Recruiting Gets Smart Thanks to Artificial Intelligence

Whether analyzing the facial expressions of job candidates in video interviews, sorting through multitudes of online applications or keeping job prospects apprised of their hiring status, artificial intelligence (AI) is moving rapidly from experimentation to mainstream use in the talent acquisition world. Many recruiters who get a firsthand look at this rapidly evolving technology are struck by how it can make their lives easier. While artificial intelligence typically conjures up images of futuristic human-like robots, the term can be broadly defined as any so-called smart software--that is, technology with the ability to learn and grow more effective over time. "There's a greater level of maturity in AI tools in the recruiting space than in any other area of HR," says Helen Poitevin, a Paris-based human capital management research director at Gartner, an information technology research firm. Continued advances in AI will make tomorrow's recruiting look much different from today's, but for now recruiters are hailing the technology for its ability to reduce the "grunt work" in their jobs. Among the most evolved AI tools are artificial "assistants" that can improve the job seeker experience.