AI: The New Engine Of HR Artificial intelligence-powered developments are set to change how employers and recruitments operate.

An organization is only as good as its people, and therefore, effective human resource management is vital for the success of a business. This is the reason why millions upon millions of dollars are poured into HR efforts each and every year. Everyone wants the best piece of the talent cake.

However, nothing comes without a struggle, and with the changing job market, alongside a widening skills gap, employers are starting to call for better and more effective ways to attract, acquire, and retain top talent. Artificial intelligence (commonly dubbed as AI) is here to answer that calling.

Technology is developing at rapid rates, and AI, data science, and the like are constantly making strides in the corporate world. Unless you're really good at ignoring the news, it's hard to avoid the headlines of how AI is penetrating all industries, and revolutionizing economies.

Change is the only constant, and as the world continues to change in the wake of digital disruption, human resource management is beginning to follow track and keep pace, especially in the past few years. Employers and recruiters are beginning to leave the traditional ways of talent management, and starting to utilize the power of AI in their HR functions, such as using digitalized screening methods.

It is no secret that online is the main outlet for all talent management processed. The majority of respondents to the Bayt.com Middle East and North Africa Hiring Practices Survey affirm that and they believe that online recruitment has facilitated hiring process greatly.

In fact, the reality confirms the research. Bayt.com, one of the Middle East's largest job site and CV database, reported that CV searches undertaken by employers in the MENA region approached the three million mark in 2018 alone. This high job activity goes hand-in-hand with the number of CVs that were contacted: 1.5 million job seeker contacts revealed on the site in 2018, which is a significant increase when compared to previous years. At the same time, Bayt.com witnessed a 104% growth in job announcements.

The concept of AI and how it may impact jobs can certainly be a debatable issue, where many argue that AI might cost them their jobs. While others state that it will be tasks that would get automated, not jobs. Now, regardless of what side one may be on, there is one thing that is for sure and that everyone agrees to, which is: AI is making many possibilities a reality, especially in the HR sphere.

How exactly will AI impact the world of human resource management? Here are some AI-powered developments that will change how employers and recruiters operate.

1. THE PULL EFFECT: AI TO HELP ATTRACT TOP TALENT

According to the Bayt.com poll, Employer Branding in the Middle East and North Africa, 93% of MENA jobseekers research a company online before applying for a job. This study can emphasize the extent to which employer branding can make an impact on attracting the right kind of candidates when hiring.

It's no secret that prior to applying for a job, job seekers research the company in question, and make their decision on whether to apply or not based on their perception of the company. Employers can now utilize automated branding platforms to tweak their employer brand to compel certain kinds of job seekers that they are interested in and classify as "fit."

Not to mention that online branding platforms can give employers exclusive access to real-time data and analytics, where, with the aid of AI-powered tools, they can instantly dive into their follower breakdown and demographics, which can help them in discovering, measuring, and recording their followership as well as brand strength. With this kind of data, employers can launch campaigns that promote their company profiles to their target audience of job seekers.

2. THE PUSH EFFECT: AI TO HELP SOURCE AND FIND TOP TALENT

According to the Bayt.com Middle East and North Africa Hiring Practices Survey, 80% of employers claim that the hiring process can last up to two months at their company, which sometimes can be considered way too long. However, by utilizing AI-powered tools, employers are now able to take talent acquisition to the expedited level and leave the costly and time-consuming traditional methods behind.

More precise candidate selection

More often times than not, the process of searching for, finding, and selecting candidates for a job opening can be timeconsuming and costly. Where employers need to search high, low, and everywhere in between to find the right candidate that's fit for the job. Hiring can cost a pretty penny; hiring mistakes can cost even more, making this a key part of the recruitment process that employers shouldn't rush through.

Now, one might think that the ability to thoroughly understand a CV, not only as words on a piece of paper, but as a potential candidate, would be a skill that only humans can hold. Well, not anymore, as AI-powered tools such as Bayt.com's CV Search tool are able to sift through millions of CVs and select those that are most applicable to the employer's preset requirements.

Among the most exciting AI features accompanying this technology is meaning ontology. This new logic can now make meaning-based search suggestions that are far more accurate than text-based suggestions. For example, if an employer is looking to hire an "account manager," the CV Search bot will suggest titles of similar meanings like "sales manager," or "business relationship manager."

Another highly useful tool that employers will depend on is the auto-stamped feature. When a company is looking for an employee using a university name, company name, job title, or such, they are likely to face the issue of name variations: there are usually different spellings, acronyms, and pseudo-names that may limit their search results. With the AI-supported version of CV Search, the system will automatically gather all CVs that are related to the employer's search query, including all the variations that should fall under that name being searched for.

One more impressive feature is the ability to reverse search. Employers who already have a CV of their ideal hire can simply upload the document, and allow the CV Search technology to find exact matches to their sought after employee.

Smarter applicant screening and tracking

The recruitment and interviewing process can prove to be challenging at times, especially with limited resources and time, which can lead employers to make subpar decisions, and ultimately leaving them with a bad hire.

Old conventional screening methods tend to be based on what's written on a candidate's CV, which can certainly give an incomplete picture of their capabilities. But thankfully, with further strives in the world of AI and automation, comprehensive online recruitment tools such as Bayt.com's video assessment platform Evalufy can help employers understand the full potential of each candidate and thus make more informed decisions while hiring.

Evalufy dispatches assessments to a large number of candidates, auto-tracked, and graded by multiple evaluators. Upon completing the assigned assessment, candidates' report cards are automatically plotted on a benchmark, based on the desired hiring criteria. These score cards are then used by employers to identify and understand the true potential of candidates.

Similar to screening, each and every stage of the recruitment process produces large amounts of data that are eventually not recorded nor measured. So, every time an employer goes through the hiring process, it's like they have to start all over again, wasting time and very valuable information. However, automated applicant tracking systems, which provide employers with insights and analytics on their recruitment activities, is solving this complexity. Beyond organizing and managing the entire recruitment process, these platforms offer auto-trackers and data-plotters to assess the company's own hiring efficiency, and potentially identify key areas of importance such as hiring velocity and time to hire.

3. MAINTAINING MOMENTUM: AI TO ENGAGE AND KEEP TALENT ABOARD

Paving the way for new hires to adjust to their new jobs, and then integrating them with your organization's work environment can be a difficult task, especially with the high demands of today's workforce. However, onboarding is considered as one of the most important steps in improving employee performance and retention, and thus making it vital for a hire to be considered successful. As in today's competitive job market, hiring the right candidate is truly only the beginning.

The beginning of candidate engagement and talent management is known as onboarding. The onboarding process requires employers to go through a wide range of steps, ranging from paperwork to goal setting and KPIs, which can certainly be a huge hassle and cost them time and money that they don't necessarily have to spare.

However, with the emergence of new AI-powered tools such as Bayt.com's online onboarding platform AfterHire, a tedious process is becoming that much easier. AfterHire allows employers to design their own onboarding process using a Workflow Editor, as well as keep their new hires engaged by assigning them onboarding tasks with the ability to give them clarifications on a task through the comments feed. Most importantly, AfterHire helps automate paperwork, it quickly assigns tasks to appropriate personnel to streamline mundane activities like equipment provisioning and financial formalities. Moreover, employees can be assigned learning and training tasks to build up their job knowledge.

With automated onboarding, HR gets a high-level overview of each employee's onboarding process, monitor performance and progress through detailed insights and analytics, while also cutting down time and cost of the onboarding process.

Related: Get The Best To Come To You: Overcoming The Fight For Top Talent With Employer Branding