AI: The Future of Applicant Tracking Systems
Recruiters and hiring managers receive a staggering number of job applications—an average of 250 per job, according to Glassdoor. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATSs) help them track applications, scan resumes, and better organize candidate information.
However, recruiters and hiring managers are demanding more from their existing ATSs. They expect a modern ATS to help automate repetitive tasks, ensure consistent communication flows to keep candidates engaged, pre-screen, rank, and match candidates to job openings, and more. This calls for the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to support ATSs on a massive scale.
Besides, the rapid acceleration of remote hiring in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic has provided an impetus to the adoption of AI-powered ATSs by companies of all sizes. Meanwhile, the primary concern for recruiters is whether AI-driven ATSs will reduce the human touch in recruiting. The increasing employment of AI-powered ATSs has proven otherwise.
AI: The Bold Disrupter
Artificial Intelligence refers to a machine’s ability to mimic human-like intelligence. With the introduction of AI functionality into your ATS software, you can automate administrative tasks, facilitate smarter resume evaluation, personalize interview scheduling and communication, and efficiently track and analyze preset recruitment metrics. These features help humanize the candidate’s experience while speeding up the recruiting process without compromising on quality. Hence, AI augments your ATS, making it smarter, sharper, and more human-centric.
The Global Recruiting Trends released by LinkedIn Talent Solutions reports that recruiters and hiring managers across the globe believe that AI is a bold disrupter. According to the report, 67% of the respondents said that AI helps them save time, 43% said it helps remove human bias, and 31% said it helped deliver the best candidate matches. Respondents also expressed that AI is most helpful when sourcing (58%), screening (56%), and nurturing candidates (55%)
Let us explore three futuristic ATS features that are transforming the recruitment technology landscape, demonstrating why AI-powered ATSs are becoming must-haves in every recruiter’s toolbox.
Futuristic ATS Features: AI Leads the Way
1. Programmatic Job Advertising
Job ads, when posted, may appear erratically all over the internet without human interference. Programmatic job advertising deploys AI to purchase, publish, and optimize your job ads. This advanced ATS functionality uses predictive recruitment algorithms to analyze market data to determine how your job ad will perform. By taking informed scheduling and placement decisions for your ads, it places the apt job ad, at the right time, on the most suitable platform, to tap the right candidates.
2. Interview Chatbots
The AI chatbots integrated into earlier ATSs had limited features. Their use was restricted to providing a landing page call to action (CTA) or abruptly prompting candidates to apply for jobs without providing sufficient context. Modern ATSs use intelligent, empathetic, and intuitive interview chatbots that converse with the candidate via chat, email, or text. They employ AI technology to pre-screen your candidates, schedule interviews and even engage in human-sounding text conversations with applicants. Al also collects your candidate responses in the form of texts, pictures, videos, and documents.
3. Talent Rediscovery Software
Sometimes, the best candidates slip through the cracks. AI-driven talent rediscovery software uses your ATS resume database to scour for and screen candidates who had previously applied for a role at your company. Based on your current job openings, it verifies whether these candidates are a match. Once matched, it automatically contacts the candidates through social media or email. What’s more, it also looks for their updated employment history by scouting their social media profiles. It then adds this information to the candidate profile in your ATS database.
Conclusion
Delegating your tedious and time-consuming tasks to your AI-powered ATS doesn’t remove the human touch in recruitment. Rather, it empowers you to invest in human aspects such as understanding candidates’ needs, fostering relationships with candidates, and building a community. By automating tasks such as sourcing, screening, and proctoring, an AI-driven ATS augments your role, allowing you to focus on critical and higher-level tasks. Moreover, the futuristic features of modern AI-powered ATSs help you scale efficiently while continuously improving the quality of hires.