Everyone Looks the Same! The Impact of AI in Hiring

There is an interesting wrinkle in the employment market. AI has arrived. I had a great conversation recently with a friend who runs a recruiting firm. He was telling me about his most recent client challenges.

AI (artificial intelligence) - the good, the bad, and the unknown

Let's look at the bad first. It seems that candidates for open jobs are taking the online job posting, copying the requirements, then pasting that into an AI program and asking it to create a resume for that job. The outcome? Large numbers of the resumes organizations are receiving look very similar.

"70% of people lie on their resumes." Forbes

Wow! Did you know that? As shocking as that number is, it points to a challenge in hiring that is very real. How do you know a candidate really has the skills and experience they say they do?

Whether you are a hiring manager or not, if you are in the workplace, you will be impacted by this trend. You may be the team member that identifies that a new hire does not have what it takes. You may find yourself picking up the slack for people who are not the right fit. If you are the hiring manager, you may have just added countless hours to your workload.

AI to the rescue (and other technologies)

So, if you are hiring, what can you do.This is the good part...

• The first thing is up your interview game. There is no substitute for interviewing. When I say up your interview game, I mean in a multi-dimensional way.
  • Increase the number of interviews to an absolute minimum of 3, 4-6 would be better depending on the level of the position.
  • Enhance your questions by including behavioral (situational) questions for the candidate to answer based on critical skills needed in the open position.
  • Include others you trust in the interviews.
  • Use AI to help you develop more insightful questions.
• AI as an ally - AI and predictive analytics are utilized in many newer assessments built for assessing candidates before the hire. As an example, I am one of only a few people certified to use the "Habit Story" assessment. This assessment has a 93% predictability of success for candidates for specific roles. This is a powerful multi-science assessment that makes it much easier to get the right fit the first time.
• Pre-hire assessment packages - this is likely the best way to really measure candidate fit for the position. Here are insights you can get from good validated assessments:
  • Culture fit
  • Hard and soft skill competencies
  • Cognitive (thinking) skills and abilities
  • Work and communication styles
  • Productive and counterproductive habits
  • Ability to build trust
  • Leadership capacity
  • Emotional intelligence skills
  • Mindsets/motivators (how a person approaches people and tasks)
• Challenge project - in the 35 years I have been doing searches for clients, one of the best additions has been what I call the "challenge project". Give the candidates who reach the final stages a project of some kind that will provide deep insight into how they think, write, communicate, use their collective skills and experience, and their ability to influence. This is especially important in any role that has a greater impact on the bottom line (sales, manager/leader, team lead, C-suite or executive).

Technology can be your friend when hiring. I do not understand why anyone would make a significant hire without a good pre-hire assessment package (multiple assessments based in multiple sciences - not one assessment only). The cost for this type of assessment package is negligible compared to the cost of a bad hire (assessment package costs range from a few hundred to over a thousand dollars based on the number of assessments used).

The unknown of AI

No one really knows where AI will go in the future. It is a rapidly expanding technology. What we do know about AI is:

• It will never replace the need for people in the workplace.
• New technologies always require change and adaptation.
• It is a very useful tool if used wisely.
• It will probably enhance performance.
• What will it do to employee engagement?

Considerations for today and the future

The jobs of tomorrow are not even on our radar today. There is nothing productive in worrying about all of the challenges AI and other technologies may bring.

It is time to put even more focus on people. 53% of managers are in burnout. 70% of people are struggling or suffering. We must find ways to "lighten the load".

Hire Right the first time

Finding talent that is the right fit has become an even greater challenge, but not when you have the right process in place. Yes, it takes some effort to do this, but the ROI when you do it is truly amazing. With the right hiring process in place, you can:

• Avoid bad hires
• Lower turnover costs
• Make the onboarding of new employees much easier
• Reduce the time a new hire needs to become fully productive
• Take advantage of opportunities you might have lost
• Cultivate the culture you want to live and work in
• Increase productivity and capacity
• Raise engagement levels

This may sound like a lot of positive thinking, but I have seen this proven out in many organizations. Getting the hiring process right is one of the best things an organization can have as a strategic goal.

Background - I have been in the retained search business serving clients for 35 years. That has produced hundreds of "right fit" hires using a 27 step process that has been developed and refined. If you want to see more about our process, here is our video, "Hire Right Fit Candidates". There are more videos about hiring right fit candidates on YouTube@eqfit.

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Copyright © 2024 EQFIT® - Author: Steven Goodner. All rights reserved. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: [email protected].