Using Technology to Screen Candidates When Hiring — Is It Worth It?

The use of technology has helped revolutionize every aspect of our life including the hiring process. Many companies have managed to leverage technology to build a powerful employer brand, enhance their candidate’s experience in the screening process, and, most importantly, analyze their recruitment team’s performance.

While you cannot undermine the positive impacts of technology in the hiring process, it’s worth noting that not everyone is using it. For example, a recent survey by Recruiting Daily Advisor revealed that 51% of respondents said they were not using any recruiting software.

This article will look at the advantages and disadvantages of using technology in the hiring process and provide insights into whether it’s a worthy venture for employers to consider.

The Advantages of using technology in the hiring process

Technology has become an integral part of the recruitment process. The recruitment statistics for 2021 revealed the following.

• Over 98% of future companies use recruitment software.
• 68% of recruitment professionals say that the best way to improve the recruitment process in the nearest future is to invest in new technology.
• 94% of recruiters and hiring professionals say that using software has positively impacted their abilities in supporting the hiring process of their clients.

Let’s take a look at some of the main advantages of using technology in the hiring process.

1. It is easy and cost-effective

Technology has made the hiring process relatively easy for both employers and applicants alike. Many job applicants receive job openings posts on their mobile phones and computers, making it easy for them to apply on the spot. By so doing, the stressful process of mailing CVs and writing applications gets eliminated.

Similarly, posting job ads online is cost-effective and targets candidates who might be the perfect fit for the job. By reaching your desired audience, you can effectively save up money that could have been used for a continuous recruitment campaign to meet the specific audience.

2. Enables you to reach a wider audience

The world is a global village as the internet has made it possible for people to access information from anywhere in the world. With technology, your recruitment team would gain exposure to a massive potential pool of applicants from all over the world.

If you are looking for young and savvy applicants to fill vacant positions in your company, adopting technology in your recruitment strategy would be your best option.

3. Enhances the candidate’s experience

Unlike in the past, the candidate’s experience is a vital part of the recruitment process. In addition, thanks to technology, jobs are more accessible, and the application process is smooth, immediate, and efficient.

These days, candidates are more likely to reject a job if they fail to enjoy their experience in the hiring process.

4. Technology encourages diversity and reduce bias

Diversity is the latest buzzword for many HR professionals. A diversified workforce helps to promote innovation and creativity in an organization. The main challenge for many recruiting panels is selecting the best candidate without any element of bias and prejudice.

While many organizations aim to be objective as possible in their hiring process, you cannot rule out the fact that some members of the recruiting team might unintentionally be biased in their decisions.

Such predisposition might end up hurting the performance and growth of the company. With modern recruitment software, the human tendency is removed and replaced by a standardized one for all selection processes.

With this, the hiring team would make an accurate and valid decision during the recruitment process. Some organizations are upping the ante by integrating artificial intelligence (AI) in their recruitment strategy.

AI-driven algorithms can attract the best talents to companies and find the best in-house skills by identifying desirable qualities among employees.

5. Technology enables assessment of skills

Technology has made it easy for recruitment teams to screen candidates quicker by assessing their skillsets, company fit, and competency levels.

In the past, recruitment teams would have to rely on the information provided by the applicants to help their screening process. With modern recruitment software, your recruitment team can access the necessary skills of applicants even before they show up for an interview.

Disadvantages of using technology in the hiring process

Just as technology has helped transform the recruitment process, it still comes with some drawbacks.

1. Dismisses resumes that are not search optimized

Artificial Intelligence and other recruitment software track resume that is written in the most appropriate format. By so doing, talented candidates whose resumes are not written in the most suitable form are ignored and bypassed by the software.

2. Stiff Competition

The fact that everyone is doing this could make it a huge problem for smaller organizations trying to leverage technology in their hiring process.

With hordes of job offers online, your job posts may become drowned in the sea of job ads, forcing you to spend more on your recruitment campaign, in addition to the costly software.

3. It could attract fraudulent candidates

Not everyone applying for a job online is genuine. Some fraudulent individuals may pose as job applicants to get information about the company or hiring professionals.

These days, spammers can use the information you post online to promote a service or fraudulent business on your platform.

4. Technical issues may arise

You cannot rule out the possibility of a technical glitch when using technology to interview candidates for a job opening.

Businesses who are yet to have a firm grasp of technology may find it quite problematic to integrate new technologies into their hiring process. That being said, it’s better to learn as you go and make a mistake or two than be left behind entirely!

5. It could distort communication

Having face-to-face interaction with a prospective candidate can help you feel certain mannerisms and maintain clear communication. However, tools such as Zoom, Facetime, and MS Teams have been invaluable during the pandemic and have allowed businesses to continue at a semi-normal rate — it seems pertinent to keep using these tools if they work for your business.

So is it a worthy venture for employers to invest in?

After discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using technology in the hiring process, we are now back to the critical question at hand. Should employers invest in it? Realistically, recruitment is a human-to-human process, and AI tools simply can’t compete with human common sense in this scenario. We can see that using technology in the hiring process has numerous advantages, for example, when conducting interviews, but if only it is deployed correctly and at certain stages.

The bottom line is you must endeavor to adequately combine human inputs and technological approaches to give your candidates a fulfilling and positive experience. Ultimately, this will lead to them deciding whether to accept a job with your business.

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Originally published at upstack.co on Sep 8, 2021, by Joanna Blomfield.