The Human Touch in Recruitment: 3 Essential Roles Recruiters Play That AI Can't Replace

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a crucial resource in recruitment processes, particularly in the modern digital society. Many functions have been automated, from resume filtering to interview scheduling.

Nevertheless, if AI is about improving efficiency, there are certain matters that only a human recruiter can attend to. These aspects are necessary if the organization wants to find the right talent to join the company and adapt to it.

Now, let’s look at three key roles that human recruiters are irreplaceable for.

1. Building Relationships

Understanding Candidates Beyond the Resume

While AI is capable of analyzing data, it lacks the ability to establish relations. Unlike chatbots, human recruiters can cultivate relationships with their candidates. A recruiter can also ask questions, listen carefully, and observe nonverbal responses. Such interactions assist them in identifying a candidate’s reasons for applying for the position, career goals, and values.

Creating a Positive Candidate Experience

Candidate experience is an important factor in the recruitment process. Even if the candidate does not get the job, recruiters can create a positive experience that lasts. Human recruiters ensure due, fair, and respectful treatment toward candidates during the process. They give comments, respond to inquiries, and provide genuine consolation.

Building Long-Term Relationships

Recruitment is not merely about filling vacancies; it is also about establishing connections. Over time, recruiters befriend individuals in different professions across various companies. Such relationships can come in handy, especially when a new position is available. This enables a recruiter to match the correct person to the correct job. AI, however, is incapable of cultivating and sustaining such relations.

2. Understanding Company Culture

Assessing Cultural Fit

Having a healthy company culture is also very important in determining the level of satisfaction of employees and their willingness to stay in the firm. AI can compare keywords and qualifications, but it cannot determine cultural compatibility. Recruiters, on the other hand, have information regarding the company’s culture, work environment, and people on the team. They can determine the compatibility of the candidate in the organizational environment by identifying the type of worker.

Aligning Candidates with Organizational Values

It is important to understand that every company, as a legal entity, has its own system of values and regulations. The human element of the recruiting process is adept at recruiting candidates who reflect these values. They ask specific questions to understand a candidate's paradigm, perspective toward work, and working style.

Bridging the Gap Between Management and Candidates

Managers believe that recruiters act as middlemen in the selection process between them and prospective employees. They are fully aware of the expectations of the hiring managers and are able to relay these to the candidates coherently. This also assists in controlling or rather managing the anticipated expectations from both extremes. These relationships may not come naturally to AI due to its inability to understand its nuances, hinting at the possibility of a mismatch.

3. Providing Personalized Candidate Assessments

Evaluating Soft Skills

AI is effective at assessing professional competencies but ineffective at assessing behavioral competencies. Skills like communication, collaboration, and decision-making are not easily measurable. Human recruiters, however, can gauge these skills through interviews, case-study simulations, and other forms of practical exercises. They look at how the candidates handle pressure, how they treat others, and how they handle a problem.

Understanding Career Trajectories

Recruiters have the capacity to look at the candidate’s potential rather than just a list of credentials. This allows them to assess the individual’s suitability for career advancement and training. By doing so, a candidate is informed about whether the job provides the right prospects that they seek in a career. This promotes forward-thinking while remaining an area that AI cannot emulate.

Tailoring the Recruitment Process

In contrast to automated systems, human recruiters adapt the scenario as needed for every potential candidate. They modify their tone, give tailored feedback, and provide advice according to the circumstances of the candidate. This is particularly advantageous in ensuring better candidate experience and increases the overall chances of making a hire.

The Perfect Partnership: AI and Human Recruiters

No doubt, there is a huge utility of AI in the recruitment process. It can sort out large datasets within seconds and recognize patterns; besides, it can perform most routine tasks. In fact, its value lies in reducing the massive workload that human recruitment personnel often have to deal with. This way, they have more time and energy to put into other vital areas of their job.

AI can be beneficial for recruiters because it gives them analytical data about candidates. Recruiters stand to benefit from these insights as they enhance their ability to make better decisions. For example, in the hiring process, AI can find patterns of effective recruiting, estimate the chances of successful candidate inclusion, and indicate problematic aspects.

It is also critical to strike a balance in using AI in the recruitment process, as one does not want to make the process seem cold and mechanical. HR teams should make candidates feel that they are valued as unique people and not just randomized candidate numbers. There is a middle ground between efficiency and humanity in the recruitment process that companies should strive to achieve.

Find an Efficient Balance Between the Human Touch and AI with PERSOLKELLY

AI in recruitment means optimizing productivity, offering informative data, and performing routine operations with ease. But there will always be a scope for the human element.

Relationship building, organizational culture, and appreciation for employees’ concerns are some aspects of recruitment that only human beings can address. From the employers’ and hiring managers’ perspectives, the solution lies in the middle. Using AI solutions and incorporating humans into the process ensures that organizations can preserve high efficiency.

At PERSOLKELLY, we understand that the human factor cannot be replaced. Our experienced recruiters know how to develop valuable connections and analyze the organizational climate to learn if a candidate is suitable. Find your perfect employee by connecting with us today.