How can you effectively use AI to create impactful and authentic job applications while avoiding over-reliance leading to potential rejection by recruiters?

In this episode, Sasha, a talent acquisition professional in HR and a Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) coach, will discuss why and where AI is being used by recruiters today and how you, as a job applicant, could use AI in your job applications. By following Sasha’s guidance, you will learn how to use AI to assist you in creating compelling and authentic job applications. You will hear how to avoid common pitfalls of over-reliance on AI resulting in generic and unrepresentative resumes which do not represent you and your unique experiences and potential rejection by recruiters. 

The following links provide additional references: 

https://www.adecco.com.au/news-and-resources/keeping-the-human-element-in-ai-driven-recruitment/

https://employability.uq.edu.au/article/2023/05/using-ai-your-advantage-job-application-process

If you want to know more about our Reach Your Potential - Employability Program for Migrants with Skills from Overseas, email us at ryppodcast@gmail.com.

Transcript

Janice: Welcome back to Reach Your Potential podcast series. I am Janice, a coach and facilitator in our Reach Your Potential Employability Program. AI has become a very popular tool used in many different aspects of our lives, from being used by individuals in day-to-day tasks like searching for information or writing letters, to being used in complex problem solving, like disease diagnosis in the medical field.

Today we are very fortunate to have with us Sasha, a talent acquisition professional in HR and also a coach specialising in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), to talk to us about how AI is now being used in recruitment. This will help you to understand where you may consider using AI to help you in your job application, are there any “Do’s” and “Don’t’s” you need to be aware of in terms of using AI.

Hello, Sasha and welcome. 

Sasha: Hi, Janice. Thank you for having me. 

Janice: So Sasha, why are employers using AI in recruitment which is about people, choosing the right human-being to fill the role, why use the machine AI to do it?  

Sasha: I think I started by saying AI will not replace human interaction or the human touch. AI is being used in recruitment because it is more as a value add, to improve recruitment processes, design strategies and reduce inefficiencies of a traditional recruitment process.  A traditional recruitment process can be clunky and overly administrative, and it doesn’t allow for  recruiters to tap into aspects of the job that they probably enjoy more which is engaging with candidates and stakeholders. So when recruiters feel bogged down with the recruitment administration, the reporting, the unrealistic expectations and the volume of open roles across many functions – it impacts their ability to provide a truly qualitative candidate experience which translates to an applicant who is looking for a job feeling frustrated as they feel the lack of engagement from the recruiter. Thus, AI is changing the ability of the recruiter to perform their role more effectively and with more impact.

Janice: Sasha, could you give us some examples of where companies are using AI today in recruitment?

Sasha: Sure, HR and in fact many other functions in a business, such as sales, marketing, finance are using AI to boost productivity and increase efficiency. For recruitment, AI is being used to reduce administrative tasks such as creating job descriptions and writing job adverts. AI can be used in the recruitment process in the form of chatbot or AI assistant that can produce a better candidate experience. For example, if a candidate has a simple question about the recruitment process, the AI assistant or Chatbot can mimic a human interaction to a certain degree and answer the question. It can also help with arranging interviews. AI can be used for strategic recruitment plans and much more. It can be used for streamlining process and giving back the qualitative time. 

Janice: Matching candidates to a job is not straight forward, many recruiters are already using the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to help them select the right candidate. How can AI help them further?  

Sasha: Good question, so with an Applicant Tracking System, AI can be integrated to help the recruiter pre-match candidates to a job without the recruiter needing to review all the applicants, this depends on algorithms and pre-screening questions, things that need to be setup in the backend. So basically, the AI tool can suggest candidates either from a database or from the applications received as to who matches the role more closely, therefore the recruiter will be able to focus on those applications first. Interestingly enough, Indeed launched a new product earlier this year called Indeed Smart Sourcing and this tool does exactly what I explained. So once a role is posted on Indeed, again I am referring to the backend, what the employer sees, not what a candidate or an applicant would see, the tool has a feature that will suggest suitable applicants for the role and help craft email messages to the applicant.  

Janice: This is very powerful, it makes the job very automatic for the recruitment, so from the individual’s perspective, where can job applicants use AI in their job application? 

Sasha: Janice, as we all know, looking for a job is time consuming and takes a lot of energy plus an emotional process.  Looking for a job is an entire JOB in itself. So for a candidate, AI is an valuable tool to help enhance and make it easier to complete job applications because it is time consuming and sometimes there is a lot of information being asked from the applicant.  

It is smart and efficient to consider using AI to help draft cover letters, rewrite CVs to fit the particular role that you are applying for. You will need to pay attention to the key words or skills in the job description and ensure that the CV has those keywords related to your experience. I would highlight though having just the keyword is not enough. You would need to make sure you back up the keyword with your experience. Proof read what AI tools are generating, as it can sound very superficial and to an extent unrealistic.

