Times have changed and modern candidates are demanding better experiences from hiring organizations and recruiting teams. In a survey of more than 130 talent acquisition professionals conducted by Sense, 61% said candidate expectations have increased in the past year.
As the number of open jobs continues to rise, candidates can be selective about what roles they move forward with. They’re not willing to spend a lot of time searching through openings for the right job or completing complicated applications. And once they do apply, they’ll drop out of the hiring process if it goes on too long or the recruiter fails to keep them updated along the way. In fact, more than half of our survey respondents said their drop-off rate has trended in the wrong direction in the past year.
As a talent acquisition professional, you’re likely keenly aware of these challenges and are doing your best to deliver the modern experience candidates want and deserve. With the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), it’s now possible to personalize the candidate experience, provide a streamlined application, accelerate the hiring process, engage candidates throughout their journey, and continuously optimize your recruiting strategy.
Tailoring the hiring experience for every candidate captures their attention and prevents drop-off. However, with dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of candidates under consideration at any given time, providing personalized candidate experiences at scale wasn’t possible before the arrival of AI.
Innovative recruiting teams are now using AI-powered recruiting automation to deliver hyper-personalized candidate experiences.
With AI job matching, job seekers no longer have to sift through all your open roles to find the one that is right for them. They are now instantly presented with the ideal role based on their unique skills, backgrounds, and preferences.
When a candidate lands on your career site, they’re greeted by an AI chatbot that asks what type of job they’re looking for. Using the information they provide, the chatbot will then share the available roles they’re most suited for.
AI-powered job matching fosters a more engaging candidate experience, while simultaneously filling your pipeline with the right talent.
Past candidates who were never hired shouldn’t be forgotten about. Many are talented people and may be a great fit for the new roles that have opened since you were last in touch with them. But finding and reconnecting with the right talent was previously too time-consuming and impersonal, leading to a negative candidate experience.
AI can be used to rediscover candidates in your Applicant Tracking System (ATS) and reengage them with personalized messaging. It will build a talent pool of all the past candidates who match the requirements for your new role, then send them all automated messages that feel as if they were written specifically for the individual recipient. When the candidate replies, the AI chatbot will instantly answer their questions or collect their updated application details if they’re ready to move forward.
AI enables you to tap into your ATS database and source faster, all while delivering a positive experience to the candidates who have already expressed interest in joining your organization. Reconnecting with past candidates is particularly important for high-volume hiring organizations or those with ambitious hiring goals.
The application process might be the most broken stage of the hiring journey. Job descriptions are often too generic, and fail to capture the attention of the right people. And applications ask a lot from candidates—creating a barrier of entry for the talent you want to hire.
AI has completely transformed how recruiting teams attract candidates at the start of the hiring journey.
Job descriptions help you make a positive first impression on potential candidates. However, many job descriptions are riddled with jargon or lack crucial details. This deters highly qualified candidates from applying, while also attracting those who may not be a good fit.
Generative AI can be leveraged to enhance or even completely create polished job descriptions. Simply provide the job title, and AI will generate a job description that resonates with top talent. Alternatively, you can share an existing job description and AI will recommend additional role requirements and job/company information to include.
In no time at all, generative AI will help you craft a compelling job description that captures the attention of the candidates you hope to hire.
Candidates have a variety of questions they want answered before they commit time and energy to applying for a job. From inquiries about the role and organizational culture to details about the interview process, it’s important to provide them with the information they’re looking for.
AI chatbots will provide immediate answers to any question a potential candidate might have. These chatbots can be equipped with pre-programmed responses to frequently asked questions—ensuring candidates get the information they seek in real time so they get excited about the opportunity and move forward with applying.
Lengthy, multi-step applications are a major source of frustration for candidates. So much so that many will abandon complicated applications and shift their attention to hiring organizations that are more respectful of their time.
An AI chatbot offers a smoother, more engaging application process. It collects application information by asking a series of questions, and then automatically generates an accurate profile in your ATS. It will even recognize candidates who have previously applied and offer them a streamlined experience by bypassing the questions they’ve already answered.
AI chatbots replace cumbersome forms with a conversational experience, making for an effortless experience for candidates and a larger talent pipeline for recruiters.
