AI-Assisted Recruitment

When I was 16 years old, studying A-Level Computer Science, I wrote a variation of a software program called “Animal.” Back then, we were limited to 8-character file names! This little program, which asked users questions to guess which animal they were thinking of, was my first introduction to Artificial Intelligence. It was great fun and an excellent learning experience that led me to a career as a software engineer. Fast forward to today, and AI has evolved exponentially, especially in the past couple of years.

Now, I know it sounds like I’m exaggerating, but I believe AI will have a more profound impact on us in the next five years than the web has had in the past twenty. Tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Google Gemini will become ubiquitous in business, driving efficiency and productivity. Companies that don’t embrace these tools soon will find themselves playing catch-up. You might be skeptical, and that’s fine, but I genuinely hope you see this as an opportunity—because otherwise, it could become a threat to your business.

So, how can you actually use AI? There are countless applications across all levels of an organisation, but today let’s focus on one specific use case: recruitment.

First, decide the basics: what role are you recruiting for, what do you want them to do, how much will you pay, where will the role be based, and so on. If you’re unsure, you can always ask ChatGPT (my weapon of choice, though others are available).

AI tools excel at generating content; our role is to provide the context. The more context we give, the better the output. For example, you could ask ChatGPT:

ChatGPT will give you a solid generic job advert. However, it can do even better if you feed it your company’s vision statement, values, company history, and anything else relevant. It will incorporate all this information, creating a tailored advert. Keep this standard information handy for future use—paid subscriptions even allow it to be remembered!

Next, ask ChatGPT to write a job description. It will produce a decent draft, but you’ll need to tweak it (AI can get creative if you don’t provide enough detail). Nonetheless, it’s much easier than starting from scratch.

Then, ask it for ten interview questions that would be hard for candidates to prepare for. You’ll need to refine them, but the initial suggestions are impressively good. Don’t like any? Ask for more or give better instructions—the results improve with better context.

This might sound like overkill, but when you receive applicants’ cover letters and CVs, feed them into ChatGPT. Ask it for an overview of each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s blunt and highlights the obvious but is also adept at summarising a lot of information into key points. You can even ask if there’s a specific question you should ask each candidate at the interview.

Ultimately, selecting the candidate is your job. However, you can ask ChatGPT which candidate it thinks is most suitable and why. Remember, though, that while you see the candidate in real life, ChatGPT only has their written documents, which may be misleading. Still, it’s interesting to get an unbiased opinion.

There are many more ways to integrate AI into this process. In the future, you could even have ChatGPT watch a video of a candidate and give its opinion. Is this scary? Most people think it is. Or is it an exciting glimpse into the future? Are you already using AI tools in this way, or perhaps getting AI to write your cover letter?

If you haven’t already started, grab one of the AI tools and start learning how to use it to increase your productivity and save time and stress.