and showcases how other companies are capitalizing on this trend.
The Need for Automation & AI in Tech Hiring
The current tech job market is tight. Open positions outnumber skilled applicants, putting immense pressure on recruiters. A staggering 65% of hiring managers feel that their jobs are significantly more stressful now than a year ago, with over half (58%) blaming the lack of qualified applicants.
To cope with the crunch, more companies plan to invest in automated sourcing tools to hire tech talent.
How To Use Automation & AI In Tech Hiring
1. Sourcing Candidates
Competing on speed is crucial in recruitment. Intelligent hiring automation tools can instantly find high-quality tech candidates for your open positions, potentially cutting the time your recruiters spend on sourcing by about 30%.
2. Screening Candidates
You can also use automation in recruitment to streamline the resume screening and shortlisting process. AI tools can scan resumes for specified keywords and phrases — a handy feature, given that a typical job opening attracts 250 applications (many from unqualified candidates). AI recruitment platforms can also extract critical information to eliminate applicants who don’t meet the required qualifications quickly.
3. Nurturing Candidates
Use AI to create targeted recruitment marketing campaigns to reach the right tech talent. AI can send personalized communications that resonate with each candidate’s skills and interests.
4. Scheduling Candidates
Some of the best recruiting automation tools can connect with recruiters, hiring managers, and other interview participants’ calendars to match their schedules and suggest possible interview times based on everyone’s availability.
5. Engaging candidates
To engage highly skilled tech professionals, you must establish a responsive, transparent, and personalized communication channel that keeps them interested while giving them a positive impression of your company. AI tools for recruitment can support this by:
- Providing immediate support (answering FAQs around the clock and guiding candidates through the application process)
- Sending personalized application status updates
- Allowing candidates to provide feedback on their application experience
Some AI recruitment tools can also suggest relevant company-related content that matches the candidate’s profile. This allows potential hires to learn more about your company and the specific role in detail.
6. Chatbots
AI chatbots are more intelligent than ever. They are now open to more than clunky and impersonal scripted responses. Advanced chatbots can now:
- Start the screening process by asking predefined questions to determine if someone fits the role quickly
- Provide instructions and clarify requirements through each step of the application process
- Coordinate testing and interview schedules
- Offer multilingual support
- Proactively reach out to candidates between application stages to maintain their interest in the opportunity and reduce drop-off rates
- Collect feedback that you can use to improve your recruitment process
7. Video Interviews
Did you know that conducting one-way video interviews using AI is now possible? Here it works: You set the interview questions in text, audio, or video formats. Your AI recruitment platform can then send a link to these questions to potential hires via email. Candidates can respond to questions from their smartphones, tablets, or laptops at their convenience and submit their video responses by the deadline.
8. Improve Onboarding
With automation, you can immediately send all necessary onboarding forms to new hires as soon as they accept the job offer so they can complete everything from home. This accelerates the process while letting you monitor who’s ready to join the team.
Why Use Automation & AI For Tech Hiring?
1. Accelerated Hiring Process
Recruiting automation tools can quickly analyze resumes and cover letters to identify qualified candidates. For example, it can extract keywords related to programming languages and frameworks mentioned in the job description to shortlist candidates with the relevant technical skills.
Beyond keywords, AI can integrate skills-based assessments within the application process. For example, it can give candidates short coding challenges or technical multiple-choice questions to gauge their practical abilities.
2. Elevated Candidate Experience
With 24/7 communication via AI chatbots, your company can provide immediate support and keep tech candidates informed throughout the application process. AI recruitment tools can also tailor communications to show candidates you value their time and interest in the tech position. Moreover, AI can quickly provide feedback after interviews to help candidates understand where they stand.
3. Cost Savings
With automation in your recruitment process, you can attract the most qualified candidates early on and reduce your reliance on expensive job boards and headhunting fees. And because AI screening effectively identifies the best candidates for the job, it can improve hire quality and reduce the costs associated with onboarding and retraining for less-than-ideal fits.
4. Saves Time
According to some estimates, using AI to handle short preliminary interviews and generate reports can reduce the hiring process from 33 days (the average) to just 5 minutes.
5. Enhanced Recruitment Quality
AI is much more objective than human recruiters and can eliminate bias in your tech hiring process. You can also use AI tools to analyze your recruitment process and see which areas need improvement. For example, you may need to refine your job postings or interview questions to focus on the most relevant technical proficiencies.
Conclusion
Automation and AI can empower you to make faster and higher-quality hiring decisions to give your company a competitive edge in attracting top tech hires, even in a talent-strapped market.
