How Will AI Affect Tech Recruitment In The Next Five Years?

A recent survey jointly produced by Deloitte and Oxford University shows that within the next two decades, 35% of our current job tasks will be replaced entirely by machines. Such a statement has understandably concerned many workers about the rise of AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning and what the impact will be on various areas of industry.

But how will AI shape the tech recruitment industry? We take a look at what the next five years will bring in terms of tech recruitment advancements.

How Can AI Perform Our Work For Us?

Artificial intelligence is an umbrella term which includes machine learning and natural language processing. Machine learning in particular is excellent at recognising patterns of data and generating output about such data based on algorithms that have been applied to it. This means that potentially any repetitive, mechanistic type of admin work that is performed by humans could be taught to machines over the next few years. In recruitment AI might be of use if it is taught to sift through CVs looking for skill matches or read contracts looking for specific clauses.

However, it is important to realise that as sophisticated as AI is, intelligent data interpreting is something that has not yet been achieved on a reliable scale by machine learning.

Big Data Analytics

The recruitment industry is excited by the launch of a new start-up in the States. Two ex-Google engineers recognised the problem in looking for tech talent to join their teams whilst working for the search engine. They have therefore secured $6m in investments in order to launch their AI answer to tech recruitment. Their advanced innovation is called Connectifier and is a clever combination of AI and search software. It works by crawling the web to discover information and then creates accurate and useful profiles of candidates, based on every single piece of relevant data it can find on a person. This includes employees who are not actively searching for a new role, which makes Connectifier an extremely effective piece of head-hunting software. It has already amassed tens of thousands of recruiters across a range of industries including tech recruitment, sales, healthcare and finance.

Developments such as Connectifier are a much more advanced approach to recruitment than popular sites such as Monster or LinkedIn have been able to provide. Although social networking and job network platforms have had enormous success, the problem with these recruitment models is that although millions of people list their profiles on them, they don’t keep them updated. Connectifier works by crawling all other social media and business sites to harness masses of data in order to create a more sophisticated recruitment product.

AI Educates Recruiters

Big data can also be used by AI to educate recruiters on their techniques. In a recent study by a group of linguists, thousands of job ads were input into an AI system to find out how well the ads converted into potential candidates. The wording of the ads was crunched to find out which phrases were attractive and those which put various types of people off. For instance, wording which included ‘works well under pressure’ or ‘extraordinary’ attracted less female candidates. The AI system is useful to tech recruitment processes, as it allows recruiters to check the likely performance of their ad and to highlight areas that could be altered in order to convert better interest.

Internal Recruiter Performance

Machine learning will also provide evidence of performance rates on an internal basis within tech recruitment firms. Designing a set of simple AI rules for a machine and then applying data will result in the standards of recruiters being assessed. Employers in a tech recruitment company will be able to monitor all digital activities and work out which of its staff are engaged, based on real time job performance.

So what does AI bring to the future of tech recruitment companies?

Recruiters who are willing to embrace the exciting innovations in recruitment technology that are provided by AI and startups such as Connectifier will continue to be market leaders in their industry.

Companies who require tech candidates for their vacancies should choose recruitment companies who utilise new digital technology to make their hiring processes more efficient. Whilst machines are able to improve recruitment processes through data analysis, there will always be a need for humans to evaluate and action the output of such data. Therefore the role of recruiters will certainly evolve over the next five years, but it will be more important than ever for employers to trust a quality tech recruitment company to fill their digital vacancies.

If you require top tech candidates for your firm, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today.