Artificial Intelligence – a professional perspective

If you are in and around the universe of recruitment, then you probably would have heard about ‘Artificial Intelligence’ recently. More importantly how AI will ‘change the face’ of recruitment. These clever people are on to something, but the distinctive ‘how’ is missing from their statements.

A favourite freelance copywriter of mine (Blokewriter) stated ‘Beware of anything that is supposedly about to “change everything.” It’s almost certainly not.’ Usually if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is; except when it comes to Artifical Intelligence in the recruitment world. The benefits and applications are hard to miss.

‘Artificial Intelligence’, a term coined by Professor John McCarthy in 1956, refers to a sub field of computer science and labels the process of machines imitating human intelligence.

Self-driving vehicles, automated online assistants (Siri), machine monitoring and medical decision support systems (users of AI) have all seen share growth of 15-30% in the smart machine market according to Siemens. If professionals are using machine intelligence to recommend care for patients, why wouldn’t a recruiter use it to guide candidates?

Thiswayglobal.com found that 80% of executives believe AI can improve productivity and performance in recruitment. Additionally, they stated that 16% of jobs within this area and over the next 10 years could be replaced by AI; although it's more a case of jobs changing in order to operate the machine learning and systems, surely? Let’s talk to those around me who will actually have to use and sell the AI function… A word from marketing.

Who are you? And what do you want with AI?

Just kidding, it’s me again. I’m Mike. And I am the Marketing Manager here at TheTalentPeople. Over the last three months, our technology and development gurus have been busy piling in the hours to create our AI function, ‘Millie’. This is our candidate recognition and recommendation facility, built into the popular TalentPortal solution. Named after our quest to drive over 1million candidate applications in 2019, Millie builds upon client candidate search functionality to recommend individuals inside and out of the used parameters. The end result is the consideration of capable and diverse young talent for careers, who maybe wouldn’t have been identified previously. This means more opportunities, more applications and more Emerging Talent placed in their dream jobs. Happy candidates. Happy clients.

So, what about marketing? 

To quote Blokewriter again, my job is to… ‘marry an essential brand truth to a universal human want, need or desire, and do so in a way that’s clear, persuasive and impactful. Every. Single. Time.’ Often easier said than done. My life is made considerably easier however, when that desire is met by our products and services, which A. works, and  B. positively impacts someone’s life (we are after-all a social enterprise). Our clients want candidate traffic, applications to their featured roles and ultimately, to fill vacancies with the right candidate, at the right time. And we give them this.

Artificial Intelligence improves our product’s offering by generating target candidates for attraction and engagement. Our machine learning has identified the way in which talent specialists use recruitment systems, the candidates they look for, and the process of engagement that they take. Millie has built upon these preferences, but also created a procedure that flips this on its head in order to recommend candidates of relevance and value that might not always get the spotlight. The results are outstanding in improving recruitment ROI, shortening time-to-fill durations, increasing candidate retention, and making the recruitment process that much simpler. The right candidate at the right time.

My team and I communicate with candidates, on behalf of my clients, to discuss opportunities available to them. Interactions with these roles are managed through our candidate site getmyfirstjob.co.uk, which acts as a direct feed of candidate and vacancy information to the TalentPortal. From here, my colleagues within the crack Managed Service team are able to contact and develop relationships with the candidates. They will advise, test and spur on these wonderful individuals, and those recommended by Millie, until they complete their goal of finding the right career for that person.

I get first-hand experience in seeing how AI can positively influence the recruitment process. And that means front row seats to happy customer feedback too.

But don’t just take my word for it. Jenny Bicknell, candidate mastermind and industry veteran within this Emerging Talent ship has more to say.

A warm welcome...

Hi, I’m Jenny Bicknell, current Content Coordinator and long-standing member of GetMyFirstJob and TheTalentPeople.

In recruitment, we aim to fill more vacancies more quickly. And now AI helps us do just that!

Through my career, I have been lucky enough to speak to and train FE recruiters from all backgrounds. But whether it’s a college, employer or training provider; the end goal is the same: to fill those apprenticeship vacancies with high-quality candidates!

Now, when I’m speaking to TalentPortal customers we’re able to chat about artificial intelligence in recruitment.  Which, as a fan of technology and science fiction is a something I get super excited about!

But what saddens me is when recruiters keep asking me the same questions, or making the same presumptions!

“We don’t need AI in recruitment yet!”

For TalentPortal customers, artificial intelligence is already here! Say hi to Millie, our AI recruiter. Her job is to make a recruiter’s life easier. And I have to say, she is fabulous! Millie is already hard at work finding the best candidates and keeping recruiters up to date with recent applicants too.

“We will all be out of jobs in a few years”

Millie has been designed to work alongside our clients. This means she helps improve your fill rates and reduces your workload; making you look amazing! You can use Millie to quickly get a list of the best candidates from the GetMyFirstJob pool as well as accessing the top applicants via email too! This means your best candidates are only a click away with Millie on the TalentPortal.

“The robots are taking over!”

Just hold on there! We haven’t reached I-Robot standards in recruitment just yet.

Millie has been designed by our development team using our recruiter’s historic data.

This means Millie has looked back over the past few years to find patterns when it comes to successful candidates. She asks questions like “does the best candidate need to have applied for the role?”, “what interests does a successful candidate have?” and “how far does a successful candidate usually travel” to give you the list of top candidates. You can then use this information to shortlist and contact the candidates you are interested in!

And to put your mind at ease, Millie is what is known as “supervised AI” which means she can make recommendations, but the results are always looked at by you- the recruitment expert.

“How can I trust AI?”

Remember, Millie provides her top candidates based on recruiter’s historic information. So she has accumulated years of industry experience based from the recruiters she has learnt from.

And, with the help of our trusted techy professionals,  Millie is always learning; and she will continue to learn and develop to make sure the candidates she is recommending are the best ones for your role.

 “Why would I want to use AI in my job?”

We all know that in this industry, we need to think outside of the box to get the best candidates in your roles before another Recruiter swoops in. And that’s exactly what AI will help you achieve. Millie provides you with the best candidate for the role in one click, which means you don’t need to search the database to filter the quality ones out first. You can start shortlisting from Millie’s list as soon as your vacancy is live! Meaning your employer could get a list of fantastic candidates on the same day!

So I ask, why would you not want to use AI in your job?