Business

How HR chatbots are changing the recruitment game

The biggest utility of HR chatbots is their ability to perform repetitive manual tasks at scale. This is why automation has become a key use case for chatbots. What’s more, they can do so at a much higher efficiency than humans, since they run on machines.

We’re seeing chatbots take over the automation of several fields already. Take customer support or even calendar scheduling for example. Another big area that could see chatbot automation soon is the recruitment sector.

Here, we go over some examples of exactly how HR chatbots can make recruitment more efficient.

In fact, many of us are already having conversations with bots like Siri or Alexa. These bots provide value to customers by assisting them in retrieving some kind of information.

The use of these automated systems has helped ease quite a few tasks for both businesses & consumers.

The same could be said about the recruitment sector, and here we take a look at how chatbots can make recruitment more efficient.

Automate time consuming tasks

Think of all the manual work HR professionals do:

Collect information from candidates such as their resume and contact information

Ask screening questions about candidates’ experience, knowledge, and skills

Rank candidates on metrics such as qualifications, engagement, or recent activity

Answer FAQs about the job and the application process

Schedule an interview with a human recruiter

Now imagine there’s a HR chatbot that could do all this work, and sends only the most relevant profiles to the HR. That is a lot of time saved from doing repetitive work, time that HR can spend on other important things, like actually preparing for those interviews.

What’s more, since HR chatbots are essentially software that run on machines, they could be coded to do more of the repetitive work in less time, when compared to a human HR.

Over time, the machine learning component of the recruitment/HR chatbot will begin to understand which metrics it should start tracking in candidates, and rank them accordingly.

All this information can be collected in real time and simultaneously over hundreds or thousands of candidates, and this information is fed into an ATS (Application Tracking System) or followed up directly by a human recruiter.

An interesting example of this is Mya. The HR bot chats with all the applicants across channels, and aggregates that data to pre-screen the applicants. Mya also answers questions about the company and its culture. Then, it presents a recruiter with a handful of candidates ranked based on different metrics.

If Mya finds that an applicant fails to meet job qualifications, the bot may say something like this:

Source: VentureBeat

Mya is a HR chatbot which is powered by machine learning and natural language processing and evolves with practice, so this is an example of how an HR chatbot can learn and get better over time.

Save time and money

Using a HR chatbot in the recruiting process could save corporations lots of money, especially those that employ large HR teams. Although they might still fill positions, it usually comes at a cost.

According to a SHRM study from 2016, the average cost per hire for companies is $4,129 and the average time it takes to fill a position is 42 days.

Using a chatbot’s abilities to talk to multiple candidates at a time and scan thousands of resumes would reduce this time to hire. Additionally, HR chatbots could potentially help recruiters select the most qualified candidate with better precision, decreasing the chances of wasting time and money on the wrong selection.

Stella is a chatbot that helps businesses find employees and job-seekers land new gigs. The company says it can help businesses reduce the time needed to find a new hire by 80 percent, or from around two months to two weeks.

It uses AI to check a potential candidate’s qualifications to make sure they’re a good match with a company before connecting them. Stella also manages candidates’ applications to help improve their chances of getting a job.

Keep candidates interested

Many job seekers have run into the dreaded ATS black hole. You send your application in and wait to hear back – but you never do.

A career builder study found that 58 percent of candidates are less likely to buy from a company that did not respond to their application, and 69 percent are less likely to buy if they had a bad experience in the interview.

Also, 33 percent of candidates who have experienced a poor candidate experience will talk about it on social media. This could deal a major blow to an organization’s reputation.

With each corporate recruiter reviewing thousands of resumes a month, how can they ensure that each candidate has a positive experience?

This is where chatbots can help. HR Chatbots can stay in constant contact with candidates when recruiters can’t, keeping them informed on where they are in the process and sending notifications once a position has been filled.

This is a major load off the shoulders of recruiters, and could contribute to a decrease in the number of candidates who won’t join due to a lack of response. More advanced HR chatbots can collect data from conversations with candidates and use it to determine which candidate is most qualified for the position.

Xor is an intelligent recruitment bot that helps firms engage, pre-screen and interact with every candidate 24/7.

The bot has to be integrated with job vacancies so that it can guide the job applicants through the recruitment process.

Conclusion

With their potential for efficiency at scale, along with the ability to learn over time, recruitment chatbots can be a big boon to the whole industry. Add to it the fact that they can exist wherever candidates want them to, and the feeling is HR chatbots aren’t merely options anymore. They’re a must-have!