Dec 12, 2024 | The HRCI Team
AI in Recruitment: Humans in the Loop for Hiring Success
Earlier this year, HRCI had the opportunity to welcome Kat Kibben of Three Ears Media back for an Alchemizing HR session on AI in recruitment processes and automating job postings. Kat, a renowned recruiting expert, has spent the last several years researching, testing, and teaching hiring teams how to write better job posts. With this, Kat has witnessed firsthand how the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) has impacted hiring strategies—and outcomes.
Effectively Using AI in Recruitment Processes for Job Posting Success
To start, Kat explained that if HR and talent teams want to create job posts that get the right people to apply, the best approach is to combine humans and AI. Since AI doesn’t know when a person is telling the truth and isn’t smart enough to ask, Kat recommended drafting the job posting first and then using AI to optimize rather than the other way around.
Talent Acquisition Best Practices with Ethical AI
To help mitigate bias from the start, Kat offered practical advice to help today’s talent and HR professionals navigate the nuance of creating effective and truthful job postings. Consider the following actions:
Rethink how job postings are structured. A “good” job posting tells the truth about a role and aligns candidate expectations with the job. That said, traditional job postings are often laden with historical and structural biases, including overly masculine language and unnecessary “preferred” requirements. Focus on what’s most important: tasks, impact, and minimum requirements.
Adopt ethical AI practices. AI works best when paired with clearly defined objectives and human oversight. By building practices that reflect this, it becomes possible to use AI for basic tasks that promote expediency without letting the technology make decisions. The goal should always be for AI to complement rather than replace human judgment.
Invest in job posting training. Poorly written job postings contribute to mismatched expectations and high turnover, resulting in costly mistakes for businesses. As AI advances, HR and talent teams need to know how to ask better questions during a hiring manager intake to understand what the position entails. Working to improve these skills will surface bias sooner and ensure continued alignment between humans and AI by knowing precisely what’s needed upfront.
Prioritize equity every step of the way. Humans and AI are equally at fault when it comes to introducing bias into job postings. To overcome this, HR and talent teams need to train on what bias to look for AND ask AI what bias exists. For instance, once intake is complete, use practical tools to evaluate and refine language, such as Google Trends for job titles and AI-powered bias detection. Review the results and think through anything that might alienate candidates—like years of experience—and work to improve accessibility before starting the search.
Measure impact. Regularly review job posting effectiveness based on application volume (more than before), quality of applicant (higher match to job posting) and retention over the first 60 days. This type of data will provide a baseline for understanding what works (and doesn’t) and help inform edits and updates. It can also uncover new opportunities for research, collaboration, and additional improvements.
The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Hiring
As Kat reinforced, job postings aren’t just a way to attract applicants but also how candidates determine whether they want to work for a company. That’s why hiring requires connection and humanity—even with AI in the mix—because people need people. Finding the right balance enables HR and talent teams to keep that focus, mitigate bias, and support hiring success.
If you’d like to enhance your recruitment expertise and stay ahead of the ever-evolving hiring landscape, consider the HRCI Pro: Talent Acquisition certificate. This comprehensive program equips you with essential skills in attracting top talent, making informed hiring decisions, and effectively managing the candidate experience. Learners will also earn a digital badge to showcase their competency and commitment to excellence in talent acquisition.
