By Jason Heilman, SVP of Product at Bullhorn
With an unemployment rate of 7.1M, up from last year’s 6.3M, the current job market remains a challenge. However, despite the unemployment numbers, there are roughly a million more job openings than unemployed workers, creating challenges in filling critical roles. These job openings also have an increasingly high volume of applications per job, making it difficult for recruiters to find the right candidates for each role. With an increased need for skilled workers and a growing contingent workforce, keeping candidate needs top of mind is key for recruiters to hire better talent faster and make sure that these critical roles are filled.
AI has emerged as a key force to make the hiring process more efficient and more personalized, and to create a better experience for candidates. The good news is, the industry has embraced AI with research finding that over half of staffing firms are experimenting with the technology. Additionally, new data from Bullhorn’s GRID 2024 Talent Trends Report, which surveyed 2,400 global contingent workers on their experiences working with staffing and recruitment firms in 2024, found that candidates are on board with AI, too – more than 60% are comfortable with AI handling the entire recruitment process.
AI enhances speed and efficiency for candidates and recruiters
Candidates want the right jobs to be served to them quickly, which makes sourcing and screening even more crucial for recruiters and staffing firms. Bullhorn’s report found 8 in 10 (81%) candidates expect job placement in less than 20 days, and the same number (81%) are comfortable using AI if it speeds up the hiring process. Using AI in the screening process is one tactic that can help recruiters bring the best candidates to the top of their lists, ensuring more candidates are screened and recruiters don’t overlook top candidates’ resumes. With AI tools that streamline job matching, communication, and onboarding processes, AI can help to place the correct candidates more quickly to capitalize on top talent hires, a win for both candidates and recruiters.
Infusing AI into the recruiting process also enhances the role of the recruiter by sifting through hundreds or thousands of job applicants faster than is possible for humans, and matching job applications to role criteria to show recruiters who will be the best fit. This expedited search process allows recruiters to focus on increased communication, making time for the personal connections that candidates want. Additionally, the increased focus on relationship building empowers recruiters to see candidates beyond their resume and cover letter, which makes it easier to find the best talent for open roles.
Personalization and frequent communication remain top priorities for candidates
The current market is not meeting candidate expectations for recruiter communication – 65% of candidates want to hear from recruiters once a week or more, but this only happens 57% of the time. Furthermore, 39% of Gen Z candidates stated that lack of communication was a top challenge, and 82% said more regular communication (more than once a week) would keep them working with the same firm.
AI enhances the speed and efficiency of the recruiting process, allowing for more frequent and more personalized communication between candidates and recruiters. And, a vast majority (79%) of candidates are comfortable with AI handling communication if it doesn’t mean sacrificing personalization.
AI can support this much needed uptick in communication and personalization by accelerating manual processes for recruiters like searching for candidates, drafting and sending introductory messages and developing pre-screening questions. In turn, this allows recruiters to focus back on the critical relationship building part of their job. Additionally, utilizing AI in the sourcing (automated search) and screening (allowing 100% of candidates to participate in initial screenings) process can bring major improvements in productivity and quality to the traditional recruiter workflow.
AI technology fosters candidate loyalty through positive experiences
In today’s market, it’s critical for AI capabilities to align with candidate expectations of personalization, speed, and efficiency, to improve candidate satisfaction and support a positive recruiting experience. In fact, more than half of candidates (53%) chose their current staffing agency based on a positive past experience, showcasing the value of speed and fit in candidate experience. Additionally, a positive experience will bring candidates back to not only the same agency but the same team for their next position. Nearly 9 in 10 (89%) candidates who heard from their recruiters more than once a week would keep working with them.
Speed and job fit continue to be the most common pain points among candidates who were dissatisfied with the recruitment process. Bullhorn’s data found that of those with negative experience, more than half (56%) of candidates felt their recruiter didn’t understand what they were looking for in a job, and nearly half (44%) felt recruiters were too slow to respond. AI can be a powerful solution to improve candidate experience, and candidates clearly see the promise of the technology in advancing the process to meet their expectations and drive better results.
As we look ahead to the future for AI in recruitment, AI will continue to foster greater candidate and recruiter engagement, enhance the accuracy of job placements, and alleviate administrative tasks of the recruiter, which will improve both the candidate and recruiter experience. It is just the beginning of the impact the technology will have on the recruitment process and industry as a whole.
As the Senior Vice President of Product for Automation and AI, Jason is at the forefront of integrating cutting-edge automation and AI technologies into the staffing industry. Jason has been deeply ingrained in the recruitment industry since 2006, previously serving as the Co-founder and CEO of Herefish, he has been instrumental in developing innovative solutions that drive productivity and growth for staffing firms. His combination of industry experience, business, and technical acumen has helped thousands of recruiters, salespeople and leaders turn challenges into growth opportunities.
