Recruiting continues to evolve into a tech-enabled discipline that uses a wide array of HR software to find, engage, and hire the best job applicants. We are now entering a new evolution in this industry that is largely driven by the use of AI to take the load off of individual recruiters.
Using artificial intelligence for recruiting has many potential benefits that lead to a hard ROI that talent acquisition teams can measure through decreases in cost per hire, and time to fill.
While these financial metrics are important, we also think it’s interesting that using AI can have substantial non-economic benefits like increasing the amount of diversity candidates hired, improving the candidate experience, and improving the recruiter experience— something that is often overlooked.
A Case Study On L’Oreal’s Recruiting
While high level concepts are a great way to start to understand the potential opportunity of using a piece of software, we always like to look at how specific companies are leveraging technology so that we can better understand the potential impacts.
Recently, we came across a new initiative by L’Oreal to streamline their hiring. They are looking to fill 5,000 roles per year, which requires an amazing amount of human time. Think about this stat, they get over 2 million applicants per year!
To try and solve this problem, they started using AI to augment their recruiting efforts. Specifically, they started focusing on their on campus recruiting where they get 13,000 applicants each year for 80 intern positions.
To execute this initiative, L’Oréal used Mya’s chatbot (one of the best recruiting chatbots out there) to help screen candidates. By allowing AI to conduct initial screens, L’Oreal was able to get more data on more candidates, and drastically reduce the amount of time their team needed to spend on top of funnel hiring efforts for this class of interns.
The Results
Through using a recruiting chatbot, L’Oréal saw some very interesting results:
- They reduced the average time spent per applicant by 40 minutes
- They saved approximately $250,000 in recruiter wages
- Not only do these chatbots prove an impressive ROI, but they also recruited the most diverse group of interns ever to work for the company by eliminating any potential unconscious bias.
Case Study: IKEA
Another good example comes from the Swedish furniture giant. They noticed that their Eastern European operations suffered a decline in applications when they moved from a paper-based format to electronic job kiosks. Suddenly, their candidate conversion rate dropped to 1.8%.
So, with the help of XOR, IKEA moved to use chatbots to smoothen the application process within the job kiosks. With the application in chat format, the process became more interactive and intuitive for candidates. In turn, the chatbot could promptly sift through candidates in real time and show the best fits for each jobs, saving recruiters valuable hours of each day.
The Results
- The candidate conversion rate increased by 10%.
- The number of applications per month nearly doubled.
User Experience
While the economic benefits are impressive, we also think it’s interesting to note the non-economic return on investment of these examples. This software created a better experience for both the candidates and the recruiters.
The candidates benefitted as they received quicker responses from the chatbots, and were able to share more about their candidacy than a standard resume can. Beyond that, the historically under represented candidates did not have to worry about human bias in the hiring process.
On the talent acquisition side, recruiters were able to skip the formulaic phone screen part of the interview process, and focus on the best fit candidates to understand where they may fit into the organization. They were also able to automate parts of the process, like scheduling interviews, messaging, andfurther down the line, even onboarding.
As for the company, it is worth mentioning that the use of new tech like artificial intelligence, when implemented properly, can benefit the employer brand in the eyes of job seekers.
Overall, we think it’s a very interesting time to think about leveraging AI/machine learning across the employee lifecycle. And, it’s very encouraging to see leading edge companies start to reap the rewards of using this technology. How has your recruiting team thought about using AI and chatbots to drive results in your recruitment strategy? Have you explored using ChatGPT in HR workflows?
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