AI in Recruiting: Don’t Sleep on Automation
What does AI actually mean for your business? In this series, Bullhorn’s Jim Hegerich explores the basics of AI, the application of technology in staffing and the ongoing requirements to ensure you get the intended, ongoing return on your AI investment. Read part 1 on the fundamentals of AI here.
Better, cheaper, faster is the name of the game with many industries, but few have the urgency associated with staffing agencies.
A potential win for AI in recruiting is the streamlining or automating pieces of the process flow that are repetitive and high volume. These are tasks that can be high risk, low reward but must be performed to move the business forward on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. The potential is enormous.
Most staffing professionals are eager to learn how AI can be used to make their business more productive. And while the exciting implications of AI ensure it’ll soon have a dramatic impact on the way staffing firms do business, the truth is that most businesses are sleeping on the technology that is already ready to revolutionize your business: automation.
This is why I recommend implementing a two-tiered strategy. First, identify wins in automation, which is already proven. Then, as AI becomes more accessible and consumable, layer it on. You can have the first part without the second part and one thing is for sure, I haven’t met a leader in staffing that said to me, “We’re comfortable with slowing down the pace of our operations and waiting for on the horizon technology; our customers can wait”.
So how can automation help your business? I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of amazing business impacts that proven process automation can provide. The best part: achieving results doesn’t require a heavy lift. Based on technology already available from Bullhorn, a significant process can be automated in about 10 minutes. Forget about endless calls and SOWs. By the time you’ve defined the process to be automated, it can probably actually be automated. Talk about speed to value!
Sound too good to be true? See how folks are already leveraging our technology. Here are some general areas that are critical to your success.
1) Clean up bad or missing data
How many candidates do you have listed as Active, but haven’t been contacted for over 60 days? How many leads do you have not touched in 6 months or a year?
What if the system could notify, nag and even take action on these tasks? Would that be a win?
2) Make your team more productive by automating repetitive work
Envision your CRM telling your sales team to call that active hiring manager who we haven’t talked to in over 3 months or pointing your recruiting team to call their consultants rolling off in the next 30, 60, 90 days. Redeployment is an incredibly profitable opportunity!
3) Automate candidate marketing
Some of the things you can do include Performance Feedback via a survey (NPS Scores, etc.), automate the GDPR & CCPA consent gathering process directly from Bullhorn and gather updated profile information that will flow directly into Bullhorn. Spend time on your relationships!
Automation in Action: Allen Recruiting
What does it actually mean to better your business through automation? Take a look a the story of one of our customers. Allen Recruiting, a global recruiting industry leader specializing in tech and finance, has prioritized innovation since they were founded in 1998.
While they were succeeding as a business, however, they noticed one consistent challenge: they didn’t have the appropriate tools to take advantage of their database, and recruiters weren’t building relationships with candidates.
Since combining Herefish with Bullhorn in 2015, placements from Allen Recruitment’s own database have absolutely skyrocketed. They now see over 60% of all placements generated from within their own database, a massive indication of success for Allen Recruitment. “It’s all about making more placements out of the candidates we have in our database. That’s the game,” Cunningham says.
With the help of Bullhorn and Herefish, they’re doing just that. And this story is hardly common. More and more businesses are becoming more productive through automation.
Looking Towards Tomorrow and Thriving Today
There are a lot of quick wins out there. As long as you take the right approach; define and measure the problem and carefully design “ what better looks like”, the technology is already available to drive massive business impacts. AI will do nothing but make it better.
About the author: Jim is a Senior National Accounts Executive at Bullhorn. He has spent the last 35 years in sales & sales leadership roles, the last 19 years in software. His background includes stints at ADP & Xerox as well as startups. He is driven by one question, “How can I deliver measurable, repeatable value to our clients?” If he’s not working, or even if he is, you’ll probably find him at a local golf course, American Legion or his favorite, preparing a gourmet meal.
