Raj Mukherjee, Executive Vice President and General Manager for Employer, Indeed.
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For years, I was stuck in the slow lane when it came to hiring—and I was hardly alone. All the traditional talent sourcing methods were inefficient and time-consuming, so it often took months to find the right candidate.
Then, my teams decided to double down on using AI to help fill open roles faster. We put technology to work in order to source top candidates from a large pool of qualified people. And with AI taking care of the more administrative tasks, we could focus on connecting with each candidate to better understand their unique skills and qualifications. We made our most recent hire in a fraction of the time.
This is the magic that AI can deliver: enhancing the way employers find and connect with ideal candidates. We're no longer heading toward a new era for better hiring. The recruitment revolution is already here.
The Old Way: Sift, Sort, Hope
In the past, the hiring process looked this: Recruiters would post a job on their company website and online job boards, share it with their social networks and then cross their fingers hoping the right talent would magically appear. What they got in return was a flood of résumés in their inbox, many without the right skills or experience needed for the job. The hiring manager had to manually sift through them, often spending less than 10 seconds scanning superficial details like school names or past companies rather than the candidate's skills. This inadequate approach left behind too many strong candidates who didn't have the degree or “right” experience.
Let's face it: The old way of hiring is a labyrinth that often leaves the right talent unnoticed and the process unnecessarily long. In fact, hiring times surged to 54 days on average in 2022 and even reached 58 days for engineering and technology jobs. This delays crucial project timelines for businesses and causes prolonged uncertainty for job seekers. Employers need new tools and resources to address a process that is slow, costly and impersonal.
The New Way: AI Sources Top Candidates
Today, AI is rapidly reshaping the hiring landscape. Algorithm-driven platforms can produce recommendations, bringing tremendous value by reducing the time and resources needed to find top talent. With this technology, recruiters can find hidden gems and diverse candidates who might otherwise be overlooked, which also enhances the organization's reputation by facilitating more personalized candidate experiences.
Using AI, hiring teams can enter the skills and experience needed for a particular role and get instant matches. In fact, there are new tools that can even provide valuable insights into why a candidate is a good match even if they don't have all the qualifications listed in the job description. For example, a candidate could have most of the required skills and work experiences but only four years in the field, when the job description asks for five. The right AI-powered platform could explain that research shows one fewer year of experience at the candidate's level is insignificant.
AI Amplifies The 'Human' In HR
Hiring should feel inspiring and easy, and that’s what AI can create by reshaping the entire experience. I’ve always believed that AI can't replace the “human” in human resources and hiring. Instead, this technology has the power to give HR professionals more time to focus on the aspects of hiring that require human attention, judgment and connection.
It’s time to put AI to work for a more efficient hiring process that benefits both people and businesses.
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