AI in Hiring: How to Weigh the Tech’s Benefits Against its RisksKaren Boyle, senior vice president of human resources at the Graham Company, asks: Do the pros outweigh the cons when using AI in the hiring process? (Karen Boyle, SHRM - SCP, is senior vice president, human resources at the Graham Company.)
The demand for a strong workforce along with the competitive hiring landscape has put increased pressure on human resource executives. The average corporate position receives approximately 250 applications per job opening, according to Zippia.
HR professionals are tasked with narrowing down the pool of applicants, conducting an extensive interview process, and hiring talent that fits the culture and needs of their respective companies.
Artificial intelligence has been introduced as a way to improve efficiencies throughout that process, and many say they’ve already implemented the tech. Sixty-five percent of recruiters say they’re currently using AI in the recruitment process and 96% of senior HR professionals say they expect AI to greatly enhance the talent acquisition process, Zippia also reported. Those numbers speak for themselves.
As a HR executive, I have witnessed the benefits of what AI can do but I’m also cautious about the potential risks.
AI’s benefits
HR pros stand to gain benefits from AI in a number of ways, namely in interview prep, candidate vetting and overall time savings.
In terms of preparation, AI tools can be used to help HR craft appropriate questions for interview teams to ensure every interview is thoughtful. Interviewing doesn’t come naturally to everyone, so this step is critical in making sure employees are properly prepared and positioned for success. Among other things, AI can assist with strategic questions that go beyond typical prompts like,“tell me about yourself,” which are generic and often leave interviewees unsure where to begin. For example, at my company, we look for candidates who display traits of grit, tenacity and resilience. For us, being able to ask specific questions that demonstrate those traits is key. With adequate preparation throughout the hiring process, companies are more likely to secure the right talent. It’s also a two-way street: Interviewees want to know those they are being interviewed by are just as prepared as they are.
AI is similarly capable of streamlining the vetting process. When companies are hiring for multiple positions at one time, HR departments have limited bandwidth to properly review and vet candidates. By tapping into AI, the process is expedited and becomes more efficient for HR professionals. For instance, if a job listing requires certain industry expertise or a specific certification, AI can quickly identify the appropriate resumes that meet those requirements. This can help HR executives go from 250 applications to, let’s say,100. That makes the job exponentially faster and easier, as you have already weeded out those who would not qualify.
One common theme among those benefits? Time savings. Most hiring managers and recruiters who have used AI say it saves time in the talent acquisition process. Knowing how important time is, AI can certainly serve as a resource to let HR leaders execute their jobs more efficiently. This is especially important as HR executives spend several hours a day reviewing applications, vetting candidates and preparing interviewers for conversations. With AI, HR pros may have more time to focus on other important elements of the job.
AI’s risks
Despite AI’s ability to streamline hiring processes and ease HR’s workload, companies must also account for the risks. Just like with any technology, there are some concerns that cannot be ignored.
When considered for use in the hiring process, AI inherently loses some of the nuance that comes from the human element. The tech often functions based on algorithms and because of this, there exists the potential for entire groups of candidates to be disregarded. In a situation like this, an algorithm-based outcome could stunt the growth and promotion of a company’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Additionally, some companies are using AI to conduct actual interviews, which fully eliminates the human approach to hiring, inhibiting the discovery of certain attributes in applicants like work ethic, dedication and drive.
An organization also must weigh the significant security risks that AI can pose. When using this technology, hiring managers working with personal data must be aware that some tools use any data entered to train the system. This can increase the risk for breaches in privacy. We’ve already seen troubling headlines of the security flaws of various AI tools. In fact, a major multinational appliance and consumer electronics company announced earlier this year that it would be banning employees from using AI tools after sensitive company information was leaked.
Finally, HR professionals need to be mindful of how AI can be used by potential candidates to manipulate resumes and skill sets to better position themselves for listed job qualifications. For example, a candidate can use AI to determine the best key words or phrases to use when applying for a specific position. Trying to combat this issue adds a challenging layer to the already complex and time-consuming hiring process. This further underscores how crucial the human element is to the hiring process, allowing HR leaders to identify inconsistencies between what is on a resume and what it said in an interview.
So, the question remains: Do the pros outweigh the cons when using AI in the hiring process? That is for each company to determine. For me, it’s about striking a balance and using the technology to serve as a complementary element.
SOURCE HRDIVE
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2024年01月18日
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3 Non-Obvious Ways to Advance Your HR CareerLet us take a look at 3 non-obvious ways to advance your HR career with William Taylor. (a VP at Workforce.com with 7 years of experience helping major companies develop better workforce management and HR practices)
Summary
Work in human resources on a small team at a small company. – More
Focus on strategy by automating administrative work. – More
Understand how HR impacts your company’s bottom line. – More
When it comes to most HR career advice, the conversation is often dominated by talks of SHRM vs. HRCI accreditation, postgraduate study opportunities, or job hopping to get ahead.
While these are all legitimate pathways to career growth, you’re probably already aware of them. They also lean further towards how to get a pay raise rather than how to become better at HR. So here are three ways you may not have thought about that can boost your HR expertise and advance your career.
1. Do HR at a smaller company
Running HR at a small company gives you the ability to take more ownership, see how every part of HR operates, and take part in more strategic initiatives.
This is often discouraged because many processes aren’t built out at smaller companies, but this is precisely why it’s a great opportunity. You get to be the one that builds out HR from the ground up.
What constitutes a small company is hard to define, but an excellent place to start is somewhere smaller than where you currently are. Other good rules of thumb are fewer than five people in the HR department or less than 1,000 total employees.
