You’ve spoken to an automated chatbot, right? We probably all have and maybe even today, it wouldn’t be surprising considering how commonplace they’ve become.
But just like everything else, the current AI is innovating rapidly, and we’re seeing an introduction of various messaging-based bots that are essentially intelligent CRM systems and not repetitive robots.
Leveraging a chatbot in recruitment can add exponential value to your agency. As the industries continue to evolve, the demand for recruitment will increase, creating the need for more qualified recruitment professionals.
These professionals will need to be very efficient and effective in their approach to engaging with prospective candidates, and leveraging the power of a chatbot can help make their engagement with them more accurate and efficient, which can make the difference between a candidate placed and one lost to competition.
Machine Learning Chatbot Essentials
To understand the level of sophistication of machine learning chatbots, it is important to understand their fundamentals. A chatbot is an interface where your conversation can be programmed to take place using natural language processing and a set of pre-programmed responses.
By using natural language processing you can automate many aspects of your recruiting process. For example, in the world of recruitment, interview questions are the main drivers of candidate satisfaction and hiring satisfaction as understanding your candidate is crucial to placing them effectively.
How Do Automated Chatbots Work?
Because chatbots are designed to engage in interactive conversations with prospects, they come equipped with the ability to draw on previous experiences and issues in hopes of solving the problem at hand.
The core aspect of this technology is to take an automated approach to the communication flow and solve the customer’s issues within the time it takes for the customer to respond.
In the recruitment industry, these bots are even being leveraged to provide key features like automatic reminders and quotes, conversion-related functionality, and even customized results based on each individual’s interaction history.
So why isn’t everyone using machine learning bots?
Well, just like most innovative tech, there’s a learning curve when developing AI of this calibre, and so it’s not uncommon for customers to become exasperated at being offered the same solution every time they connect. With that in mind, technology is constantly evolving, and it’s now possible to construct bot systems with the capability to learn from every candidate interaction.
What’s more, the bots are primarily developed with the IT and HR sector in mind meaning the key characteristics of these bots are, to a large extent, all about the customer, which ultimately benefits the brands whose customers use them.
The Use of Chatbots in Other Industries
Some of the most well-known chatbot services include:
Google Assistant
GA is a voice assistant created by Google that acts as your personal virtual assistant. The bot is a customer service-style option, as well as a sales assistant with the capability to understand and accurately respond to questions in real time.
Uber
The company where chatbots can become a true workforce assistant, Uber’s bot allows passengers to book a ride, ask questions, and receive updates on a driver’s location.
Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger has also added a Messenger bot which can do many things including booking a cab or food delivery, finding events and stores, as well as searching for nearby restaurants.
How to leverage AI Chatbots for Recruitment?
Many tech companies are implementing automated chatbots in their tech stacks to assist in the search for candidates and encourage a stronger candidate-to-hire relationship. In turn, this decreases the time spent on candidate sourcing and engagement, and improves the overall success of your recruitment process.
Bullhorn’s initiative chatbot is a perfect example of a symbiotic relationship between chatbots and recruiters working effectively alongside one another. With their chatbot able to seamlessly jump from one chat flow to another, it’s also skilled at collecting candidates’ qualifications, measuring interest in the position, and can even ask and answer questions about the position the candidate is applying for.
Moreover, one of the biggest problems in recruitment is the influx of enquiries from potential candidates as responding to each of them can be time-consuming and sometimes, frustrating.
There are dozens of questions that most recruiters will ask potential candidates when evaluating them for a job opening. An automated system that understands the intent behind these questions will, more often than not, lead to more productive interviews and increased success rates for the recruiting firm.
By using an AI chatbot to streamline these communications, recruiters can dedicate their time to value-generating tasks and personalising their outreach. For example, if a candidate wants to find out more about the company, the chatbot will try to give the candidate an insight into the firm without needing input from recruiters.
What are some of the benefits of an automated chatbot in the recruitment space?
Chatbots provide a number of benefits to both candidates and recruiters and are particularly useful for those who may be shy or apprehensive about starting a conversation, empowering them with information ahead of the call to ensure they’re more responsive to incoming leads.
The bots are also capable of performing deeper and wider-ranging analyses, learning from them, and adapting their functionality to suit the prospective candidate’s needs and preferred communication methods.
With this being the case, there’s more flexibility for these bots to match candidates to the right roles and ensure all communications remain productive for both the business and the customer.
Another major benefit that makes a chatbot a serious addition to a recruiter’s toolkit is the time and cost saved by not hiring a temporary worker. Recruiters are often forced to choose between hiring an employee for longer than they need or using a temporary worker for shorter periods. A chatbot will automate almost all of these human tasks, allowing the recruiter to work directly with their candidate to solve their problem.
How are chatbots changing recruitment?
As the industry evolves, AI continues improving our working lives and isn’t only available to serve customers but is rather being used to benefit the bottom line -, particularly when making lucrative placements.
With these bots working to make the process of recruitment simpler for both employers and candidates, both parties can reap the benefits of improved efficiency in the recruitment space.
TL;DR Key Takeaways
- Using chatbots in recruitment can add significant value to an agency and make engagement with prospective candidates more efficient, leading to higher success rates.
- Chatbots are designed to engage in interactive conversations with prospects using natural language processing and a set of pre-programmed responses.
- These bots come equipped with the ability to draw on previous experiences and issues in hopes of solving the problem at hand and can provide key features like automatic reminders and quotes, conversion-related functionality, and even customized results based on each individual’s interaction history.
- Although there’s a learning curve when developing AI of this calibre, the technology is constantly evolving and now, bot systems can learn from every candidate interaction.
- Chatbots can provide a number of benefits to both candidates and recruiters, including empowering candidates with information ahead of the call, performing deeper and wider-ranging analyses, and matching candidates to the right roles.
- By using an AI chatbot to streamline communications, recruiters can dedicate their time to value-generating tasks and personalizing their outreach, leading to more productive interviews and increased success rates for the recruiting firm.
