by Jim Lundy
The talent wars continue to get more heated as global economies come closer together. HR professionals are taking more responsibility for ensuring hiring success in a competitive world, which means new tools are emerging. One of these tools is what we refer to as a recruiting chatbot.
This blog discusses the arrival of recruiting chatbots as a new part of the HR tech stack, and why they should not be overlooked.
Chatbots vs. AI Chatbots
To start, there is a lot of confusion surrounding chatbots.
Put simply, many chatbots serve as basic tools that can only answer simple questions. A non-AI-based chatbot is great for answering questions, but is limited beyond that. However, an AI-based chatbot can do more because it is constantly learning and has a base knowledge level. (If you’re interested in learning more, check out our AI overview.)
Recruiting Chatbots Are Here
The idea behind a recruiting chatbot is twofold. It can be candidate-facing to help potential employees identify the job best fit based on their interests and experience. In some cases, a candidate assistant chatbot is your brand ambassador—it’s like a positive associate who never goes offline.
While this market is still new, there are a number of providers who offer a recruiting assistant. Some of these providers include:
There are others that help people internally, such as Zeal which offers a self-service HR focused chatbot.
The Case for a Recruiting Assistant
There are two reasons to consider a recruiting assistant. First, it can help potential candidates at any time since it can be outward-facing. Candidates are often not looking for a job while at work, but a recruiting assistant/chatbot never quits.
We would also note that for internal recruiting, a job assistant can help employees find new positions.
IBM Watson Career Coach helps employees find new jobs.
An Assistant for the Recruiter
The second reason to leverage a recruiting assistant is to support the recruiters themselves. This type of assistant can help the recruiter identify candidates and follow up on all of the tasks that are involved in finding and hiring a new associate.
To be clear, most recruiting assistants today are candidate chatbots. We see this as an evolution over time.
The need to utilize machines to help human productivity is part of the revolution that is coming to the digital workplace. The shifts over the next three years will be profound, and now is the time to get started by augmenting your recruiting efforts. These assistants will continue to improve, and by next year, we expect most major talent management providers will offer a recruiting assistant. Developing.