Recruitment Teams Are Turning to AI Tools: What This Means for You

Recruitment teams are feeling strained. Although budgets haven’t changed much over the last year for more than 80% of employers, there are fewer recruiters to handle the work. Indeed, survey respondents said they had 7.2 recruiters in 2023, down from 9.0 reported in 2022.

At the same time recruitment teams are being asked to do more with fewer resources, graduate applications alone increased by 38% per vacancy in 2023.

The evidence is clear – recruiters are feeling the pinch. So, it’s no surprise that the shift to AI and automated processes presents promising opportunities, such as efficiency, accuracy, and cost savings for those in the recruitment industry.

• In the UK, the AI adoption rate tripled from 9% in 2022 to 28% in 2023 among recruiters in predominantly large corporate organisations ​.
• Globally, 35% to 45% of companies now use AI recruitment tools, with 99% of Fortune 500 companies leveraging these technologies.
• In the UK, around 30% of employers use AI in their recruitment processes, with 43% of large companies using AI to interview candidates.

Why the shift to AI in recruitment?

StandOut CV reports that recruiters save an average of 4.5 hours per week using AI, and AI reduces the average cost of hiring a candidate by 71%​. only that, but an additional 86.1% of recruiters say AI makes the hiring process faster, and 67% highlight time-saving as a primary benefit of AI in recruitment.

However, AI is not without its challenges.

There are concerns about the use of AI among recruiters, with 35% worrying that AI might exclude candidates with unique skills and experiences. 65% of employer respondents to an ISE survey expressed concerns regarding AI and recruitment. Namely, that AI might facilitate plagiarism, unethical behaviour, misinformation, and cheating on assessments.

Interested in taming the AI beast? Here’s 5 ways for recruiters to get started:

• Automate resume screening, enhancing candidate matches to save your recruitment team time.
• Explore the benefits of AI-powered chatbots for 24/7 candidate engagement and streamlined interview scheduling.
• Use AI’s ability to predict analytics to aid your recruitment team in identifying top talent sources and improve hiring outcomes for your company or client.
• Uncover how AI-driven video interview analysis can provide insight into candidates’ suitability.
• Harness AI to support overarching DEI policies reducing unconscious bias in the hiring process.

Get the full story for more on how AI can mitigate stress in your recruitment team and for more real-world examples.

So, to AI or not to AI?

The use of AI throughout the world of work is proving to be a catalyst for change, but what does that mean for the recruitment sector? The data shows that AI usage is framed as a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, recruiters risk losing the human aspect of recruitment due to increasingly automated processes – something leading global organisations, such as Johnson & Johnson, are addressing by purposefully investing in those human moments in the workplace.

Conversely, the increased time recruiters gain from using AI can be invested into building robust relationships with potential recruits. If used intentionally, strategically and with people at heart, AI could revolutionise the hiring process.

AI tools aren’t the only way forward-looking recruitment teams are staying ahead of the curve.

ECO (Early Careers Optimiser) is an analytical engine to power your early careers through data-driven decision-making. See the unseen through ECO’s in-depth insights, allowing you to optimise your team’s impact in attracting, developing and retaining your next generation of talent.

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