ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN RECRUITMENT (AND STAYING ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE LAW)
The ability of a person to do meaningful and fulfilling work is one of the fundamental parts of life. The ability of an employer or hirer to connect with and employ or engage someone with the right skills is critical to business success. Meeting both these needs forms the essence of the recruitment industry today.
How is artificial intelligence (AI) being used in recruitment?
The business of recruitment is both time intensive and regulation-heavy. Employers are also needing to be increasingly nimble and the timeframe from instruction to offer is getting shorter.
The use of artificial intelligence (AI) can now be seen across the recruitment industry.All of these things help recruiters widen their pool of candidates, make better decisions and be more efficient – which in turn will have a positive impact on revenue for the business.
Screening
Automated screening of CVs to narrow down the number of potential candidates. This could still be via relatively ‘light touch’ AI based mainly on keyword searching.
Enhanced matching
Enhanced matching to make more precise connections between the job requirements and the candidate’s skills from their CV. Bias reduction by focussing on skills, experience and qualifications rather than subjective criteria can also be seen.
Sourcing
Candidate sourcing by reaching out to a broader pool of potential applicants (who may not be actively looking to move).
Predicutive analysis
Predictive analysis to predict job fit, likely duration of employment before next move and potential for future growth.
Candidate experience
Improved candidate experience by removing waiting time and friction, for example by using AI-driven chatbots for instant responses around information and scheduling.
Onboarding
Onboarding with personalised flows, information and training.
Staying on the right side of the law
But to do these things, and achieve the benefits they can bring, you need to think about the law as well as wider business and ethical considerations.
AI systems used for selection and evaluation are likely to be categorised as ‘high risk’ under the new EU AI Act, which means that they are subject to a prescriptive compliance regime (with fines of up to the higher of €15M or 3% turnover). For ‘banned’ AI systems the fines are €35M/7% (e.g. certain subliminal AI systems). The EU AI Act also requires GDPR-like transparency for some AI systems (e.g. chatbots).
The models used in AI systems, unless designed and implemented correctly, may exhibit bias and lead to discrimination claims
AI systems will be using personal data in new ways, which may include automated decision making – this means the GDPR will also need to be looked at again
Both recruiters and their clients will need to be alive to the wider ethical and PR issues in any use of these AI systems to ensure their use is not just legal but also ethically defensible
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