2. Give yourself time to work on strategic HR
Probably the biggest complaint about career advancement is that there isn’t time to work on strategic HR initiatives because HR is bogged down in busy work. This is a fair assessment. Some of the biggest culprits are collecting onboarding documentation, updating employee details, and fielding payroll queries.
Don’t accept this reactive approach to HR.
Get rid of the paper onboarding, let staff add their own availability and PTO, and allow them to access payroll details like their direct deposit information and electronic pay stubs.
By automating these processes, HR is no longer the middleman between front-line staff and an outdated HRIS. Instead, HR actually has time to pursue valuable strategic initiatives like employee retention and talent development.
3. Understand the commercials of your company
For most people, advancing their careers often involves promotions to more senior positions. While your technical HR skills help you on this journey, a firm understanding of how your company operates financially becomes probably the most essential tool in your toolbox as you develop seniority.
The most crucial part for HR is understanding budgets. Both overall and team budgets, as well as HR budget metrics, like labor spend, cost of employee turnover, etc. This will help you justify the value of HR initiatives and show their impact on the bottom line.
Secondly, you need to understand the business you’re in. Learn who your customers are, how your service or product solves their problems, and what role each team plays in that process. Doing so will help you make better decisions in HR, but it will also help to make other teams respect you.
Both of these are essential if you ever want to become a CHRO.
Next steps
You’re probably not going to be able to do everything listed. Moving to a smaller company is a big step, but eliminating busy work to free up time for strategic HR and understanding your company’s commercials are two steps you can begin immediately.
Schedule, engage, and pay your staff in one system with Workforce.com.
SOURCE Workforce
VP
2024年01月17日
VP
Workday: It’s Time to Close the AI Trust GapWorkday, a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance and human resources, has pressed a global study recently recognizing the importance of addressing the AI trust gap. They believe that trust is a critical factor when it comes to implementing artificial intelligence (AI) systems, especially in areas such as workforce management and human resources.
Research results are as follows:
At the leadership level, only 62% welcome AI, and only 62% are confident their organization will ensure AI is implemented in a responsible and trustworthy way. At the employee level, these figures drop even lower to 52% and 55%, respectively.
70% of leaders say AI should be developed in a way that easily allows for human review and intervention. Yet 42% of employees believe their company does not have a clear understanding of which systems should be fully automated and which require human intervention.
1 in 4 employees (23%) are not confident that their organization will put employee interests above its own when implementing AI. (compared to 21% of leaders)
1 in 4 employees (23%) are not confident that their organization will prioritize innovating with care for people over innovating with speed. (compared to 17% of leaders)
1 in 4 employees (23%) are not confident that their organization will ensure AI is implemented in a responsible and trustworthy way. (compared to 17% of leaders)
“We know how these technologies can benefit economic opportunities for people—that’s our business. But people won’t use technologies they don’t trust. Skills are the way forward, and not only skills, but skills backed by a thoughtful, ethical, responsible implementation of AI that has regulatory safeguards that help facilitate trust.” said Chandler C. Morse, VP, Public Policy, Workday.
Workday’s study focuses on various key areas:
Section 1: Perspectives align on AI’s potential and responsible use.
“At the outset of our research, we hypothesized that there would be a general alignment between business leaders and employees regarding their overall enthusiasm for AI. Encouragingly, this has proven true: leaders and employees are aligned in several areas, including AI’s potential for business transformation, as well as efforts to reduce risk and ensure trustworthy AI.”
Both leaders and employees believe in and hope for a transformation scenario* with AI.
Both groups agree AI implementation should prioritize human control.
Both groups cite regulation and frameworks as most important for trustworthy AI.
Section 2: When it comes to the development of AI, the trust gap between leaders and employees diverges even more.
“While most leaders and employees agree on the value of AI and the need for its careful implementation, the existing trust gap becomes even more pronounced when it comes to developing AI in a way that facilitates human review and intervention.”
Employees aren’t confident their company takes a people-first approach.
At all levels, there’s the worry that human welfare isn’t a leadership priority.
Section 3: Data on AI governance and use is not readily visible to employees.
“While employees are calling for regulation and ethical frameworks to ensure that AI is trustworthy, there is a lack of awareness across all levels of the workforce when it comes to collaborating on AI regulation and sharing responsible AI guidelines.”
Closing remarks: How Workday is closing the AI trust gap.
Transparency: Workday can prioritize transparency in their AI systems. Providing clear explanations of how AI algorithms make decisions can help build trust among users. By revealing the factors, data, and processes that contribute to AI-driven outcomes, Workday can ensure transparency in their AI applications.
Explainability: Workday can work towards making their AI systems more explainable. This means enabling users to understand the reasoning behind AI-generated recommendations or decisions. Employing techniques like interpretable machine learning can help users comprehend the logic and factors influencing the AI-driven outcomes.
Ethical considerations: Working on ethical frameworks and guidelines for AI use can play a crucial role in closing the trust gap. Workday can ensure that their AI systems align with ethical principles, such as fairness, accountability, and avoiding bias. This might involve rigorous testing, auditing, and ongoing monitoring of AI models to detect and mitigate any potential biases or unintended consequences.
User feedback and collaboration: Engaging with users and seeking their feedback can be key to building trust. Workday can involve their customers and end-users in the AI development process, gathering insights and acting on user concerns. Collaboration and open communication will help Workday enhance their AI systems based on real-world feedback and user needs.
Data privacy and security: Ensuring robust data privacy and security measures is vital for instilling trust in AI systems. Workday can prioritize data protection and encryption, complying with industry standards and regulations. By demonstrating strong data privacy practices, they can alleviate concerns associated with AI-driven data processing.
SOURCE Workday
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