AI can always help to enhance your CV, your cover letter, but it still needs to be you, and it still needs to be “your experience”.  I would urge applicants to use the tools available to assist them rather than to do applications for them. AI is great and HR teams know that applicants are using AI to write their CV’s and cover letters. Guess what, they are ok with it. They accept it. There is an expectation though using it, no problem but proof read, proof read, proof read. 

Janice: Yes, what you said is so true, Sasha. In our last workshop earlier this year, we observed that many participants started using AI in writing their CV’s. We could very quickly tell if the participant had spent careful effort in analysing the job ad, identifying and articulating their skills matched to what the job required. If they hadn’t, and just use AI to generate their CV, it looked really hollow without any substance, not representative of what they had done before in their previous roles. 

So now, we have looked at where AI could be helpful in recruitment and in job applications. Are there any pitfalls or risks in using AI?

Sasha: Yes, I think there are things to be aware of and associated risks. It needs to be used ethically and fairly.  From a recruitment point of view, again, it does not eliminate the need for human interaction and human based decisions on whether the candidate is the right fit. AI is being used to reduce the admin in recruitment, being used in screening, sourcing for candidates, looking at assessment results, and setting up interviews, but the results of all of that still need to be interpreted by a human being and HR is about people after all. This is still a people business, so AI is a value add not a replacement. So the onus is on the end user to use it ethically and fairly. So the risk potential could be, from an employer point of view, if they are not using it ethically and fairly, there is the potential loss of the human touch and lack of that good old gut feeling. 

Janice: What about from the job applicant perspective, any risks that they need to be aware of?

Sasha: Yes, I think from a job applicant perspective, the risk would be if you are using AI, and in particular, we are talking about ChatGPT, and most people use the free version. You are putting your details into the AI tool, so there is a data privacy element to it, I think candidate need to be aware and they need to understand how they can use these tools in a more data safe way. There is the potential there being a mis-match or between the actual applicant and the information the AI tool generates about the applicant on paper. It can make it too fluffy and is not a true reflection of the applicant.

Janice: Any other feedback you have heard from the employers about the result so far in using AI in recruitment?

Sasha: Employers are definitely using AI at the moment. I think it is adapting their strategies to include the use of AI in an ethical way, ensuring that data is protected and safe and some companies are even choosing to build their own AI tools, so there is more governance around the data. However, it can be used beyond operational recruitment into recruitment strategies.

From a recruitment lens, again, it is about increasing productivity and reducing administrative tasks for the recruiter and to help with the overall assessment and decision to hire a particular candidate. 

Janice: AI is definitely already here, being used by HR, recruiters and by people when they apply for jobs. Looking into the future, any anticipated trend in the extension of using AI in HR, in the recruitment process. 

Sasha: Yes, as AI becomes more prevalent in recruitment and HR, the importance of ethical considerations will increase. Companies will need to ensure that their AI practices are transparent, fair, and free from discrimination.

Despite its huge potential, AI is not a cure for all for recruitment or business challenges. Human judgment and intuition remain essential in the hiring process. The future of recruitment depends on the synergy between AI and human touch and human interaction. I think this combination, will create a more efficient, fair, and candidate-friendly recruitment process, enabling companies to attract and hire the right talent.

AI has evolved beyond a mere buzzword to become a more powerful tool that companies will use to streamline their hiring processes, make better decisions, and improve the candidate experience. However again, AI, is just like any other tool, it needs to be used responsibly and ethically.

AI will help to minimize unconscious bias in recruitment, emphasizing skills, qualifications, and experience instead of personal characteristics. This will promote a more diverse and inclusive workforce which I think is very important and a key objective for most businesses is to have a diverse workforce. AI will help expand it beyond recruitment to integrate with other HR functions, like on boarding, training, performance management, and so, yes, Janice, it is safe to say, it is going to stay.

Janice: Are there any resources you would suggest, to help us know more about AI and keep track of its practical applications as it evolves? 

Sasha: I think, our good old friend, Google, will be of great use. Keeping abreast, I will suggest a platform like LinkedIn. People tend to post free webiners or events. And if as an applicant working with a recruitment agency, be sure to ask the agency if they have any AI related events or information, because it is a very hot topic and there’s lots of information available, I would say don’t go down a rabbit hole though, because it could be overwhelming.

Janice: Thank you very much, Sasha for giving us your insights about where recruiters and job applicants are using AI now and where the potential could be. We hope to invite you back in the future as the use of AI in recruitment and HR becoming more and more integrated into the whole HR and business processes. Good bye for now. Thank you, Sasha. 

Sasha: Thank you, Janice. It was wonderful talking to you. 

Janice: Me too.

Janice: In the Reach Your Potential program, we always emphasise the importance of understanding what are the skills required in the job you want to apply for and your ability to substantiate you do have those skills. So how can you now use AI to help you in demonstrating you have those skills effectively?