All businesses consider it critical for the employees hired to be the best of the talented. No doubt, they are what makes an organization, and it is their drive that propels the organization towards growth.
However, Talent Acquisition on a whole, proves to be very challenging when it comes to hiring the best talent for the job, especially when issues such as unconscious bias crop up. Regardless of how careful we are in selecting the best talent for us, we unconsciously tend to prefer candidates based on irrelevant factors such as race, gender, age, etc.
Removing this obstacle not only improves the diversity factor in the organization, but also impacts the profitability of the organization by 33% when compared to most non-diverse organizations.
#The Curse of the Unconscious Bias:
As humans, we tend to be subconsciously biased towards a certain ethnicity, race, gender, etc. This type of biased selection can lead to unjust decision making when it comes to hiring people. Also, the fact that it is unconscious makes it quite challenging to recognize and resolve.
Though training can help, a better and more effective alternative would be to use Artificial Intelligence(AI).
#AI: new phase in Recruiting:
Ever since its debut, AI has been making a place for itself with the vast opportunities for usability and time managing capabilities. In the recruiting sector, it takes up the most time-engaging task that recruiters face: screening. AI is popular among recruiters for screening and selecting talented individuals based on the requirements without any Unconscious bias in the radar as … well, machines can’t be biased, no matter how intelligent. It conveniently overlooks the irrelevant details of the candidate’s bio and bases its screening on important factors such as education, skills and experience.
#Feed the appropriate amount of data:
Having limited information on your clients definitely impacts your entire recruitment process. In the event of lack of appropriate amount of data, we tend to lean towards making more biased decisions. The very lack of enough data often tends to go unnoticed, thus leading the recruiter to overlook essential details and bias their decisions.
The limit in data doesn’t affect just the recruiters, it shows its impact in AI as well. Lack of enough information tends to produce inefficient results, even though there is no prospect of unconscious bias in AI. To prevent the AI from delivering such results, it has to have at least 100+ sets of standard data for all candidates. This includes their education, skills, experience, etc.
#Is Talent Acquisitions ready for AI?
There are a lot of layers to AI as there is in any new technological advancement. However, they do come in user friendly packages which makes it extremely convenient for those new to the trend to just plug it in and use. However, the need for sufficient data must be emphasized in order to produce efficient results, along with the proper IT build and training.
‘The robots are taking over’ is something that people tend to foolishly when they are faced with something new. However, rest assured, the AI is there to take away the menial tasks of the recruiters that take up so much of their valuable time and allow them more room to focus on recruitment strategies.
It is very important to communicate to the employees when introducing a new tool, AI or not, so that they understand its objective and thus come to terms with it.
Like any new trend, AI is making its way through all the sectors in all kinds of businesses. It is slowly and surely making its way into Talent Acquisition as well. Considering that it’s still in its starting stages, there is still room for definite improvement. With the right tools, skills and data, AI can accomplish the task that has forever haunted the recruitment sector: Unconscious bias.
