In the 21st century, the idea of automating the hiring process is seen as the holy grail. Although HR professionals started using this technology in the late 1990s, it is now being used at a greater scale than ever before.

When we are talking about automation, we are also talking about AI or artificial intelligence. AI does help you manage large numbers of applicants, predict what will happen, and get rid of bias in the hiring process.

Simply put, this is a great way to ease the recruitment process by separating the chaff from the wheat. But the fact is, it has a mixed type of utility, and the question is, “Is it really worth the effort?”.

Today we will cover the advantages and disadvantages of automating the hiring or recruitment process with a verdict on “whether you should use them or not?”. Now, let’s begin.

Here are the advantages of recruitment automation:

The recruitment automation system aims at removing the most repetitive and labor-intensive tasks. An applicant tracking system can, for example, post jobs, sort and store job applications, and create and grade applicant profiles. Other types of software, such as chatbots, can handle some of the communication with applicants.

If you are new to the world of automation, you will be surprised to know the benefits of automating the recruitment process. According to Talent Now, several benefits of the automated recruitment process include:

Here are the other advantages of automating the recruitment process::

Sourcing candidates

In case you did not know, sourcing is a proactive way to find a qualified candidate for the position for which you have opened a job posting. The sole purpose of sourcing is to find all the relevant data containing the names, titles, and job responsibilities of qualified candidates. With an applicant tracking system, or ATS, you will be able to source your candidates faster.

Screening candidates

Out of 250 resumes, you will roughly have to reject more than 75% to 88% of resumes, which is quite common. As a result, you’re going to waste a lot of time on this. Fortunately, the automated hiring process works perfectly for screening candidates.

Nurturing candidates

Just because you don’t need to hire an applicant today doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t have to tomorrow. You can nurture your candidates through email, automated SMS, and phone calls. This way, you can fill out the open position in a much easier, faster, and cheaper way. Candidate nurturing is just like a secret key to the success of recruiting.

Scheduling interviews

With an automated hiring tool and AI chatbot feature, you can not only take interviews but can also use the AI to schedule interviews specifying stuff from all along like:

• Who will take the interview?
• When the interview will be taken?
• Where will the interview be taken?

Engaging with candidates

It is the process and measurement that continuously focuses on communication with your candidate pool through media like text, email, and even with a mere verbal communication system.

The goal for this engagement is to increase the open rate of emails, get more text replies, get more job views, and get more job applications from your candidate pool.

Engagement with candidates has always been a burning question, and so it has been the focal point for recruiters. You will be astounded by the introduction of chatbots, which have transformed the methods of engaging with candidates.

A positive, faster, and cost-efficient method

A decade ago or so, automation in recruitment was only thought to be a depository system.

While measuring the efficiency of the recruitment process, the most common metrics are the cost, time, and quality, dealt with. Automation just optimizes these three metrics at their best, which is the strongest and most unique selling point of adopting an automated recruitment application.

The artificial intelligence system not only communicates and collects resumes or CVs on its own but also analyzes them according to your set standards. In addition, they nurture and engage with the candidates in your absence.

Retrieving applicant information from the database

Finally, from a huge database, you can effortlessly use the advanced search option which includes setting up specific criteria before retrieving your desired applicant.

All of the above functions have made recruitment automation a good fit for aspiring and smart employers or recruiters.

Here are the disadvantages of recruitment automation:

Even though there are so many good things about automation and AI in the recruitment system, they may cause a number of problems. These problems have always been an easy target for critics, even though there has been a huge advancement in machine learning and big data analysis. Some of the problems with automated hiring systems are:

Lack of accuracy and reliability

Although automation system seems pretty lucrative, they are not perfect and honestly, they are a bit far away from perfection. Automated recruitment systems can get easily confused with nonstandard formatting options.

For instance, an applicant may write the resume with perfect words and with the ultimate demonstration of lettering and calligraphy. Unfortunately, your automated applicant tracking system may fail to scan this amazingly crafted documentation for no good reason.

Limitations to adapting to different formats

An applicant can have extensive work experience in a similar industry and be perfectly suitable for your desired post. But it is very unlikely that such a resume will pass through the AI-powered recruitment solution, and thus you will lose a great applicant.

So, the preference for picking only the formulaic resumes is a great con for the automation system.

Keyword hacking by applicants

Here come the hacker-type applicants! They know how to trick your automated hiring system with keywords and convince it by showing that they are the right fit.

On the other hand, applicants who are a good fit may be rejected simply because of poor keyword usage or because they are unaware of how to hack your system with tricky keywords.

So, should I adopt recruitment automation tools?

Automation in recruitment and hiring has both positive and negative aspects. But we would like to say that the positive aspects are more lucrative and effective than the negative ones.

Another thing is that the AI-powered recruitment system may be a matter of fun aside from its efficacy, and you should always keep training your AI system so that it becomes close to perfection.

In short, it is obvious that systems that use automation or artificial intelligence (AI) will replace conventional methods of hiring people as they become better and better.