- Organizations face a tight labor market where finding candidates with the right skills is a significant challenge. At the same time, many recruiters take a long time to screen and hire candidates.
- Adopting recruitment, automation and AI-based tools can help them significantly.
- Phenom and Talent Board recently conducted a study to understand the adoption of these technologies in organizations.
Hiring and recruiting managers often engage in screening and interviewing candidates intentionally but inconsistently. This leads to long timelines for hiring decisions. This approach is no longer viable as it hurts the candidate experience. Also, given today’s fast-paced environment, delays often cause recruiters to lose promising candidates to competitors.
In light of the increase talent shortage and downsized recruiting teams, several forward-thinking organizations are adopting artificial intelligence (AI) and recruiting and automation technologies to improve the speed of screening and interviewing.
Phenom and the Talent Board recently conducted a study to understand the use (or lack thereof) of these technologies among talent acquisition (TA) teams. What tools and technologies do they use, how often do they use them, and do these tools really facilitate effective hiring? What are their biggest challenges? These are some of the questions the study tried to answer. Here are some insights.
Most technical assistance professionals rate their screening and hiring performance average
According to the survey, about 37% of respondents rated their experience screening, scheduling and interviewing candidates in terms of efficiency and speed an average of 3 out of 5 stars. Only 22% rated their experience 5 out of 5, while 27% rated it 4 out of 5. This shows that there is still room for improvement.
When looking at experience by job title, VPs and C-suite executives rated it an average of 3.7, while managers and directors rated it 3.6. Employers rated their experience an average of 3.4 stars. This means that the more candidates that respondents are exposed to, the more dissatisfied they are with hiring performance.
Additionally, in terms of screening and planning time, scores drop to 2.9 when screening applicants after application takes more than a week.
See more: Using VR to recruit and retain a new generation of employees
Ratings improve when recruiting technologies are used
How does the use of recruiting technology affect ratings? According to the survey, the use of these technologies led to a significant improvement in the satisfaction of the respondents regarding the speed and efficiency of recruitment. For example, ratings increase to 3.8 stars when video technology is used. When respondents had access to tools and recording systems that provided real-time feedback to applicants, ratings improved to 3.8. Likewise, when chatbots were used to schedule interviews, ratings rose to 4.1 stars.
Several factors make meeting hiring goals challenging
About 41 percent of survey respondents said they had met some of their hiring goals, while 32 percent said they were on track to meet their hiring goals. About 27% say they are falling behind on their goals. There are several factors that make progress complicated. Some of them are:
- Unrealistic or overly aggressive goals
- Disrupted application, assessment or interview processes
- Lack of recruiting technologies that automate repetitive manual tasks and
- Disjointed point solutions that prevent effective collaboration between different stakeholders
To make progress, TA professionals must carefully monitor critical components of their hiring process, track their progress, and adjust strategies and tactics as needed.
In terms of the most time-consuming tasks related to candidate screening, scheduling, and interviewing, the most time-consuming tasks were coordinating or reviewing candidate pools with hiring managers (50%) and coordinating interview schedules (50%).
The most time-consuming tasks are related to candidate selection, scheduling and interviewing
Source: The State of Automated Interview Management: 2023 Survey Report
Fortunately, the industry is responding and a growing number of AI technologies are available to streamline these time-consuming tasks. However, looking at the numbers, many organizations are yet to take advantage of these tools or do not have access to them.
Many TA teams personally call applicants after the application is submitted
When it comes to communicating with applicants after application, 52% use automated or templated emails. Interestingly, 49% made personal calls, although this may be due to a smaller number of applicants in some cases. However, it is encouraging to see many TA professionals using this personal touch best practice to ensure excellence candidate experience.
About 30% say they only communicate with candidates if they are selected for the next round. However, this creates an “application black hole” that applicants find disrespectful. Applicants would at least prefer an automated email confirming their submission and outlining possible next steps. Without communication, candidates rate their experience as poor.
Finding quality candidates quickly is a big challenge
According to the survey, the biggest challenge in screening applicants is finding quality candidates quickly (57%). This is followed by sorting a large number of candidates 48%). Another major challenge is that there are no standard criteria available to consistently assess applicants (24%). This means that instinct, emotion and potential bias can creep into hiring decisions. Fortunately, according to Talent Board’s latest 2022 benchmarking study, about 80% of TA teams plan to purchase AI-based technology this year to identify top candidates.
Helpdesks do not use video projection
While most screening is done via phone calls and emails, video screening has started to gain popularity due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, over 50% of companies do not use these tools despite their growth. However, when we cross-analyze these statistics, it appears that TA teams using at least one recruiting technology tend to use others as well. For example, among those using chatbots during screening, the use of both pre-recorded and live video as screening tools jumped from 27% to 46%.
Companies spend considerable time moving candidates through various stages
Given the challenge of talent shortages in the marketplace, companies must move candidates through the hiring process quickly and efficiently. However, technical assistance teams were found to take a considerable amount of time to recruit candidates once applications had been submitted. For example, while 62% take three days or less to review applicants after applying, 38% of respondents take longer. Similarly, 26% take more than three business days to schedule an interview after screening.
AI-powered tools are currently on the rise due to various advantages. For example, AI-based screening tools speed up the process and help helpdesk teams better engage and prioritize the right candidates. They can also provide unprecedented insight into candidates beyond their skill set and experience.
Similarly, AI planning tools eliminate or reduce manual tasks and allow TA teams to oversee the planning process, stepping in only when needed. AI-powered tools also work on checking and scheduling throughout the day, which is a huge advantage in the competitive job market. According to the survey, only 31% of respondents use AI scheduling tools, while 65% schedule interviews manually.
See more: Four ways to transform hiring processes with AI
Most companies take more than a week to make a final offer
After going through the screening and interview process, 65% of respondents said it took candidates more than a week to get to the offer stage.
Companies that provide experience to top-rated candidates usually make a job offer within a week of the final interview. This prevents great talent from being poached by another company and increases the candidate’s willingness to refer others to the organization. In fact, according to the survey, willingness to recommend to others increased to 76%.
Use AI tools to achieve your hiring goals
Taking weeks or months to screen and interview candidates no longer works in today’s competitive talent market. Speed and efficiency are a must, as well as quality and accuracy in hiring. To achieve them, recruiters must have smart recruiting tools and technologies at their disposal, and AI tools are well poised to help TA professionals achieve them. Therefore, results-oriented business leaders must empower their teams to implement more AI-based solutions to improve their performance and better achieve their recruitment goals.
Have you adopted AI recruiting tools? How did they impact your recruiting goals? Share with us at LinkedIn, Twitteror Facebook. We’d love to hear from you!
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