Intelligent bots can now screen candidates – the rise of the Recruitment Chatbot

In 1950, Alan Turing predicted that by the year 2000, computers would be able to pass as humans during a text conversation. While that prediction hasn’t quite materialized, chatbots have come a long way in the past few years. In addition to conversations, chatbots hey can now help your HR team recruit new employees. The ever-growing HR tech has evolved with the rise of recruitment bots.

How can the adoption of recruitment chatbots benefit HR?

By helping address these challenges that are typically faced by hiring teams.

Making a quick hire

Hiring teams are expected to recruit candidates quickly. Vacant positions cost money and delay operations. Multiple rounds of interviews need to be conducted before deciding to recruit a candidate. This involves coming up with the right set of questions to assess the candidate after a thorough analysis. From screening to personal interviews, hiring teams are challenged to do this manually & simultaneously for multiple candidates.

Engaging qualified candidates

With hiring teams being busy most of the time, there could be delays in following up with select candidates. Qualified candidates are being contacted by multiple companies and are possibly juggling multiple job offers. It is difficult for hiring managers to maintain timely & sustained contact with candidates, which can lead to losing good candidates.

Creating a good candidate experience

A good candidate experience plays a vital role in whether or not the candidate will accept your job offer. It is the first opportunity a company gets to create a positive impression on the candidate through the hiring process.

Saving time for recruiters

Recruiter time is spent on simple, repetitive tasks mostly concerning the initial screening process. Recruiters have to manually ask similar questions to multiple candidates and evaluate each response before the next round. Administrative tasks (like scheduling interviews) further cut into valuable time that recruiters could have used in coordinating the hiring process and ensuring a good candidate experience.

Ensuring an efficient recruitment process

Recruitment teams need to communicate fast, evaluate candidates easily, and know what’s going on every step of the way. Recruiters are tasked with coordinating all this communication and it’s not always as easy as it seems.

Let’s take an example. In a high volume hiring process, recruiters are always on phone calls making sure they’ve received all the right information and double-checking the answers to questions like: “Are you able to work in the country?”, “Have you worked in this industry before?” or “Are you looking for full time or part-time roles?”.

What if recruitment process could be automated? This is where recruitment chatbots come in. Bots can efficiently follow up with candidates and ask the right questions.

Recruitment chatbots provide time-saving benefits for both recruiters and candidates.

Candidates prefer interacting with a chatbot

A survey by Allegis concluded that 58% of candidates were comfortable interacting with AI and recruitment chatbots in the early stages of the application process, including interview scheduling, and preparation.

Candidates understand that the recruiting process might not be person-to-person at every touchpoint, but value the chance to receive information efficiently. As that attitude continues to evolve, so will the benefits of recruitment bots.

A chatbot can save time for recruiters

Estimates predict a chatbot can automate up to 80% of top-of-funnel recruiting activities. According to SHRM, the average cost of hire is $4,129 and the average time to hire is 42 days. By automating a large part of qualifying and scheduling, a recruitment chatbot can dramatically lower both cost of hire and time to hire. If a recruitment chatbot can more quickly screen out unqualified candidates, recruiters can focus their efforts on high-value activities: creating connections and building relationships with interested candidates.

A chatbot can assist with administrative tasks

• collect information from candidates such as their resume, contact information, and documents e.g. work authorization
• ask screening questions about candidates’ experience, knowledge, and skills
• rank candidates on metrics such as qualifications, education, or specializations
• answer FAQs about the job and the application process
• schedule in-person interviews

All of this information can be collected simultaneously, in automated ways, from hundreds to thousands of candidates. It can then be fed into the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) or sent directly to a human recruiter to follow up.  

Let’s talk about returns.

What is the ROI on recruitment chatbots?

Less time spent interviewing

Studies say better-screened candidates decrease time spent interviewing by 40% for the same number of hires.

Average time saved per hire

2.4 hours per hire is saved on average by using a chatbot in your system.

The value in dollars

2.4 hours x 1000 hires/year = 2,400 hours. Average recruiter salary is $38/hour. That is 2,400 hours x $38/hour = $90,000 in savings.

The main benefits of using a recruitment chatbot include automating top-of-funnel recruiting tasks such as candidate pre-qualification and interview scheduling to speed up time to hire and improve candidate experience. Over time, the machine learning capabilities of the recruitment bots can automatically identify which metrics it should be looking for and rank candidates accordingly.

Summary

Recruitment chatbots, in particular, candidate screening bots can help overcome challenges faced by hiring teams and improve efficiency by screening candidates who arrive via your website or through sourcing activities. A8Chat from Autonom8 gives your hiring efforts an efficiency boost with recruitment bots. You can design & deploy candidate experiences rapidly. These bots can integrate with your ATS (Applicant Tracking System) and calendaring tools, and plug into internal processes e.g. onboarding.

A8Chat comes with the ability for learning & continuous improvement, with RoI that rises over time. A8Chat frees your hiring team from mundane, repeatable tasks. Schedule a demo with Autonom8 to learn more.