Depending on the types of roles you hire for, some of your ideal candidates might not have a formal resume. This prevents them from applying for a job that they could excel in.
By offering candidates access to an AI-powered resume generator, you can provide a more inclusive hiring experience. It will guide each candidate through a series of questions about their background and work history, then create a resume that highlights their relevant skills and experience.
By helping candidates create a resume, you’ll foster a more equitable candidate experience for individuals who might have otherwise been prevented from applying.
Slow hiring processes and infrequent communication from recruiters are two of the most common complaints from candidates. Anyone looking for a new job wants to land their next role as quickly as possible—and they want to be kept in the loop as the hiring team works toward a decision.
Savvy recruiting teams have turned to AI to automate the time-consuming stages of the hiring process and keep candidates updated throughout their journey.
Simply responding to candidate messages or proactively reaching out and providing an update is one of the best ways to enhance the candidate experience. But with a high volume of candidates under consideration, crafting compelling messages multiple times a day can be a significant challenge for recruiting teams.
Generative AI can draft messages tailored to each candidate, or refine existing messages you've already written. Every message will align with your brand voice and style, ensuring consistency and professionalism. They’ll also be optimized for deliverability and to generate better response rates, particularly in the case of text communications.
With the power of AI, recruiters can communicate with every candidate faster and more frequently, while ensuring their messages are more clear, concise, and empathic.
Searching for a new job is an anxiety-inducing experience. As candidates move forward in the hiring process, they’re naturally going to have questions and be eager for updates.
An AI chatbot plays the role of your 24/7 recruiting assistant. When a candidate reaches out, the chatbot will instantly respond and provide them with the information they're looking for. Even more, AI chatbots can understand sentiment and identify when a dissatisfied candidate is at risk of dropping out of the hiring process and recruiter intervention is required.
AI chatbots calm candidates’ nerves by responding to their inquiries in real time. The candidate doesn’t have to wait for anyone to get back to them and recruiters don’t have to respond to every request for an update they receive.
Expecting candidates to wait days or weeks to hear back after applying dampens their enthusiasm and leads them to pursue other opportunities. Fortunately, AI is now being used to expedite the initial stages of the hiring process.
After a candidate applies for a role, they’ll immediately engage with an AI chatbot specifically designed for pre-screening. It will ask a series of questions to determine if they meet the baseline requirements for the job.
If the candidate is the right fit, the chatbot will seamlessly transition to interview scheduling. It will present available interview dates and times and prompt the candidate to select when they would like to meet the hiring team.
By automating pre-screening and interview scheduling, AI chatbots streamline the most time-consuming stages of the hiring process. This allows you to identify and engage qualified candidates immediately after they apply, keeping them excited about the opportunity and reducing the likelihood they explore other options.
The experiences hiring organizations provide to candidates should be ever-evolving. You should always be looking for opportunities to better engage talent so you continue to meet your recruiting goals while delighting every single candidate along the way.
The emergence of AI means recruiting teams now have access to more data than ever before and powerful tools that can help them glean insightful takeaways from it.
Recruiters are no longer limited to data from application details, candidate profiles, interview questions, and candidate assessments. You can now expand your dataset and analyze candidate interactions with AI chatbots, information extracted from AI-parsed resumes, and insights derived from the pre-screening process.
Using all this information, you can make more informed hiring decisions and also pinpoint where the candidate experience is falling short.
One of the best ways to improve the candidate experience is to ask for feedback—and what better way to do that than through surveys? However, translating survey results into actionable insights can be a time-consuming and complex task.
AI can analyze thousands of survey results and identify recurring themes. This allows you to move beyond surface-level data and gain a deeper understanding of candidate sentiment. You can then make adjustments to your hiring process that lead to outstanding experiences for the future candidates you engage.
AI has taken the world by storm and is being used to improve the way people across various professions and industries work. Recruiters have quickly embraced this technology and are leveraging it to automate recurring tasks, improve their sourcing efforts, and better communicate with talent.
While AI is helping recruiters work smarter and more efficiently toward their goals, it’s also empowering them to provide the positive experiences modern candidates expect. The result? Faster hiring timelines, reduced costs, and welcoming new hires who are excited to join your team.
Ready to learn more about how AI-powered Talent Engagement can enhance your hiring efforts? Request a demo of Sense today!
