4 AI Tools That Can Unlock Previously Overlooked Talent

Companies that continue to hire candidates based on their past jobs, degrees and achievements risk falling behind the accelerating pace of change in the business world. The integration of AI tools in talent acquisition is becoming essential for organizations aiming to adapt to these changes.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there’s a significant shortage of quality candidates, with 7.7 million job openings and only about 5.4 million workers available to fill them. In addition, experienced employees are aging out of the workforce and the need for continuously evolving digital skills are likely going will likely require on-the-job training for your teams.

AI tools in talent acquisition enable HR to better recognize that every candidate has potential beyond what their resume shows.

Examples of Game-Changer AI Tools

These AI tools enable more inclusive hiring by analyzing a wide range of data points to identify qualified candidates who may not have the exact experience listed in the job description, but should still be considered based on their raw potential, valuable transferrable skills, personality traits and interests.

Video interviewing that can be qualitatively scored. This is ideal for assessing communication and problem-solving abilities.

“We have trained evaluators look at thousands and thousands of examples of people answering [interview questions]. And we have a rubric that says, “This is a one, two, three, four [or] five score on that question,” said Lindsey Zuloaga, chief data scientist of the talent experience software company HireVue.

“We re-curate that data really carefully to train the algorithm to assess how good of an answer was this about this thing,” she said during a presentation at the SHRM 24 conference.

Advanced candidate matching. Zuloaga mentioned HireVue’s “Find My Fit” tool, a resource that can keep high-potential candidates, especially early-in-career talent, from slipping through the cracks. Utilizing an online assessment, it presents candidates with all roles at your company that they fit — not just the one they applied for.

Presenting candidates with opportunities to work at your organization that they hadn’t previously considered shows that you care about their success and can be a tremendous boost for your employer brand.

AI tools in platforms like Eightfold AI and SeekOut also use advanced algorithms to match candidate profiles with job requirements.

Personalized assessments. Interviewing candidates is important, but how great would it be to get a feel for how competent they would be in the job (especially if they lack experience) beyond a conventional cognitive or behavioral assessment? Evaluating competencies like digital readiness, learning agility, problem-solving and reliability helps HR teams identify new hires who will be able to learn and adapt as organizational needs change.

Engaging AI tools in the Pymetrics platform include neuroscience-based games to evaluate candidate traits and skills. HireVue has a Virtual Job Tryout feature that provides candidate exercises that simulate the job.

Chatbots. Repetitive tasks like resume screening and candidate outreach can be automated using chatbots and natural language processing. This frees up HR professionals to focus on building relationships with top candidates.

And because different organizations have different ways of referring to job titles, conversational chatbots can guide candidates to openings based on their skills.

According to Zuloaga, chatbots are also capable of writing structured interviews for you.

Bias/Compliance Issues

Some organizations aren’t yet willing to trust talent acquisition AI tools because:

1. The EEOC has shown it’s willing to take employers to court if the agency believes an AI tool unlawfully discriminated against a candidate.
2. The EEOC, the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are all on the lookout for AI-related violations of Title VII and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and
3. There are concerns surrounding AI bias audits becoming a more widespread legal requirement. New York City Local Law 144 requires employers using automated employment decision tools (AEDT) to complete a bias audit before use and requires job candidates in NYC to be notified that the employer or employment agency uses an AEDT.

Zuloaga spoke to this issue and assured the audience that:

• HireVue data scientists conduct regular algorithm audits of AI tools for bias
• External audits are conducted by several firms as well as by industrial and organizational psychologists, and
• The company researches and collaborates with disability groups to specifically address potential ADA-related concerns in the hiring process.

When evaluating potential tech vendor partners, it’s reasonable to request an official statement about ethical principles of AI use, and to request evidence that there are third-party audits of their algorithms for bias.

“What we found is when you don’t tell people what you’re doing, [they’re] going to assume the worst. … ‘You’re hiring people based on if their eyebrow moved or what their skin color is,'” she said.